GAME #4 – Infamous: First Light
Rating: ★★★★ - Platform: PS4 - Beaten: January 12 – Time: N/A
I enjoyed this to the same level as Second Son. Fetch was very fun to play as, and I enjoyed her story more than that of Second Son. But I think the cast of Delsin, his brother, Fetch and friends was a better cast of characters than that of this. The gameplay was very fun too, being neon focused. It took me back to the first Infamous. At the same time though, I like the progression the series is making with Delsin having multiple powers. The game has HUGE replayability though, with the battle arenas. If you own Second Son, that replayability is doubled with the ability to play as Delsin in these challenges. Overall, great little game that doesn't take too long to get through.
GAME #5 – Portal
Rating: ★★★ - Platform: PC – Beaten: January 12 – Time: 2.6 Hours
Not as good as I was expecting it to be. Maybe I'm just not huge on puzzle games. It mostly seemed like something I'd use to blow off time if I have a free 15 minutes. And I don't know if I'll ever really go back to it because I know how the puzzles work now. Not a bad game though. Still, definitely good.
Game #2: ZombiU - 15 Hours
This has got to be my 2nd favorite Wii U launch title. I really love the idea that any zombie is capable of finishing you off with one bite, it allows the game to be able to bring another way it can make you feel fear without having to resort to relying on jump scares. I also like the fact that the game also has permadeath and that you have to start over the mission as a new character, but you are actually able to find your old character and get your stuff back by killing them. Still, I feel the pain every time I have to start over using a non-upgraded pistol. Aside from a few rough edges, ZombiU is a great game and I do hope a sequel comes out someday.
Got the ball rolling on this. I don't expect I'll hit 52 games, but I managed 33 last year so I'd be happy with close to or better than that. All games played on Normal difficulty unless otherwise stated.
1. Infamous: First Light (PS4) - 12th January - approx. 6 hours, standard game completion
I enjoyed the Infamous games on PS3 but felt like they lacked polish. This, on the other hand, was utterly stunning in pretty much every regard. The controls are wonderful and the DualShock 4 feels so good, I liked the slight grunge styling of it and I think Fetch is a great character. The area was a little small and superfluous for an open world game (I assume there's more to Seattle in Second Son), but I was glad they didn't fill it with hundreds of side missions and I in particular enjoyed the Lumen Races, which were the first activity I finished. A really solid and enjoyable game, I will probably buy Second Son now and am hopeful for the next Infamous game. 7.5/10
2. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4) - 27th January - approx. 25 hours, standard completion + majority of side activities completed
I really enjoyed this game, but the more I played the more I saw its faults and the more critical I became. I did a lot of trophy hunting too, which in retrospect I think kind of burned me out on it and spoiled my enjoyment a little. Nonetheless, it's a really solid game with excellent controls, combat and stealth, which has loads of room to improve in the next game. I'd like to see a much more interesting environment in the next as well as much more mission variety. 8/10
3. Ittle Dew (Android) - 4th February - 3 hours, standard game completion
This was a charming, witty, magnificent little game and I wish there were more like it (preferably on Vita, but that's neither here nor there). It was very similar to Zelda, right down to the green-tunic-wearing hero who progresses by picking up additional items. At the beginning the (nameless, I think?) protagonist washes up at an island and to escape has to retrieve an artefact for a shopkeeper who will then build her a raft. This leads her to three puzzle-filled dungeons around the island, as well as a huge castle in the centre within which she can make partial progress after getting each new item (fire sword, teleportation wand, ice staff). The pacing is really great, there are a load of clever puzzles and the script is so great. I really recommend this to anyone who's a fan of the 2D Zelda games, and I look forward to Ludosity's next game. 8.5/10
4. P.T. aka Silent Hills Playable Teaser (PS4) - 16th February - approx. 60 minutes, standard game completion
This was one of the first things I downloaded on my PS4 when I got it last month, but I hadn't worked up the courage to play it. I had a friend over last night and he'd played it before so was happy to help me out and give me a bit of support. I did really enjoy it and it was exactly the kind of horror I enjoy, but holy shit it was terrifying and probably the scariest game I've ever played. The atmosphere was amazing, I liked the psychologically disturbing tone and the sound effects in particular were incredible. It really was the sound which made it feel so frightening; the ghost's rasping breathing, the clonk of her one high heel when she 'possesses' the protagonist, the baby's crying, the horrible ambient noise when there's a haunting, the banging of the fridge against the wall, and so on. I got really scared and nearly switched it off at a couple of points, but I'm glad I pushed through (there's no way I would have played it all had I been alone) and it's one of the most memorable horror games I've ever played. 9/10
5. Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa) (PS4) - 16th February - approx. 90 minutes, standard game completion
We played this after finishing PT as I needed something light and charming, and I thought it was a nice, enjoyable adventure which felt a lot like Limbo based in Alaska. Nice visuals, an interesting look at a culture I know nothing about, and a nice straightforward game that's suitable for all the family. 7.5/10
6. Alien Isolation (PS4) - 18th February - approx. 20 hours, standard completion + some trophy hunting
You can see a detailed breakdown of my post-completion thoughts here, but in summary it was a really great game with amazing visual and sound design, really great level design and a fantastic atmosphere, but the pacing was pretty bad and the game should have ended about a third sooner. A really solid game and I hope Creative Assembly get the chance to make another instalment, and more non-Total War games in general. 8/10
7. The Order: 1886 (PS4) - 23rd February - approx. 10 hours, standard game completion (Hard difficulty)
I'm a fan of cinematic single-player games and this was very competent overall, albeit not without some problems. The visuals are incredible - I literally cannot overstate how gorgeous it is - the acting and voice work is brilliant and I really enjoyed the core gameplay and the awesome weapons and sound effects. Of course there are issues with it - primarily the almost entirely prescribed pacing (forced walking sections, not being able to draw your weapon in some areas), level design needs to be a bit more open and there's entirely too many QTEs, but overall I think this is an incredibly solid foundation for a series and I really hope RAD get the chance to develop a sequel. 7.5/10
8. Infamous: Second Son (PS4) - 26th February - approx. 15 hours, standard game completion (Hero Path), majority of side activities completed
I really enjoyed this overall, although I hope Sucker Punch works on the mission design for the inevitable next instalment. Some of the missions were really fun, like the assault on the DUP building at the end or chasing the helicopters to recover the cargo containers, but many of them feel like dull filler and the side missions in particular are very repetitive and charmless. The technology was amazing and I really liked the script and characters, and I would gladly see Delsin and his team of weirdos back in the next game. Very fun and I think the gameplay is near perfect, but I hope that SP work on the mission design and variety first and foremost for the next game. 7.5/10
9. The Room (Android) - 10th March - probably 60-80 minutes overall, standard game completion
I checked out this series mostly on the strength of an LTTP here on Gaf, and it has become probably my favourite mobile game ever. It's a near-perfect use of a touch screen, with amazing presentation (I love the Gothic designs and the reality-bending elements) and simple but very compelling puzzles. It's a perfect game for short sessions on the toilet, and I look forward to playing the sequel later this week. 9/10
10. The Room Two (Android) - 14th March - approx. 2 hours, standard game completion
I absolutely loved this. Improved on the first game by making the puzzles much broader, more intricate and multi-layered. The visuals, music and atmosphere are so incredible and I find the premise really intriguing. Really look forward to whatever Fireproof Games are developing next. 9/10
11. Apotheon (PS4) - 15th March - approx. 12 hours, standard completion + some trophy hunting
I really enjoyed this overall. A solid platform adventure with elements of Metroidvania, although I found the combat a bit messy and hectic most of the time. The bosses were great for the most part and I found it a really interesting and refreshing take on the Greek Gods, despite having played six different God of War games. The visuals were great and the soundtrack utterly brilliant, and overall I thought it was really solid and enjoyable. My only bugbear was that it crashed on me numerous times, so I hope the developer is able to fix it via a patch. 8/10
12. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (PS4) - 31st March - approx. 18 hours, standard completion + majority of side activities completed
I was gonna go for the Platinum trophy but I kind of ran out of steam in the second half and I've got other games to play, so I powered through to the end. I also played this on PS3 and I have to say that this is definitely one of my favourite open world crime adventure games ever. The visuals are terrific in this version (particularly the reflections and lighting), Hong Kong looks and feels really interesting and different to most of its contemporaries and the melee combat is so fun that I don't think I ever backed down from a fight. Wei Shen is a brilliant protagonist, the production levels are really lavish and I really hope we get a proper sequel one day. For their first attempt at an open-world game this was a really incredibly good effort by United Front. 8/10
13. Monument Valley (Android) - 9th April - approx. 60-80 minutes, standard game completion
A short but delightful little game based around an Escher-esque concept of perception. Gorgeous visuals and overall presentation, simple but clever puzzles and I love the strange premise/theme and twists on perception. Reminded me a lot of Echochrome, but I thought the execution in this was much better and its simpler mechanics definitely worked to its advantage. 8/10
14. Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition (Vita) - 10th April - approx. 15 hours, standard game completion
I completed both the main game and the 'Birth' additional episode. Overall I really enjoyed it, although felt like the early levels of the main game were where it was at its best, and some of the level design in Birth got really convoluted; requiring you to find hidden areas containing keycards in order to progress. But besides some slightly annoying level design and obviously the visuals, I thought it has aged really well and still found it to be an excellent FPS in most regards. The online is absolutely horrible though, and in the couple of times I tried it I found it to be so laggy it was unplayable. 8/10
15. Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark (Vita) - 19th April - approx. 8 hours, standard game completion
I loved this. I first played it when it came out in late 2013, and then I went back to it on a whim recently and finished the second half in a few days. As a puzzle game it was really clever, the visuals are art style are excellent and the controls are absolutely perfect for a puzzle-platformer which demands a lot of precision. It reminded me a lot of a 2D Portal, with its overarching narrative, test chamber levels and cute little googly eyes on robots and suchlike. A few levels annoyed me (seriously, fuck 8-3
101 deaths
), but overall the level design was amazingly consistent across its 64 standard levels (and another 16 hidden levels). I really recommend fans of games like Portal, Braid or Fez check this one out. 8.5/10
16. Shovel Knight (PS4/Vita) - 30th April - 9 hours, standard game completion
I adored 80% of this game, but I struggled so much with the last two levels that it nearly tarnished my opinion of the whole game. However, I started NG+ last night and ran through the first two levels again, which reminded me of what I loved about it. The level design was generally terrific (if sometimes a little bit cruel), the boss battles were great fun, the music and visuals were excellent, the world design with its map and few safe areas was brilliant and I even cared about the plot! Just a really great game in every sense, and I loved how well it fused classic videogame elements with modernised systems like checkpoints and only a financial penalty for death. 8.5/10
17. Titan Souls (Vita) - 7th May- 5 hours, standard game completion
