#18. The Last Story (Wii) -- May 4 -- 20:11:18 -- ★★★★☆
It's not without it's flaws, but I enjoyed it. The pacing of the story is a little odd. It's very linear and broken up into 30-minute chapters. Because it's so segmented, conflicts seem to get resolved just as soon as they're introduced. The overarching plot held my interest the entire way through, though. It helps that the cast of characters is likable and well-acted for the most part. Combat is fun, but it's also very easy and doesn't require as much strategy as the game would like you to believe. Characters level up after almost every fight, unless you've reached the "expected" level for where you are in the game, in which case, they level at a snail's pace. In other words, traditional RPG leveling may as well not exist in this game because your level is more or less based on which chapter you're currently playing. For a Wii game, it looks great, but the framerate is as smooth as sandpaper. The soundtrack is also pretty great. It has it's own vibe for most of the game, but then goes into full Final Fantasy prog mode near the end, which I didn't mind at all.
Super later to this but I'm claiming a post and will edit in some details from my 3DS activity log here shortly! With summer break from work coming up in less than a month and a huge pile of games to play, what better way to have fun with it than track my progress here!
Game #1: Super Smash Bros for 3DS (82 hours, 13 minutes)
- My goal was to complete all challenges and I'm almost there. I only have the time spent in Smash mode ones to go. All customs and Classic 9.0 were both awesome to finish.
Game #2: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (28 hours, 41 minutes)
- The time played is actually part of the second game of the trilogy, but for the sake of this challenge I counted completing the cases of the first game as a separate game. Bought this game on a whim while it was on sale and loved it. Still working on the second game of the trilogy though
Game #3 The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D (19 hours, 41 minutes)
- The first replay on the list. Played it again to 100% while waiting for Majora's Mask 3D to come out. Always a fun time to replay this game, this time on my n3DS XL with 3D on!
Game #4 Pokemon Alpha Sapphire (14 hours, 04 minutes)
- Played much of this in 2014 but did not finish it until 2015! Working hard to fill out the pokedex completely. Did Delta Episode recently too! Catching legendaries in this game was fun and interesting as well.
Game #5 Yoshi's New Island (9 hours, 4 minutes)
- Started out in 2014 trying to get 100% but it became tedious and unfun. Came back to it in March after it passed the year mark of being out and decided to just plow through the levels just to finish the game and take it out of my backlog. Not as good as previous games or even other 2D platformers on the 3DS but there were some fun parts to levels. I might go back one day and make a better effort at 100%
Game #6 Professor Layton and the Curious Village (14 hours, 06 minutes)
- Bought this on a whim after I enjoyed Phoenix Wright. Enjoyed this as well but for different reasons. Solving puzzles was fun and the story was quirky enough that I wanted to solve the mysteries. I sort of guessed the plot about halfway through but it was still a fun little game. I did all the puzzles of the main game but still have the extra ones to go.
Game #7 Super Mario 3D Land (13 hours, 27 minutes)
- I had beaten the main game before so this is technically Replay #2 but I had never gotten five stars on my save file before. Blew through this game in about a week or two. Still a really fun game and still one of the games that got me to buy a 3DS in the first place.
Game #8 Mario Golf: World Tour (22 hours, 29 minutes)
- Been playing this game since release. I don't do much single player anymore but I never miss the weekly tournaments. Clocked in over 100 hours on this game and no signs of stopping now. Getting chances to do costume challenges or just playing a round. I'm not sure when I'll ever stop playing the weekly tournaments but I'd say after 100 hours I've got my money's worth on this one enough to place it in the finished pile even though I'll still play it.
Game #9 Kirby's Dream Land (started and finished May 5th, 44 minutes)
- The classic. Decided to replay it since I hadn't since buying it on the VC. Mostly how I remember it but I struggled on the final boss because of control issues. I basically just had to mash to spit out because sometimes the game just didn't read the input for it. No idea what the issue was but my new 3DS XL works perfectly fine with every other game. Restore points created but not used.
Game #10 God of War (Started May 3 and finished May 9, 9 hours, 30 minutes)
- Since I own the entire God of War series I figured I should play them. I played this back in the day on the PS2 and there are only a few things I remembered. Ended up getting a ton of trophies and enjoyed the combat quite a bit. Puzzles in this game are generally meant to frustrate and at times almost feel like there is animosity between developer and player. The camera is finicky and almost killed me a couple times. Enjoyed the game and will move on to God of War 2 soon enough.