Worth noting that I spent much more than 5 hours with this game - I'd say closer to double that - but it only seems to record the time on successful runs, so the ~400 times I ended up dying did not factor into my final completion time. Anyway, I really enjoyed this overall. Absolutely solid design, amazing atmosphere and soundtrack and the boss design was superb overall. I did find a few of them really tough (about half of my deaths probably came from about three or four Titans -
The Soul, Knight Elhanan, the Skull and the Plant
), but on the whole it's an impeccably designed game with some excellent boss battles and amazing consistency throughout. My favourite boss was perhaps Mol'Qayin (
the fire blob
) as I thought
firing the arrow into its mouth and pulling it into the bomb to expose its weak point
was a clever twist compared to the other Titans. I probably won't be playing it again, but I really enjoyed my time with it and it really does feel like an indie equivalent of Shadow of the Colossus. 8/10
18. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (PS4) - 20th May - approx 12-14 hours, standard completion + majority of side activities completed
My first time playing this and I really enjoyed it. I love the classic TR games but I understand that they probably wouldn't be particularly successful in today's market. I really enjoyed the structure of this game, with its Metroid-lite aspects when you pick up new gear and you can return to explore previous areas. I like the upgrade system, the auto-cover system is one of the best in the genre and the visuals are superb despite it being cross-gen. I didn't particularly care for the plot or characters, there was too much combat and too many QTE segements and I found the optional tombs insultingly easy. I wish there was a little more emphasis on puzzling and I felt like it got a bit repetitive with every structure she steps inside collapsing or blowing up, but on the whole I thought this was a solid reboot which felt a lot like Naughty Dog's Greatest Hits. I believe the next game is going to have a more open gameworld and more emphasis on survival, so I''l be looking forward to hearing more about that at E3. 8/10
19. Virtua Tennis 4 (Vita) - 24th May - maybe 15 hours total, played to exhaustion
I bought this game a couple of years ago when I got my Vita, but recently went back to it on a whim and completed most of the single-player content and got a bunch more trophies. It's a very enjoyable tennis game overall; certainly among the top-flight of those I've played, although I play tennis games so infrequently (usually in the run-up to Wimbledon) I wouldn't like to order my favourites in a list. Visuals are great, controls make a lot of sense, I found the world tour mode very addictive with a neat training and progression system, and generally it's a very enjoyable game excepting a few hitches in controls where it didn't do what I was expecting. I played a few games online and while it was reasonable I found a delay of about 0.25 seconds which made a hell of a lot of difference in a game like this and it was maddeningly stodgy as a result. I probably won't be playing it again but think it's a damn good game for fans of the sport. 8/10
20. Trine 2: Complete Edition (PS4) - 30th May - approx. 10 hours, standard game completion (not the DLC)
Man... I had a real love/hate relationship with this game. I loved the first Trine (see below) but this one pissed me off so much. I really like the core elements of the gameplay and the audiovisual presentation is perhaps best in class, but a lot of the level design is so bad and the physics are just horrible. The 'puzzles' are shit, and extremely repetitive, and way too many times there's a high ledge which you need to reach, probably by weighing down a pulley or standing on a stream of hot air in order to gain height. I just found it tedious and repetitive and the level design really lets this one down. 6/10
21. Trine: Enchanted Edition (PS4) - 1st June - approx. 7 hours, standard game completion
On the other hand, I loved this game when I first played it six years ago, and I still really like it now. The presentation is superb all around, the level design is straightforward but fun and I really like the balance between the three characters and their different abilities. It's just a beautiful, fun, satisfying game which feels like the closest thing to an actual fairytale adventure I've probably ever played. 8/10
22. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (PS4) - 29th June, approx. 26 hours, standard completion + some trophy hunting
I've spent almost a solid month playing this, and while I really enjoyed it at first, I really began to tire of the story and the on-foot stuff by the end. That's probably my own fault, as probably the first 10-15 hours were messing around on the ship and taking over other vessels, while I should have spaced this stuff out a bit more evenly between story missions. I really enjoyed the ship stuff and I found the physics and atmosphere amazing, but the on-foot controls felt so clunky, the combat is really tedious with so little tactical options, the parkour is just too loose with so much room for misdirection and it's surprisingly glitchy. The story was awful and I didn't really care for most of the characters either, as the game kept introducing new ones as late as 2/3 into the game and I couldn't really keep track of who was who. The plot with
The Observatory
was awful, and it feels like the writers don't know what to do with the conflict between the Assassins and Templars. I thought the ending was poor too, and it really soured my opinion on the game as a whole (I mean the actual final level you play;
chapter 12
). The mission design is also very bad, and I was so fed up with tailing missions or listening in on conversations long before the game's end. I'd probably rate the ship aspect 8 or 9/10, and the on-foot stuff a 5 or 6, so to account for the latter dragging down the otherwise excellent former: 7.5/10
23. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4) - 1st July, 101 minutes, completed main mission and one further extraction
I completed the Ground Zeroes mission and rescued another prisoner from execution, and I've no desire to play it any more. This is like a microcosm of my feelings toward the MGS series as a whole: I enjoy the gameplay but hate the storytelling. I dislike the tonal shift this has undergone since the earlier games, although the production values are really high quality I disliked pretty much all of the voice acting and given the dearth of content it's a bit of a joke that they were ever charging £30/$40 for this. But, despite all those issues I have with the content, it's better than ever to actually play - Big Boss moves really well, the controls are great, there's a solid connection and interaction with the environment, and so on. It's just a shame that despite playing so well, there's so little content in the game as a whole. 6/10
24. Pneuma: Breath of Life (PS4) - 15th July, 140 minutes, standard completion + 80% trophies earned
This is a first person puzzle game which uses Unreal Engine 4, and I really liked it. Visuals are excellent, the puzzles were generally great and it's got an interesting theme with its narration, which begins as a guy with a god complex and eventually turns into something else. It's pretty brief and I'd say its current price of £12 is a little steep, but fans of first person puzzlers should consider picking this up when it drops in price a little. 7/10
25: Destiny (PS4) - 22nd July, approx. 20-25 hours, main plot completed and reached character level 24
I've finished the main 'story' but I don't really see myself going back to it now. Not got much interest in loot and I rarely play multiplayer. I really enjoyed this overall; the structure of the game is utter piss, but the core gameplay is so good that it didn't really matter. I just enjoyed shooting stuff, even if it was the same stuff I'd shot hundreds of times before using the same tactics over and over. The guns are superb and all look great, the character feel and controls are perfect and I really liked the armour and weapon systems and the ability to customise/upgrade everything. If only there was a compelling plot, or properly-designed missions, or better characters and dialogue, or something besides this pretty bland world with new enemies spawned in every few minutes. I spent a lot of the time thinking how Bungie could have re-used the environments to make a really awesome campaign with a linear start and end point, scripted set-pieces and a sense of purpose and consequence if they'd just re-appropriated what was already there. Hopefully Destiny 2 will take all of the criticism about the game structure seriously and give us something more resembling a proper campaign, but regardless of its failings I think Destiny is a really excellent game in a number of ways. 8/10
26: Skiing Yeti Mountain (Android) - 22nd July, approx. 2 hours, played to exhaustion
This is a pretty fun smartphone skiing game. I haven't 'finished' per se, but I have completed over 150 levels and I have no idea how long it goes on for, so I think I'm calling it a day there. Not a great deal to say really; it's a nice game with lovely pixel art, good controls, a decent progression system and an excellent sense of humour. Feels a bit steep at £2.60 to buy, but my sense of value on mobile games is fucked so I don't know if that's typical. I haven't actually seen the Yeti yet and I don't know if it does show up, but I'm getting a bit tired of the game tickling my balls over it so I don't think I'll keep playing just for that. 7/10
Really good thread, I'm enjoying all the mini-reviews.
I have no doubt I will fail the challenge as I don't really play that many games (I tend towards only playing a few at a time for long periods) but one of my new year resolutions was to get through some of the games I have from PS+ that I always mean to play but never quite get round to doing so. Perhaps this thread will give me some additional motivation!
________________ Running count - 27/52 complete
________________ Games 1 - 25 details Games 26 - ? details
________________
The List
________________ Game #1: Pro-Evolution Soccer 2014 - Konami - Format: PS3 Game #2: Hitman 2: Silent Assassin - IO Interactive / Eidos Interactive - Format: PS3 Game #3: Game Dev Story - Kairosoft - Format: Android Game #4: Hitman: Contracts - IO Interactive - Format: PS3 Game #5 Alien: Isolation - The Creative Assembly/Sega - Format: X360 Game #6: Hitman: Blood Money - IO Interactive - Format: PS3 Game #7: 80 Days - Inkle - Format: Android Game #8: Hitman: Absolution - IO Interactive/Square Enix - Format: PS3 Game #9: Infamous First Light - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony - Format: PS4 Game #10: Driveclub - Evolution Studios - Format: PS4 Game #11: Thomas Was Alone - Mike Bithell / Curve Studios - Format: PS4 Game #12: The Room - Fireproof Games - Format: Android Game #13: Demon's Souls - FROM Software - Format: PS3 Game #14: Never Alone / Kisima Inŋitchuŋa - Upper One Games - Format: PS4 Game #15: Game Dev Tycoon - Greenheart Games - Format: Windows/Steam Game #16: Grand Theft Auto V - R* North/R* - Format: PS4 Game #17: Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition - Housemarque/Climax Studios - Format: PS4 Game #18: Pure Pool - VooFoo Studios - Format: PS4 Game #19: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - Kojima Productions/Konami - Format: PS4 Game #20: SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition - Maxis/Electronic Arts - Format: Windows/Steam Game #21: Thomas Was Alone - Benjamin's Flight - Mike Bithell / Curve Studios - Format: PS4 Game #22: Rocket League - Psyonix - Format: PS4 Game #23: flOw - Thatgamecompany / SuperVillain Studio - Format: PS4 Game #24: The Unfinished Swan - Giant Sparrow / SCE Santa Monica - Format: PS4 Game #25: Monopoly - Electronic Arts - Format: Android Game #26: Crayon Physics Deluxe - Petri Purho - Format: Android & Windows/Steam Game #27: Zen Bound 2 - Secret Exit - Format: Windows/Steam
Did all endings, with approximately 28 hours clocked and... How the hell does the writer of this series manage to write such a bizarre, mind blowing and epic... TWICE? After 999, I didn't believe Virtue's Last Reward would surprise me, but girl was I wrong. Sadly, I cannot talk about the story of the game, without typing two or three huge posts in the process, as well as spoiling the amazing Zero Escape series to the people who are yet to play it (and believe me, if you haven't played 999/VLR yet, you totally SHOULD).
For me, the game is almost a 10/10. Almost, because I hate the puzzles this time. They didn't bother me in 999. In fact, I liked some of them. But in VLR, they were far too hard for me (admittedly, I am not very smart in the puzzle solving department), so I actually followed a walkthrough to solve the puzzles easily. Anyways, it is a damn shame we are likely to never see the ending of the series. I never back a kickstarter, but if they ever ask for $$ to fund a Zero Escape 3, I would shamelessly donate more money than I probably should.
Gone Home (1-2 hours, PC)
You're playing as Kaitlin, a 20-year old girl coming home after a year of travelling across Europe. The game literally starts by you standing at the front door to your family's new house with a note on the door from your little sister. She's gone, you shouldn't worry and she'll be fine the note says. It turns out that your parents are gone as well, so you're alone in this huge mansion, and inside it there are clues and explanations for the absence of the family.
When you first open the door, it's very obvious that there has to be put emphasis on "new" in "new house". Not new in terms of furniture and age, but the family has had no time to move in properly. As such, boxes are scattered around the whole mansion and upon entering each room, it's instantly clear who from the family had spent most time there. In general the rooms are very well designed and help making the house feel real. There are certain items in the house that trigger audiologs that tell the story about your sister. Even though this is what Gone Home is centralized around and probably the only tale most players will experience, it's not the most captivating story that game wants to tell. There is a huge subplot about the mansion's previous owner and his connection to the family that can only be experienced by reading the articles and notes around the house and by seeing how other objects are deliberately placed at certain locations. This is where I feel Gone Home really shines. Unlike the main story, this plot is not forced down your throat and how much of the story gets told, depends on how much you're willing to explore and make connections that are not always very obvious. These findings gives incentive to explore every corner of every room, bookshelves and so on. Instead of giving you audiologs or written logs in menus, items you find will make sense in the context of the world. For example, the father is an author and there are written messages from the publisher addressed to him. Messages and other notes in the game feels very immersive and can actually sometimes make you feel like you read something you shouldn't. Bravo! Gone Home feels like a game that wants to tell a story, unlike other games where the story feels like an afterthought. I generally agree with what Brenna Hiller writes in her review (VG24/7) of the game: "In Gone Home, we see an example of a story written for gaming, not just tacked onto it; we see game design in service of story, not sacrificed to it.".
Gone Home is a very short experience, especially for the price ($20), but the pace is good and it never outstays its welcome. Even though the game mostly nails the "show, don't tell" skill, it fails making the story about the absent sister interesting. Gone Home is a fun little experience, that handles story telling much better than most other games do, but I can't help sitting back with a feeling of "was that it?"
Game 1: Assassin's Creed: Unity (Jan 13th 2015) - PS4
After the boring Black Flag, Unity was a nice change of pace and return to the roots of the series. The game has bugs,some framerate drop can be really bad but I still really enjoyed my time with it.
AC2>ACB>ACU>AC1>ACL>AC3>>>>>ACBL>ACR for me. Now I'm just waiting for Dead Kings to release to get back to it.
Game 2: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst (Jan 23rd 2015) - PC
Time Played: 6h (Completed the Story Mode)
I grew up with Naruto and played every mainline Ultimate Ninja, Ultimate Ninja Heroes and Clash of Ninja. I stopped watching anything Naruto related when Pain resurrected everyone, but with the manga coming to an end I was nostalgic and felt like it would be fun to get up to speed on the story with this game. It did the job, I felt right at home as soon as I picked up the controller, the gameplay was basically the same as previous entry as is the story mode, but it was good enough for me.
Game 3: Akiba's Trip Undead and Undressed (Jan 25th 2015) - PSV
Time Played: 06h16
Awesome game. The gameplay and the premise felt totally fresh to me, the humor was on point and the amount of customizable content for the MC and side character is quite big. Other then that, the game is held back by some big framerate dips and the fact that the game has areas separated by some long loading time (limitation of the Vita I guess). Contrary to what you would expect with the game's premise, they really isn't a lot of fan service, at least for me. I woild recommend it to anyone not turn off by anime artstyle.
Game 4: Ryse: Son of Rome (Jan 31st 2015) - PC
Time Played: about 5h
Now that's a game I didn't expect to play, between not owning an Xbone and only having a laptop to play PC games I never would've thought to I could, but Crytek did a fantastic job with the port.
As for the game itself, it's not as bad as everyone say it is but it isn't great either. I played it on the hardest difficulty and managed to beat it in one sitting. The game is pretty easy and the story is forgettable, it really only shine with it's graphics.
Game 5: Football Manager 2014 (Feb 24th 2015) - PC
Time Played: 145h
As a huge fan on both football and FM, my most played franchise I felt right at home with this iteration even though I didn't enjoyed my time with it as much as I did with FM10, FM11 and to a lesser extend FM12.
Akin to Ryse, The Order is a game with insane graphics (like I never seen in my life) but very serviceable gameplay mechanics. It does have its setting going for it, nice and original, but the biggest disappointed I had was with the story, paper thin and will most likely never be resolved because of the lackluster sales.
Game 8: The Banner Saga (June 4th 2015) - PC
Time Played: 10h
This game really scratch me itch for true based RPG while waiting for the new Shadowrun. I didn't quite followed the story at the beginning and was a bit lost, but when it started to came together I became interest to see how it would go. The ressources system and war battle is underdeveloped in my opinion but it do the job, same for the gameplay during encounters even though I found that the archers are really underpowered and there range a bit to small. I enjoyed my time with it and waiting for the sequel to release.
Game 9: Game Dev Tycoon (Jun 19th 2015) - PC
Time Played: 8h
A nice little game that let's you run your own gaming studio starting from your garage to an high tech office. The game is pretty simple yet surprisingly addictive, really easy to just pick up and play even my girlfriend who doesn't care about video games like it. I was surprise to see that it wasn't available on mobile, I'm quite sure that it is perfectly suited to that kind of audience. I'm left with wanted a more in depth take on this type of game, managing multiple team simultaneously, having more employee and a bit more difficulty.
Game 10: Life is Strange Episode 1-5 (October 20st 2015) - PC
Time Played: 14h
Remember Me charmed me with it's interesting setting, it's beautiful visual and soundtrack and of course it's brilliant yet underused alter-memory mechanic. Suffice to say that when DONTNOD announced their new game I was really interested. And what a game, the amount of interactivity and openness to the world is something truly revolutionary when you're used to Telltale offering. It's a science fiction game grounded in reality, with a believable cast, an awesome soundtrack and an uncommon setting. I was truly impressed with what I played and I eagerly await the rest of the season.
Update: Finished the last two chapters, it was truly an amazing experience. The ending was a bit disappointed but I always knew that with this game it was more about the journey then the destination.
Game 11: Game of Thrones: A Telltale games series Episode 1-4 (June 26th 2015) PC
Time Played: 6h
As a Game of Thrones fan and a Telltale games fan, this game couldn't possibly disappoint me and it didn't. I really feel like I'm in Westeros dealing with matters inherent to this world. Unfortunately the game is plagued with the usual Telltale shortcomings (No real choice, barren interactivity with the world, bugs...). I didn't really mind it before and don't really mind it now, but with DONTNOD first take at the genre, the standard for Adventure games as been significantly raised now.
Game 12: Steins;Gate (July 23rd 2015) PSV
Time played: 70h
I watched the anime back in 2011 when it launched and was kind of bored during the first couple of episode until the major event that triggers the story happened. Lets just say that I felt the same way with the game. The beginning was hard to get through, and really really long, I understand why they did it but it makes replaying the game a real chore and I don't think I'll be doing it anytime soon. But holy shit did I loved it, I already knew the story but they were so much more in the game that I didn't care about it. Making choices based on the emails you sent is a really interesting idea. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, I don't think I'll be doing all the ending, I might watch a walkthrough on youtube of the last 2 endings I missed, but I recommend this gem to anyone that likes VN because it is quite possibly in my top 5.
Game 13: Choice of Robots (August 11th 2015) PC
Time Played: 3h
I didn't expect to enjoy this game this much, I always loved making choices in games but text-only games kind off put me off. But on impulse and since it was cheap I decided to try it out. I absolutely loved it, finished it in a sitting, the level of choice in this seems to be really big, the writing also feel really and quite clever. I'll do another playthrough to see how much but one think is sure, I'll keep an eye out for COG's games from now on.
Game 14: Hollywood Visionary (August 12th 2015) PC
Time Played: 3h
Same developer and type of game then Choice of Robot but completely different setting. Hollywood in the early 50s seems like a great setting which it was, but I couldn't help but found that the writing wasn't on par with Choice of Robots and I was a bit let down by that fact. It still a pleasant experience, it just could have been better in my opinion.
Game 15: Batman: Arkham Knight (August 17th) PS4
Time played: 12h47
What a disappointment, the Batmobile totally ruined the game for me, way to repetitive and frequent, it looked like 80% of the main story was involving the Batmobile in some capacity and the fact that some (all?) of the Riddler challenge also features it throw me off doing some side quests. It's a shame because the gameplay is near perfect for me but it's underused in this iteration. The lack of challenge maps is a huge deal breaker for me too.
A bit more repetitive then Second Son but way more focused. I liked the fact that we only got 1 type of power (the best one) and that it was a bit more in depth; the story was interesting and the "Battle arena" was quite fun. I enjoyed my time with it and would recommend it.
Game 17: Shadowrun Hong Kong (August 23rd) PC
Time Played: 16h
I just finished my first playtrough and absolutely loved it, Harebrained Schemes just earned my full support for their upcoming games. After the Shadowrun trilogy (I really hope there's more) they cemented their place as some of the very best RPgs studio. The cast was really interesting and the writing was fairly great too, I didn't do a lot of side quest, only all the run available by Kindly Cheng and IsObel personal quest but I got my money's worth and then some with all of that. There's still some little things that need fixing (I experience some delay in the matrix) but all in all to was a near perfect experience for me.
Extremely happy with this game, nice production values, setting and story with a lot of branching choices. I'm definitely keeping an eye on what's next for Supermassive Games.
Game 19: The Movies (September 6th) PC
Time played: About 100h
My favorite simulation game, I found out that it was available in the macgamestore and I dived right back in again. It's just easy, fun and enjoyable even after all these years.
Game 20-21-22: The Heroes Rise Trilogy (September 20th) PC
Time Played: About 12h
The writing was serviceable but the overall story and character were quite good and entertaining even though it falls into the messiah stereotype. Once again the choices were enjoyable (but meaningful enough) and the setting interesting. Their most polished project after Choice of Robots.
Game 23: Tales From the Borderlands (October 20th) PC
Time Played: 10h
Well after Life is Strange and Game of Thrones I thought that the days of me praising a Telltale game were over, but that was before playing their magnum opus. It's full of fun, smart and interesting dialogues as well as character. The story is easy to get into even for someone completely foreign to the Borderlands universe like me. I Absolutely loved the relationship between Rhys and Fiona and the fact that every secondary character have had enough presence to be properly developed. No to wait until 2018 for the sequel...
Game 24: Assassin's Creed Rogue: (October 24th) PC
I always loved the AC series and since my PS4 is dead I decided to buy Rogue to feel my annual AC needs. For people like me who value the story elements of the franchise as well as continuity, Rogue is a pretty important part of the franchise which ties together AC3, AC4 and ACU in the past storyline. In the present it feels like they're trying to build something but since I heard that Syndicate isn't really deep in that aspect I guess it'll be for the next one. Regarding the gameplay it's basically AC4 but with enhanced mechanics like the ability to get accosted by an enemy ship and the rifle/grenade launcher. It's definitely a full blown Assassin's Creed game and totally worth your time if you liked Black Flag.
Game 25: The Legend of Korra (October 25th) PC
Time Played: 4h
I don't know anything about Avatar: the Last Airbender or Korra. I just bought it because it was made buy Platinum Games and it showed. It's awfully repetitive 8 chapters, you unlock your bending powers, there's the run with Naga, the pro bending mini games did bring something fresh though. Even if it's low budget, the gameplay is solid enjoyable and quite hard I thought (played on normal). It looks like Activision has found a great way to expend their potential userbase for licence games. The game is really short but has a good replay value.