Game #11 Fire Emblem: Awakening (Started January 2015 and finished May 10, 24 hours 33 minutes)
- This is a replay. Started it back in January since I had the itch to play it again after the If announcement. Picked it back up again after the 25th anniversary stuff. I paid more attention to the story this time and picked up on things I didn't remember from my first playthrough. Really enjoyed this game playing on Classic this time. Definitely feel like I'll do some grinding with my units and play some DLC but I saw the credits and that other stuff will likely be put on the back burner.
Game #12 God of War II (Started May 10 and finished May 16, 10 hours 30 minutes)
- Continuing on through the God of War saga since I got all of these games very cheap and haven't played many of them. Overall combat and exploration probably better in this game. Not as many segments where some tight platforming or movement challenge being failed means an instant death. The camera still sucks. Certain controls still suck. When I know what to do and can't do it because the controls are preventing me from proceeding at a certain speed, it's really bad. Don't think I'm going to do much more with this other than maybe grind out a trophy or two that seem doable. Otherwise on to the next one!
Game #13 God of War: Chains of Olympus (Started and Finished May 16, 4 hours 30 minutes)
- Played the PSP version last year sometime and blew through the HD version for trophies in my God of War saga playthrough today. Remember this game and the final boss being tougher. A certain weapon you get later really wrecks the game. Fun little game but I'm not sure how I'd feel if I paid $40 for it on release. Kratos is still sort of human in this game which is nice. Perfect game to blow through on a boring Saturday afternoon! Might do another quick playthrough to get a few trophies I missed. As always I'll be skipping the challenges and the difficulty based trophies.
This was not how I expected them to follow up Act 1. Essentially a retread of the same environments of the first act, but from the other character's perspective, the focus here was more on throwing puzzles at you in an environment full of familiar faces. I liked seeing all the cast again, because they were all great, but the increased focus on puzzling seemed a little reactionary to the criticisms that the first half was too easy. And when I have to walk the whole way back to the beach from Meriloft because I didn't have the right knot diagram with me, I was experiencing two emotions the first act never evoked: frustration and anger. Also, while the first act could be done basically one character at a time, this required you to keep their progress in sync at certain checkpoints, with no indication that you should switch over and get the other person caught up. All the stuff it did great in the first act, it continued to do great here. The dialogue and characterisation are all fantastic and it looks great. It just has some ugly little additions (plus one adorable one in the safety hexa-gal). It's still a sweet game, and the little closure sketches in the credits left me smiling and content, after all the frustrations that came before. If you like Grim Fandango, you'll like this
Game 27: Ori and the Blind Forest
This was one gorgeous, fun game. The watercolour visuals and twee setup mask what is actually a difficult and often brutal game. The checkpointing system is similar to that seen in They Bleed Pixels, which I thought was great, but having to manually trigger it with a button press rather than simply standing still meant you get the lesson to do it all the time beaten into you by long, repeated sections. The ability levelling system was a nice addition to the regular metroidvania template, and because upgrades become few and far between in the second half, much time was spent contemplating which would help me *more* from the three choices I had. Unfortunately, though, there were some things that let the experience down. No teleport or quick-travel was a glaring omission, and the checkpointing system should really have restored health when you died. On more than one occasion, I was stuck in a dangerous area because of an ill-thought-out checkpoint that I had no way to undo. The framerate dips when things got hectic tarnished the otherwise impeccable presentation, and every single escape sequence ruined the pace when it should have boosted it. It doesn't control as well as something like Guacamelee, but if you've got an Xbox One or a decent PC, you seriously must play this game. If you like Guacamelee, you'll like this
Game 11 - Mario Party 10 (Wii U)
Played all boards, unlocked all characters.
I really loved Mario Party 1+2 as a kid and probably played them more than any other N64 game. Unfortunately it's been downhill ever since. Every time there is a new release I hope it's going to be the one that recaptures the magic and every time I'm disappointed.
This game is almost the one. It's nearly brilliant. But it's not, it's bad.
The game is beautiful to look at and it's packed full of unique animations. It has some of the best mini-games in the series - simple yet clever and not too dependant on luck.