Game 26: Bastion (October 25th) PC
Time Played: 4h
It's been months (years?) since I started to play it, I just played a couple of levels then stop for months before getting back to it. Not really my thing.
Game 27: Her Story (Nov 11th) PC
Time Played: 1h30
Let's just say to I was completely taken by surprise by this game, I saw it on sale and remembered the announcement thread here on Gaf so I "said why not?". So in this game you're someone going trough a series of video recording of someone being questioned by the police. There's not a clear ending so you'll have to get through those recording, find new recording with what you learn in the interrogation and forge your own conclusion. From what I saw there's 2 big theories going on right now which are more or less both valid
#teamtwins
. I highly recommend anyone slightly interested to go blind with these one, there really is no way to you'll regret it.
Game 28: Fallout 4 (Dec 3rd) PC
Time Played: 30h
I really anticipated this one, first Bethesda Game studio games since Skyrim and a new Fallout. I really enjoy it, I finish the main story and I'm doing some side quest right now. The gunplay was massively improved and there's still this feel of freedom, just being dumped in the middle of a unknown world, but the animation are still really stiff, the dialogue system got streamlined way to much in my opinion, there's not really much choice in that regard anymore and the bugs, so many bugs beware, end game spoiler
After I finished the last main quest by destroying the Institute with the Minutemen I got back to the Brotherhood and I got greeted by them telling me how they were grateful for me because I saved the Paladin (which I never did), and right after that the dude acted just like in the beginning when he didn't like me and still gave me some mission.
. The settlement system wasn't really my thing either, I would've preferred if he just had 1 base/fort which we could defend, creating some sort of little town. I apparently only found half of the available companions so that's something I'll be doing in the future. In the end Fallout New Vegas is still king but I really enjoyed my time with this one.
I hesitated to put this one here, but it's a game I guess so here we go. It was fine for what it was, I kind of wanted to have more options, choices. I would've said endings too put that would defeat the purpose of the game. It's a game about drifting apart and it plays it's role perfectly.
Game: 30: Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (Dec 14th) PC
Third AC for me this year and the second best one right after Unity. Having the ability to switch characters more or less whenever you want and the grappling hook are the best addition in this game. The grappling hook makes going from one point to another way faster as well as evading a large group of opponents or the police because yes this game feature the police! A first in the franchise, I remember armies but no policemen. As far as the gameplay goes, it's an AC games, outside of the aforementioned grappling hook and two characters it's not to different from Unity just with way less bugs. So if it's not really your thing I still would not recommend it. I personally loved it and am quite interested by the Jack the Ripper DLC.
I have taken a little break from Rayman, to have a look around the Virtual Console and play/ replay some of the classics (one of the main reasons I bought my Wii U).
Game #2: SUPER MARIO BROS. (Wii U) [Virtual Console]
Finished: 13th January
Games don't get much more classic than this. Probably one of my earliest, if not the earliest video gaming memories is playing this around a friend's house. It actually took me a long time to get used to the physics again. I'm not sure if its because I'm coming straight in from Rayman/ New Mario or that I played a lot more of 3 and World back in the day, but Mario felt a lot more 'slippery' and 'skiddy' than I was used to. This wasn't a major problem as I got back into it pretty quickly and had a lot of fun, even if it was getting frustrating at times. The game is tough, some of the levels at the end especially had me die pretty repeatedly, but the sense of achievement was well worth it when I finally nailed the real Bowser.
Game 1: Lost Horizon - 13 hours to beat on January 4
# A short, easy but entertaining P&C. The visuals are remarkable as it combines real time 3D with hand-drawn backgrounds and neither one stand out strangely. It fits very well. Likeable protagonist and good voice acting (German) by many famous voice actors. The different location's atmospheres were great and the story was thrilling. Would recommend for P&C fans.
Game 2: Lara Croft Guardian of Light - between 18 and 20 hours to beat on January 8 (100% steam achievements)
# What a nice game. I really like the pace, the puzzles and the hack & slash shooter part. Many collectables and unlockables. As a Tomb Raider fan from the very first game back in 96 I'm pleased with this spin-off. Temple of Osiris is already waiting for me. But I need a break first from this series.
Game 3: Ryse: Son of Rome - 10 hours to beat on January 13
# I've never seen such a beautfiul antiquity / ancient Rome before in a video game. If they ever make a Ryse: Son of Egypt and Son of Greece I'm insta-in when they fine-tuned and learned from Rome. Combat system too repetitive and since you do nothing else than fighting that must not happen. Cinematic and acting were great, though. The German voice acting was outstanding and it is one of the best VO I've ever heard in a video game. Too short and too many flaws for it's release price but I would definitely recommend it for 10 bucks. I hope there will be more games with such setting beside the strategy genre. It really lacks of those.
Game #1 - Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition (PS4)- approx time: I'd say about 60-65 hrs. Already knew what to do since I own it on PC + the exp bonus over the holiday helped me level quick.
Game #2 - Infamous: First Light - approx time: 6 hrs, 40 min, platinumed it in one sitting. Had fun with it after not playing Second Son for a long time. I tried using Delsin during the challenges and completely forgot how to use him lol, but Fetch was pretty straight forward to use since she only depended on one power
Game #5. Demon's Crest (SNES VC)
- Time played: 09:07 hours.
- Completion reached: 100% clear! That is, beat the final boss with everything collected and
killed the Demon Lord
.
An obscure game by Capcom! Demon's Crest is a sidescrolling adventure game, with gameplay similar to old Castlevania games. One of the coolest things about Demon's Crest is the setting and tone of the game. Unlike most games from that era, Demon's Crest stars a "villain". You play as Firebrand, a demon who once held six magical stones called "crests" and was essentially the strongest being alive. However, in a moment of weakness he was defeated by another demon called Phalanx and imprisoned in a colisseum. The game starts when Firebrand tries to escape the colisseum to collect the crests again and get revenge on Phalanx. Firebrand's goal is to become the strongest demon, not save the world or save a princess or any of that crap, which is refreshing and kind of cool. Besides that, the game's world is very dark, in terms of colors and level themes. The music also helps, being mostly ambient stuff with church organs and similar instruments. I have to say the mood of the game is pretty cool!
Now, regarding the gameplay, this game is a sidescrolling adventure one. The goal is essentially to explore different levels to find crests. As Firebrand, you can hover (not fly) and shoot fire (initially). During the game you get more powers for Firebrand and crests that let him do other stuff like fly and swim. The controls are pretty good, like most Capcom games of that era. The game is pretty challenging, especially on a first playthrough. Bosses have somewhat easy patterns but lots of HP and lots of damaging power.
The game does have some annoying flaws though. First, there's no save feature, which is crappy since the game has multiple endings. Second, the framerate drops often, like every time there are more than 3 enemies on screen. I'm not sure if I should list it as a flaw but I also felt the game is pretty short, with only 7 stages to explore, 3 of them being very small. On the other hand, the game is super replayable so it kind of evens out.
Overall, I'd recommend this game for people that like stuff like Mega Man and old Castlevania games. It's fun, challenging and not very long, so it's perfect for a 52 games marathon!
On another note, I feel this franchise could be successful in the current market, considering the popularity of games like Dark Souls.
3. Forza Horizon 2 (XB1) Two finales down, just enough to see the credits. Overall completion: 25.6%.
The good news is that Horizon 2 boasts several significant improvements. The festival partay atmosphere is less oppressive and easier to ignore. The graphics are way better than Horizon 1, especially when the rain hits--oh, by the way, did I mention there's a dynamic weather system that affects the handling model and looks suitably dramatic? And if you're looking for things to do, Horizon 2 has plenty of them--tons of championships spread across six different European locales, three bucket lists' worth of challenges, and plenty of boards to break and speed traps to defy.
There are two things I'd like Playground to rethink before the next Horizon, though. The progression system's focus on letting you do whatever you want takes some of the punch out of advancing through the game. The first Horizon was much more straightforward, allowing you access to longer races and faster cars as you unlocked new wristbands, which is pretty traditional. Much of that goes out the window for the sequel, though; while the road trips are set for the first half of the campaign, you get to choose what series you want to compete in. In theory, you could buy yourself a hypercar early in the campaign and run nothing but S1 and S2-class races for the rest of the game. Horizon 2 even encourages this by giving you a Ferrari after your very first challenge, just a handful of races into the game. Giving the player the freedom to do what they want is fine for a sandbox-oriented racer, but it can expose the redundancy of the game's content after a while. The run-up to the first finale will generally see you buying new cars at nearly every stop, but the second set of championships will likely feel very similar to the first. The same series exist in each city, with only the routes differing. This means you can run the exact same Retro Rally Championship six times in a row if you felt like it.
The second thing I'd like to see changed for the next Horizon: cross-country races. As they stand now, they're not very fun and tend to frustrate more often than exhilarate. You're free to make your own routes in cross-country races, which sounds great in theory but just means more chances to completely screw yourself when your route turns out to be less than optimal. Take one turn too wide or miscalculate the gap between two trees, and your entire race is ruined unless you rewind. Sometimes even this is not enough; one race in Montellino (I think) baffles the AI drivers so much that an early straight causes a huge pile-up and an explosion of brake lights. If you can't get past that logjam, the two or three drivers up front are basically unbeatable. This is extremely poor design.
Besides those two flaws, there's a host of minor issues and annoyances (why are my barn finds almost never eligible for races? how come my Ferrari 250 Berlinetta isn't eligble for this championship but this Ferrari 250 GTO is? why must the game start me in a car club when they're basically pointless for solo play?). But there's still a great racing game in here, even if it doesn't feel like it respects your time as much as Horizon 1.
#4 - SteamWorld Dig (4-5 hours, PC)
Another mining game? Oh, we already have Minecraft, Terraria and dozens of other clones on the market, do we really need another one? After having played SteamWorld Dig, the answer is very clearly: "Yes". At first glance, SteamWorld Dig does remind me a lot of Terraria, and while the core concept of digging down to progress is essentially the same, SteamWorld Dig does something different than its competitors, and does it super well. Mix that with a very charming and beautiful art style, this little gem should definitely not be missed.
SteamWorld Dig improves the tired dign upgrade-formula by requiring the player to think about his/hers next move and it dares to punish you for screwing up. Rusty, the player character, is only able to dig the most adjacent stones to the top, left, right (if you stand on the edge of a stone, you can dig one block farther away) or the beneath him. He cant dig diagonal, which makes digging a smaller puzzle in and of itself. When or if you accidentally dig too far down and you pass a valuable ore, it can be out of reach. To solve this you'll have use Rusty's wall-climbing ability to get back up and see if you can somehow dig down with another route - if not, you'll have to give up on the ore. And the way up from the mine also has to be taken into consideration when digging down; Rusty lacks the ability to jump very far into the air. Above the mine there's an old western town inhabited with a few characters that will help you on your journey down the dark and unkown. There's a character that will buy all of the ores to money, which in turn can be spend on upgrading your equipment, your HP and other stats.
SteamWorld Dig might be a short game and an easy one, too. But its charm, sublime platforming and wonderful artstyle will most certainly keep you hooked on the game hours on end, through multiple playthroughs that are different each time due to randomly generated mines. At its essence, SteamWorld Dig is both an enjoyment to play and to look at - it's pure fun.
Game #2- Final Fantasy X HD (PSVita) | 1/13/2015 [103 hours 23 mins] Platinum
Finally- it took awhile, but I finally finished this dumb platinum. I finished the story part of the game in 2014, but I didn't consider it really complete until I finished the platinum. (Plus, it took an extra like 50+ hours after beating the story to finish so... lol) I had forgotten how terrible most of the mini games were which made it even more of a pain. I think my biggest complaint is that there isn't much middle ground to help move from the difficulty level in the main story line and the difficulty level of the side content. That initial prep work in order to actually be able to start the real grind was a pain, but it wasn't too bad after that.
Better than I gave it credit for last time I tried. The Catwoman section turned me off a bunch abut when I revisited it, I didn't mind it so much. I feel it suffers from the more open world and especially suffers from throwing too much boring shit to collect. Some were fine when it was a unique challenge/new thing but other than that Riddler really shoved too many trophies out there.
Game 1: Silent Hill 2 - 12 Hours
First time playing this game, played through it once and got the Leave ending in 9 hours, ran it with a guide again to get the Rebirth ending. The atmosphere was beautiful, combat could have been better but that's not what it's about so it's okay. I will say though, I feel like Silent Hill 1 was a little scarier, although that could just be me. Can't wait to start SH3.
Game 2: Corpse Party (PSP) - Around 9 Hours
I don't really know how I feel about this game, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the story but I don't know... If anyone is considering playing it, you'd have to ask yourself how comfortable you are with creepy anime bullshit, it didn't really faze me, but I can see why buttered up poopers would make some people shy away. At it's heart though, it is a horror game, and it does a pretty good job of setting up an atmosphere, and some of the twists are actually unexpected. Pretty good game, happy overall.
Game 3: Persona 3 Portable - 65 Hours
Oh boy, this game was pretty damn fantastic. After playing P4G, I decided to go back and play 3, but I couldn't sit down and play a long RPG, so I bought this version to have it on the go. The story was tight, gameplay additions when compared to FES made the game more enjoyable in my opinion, and the lack of animated cutscenes didn't bother me. I loved it.
Game 4: Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - 4 and 1/2 hours
Jak and Daxter 1 is easily my favourite game since childhood, replayed it with a friend, 100% all power cells, all precursor orbs and scout flies, God I love this game.
Game 5: Silent Hill 3 - 12 hours
Okay, so after SH2, I didn't think the series could get much better, but I have to say, SH3 is now my favourite game in the franchise so far. Mainly for sass queen Heather Mason, who takes no shit from anyone, and is generally a bamf. Little bit of an anti-climactic ending, but still amazing.
Game 6: Mirror's Edge - 6 hours
Fun mechanics, a little short, but still an interesting game that I'd love to see expanded more beyond just time trials and challenges. Since I got this free from EA, it's not exactly anything to complain about fun. In the end, glad I played.
Game 7: Silent Hill 4 - 9~10 hours
Although I didn't enjoy it as much as the other games earlier in the series, I still appreciate what it tried to do, unfortunate that Team Silent never got to learn from this game and make another one
Game 8: Aaru's Awakening - 3 hours
Really short indie game was on PS Plus, pretty fun with interesting mechanics that I'd love to see expanded, but considering I didn't pay for it, no complaints here!
Game 9: Murasaki Baby - 3 hours
Leading a hellspawn child through a creepy landscape and avoiding weird tentacle monsters... It's so weird, yet surprisingly engaging and heartfelt
Game 10: Gravity Rush - 20+ hours
If I had played this when it came out, it probably would have been my GOTY. This is a system seller for the Vita, a must-buy for any self-respecting Vita owner. Fun and interesting mechanics, beautiful cutscenes and art style, loved it!
Game 11: Little Big Planet Vita - 10+ hours
It's LBP on the go, I enjoyed it but my inner completionist wasn't pulled in by the collectibles. Beat the main story and the final boss and then dropped it.
Game 12: Child of Light Vita - 25 hours
The art style and writing in this game was so beautiful and heart warming, the characters were so enjoyable and I was a fan of the gameplay, all in all a really solid RPG
Game 13: Demon's Souls - 35+ hours
Starting off the Souls series and God did I enjoy it. I loved this game, it deserves all of the praise it gets, can't wait to jump into Dark Souls soon
Game 14: Jak 3 - 8 hours
First time playing through the game since I was never a fan of the Precursor Legacy sequels, the game surprised me by being pretty good once you get past the Edgy-ness of it all and ignore the glaring plot holes.
Game 15: Transistor - 5~6 hours
First game completed on my new PS4 and boy was it great, amazing art, a huge variety of ways to fight enemies and beautiful music. This game comes with such a huge heaping of style and grace that I definitely won't forget soon.
Game 16: Killzone Mercenary - 6~7 hours
One of the better FPS's that I've played in a while and probably the best looking Vita game out there. The campaign was solid with some relative choice, you could run and gun or stealth your way through certain areas. More customisation would have been nice, but you can't win 'em all. The multiplayer is active and fun too, so I'm happy with the game overall.
Game 17: Monster Bag - 3 Hours
Another really short puzzle game, decent mechanics and a nice art style. Similar to Murasaki Baby in length and potential, but by the 2nd hours I felt like the gimmicks were running a bit dry. All in all, an interesting adventure.
Game 18: Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask 3DS - 25 hours
I always get railed on for never having played a Zelda game, but since the one that interested me the most finally got a re-release, I had an excuse to finally play it, and am I glad I did. The game is so weird and fun, the world is beautiful and everything about it was creepy at the same time. The final zone was fantastic and getting all the masks reaps one huge reward. So yeah, I loved it
Game 19: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona - 56~57 hours
Where do I begin... I had already played 4 Golden and 3 portable, so I decided to go back to the series roots to see if it really was as different as I had heard. What I got was an amazing first person dungeon crawler with some issues, yes, but nothing that completely ruined the game for me. I highly recommend anyone who wants to get into Persona to start here instead of skipping straight to 3.
Game 20: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 Innocent Sin - 30~31 hours
The characters are some of my favourite in the whole series (Shout out to my boy Eikichi), the story was rock solid, improved on the Persona 1 design and was just a fantastic experience. Besides the fact that the game is split into two, and the second part of this game, Eternal Punishment was never release in Europe... So besides the fact that atlus hates me, this game is probably my second favourite in the series.
Game 21: Virtue's Last Reward - 33 hours
I have no idea where to start with this one besides the fact that this game is confusing. The puzzle half of the game provides a decent challenge besides one or two specific puzzles which spike the difficulty like crazy. The novel side shows off a really well put together story, that ties in extremely well with the branching routes. Oh yeah, did I mention that this game has 22 endings? There's a lot of jumping back and forth to different choices, which can make the game a little confusing when you can't remember what events happened on the timeline you jumped to this time, but by the end everything gets wrapped up in a nice little bow. Well, if you can survive the terrible puns that long to get to the end.
Games to complete:
Pheonix Wright Vs. Professor Layton
Silent Hill Origins
Silent Hill Shattered Memories
Silent Hill Downpour
Silent Hill Homecoming
Silent Hill Book of Memories
Bayonetta 2
Walking Dead Season 1 - Vita version
Freedom Wars
Dark Souls
Dark Souls 2
Bloodborne
Deadly Premonition
Castlevania SOTN
Final Fantasy VII
Game #1 Darksiders on PC. Story completed, achievements I found fun or completed in my normal play style unlocked, but not a 100% collection for all items/power ups/purchases as many were never needed or wanted.
I find myself conflicted with this title, for where I see all that it did well and can honestly say I enjoyed playing the game, I am not left feeling satisfied with it as a whole. Tis true I enjoyed in the same vein as a Legend of Zelda title, travelling an overworld and conquering a dungeon by puzzle and boss combat, I never got the same satisfaction I would with Link. Save for scant moments it was an open world that held no interest to me in design or layout as the novelty of a ruined New York/New Jersey, no world for me to care about because it was already ruined and it was fighting over the remains, and not a character I ever cared about. Likewise the dungeons themselves were laid out well enough, but save for the portal transportation it always lacked the satisfaction any item beyond mere competence in battle and never truly taxing or feeling clever in solving a puzzle. To this I can see where some see it as a more open God of War and less of a Zelda type game.
I understand some of this feeling stems from dislike of the bulky overly muscular stock art style for War and the Angels, and while normally I can enjoy even the most basic or standard video game story that merely exists as reason to fight the next boss, I found nothing to pay attention to at all here as I found it more banal than usual for a game. It kept me from immersing myself in the game more perhaps. While a Twilight Princess suffered the same faults I had with this game, the setting of some of the towns and characters (Darksiders could have used a yeti family), with some items that stood out and meant more to that game allowed me to have fonder thoughts of it once I had finished.
I also have cause to complain about the difficulty. Be it the hardest setting or on easy, I never felt there was really a difference other than annoyance at higher enemy HP. Weapons still felt weak for the majority of the game on both sides, despite the fact I never worried about a single enemy or boss through the entire game on either setting.
I'm glad I completed the game enough to see the bosses and all that it offered for the potential it held, and I never felt like it was a chore or joyless to get through, but not a strong impression on my end. Yet in the end a story I skipped through because I could not care and a wish there had been more to it's combat, puzzles, and sense of speed in movement.
Challenge accepted! I doubt I'll manage to hit 52 this year but it can't hurt to try.
I managed to beat 59 games last year and this year I'm going to be using Backloggery's fortune cookie to choose which game I'll be playing as more often than not I find it difficult to pick another game to play due to the sheer weight of my backlog
Game 1: PlayStation All-Star Battle Royale
It felt quite half-arsed, I really wish they went all out with the history of PlayStation and some of the 3rd party characters (Big daddy in particular) are questionable at best.
Currently Playing
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin - Really enjoying it so far and much better than Persona 1 PSP. I'm currently in the casino and around 9 hours in.
Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis - I loved this game when it originally came out. For some reason I must have deleted my old save so no longer had all of the unlockable characters and items, I've only got 4 tournaments left until I've unlocked everything.
Game Beaten #8 80 Days (Android) - 4 Hours
(Started/Finished 1/14/15)
This was a really interesting choose your own adventure game. It's easily the lengthiest CYOA ever made and the options it gives you really shape not just what happens to your character but what you see as well. There is a lot of choice left to the user and it works. The game is about traveling around the world in 80 Days, you are the man servant of Fogg the guy who made the bet he could travel the world in 80 Days. Fogg really doesn't do much, and has very little interest in exploring the cities you go to or talking to really anyone. He even is rather cold to you for awhile. He leaves getting information and arguably the best part of this journey, meeting the people of the world to you. There are rare instances where he pipes up and suddenly takes interest in the journey, and it is quite surprising after 4 real life hours of him not caring.
The other great thing about this game is if you really read everything going on and don't rush through choices you do get a complete story of adventures around the world. The route is completely up to you. The world is like ours except if Artificers (See Engineers) have been making robots that can act on free will and live among us (usually peacefully). This steampunk world also lends itself to non-traditional vehicles like cities that walk from place to place.
My first journey was going great until I decided to go south from New Orleans, my ship was then hijacked and we were robbed. The problem? I no longer could withdraw money from banks because there were no banks. I found myself going through South America and Africa begging the last leg home. I made it at 110 Days, well past 80. My second trip we went North and then I just kept going to the North Pole, and then looped back around to London in 47 days. I was stunned I survived this one as it was easily the most dangerous of my two journeys.
Picking up Final Fantasy XIV has really killed any momentum I had going into this. I have 3 or 4 games in progress that aren't terribly long that are getting pushed by me playing FFXIV. This may be harder than I thought.
This is probably the most inconsistent game I played in 2014. I really wanted to like it, and to be fair it did nail several aspects of open-world racing that I love. It’s probably easier to break this game down to pros and cons:
Pros:
-the map is huge; one of the largest I’ve ever seen in a racing game.
-every city/state feels distinctive; the landmarks helps to sell a sense of realism to the areas.
-the different racing kits make each vehicle feel different, instead of just a cosmetic change
-the vehicle progression is great; you can really feel the improvement in handling/speed as you level up
Cons:
-the crew system needs an overhaul; too difficult to pair up for story missions
-some missions are very frustrating, especially in the last half of the story
-the collision physics feel off; also its way too easy for the cops to crash/arrest you
-story is laughable; you feel nothing about this ‘personal’ mission to get revenge
I loved exploring the map and just driving from one city to the next; in fact, I never fast traveled in the game as it was so fun to actually take a ‘road trip’ and just see the sights. The default control scheme was horrible though; I had to use custom settings that someone else posted on GAF.
My feelings toward the game are very indifferent. Now that I’ve finished the story, there are still lots to explore, including faction missions, PVP racing and more; that being said, I find it hard to go back and I’m actually debating trading the game in before it loses too much of its value.
2014 was a very disappointing year for racing games, in my opinion. Mario Kart 8 is great, and I’m looking forward to the DLC, but if you’re not into the online, then there isn’t much replay value. Forza Horizon 2 was one of my most anticipated games in 2014 and while it did deliver a great experience, I still prefer the original as it seemed more focused and had a better soundtrack. Driveclub was a broken mess from launch, and while I loved the graphics and story missions, I never got a chance to do any of the club challenges/online before I got fed up and traded the game in.
The Crew was my last hope for 2014, and while it was not a bad game, it has too many flaws for me to recommend to anyone on the fence. Here’s hoping that Ubisoft can fix some of these issues if they make a sequel, but honestly, I’d rather just have a sequel to Driver: San Francisco.
Another year, another Call of Duty. This one looked like more of a generational jump than Ghosts, and it was a lot more fun to play too. The campaign throws an endless barrage of cool toys at you to play with (although game-breaking, so most don't show up in the multiplayer). However, the story is absolute garbage and the writing is awful. The Spacey turning heel and Atlas becoming panto-villains was just lazy, clumsy shite. Fan-fiction level writing. I've almost prestiged in the multi, though, and it's superb run-and-gun action. Most fun I've had with CoD multi in a good long while, and I'll keep playing throughout the year. If you liked Call of Duty: Black Ops you will like this
Game 4: Puppeteer - 4/5 - around 12 hours (13/01/15)
Completed the story, still missing a bunch of heads and bonus stages. I'm still impressed by the incredible attention to detail that went into the presentation of this game: the voice-over is exceptional, the music is great, the artstyle charming, everything is coherent to the theme of the magical theatre (parts of the stages seen as props, meta comments, the claps, boos and gasps), everything moves and animates smoothly, the lighting is fantastic, even the menus and the stage selection are exceptional. Best artistic presentation I've ever witnessed in a game, miles over anything Nintendo has ever done (only WW gets close)... and they're masters in regards of artstyle and presentation. Stylistically it could really pass for a Nintendo game,... until you start playing: the gameplay is as deep as a puddle. It still manages to be pretty entertaining and fun, but it has got very basic platforming, with somehow floaty physics; while each of the 21 levels is pretty unique in setting and flair, you basically keep doing the same 5 things for the entire length of the game, with very few surprises: it's a game that lives off its outstounding charm alone.
The game's the very first rhythm platformer I play, never seen anything like this and I've got to say that platforming and rhythm games really go well hand in hand; the controls work well, the physics are ok, the minimalistic style and music mesh well together. The game however is really too short and basic for its own good (it ends when you're getting the hang of it), it doesn't wear its welcome but it doesn't offer enough of a challenge either. It goes from having a checkpoint every two or three deathly pits in the standard stages, to having no checkpoints at all and requesting you complete entire levels without failing in the reverse stages, unlocked after you finish the game. No way I'm doing it, it wouldn't be fun, it'd be masochistic, with no reward or gratification at the end.
Game #3: Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - 1/14/15(44 hours)
It took me a while to get back into this after starting it several months ago. It took a while to really get started and I had stopped pretty much right before it did. After the first chapter things start ramping up to the point where you can start feeling the swing of where it's going. Character development was definitely a highlight of the game with the brother/sister relationship of Joshua and Estelle where you could really tell they were growing throughout the game. The other characters took a while to really develop and for you to find out exactly who they were, but it kept you wondering just what part they would play by the end of each of they chapters. Took me about 28 hours or so to hit the twist, and when it did, it really changed the feel of the story. You knew people were being
manipulated
before then, but until this point, you really didn't see the scale of how bad it was. Other than a few slow burn moments in the final chapter, the story really held it's momentum in the end. By the time you beat the final boss, you know something big is going to happen considering the game has 2 more parts to it, but what happens really sets the tone far above the majority of the game. It slaps the shit out of you with the ending and dangles that cliffhanger right in your face, all the while laughing at you because the 2nd game won't even get an official translation for at least several more months.
Honestly glad it took me so long to get back into it, because even more months added onto the wait would be terrible. May even play through it again before then, depending on how long the wait is exactly.
Game 9: Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Playtime: 52:16 Started: Nov 25th, 2014 Completed: Jan 15th, 2015
// Can't believe I actually finished this. I played about 10 hours of it on release week and then just never touched it again. I loved Persona 3 & 4 and love Etrian Odyssey games. Persona Q though.. I found it really hard to get into. The chibi models/art style bothered me more than I thought it would. I just couldn't take the characters seriously for most of the game. Though I loved the end part of the game. That part felt like I was actually playing a Persona game. It's a shame the game is held back by the 3DS' resolution.. I'm sure there's a beautiful looking game hidden under that screen. I finished the P3 side, will probably do the P4 side at a much later date. Probably whenever that 3DS emulator is completed, would love to see this at a higher resolution.
-- Original post
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Rune Factory 4 is next, that's the last game I need to finish my 3DS backlog.. woo. After that it's back to the Vita.
Game 1: Bioshock
Completed 1/12/15, 11 hours total
I've had this on my Steam account since about 2011 (my first Steam sale....my wallet still has night terrors). I loved the story and the atmosphere of Rapture, they definitely helped me to get past the sub-par gunplay and repetitive puzzles. I really wanted to like it more, but after having to do those pipe hacking minigames so many times and trying to awkwardly take down Splicers and Big Daddys, the only thing that kept me going was the story. 7.5/10
Game 2: Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd
I got into the Diva series when I imported Project DIva 2nd on the PSP some years back, and I love that Sega is continuing to support the series here in the West. God damn was this one hard though, I have never had so much trouble trying to get through normal difficulty in a Diva game. On top of that those Linked Scratch notes are BS and I hope they don't ever come back in a sequel. I thought the track list was great, a good mix of songs I knew and songs that I hadn't heard before (Doubleganger is one of my new favorites). Not quite as good as 2nd, but better than F. 8.5/10
Game 3: Hyrule Warriors
This is my first experience with any type of Warriors game, and it's hooked me! Prior to it releasing I didn't have very high hopes for it, but I will say that Omega Force did a fantastic job with this. The story was neat, but I didn't go in expecting a tale the caliber of a mainline Zelda title. The combat felt great, despite most of the game being just mowing down thousands upon thousands of mooks. I've only finished the Legend mode campaign, but I can't wait to take on the adventure mode. 9/10
I'll make a post with the first five games I've beaten so far.
Game 1: Hearthstone: Curse of Naxramus
Dropped this game just before the last wing was released. Picked it back up when Goblins vs Gnomes came out. Not sure about this adventure. It was pretty fun to play the matches but it was awful value. I managed to get it using only gold but it drained a massive amount of gold, 2800 in all. The cards were decent but a lot of them shared the same themes. Beat all the matches on normal and the class challenges, the heoric mode just felt unfair to me. Overall a 6.5 out of 10. Goblins vs gnomes was so much better for the game. One down, fifty one to go.
Game 2: Hexcells
Got 76 percent of the hexagons. Really good game. Highly enjoyable puzzler, and decent value for the one euro I spent on it. I wish it would tell you what levels you had messed up in previously though. I might buy the sequels in the future. 7.5 out of 10.
Game 3: Stick it to the Man
Great adveture game with some stealth aspects. I really enjoyed the games story and sense of humour. Te main problem I had was that most of the controls were mapped to the same button, R2. This only really became a problem during the last two chapters. The game's art style was brillaint, but took a while to grow on me. If you like adventure games this is a no brainer, even if you don't give this a look. Also special mention has to be made to the music. The menu song will stay stuck in my head for days. Overall a very solid 8 out of 10.
Game 4: The Stanley Parable: I got several endings and am counting this on here. Will probably get a handful more endings. Don't want to spoil anything, this is really a game that has to be played by everyone, strongly sugested. Overall another 8 out of 10 but, seriously go play this. Really flying through this and still have several games on my backlog that I abandoned almost finished. Great start.
Game 5: Little Big Planet 3: Fantastic. My new favourite game of all time taking the place of lbp 2, simple because it's adds more stuff. Story was a bit short however the side quests and popit academy as well as the light power up back tracking made up for that. Recommend it to everyone. Haven't encountered any glitchs beside some very minor ones, however I haven't tried to play online multiplayer. Haven't done anything in create yet but I will most likely spend a long time making and epic adventure with side quests, and invetory system etc. Hope you all buy it, it must sell well. Overall a perfect 10/10, It may have some faults but they are so far outwayed it gets a ten. Now if only I could find how to do spreadable water.
I've been saying I need to play through my backlog, so this is a great way to motivate me to stick to it. On vacation right now, but I can start the list up regardless.
Game 1: World of Warcraft - Warlords of Draenor - 10 Hours, Ongoing
This being an MMO, there's really no "completed" state, but I'm going to track this for one specific part of gameplay - the pet battles and collections.
I'm working on the Elekk battle achievement, finishing the Celestial Tournament for the first time, and trying to collect 600 pets. The Minfernal may continue to evade me, since people are camping it even before the servers come up from maintenance!
Game 2: Dragon Age Inquisition PS4 - 12 Hours, Paused
We just got a new PS4 for the holidays, so finally got a copy of the new Dragon Age. I only got to play it for a few days before vacation, but so far my Qunari Mage has left the Hinterlands at a low level, after seeing the GAF thread title too many times. Found a bunch of shards in the desert oasis area, and I can see where people are complaining of "Ubisoft" checklist filler content. Food for thought on how to properly flesh out an open world game these days...
Upcoming Games -
Fire Emblem Awakening 3DS
Forza Horizon 2
Super Smash Bros WiiU
I probably won't make it to 52 games just like last year, but still I like to keep track of how much I actually end up finishing.
Game 1: The Starship Damrey (3DS) 2.5 hours
It was always kind of mysterious to me what this game exactly was; a game focused on storytelling but I had no clue which genre it belonged to. So it ends up being something of a first-person point & click type of game. Entertaining but ultimately forgettable.
Game 2: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS) 15 hours
After accumulating 20,000 Rhythmia the game showed a credits-roll so I'm considering it finished even though there are still quests and songs to complete.
Game 3: Dragon Age Origins (360) 35 hours
The ending was tough due to the game's storyline sabotaging my strategy.
Game 4: Kirby's Triple Deluxe (3DS) 15 hours
Great platformer and generally a very polished game.
Game 5: Streets of Rage (GEN) 2.5 hours
Lovely classic, I really like brawlers and this series is one of the best IMO.
Game 6: Batman Arkham Origins (WiiU) 25 hours
I skipped Arkham City so traversing the city was new to me, not better than Asylum IMO but still a very good game.
Game 7: The Wolf Among Us (PS4) 8 hours
Alright choose your path tv-show, I'm just not terribly impressed with the TellTale design-template.
Game 8: Bloodborne (PS4) 34 hours
Apparently I missed three optional bosses, oh well that's what New Game+ is for right?
Game 9: Streets of Rage 2 (GEN) 1 hour
Oh man I love beat 'em ups so much and this one is probably at the top.
Game 10: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Manhattan Project (NES) 3 hours
As a child I owned Turtles 2 arcade but not this one, Turtles 3 is slightly better IMO as there are more interesting enemies in the game.
Game 11: Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition (WiiU) 6 hours
What a great game, I liked it better than most MetroidVania classics.
Game 12: Mega Man 2 (NES) 3 hours
Bought all the Mega Man games (yet again) on Wii U VC, Mega Man 2 is the easiest of the trilogy and I never played 4, 5 and 6. Classic, but not as good as MM3.
Game 13: Skylanders Spyro's Adventure (Wii) 10 hours
Somehow I bought myself into the franchise without knowing if I'd actually like it and although the first couple of hours were kind of meh I greatly enjoyed the last quarter of it and now consider myself a fan of the franchise.
Game 14: Curtain (PC) 20 minutes
I played this because if its critical appraisal (in terms of writing). I admire the game for what it attempts to be but the form which mostly involves clicking objects and reading text didn't do it for me personally.
Game 15: Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc (Vita) 27 hours
I found this game to be really disappointing to be honest, not that I didn't have fun but the plot didn't deliver and the trials almost played themselves apart from the annoying mini-games. It doesn't have the interesting logic of the Ace Attorney series or the writing of the Zero Escape series.
Game 16: Thomas was Alone (WiiU) 3.5 hours
Really great little game,clever and captivating.
Game 17: Splatoon (WiiU) 4 hours
Short but sweet, very sweet in fact. Probably my favorite game of the year so far.
Game 18: Skylanders Giants (WiiU) 10 hours
Builds on the bolder gameplay elements of Spyro's Adventure in a more streamlined fashion, like Gears of War 2 was to Gears of War 1 (but without horde mode..).
Game 19: Animal Crossing New Leaf (3DS) 135 hours
After two years of playing this game in over 500 sessions I've finally paid off my house!
Game 20: StreetPass Zombies (3DS) 2,5 hours
Even though it has good enemy variety I found it too repetitive and much less engaging than StreetPass Fishing.
Game 21: Mega Man 3 (NES) 3 hours
My favorite Mega Man game of all time. Incredible music and stages.
Game 22: Her Story (PC) 1.5 hours
Great story and great delivery, the game was hardly enjoyable and maybe interactive movie is a better description, but it was definitely an experience worth my time.
Game 23: The Swapper (Wii U) 5 hours
Other than that at some point the swapping puzzles began to outstay their welcome I thought that this was an excellent game. Great atmosphere and interesting mechanics.
Game 24: Detana! TwinBee (PC Engine) 2 hours
Didn't play the second round through though.
Game 25: Ys Book I (PC Engine) 9 hours
I'm not very good at Japanese so especially the second half took me a much longer time than necessary, I think I've been in the tower just as long as I've been outside of it. Great game though.
Game 26: Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U) 13 hours
I've cleared all the stages, I haven't rescued all the Yoshi's, found all the stamps or all the flowers yet. It was quite a nice spiritual successor to Yoshi's Island.
Game 27: Stick it to the Man (PS4) 5 hours
Quite a nice adventure game although at some point I became tired of trying to slip by those crooks.
Game 28: Star Realms (Android) 50+ hours
Finished the base game on normal and hard difficulty level. It's so addicting that I've decided to buy the Gambits expansion too. Which I've also finished.
Game 29: Fire Emblem Sacred Stones (GBA) 40+ hours
Eirika path. The savegame said 32 hours but I've restarted a couple of times. I took 412 turns to finish the game.
Game 30: Mega Man 4 (NES) 4 hours
Compared to Mega Man 1, 2 and 3 this was a letdown. A lot of one-trick-pony levels and to top it off the final boss sucks.
Game 31: Super Mario Maker (Wii U) 4 hours
By beaten I mean the 10-level challenges and unlocking all the building blocks but I will easily put in 100+ more hours in building levels and playing other people's levels.
Game 32: Journey (PS4) 2,5 hours
It's actually my third playthrough (played the first two times on PS3). The game still is as magical as it was back when it released on PS3.
Game 33: Q.U.B.E. Directo's Cut (WiiU) 4 hours
Pretty solid game, maybe a little repetative and storywise not completely fulfilling but I enjoyed solving the puzzles.
Game 34: StreetPass Fishing (3DS) 10+ hours
Completed the Legendary Fish diary and unlocked all island spots. Didn't catch every single fish in the game though. My favorite StreetPass game of the bunch.
Game 35: Stein's;Gate (Vita) 25 hours
I enjoyed the story but didn't get the true ending and can't bring myself to play it again.
Game 36: Pop 'n Twinbee (SNES) 2 hours
Wonderful cute 'm up by Konami and IMO the best entry in the Twinbee series.
Game 37: Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition (PS4) 15 hours
Vanilla Diablo 3 was mediocre, Reaper of Souls makes it a little better but it still can't hold a candle to D1 and D2.
Game 4: Child of Light - 12 hours
I definitely underestimated this game. I expected the gameplay to much simpler but it I was surprised to find a very well crafted "JRPG". The combat system is fairly robust with enough depth and challenge to make it work. Unlike traditional JRPGs however there is is little to no grinding. Of course that means the play time is much shorter but I prefer quality over quantity any day. It is similar to The Stick of Truth in that regard and I hope Japanese developers pick up on that trend. Everything else about the game is also incredibly well done. The visuals are fantastic with some breathtaking background art and a beautiful aesthetic. The game pulls of the "water color storybook" style really well. The music is melodic, beautiful and a perfect fit for the game overall. I feel the story is purposefully made to be a typical fairy tale; Light vs dark, friendship vs tyranny. However that only adds to the overall tone of the game. I did not mind it so much as the characters were charming and rhyming dialogue was cute though a little forced. One thing I really loved is the way
Aurora grew older through the process of the game
. It was a really nice touch to represent character growth.
Game 5: Infamous First Light - 6 hours
Its alright. The open world is a bit empty but they recreated Seattle pretty well. The powers are fun and the missions are ok. The lighting and graphics overall is stellar. I really liked Fetch as a character and her arc to becoming a villain. Nothing about it really stood out and wowed me unfortunately however it is still a solid well-rounded game. To me this feels like the gaming equivalent of mashed potatoes. I like it and it passes the time but it is quite forgettable.
Game 6: Monument Valley - 3 hours
A mostly simple puzzle game that looks and sounds very pretty. The game plays around with prospective in Escher-like ways and all the level art and animation is superb. Excluding the final level, most of the game kinda plays itself and you just have to give it nudge every now and then. However The Forgotten Shore expansion does bring in some challenge which gives you some "eureka" moments while solving the puzzles. Overall the game oozes quality and polish, something the mobile market severely lacks. There is a dreamlike charm about it that reminds me of Journey and that's always appreciated.
Game 1: Assassins Creed Unity (25 Hours)(PS4) 1/1/2015
I enjoyed the game towards the beginning. The graphics were great, the story was more enjoyable than past AC, and the new improvements in movement and fighting made it more enjoyable and difficult. However, by the end of the game I could not wait to move on. Texture pops were all over the place in both open world and cut scenes, the customization and skill tree I felt at times prevented me from playing how I wanted to until they told me I had progressed far enough, and the mission variety was very slim. To top it off mission check points were very inconsistent. Some missions had check points in the middle or at various other portions, others (even the bigger assassination mission) I would die upon escape of my assassination and start all the way back at the beginning of the mission. This just made finishing up feel like a chore.
Game 2: Super Mario 3D World (11 Hours)(Wii U) 1/2/2015
Just got my Wii U a few days ago and jumped right into this. I havent played a Mario game since Mario 64 and this hooked me. Found this to be a nice challenge going after the stars and stamps and kept telling myself just one more level. Glad I didn't completely miss out on this game!
Game 3: Mario Kart 8 (18 Hours)(Wii U) 1/8/2015
I had a blast with this game. I only ever played Mario kart 64 so I really got to experience most of the tracks for the first time and cant say there were any I really despised. I had a fantastic time with the online and I can see myself going back to this game for some multiplayer for a while to go. I also enjoyed it enough to grab the DLC and am looking forward to returning back into this when the next one drops.
Game 4: Trivia Crack (~8 Hours)(iOS) 1/15/2015
I have played this for a few months now, got really into it in early December, but my interest has died down and its time for me to move on. If you like trivia, and have friends still playing it I would say its worth playing, but dont expect much against random players.
I LOVED this game. It's a really fun puzzle game, right up my alley. The environments are really cool and the game looks really good because of its art style. While some people complain about the length, it's not too shabby. My first run was 19 hours, and my second one (including the final level this time), 14, so I think it's a decent length, and if there's a sequel, count me right in. I only didn't complete 2 of the Challenge Times and may come back, but I'm satisfied with beating the last level.
Playable enough for a licensed game but Toy Story 2 on PS1 was much better. Bad stealth sections in non-stealth games strike again. A lot of the Toy Box mode was a disappointing due to the grinding/collectibles.
RIYL: Toy Story, passable licensed games
Game 2: DLC Quest (PC) - 1 hrs, 32 mins
Better than I thought it would be. Not a bad way to kill some time. Kind of depressing when you think about how accurate some parts of this are though.
RIYL: Platformers
Game 3: Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut (PC) - 4 hrs, 54 mins
Decided to get around to this one after enjoying Broken Sword 2 a fair amount last year. As with the other one, a nice little point and click adventure title. Puzzles felt more challenging than in the second. George and Nico continue to be some of my favorite lead characters in any game.
RIYL: Monkey Island series, point and click adventure games
192/192 treasures in the non-bonus stuff. I didn't go for most of the stamps because I kind of hated the way you couldn't see what you had to do until you'd finished the level once. Just felt like a thin way to lengthen the game. Not that I really think it needed lengthening, though. There was so much more than I was expecting! I had a great time with these little densely-packed levels. There were some low-points, and the gamepad stuff was a little clunky, but all in all, this was way better than an expanded minigame had any right to be. Hard to compare it to anything else out there, but: If you liked Pushmo/Pullblox, you will like this
Game 3: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U) - 14h03m
100% completed the episodes and most of the bonus content. Reached a point where I'm not going to go any further with it.
Definitely lived up to my expectations for it. It's a ton of fun, and the quality is at the level that you'd expect from a mainline 3D Mario game. Definitely no phoning-in on this one...all of the super creative level designs and puzzles you'd expect from an EAD Tokyo game, it's all there.
Game #6. Mega Man 7 (SNES VC)
- Time played: 04:39 hours.
- Completion reached: Cleared the game while collecting everything.
More Mega Man! I don't think I can write much more about the classic series anymore, but 7 is a fine game. Despite the generational jump, 7 plays very similarly to 5 and 6 (more like 5 since you can cancel your slides with jumps). 7 also marks the return of Rush Coil and Rush Jet after both of them missing from 6.
The few things Mega Man 7 adds are the Super Adaptor (which is a mix of two power-ups from Mega Man 6), the ability to alter the environment with the robot powers (severely underused) and more secrets! Rush Search is a new power-up that has Rush search for stuff in the ground. I hate it. Some collectibles have to be found using it but I just looked them up in the internet. It's no fun to go around the levels digging and hoping to get something rare.
Like all Mega Man games, 7 is fairly challenging, particularly the final boss. I'm not ashamed to admit I used savestates to beat Wily (not in the actual fight mind you, but I saved just before the fight because losing and having to restock on E-containers and W-containers is a pain!). Overall, game is recommended to Mega Man fans but, honestly, I'll never understand why Capcom released this game considering the much superior (IMO of course) Mega Man X series was also on the SNES!
I wanted to give something like this a try when I saw the thread from last year, but I knew I wasn't going to reach my goal. I only managed to beat about 34 games in 2014, but some of em were pretty long games, but I took a lot of breaks between them. Anyway, let's see if I can make it this year. Here's my first game I've beaten in 2015:
I almost didn't think I would say this counted since I had already beaten the PS2 game twice close to when it came out. However for the past 2 weeks or so, I played the hell out of P4G on my PSTV, and still really had a good time. I stayed in the dark about just how much new content there was in this version, and there really was a lot of new stuff to do. It really says something about a game I think where I can play through it 2 times, and play through an enhanced version a 3rd time, especially when it's a JRPG that can take a lot of time. Just goes to show how awesome this game really is.
As much as some of the new content was cool, it did feel at times that maybe there was TOO much, but that's a minor nitpick.
This is where I think I'm gonna falter on my path to reaching 52 games...I'm not quite sure what to tackle next, and school is starting again soon, plus I'm starting a tutoring job. I hope I'll have time to game still.
I'll give this a shot. I'll mostly be playing last gen stuff or portables for awhile, if not the whole year. I have a mental backlog of games I want to knock out before I pick up a next-gen console and/or upgrade my computer.
I also have another goal that I may as well throw in with this, to get my platinum trophy count up to 10 this year. So far I have 3 (Sly Cooper, Ni No Kuni, and Jak and Daxter)
01: The Unfinished Swan
★★☆☆☆
Not a fan. I got a little into chapter 3 and just was too bored. The story OK, but I didn't wanna have to sit through the game longer to hear it end. The design, world, mechanics, etc are all unique and interesting. The puzzles though were just very easy to solve, more just really tedious. Weird because I thought I'd like this game but I guess not. If the story does get better then I'll look into finishing this up, but for now I'd rather not and just move on. I got a little more than half way I believe.
Everyone always described how the ending was a complete mind fuck, it was pretty interesting but I definetely didn't feel like "holy shit what just happened". Good story though, will play VLR. The game just stretched on and on, I even skipped two of the standard endings and felt like it was too long.
I forgot about this, but I'll update so far since like...February?
03.Wolfenstein: The New Order
I liked it, was a fun FPS that had no business being as good as it was. Story was pretty interesting, and gameplay wise...while its still kind of overdone it still does it right.
★★★★☆
04. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Spent a lot of time with this game, so far my GOTY. I played a lot of this in June, I am really close to the end up to Skellige and
have to go find that Uma thing the Baron owns.
I got kind of bored though, was a little too much. I will pick it back up sometime later though. Best RPG I have played in a long time.
★★★★★
05.Town of Salem
Pretty much an online version of the card game Mafia, so much fun all about lying and deceiving others and figuring out who is lying. It is similar to the Resistance/Avalon card game and is a free flash game or you can buy the Steam version.
★★★★☆
06. Rocket League
Fun multiplayer game, a lot of people seem to love the hell out of this game. Played it with some friends a few times and also got the platinum trophy.
★★★★☆
07. Danganronpa 1's School Mode
I'm gonna throw this in here, even though I played the main game last year...I went back and spent a lot of time on the school mode. I didn't like it, was very grindy and the extra plot points to each character weren't that great. Just kind of "oh well thats cool" but I could have just read the wikia for the game instead. Got the platinum trophy, but not worth it.
★★☆☆☆ "for school mode!, the main game is easily a 5/5 for me"
08. Far Cry 3
I played this on the PS3, and it was...bad. Graphically it looks so choppy I just couldn't play it anymore. I got like 5 hours in and stopped, I never find PS3 games to look that bad but this...idk looked awful.
★★☆☆☆
09. Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix
I think this game is pretty overrated after finally playing a good bit of it. Its not a bad game by any means, solid JRPG to play through with a decent story and the Disney world..and really bad controls. I just don't see how its consider by many to be the best or one of the best JRPGs. KH doesn't even compare to games like Persona 4 for that title. Overall...not bad.
★★★☆☆
10. Bioshock
The story and the world is amazing, but I'm not a fan of the survival horror-ish side of the gameplay...I prefer Bioshock Infinite but this game was pretty great none the less.
★★★★☆
11. Demon Souls
FINALLY played a Souls game, not my thing didn't finish it but I can see why people like it. I won't rate it, but I'll still count it since I put a bit of time into it.
12. Toy Story Racer
Played this with friends a few nights, for a kart racer based off a movie its alright a decent party game for dirt cheap.
★★★☆☆
13. Spongebob Lights Camera Pants
Same situation as the previous one, played this with some friends and still a really fun party game. I enjoyed this more, it has a lot of pretty good minigames within it. For what its worth...its better then Crash Bash.
★★★★☆
14. Super Mario Galaxy
Wow, this is one of the best platformers I have ever played. It really changed up the Super Mario series for sure, I was kind of disappointed by the last one I played on the 3DS...but this is leagues better. The camera can make you dizzy but besides that.
★★★★★
15. Ratchet & Clank
Fun platformer/adventure game. It was pretty hard at times I am not going to lie. I hear the guns get better with the other games, but I didn't really find them all that fun in this one.
★★★★☆
16. Spyro The Dragon
Did my annual 100% run of this game, still love it, was a childhood game. Favorite in the series, but not the best...that goes to the 2nd one.
★★★★☆
17. Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward
★★★★☆
Initial thoughts, the game was really good. I think it was better then 999 personally, in the way how the story all played out with the ending. Still can see a lot of unanswered questions and such for a Zero Escape 3 to be made...looks like I'll get into that next year when it comes out. Idk just seemed like more 999 but with a lot of improvements.
4. Scania Truck Driving Simulator (PC) Every challenge completed, though a few near the end earned me zero points.
Few games made me feel like I really accomplished something the way Scania Truck Driving Simulator does. Developed by SCS Software before their breakout hit Euro Truck Simulator 2, Scania is about as far from its successor as you can get while still being in a truck. ETS2 is about putting on some great tunes, picking up a delivery in Brussels, and then driving it across Europe to its destination in Warsaw. Speed limits are minor annoyances, and occasionally you have to pay a fare or fill up the fuel tank, but the predominant feeling is of freedom and the open road.
Scania is all about challenging driving situations and knowing your truck so well that you know exactly how tight a turn your tractor-trailer can make, or how to balance your trailer's wheels on the rickety planks that make up the poor excuse for a bridge you're driving on. The game is split into four main sections: license tests, which act as the game's tutorial; competition, which recreates the competitive challenges of the Young European Truck Drivers Championship; dangerous drives, which asks you to drive a series of increasingly perilous obstacle courses, winding mountain roads and landscapes torn up by natural disasters; and deliveries, which acts like a proto-ETS2 freeroam mode where you make deliveries in a small town.
Most people will be put off by Scania, especially deep into the Dangerous Drives section when the game asks you to navigate seemingly impossible situations without hitting anything. Others will be intrigued by the challenge and might even rise to it. I'm somewhere in between, appreciative of the game's difficulty but ultimately running out of patience with my mediocre driving near the end.
01/13/15 Game 2: Prince of Persia Sands of Time HD (PS3) - About 6hrs 30min
A rather nostalgic game since I played it as a kid. Forgot about the story and wanted to play the trilogy since I have it now. First I give ubisoft credit for updating the visuals, many times I say this game looks amazing. partly because of the art. Its a very cinematic game. Camera issues aside it's worth playing because its a top notch platformer. I wish they would come out with a new one or something instead of you know um... Assassins Creed.
01/13/15 Game 3: Vanquish (PS3) - 5hrs 30 min
Another Platinum game finished. Its like Gears of War times with the fast forward on 1,000! Great gameplay, so so story and SICK boss fights. That suit is the coolest designed thing ever. Screw exosuits.
01/14/15 Game 4: Outlast (PC) - 5hrs
I made sure I wasn't alone when I played this game. The story goes from puzzling to more puzzling. It's a crazy ride. Its a simple game also get this thing to unlock this door then wash rinse repeat but do this with a crazy guy or two chasing you down. I don't even want to start this dlc. Its a great game and an amazing looking game.
Continuing my quest to beat all the Dragon Quest games as I've never played them before. DQII was pretty fun, I think I enjoyed the prequel a little more however. There's something addicting about grinding for gold to get the best equipment for myself.
Game 2: Yakuza 3 (PS3) - 16 hrs (1-6-14)
Just decided to play it again on Extra Hard for fun. Since I've gotten a new PSN since the last time I beat it, I may consider going for the plat later on.
Started on Dragon Quest III, but lost my save data so I have to restart it again.
Game #2: Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty
Platform: PS4 - Beaten: 14th January
Completion: Completed, bad ending.
Rating: ★★★★★
Abe's Oddysee was one of my favourite games from the PS1 era and I lost my shit when they announced New 'n' Tasty. I bought this at release on PS4 but ended up dropping it for something else, and I'd always rather re-start games completley than pick up at the same point if I leave them for more than a few weeks. Re started it the other day and ended up finishing it successive days. I find the character and world design of the Oddworld games absolutely timeless and fascinating, and it's such a greatly unique package. I got the bad ending on this play through, but absolutely wish to play it again at a later date to aim for the good end.
Just finished up F.e.a.r. 2: Project Origin and it was great. They really ímproved alot from the first game and it was great fun all the way. Nice storytelling, fun shooting and nice music that really set the mood for the game. Recommended.
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