Unfortunately, the main meat of the game (the board itself) is painfully boring, slow and linear. your turn generally involves pressing A to roll the dice... that's it. It's like a shit Snakes and Ladders.
I understand the idea behind the car (so that every turn effects you rather than just waiting for your next turn) but there is nothing to see or do on the board so you just wind up waiting for the next mini game (which used to be after everyone has had a go but even that isn't guaranteed any more).
Ah well, maybe next time. I still think a good Mario Party is possible.
Game 12 - Pokemon Shuffle (3DS)
Caught all currently available pokemon.
I wasn't sure if this game was any good, but after putting 81 hours in think I can confirm that I like it.
Gameplay is your typical match 3, borderline brain-dead type thing but is oddly enjoyable. It has some trademark pokemon aspects which add to addictiveness (catching, choosing the right team, training) but could I feel that they have added more (evolution, music and areas from the main series rather than generic stuff) and I also might have liked pokemon levels to go up to 100 like the main series to give a greater sense of progression.
After 40 or so hours of gameplay I decided that I'd like to throw some money at the game to show support and hope that they continue to support the game (maybe even a android/ios version), but there is nothing worth spending money on. Nothing more than a temporary power-up. If there was something to buy that might feel like it's adding value to the game (increase your maximum hearts, knock 5 mins off recharge time, permanent exp/coin multipliers, special permanent exp/coin grinding stages) then I'd gladly cough up.
I plan to continue playing as new content is released. Who knows if I'll ever complete the pokedex.
Game 13 - Box Boy! (3DS)
Beat the main levels to see credits.
This is totally my kind of game and I heard good things about it so jumped in.
It's cute and full of character despite the basic visuals. There's a surprising wealth of diversity between levels and worlds that makes progression a joy, like discovering a new toy. I got stuck a couple of times so I didn't find it as easy as some others seemed to, but I never found the game frustrating. Just right for me.
I might go back to working on post-game/collecting crowns if I'm stuck somewhere with my 3ds but I have way too many other games that I want to move on to.
Game 18: Muramasa Rebirth - 26 hours total, 14 in 2015+ - May 5th, 2015
But ortho, you counted Muramasa last year for your 52 games progress! Why yes I did! Last year, I played Muramasa for roughly 12 hours and got the two basic endings. This year I devoted another 14 hours and got the four other endings. My feelings on the game haven't really changed. The backgrounds are gorgeous, the bosses are amazing, the music is solid and the story is fairly captivating. The one thing the game really loses some points on is the repetition of enemy types. It made it harder to want to grind through all the bosses and Caves when I was seeing the same enemy for the umpteenth time. But the "true" endings were pretty enjoyable and well worth me revisiting the game. With this, I'm pretty much done with the game. I have a trophy or two I might grind out, but I have no patience to platinum the game. After that, I've got three DLC expansions to finish and then I'll be done!
- 9/10
Game froze up on me a few times. By the time I got up to the end boss I had the level select cheat memorized. I'm in still in awe of how great the level designs were in these older Sonic games. As a kid I was always amazed at how many different branching paths there were in any given level and that feeling hasn't receded at all. Growing up as a Super Nintendo kid had its perks, but Sonic 2 makes damn good case for the Genesis. Favorite track: Aquatic Ruin Zone
#8 - Banjo-Kazooie (N64)
I stopped playing BK when I got to Rusty Bucket Bay and returning to it years later I can see why: just an exceedingly poorly designed stage. The less said about the engine room the better. This is exacerbated by the musical note count being reset after any death, forcing hours of meaningless backtracking. I wonder if it would be easier to stomach if I was younger and had more free time. Thankfully the game is still really charming; the smaller, more compact worlds are still a fond memory for me. Banjo and Kazooie themselves are great characters. I really dig effort Rare put into their animations.
#9 - Castlevania (N64)
Another game I stopped playing towards the end (probably ~15 years ago) but this time I was literally at the final boss. I remember stowing it away in disgust when I found out Dracula had a 3rd form and losing meant you had to start over from the 1st. I looked up a no-damage run of this fight on YouTube and soon enough I had his pattern down pat, even easily defeating his final form with unused roast chickens to spare.
Game #21: Chain Chronicle (Android) - 24 Hours (Estimated)
First F2P game I ever finished, didn't think it would ever happen.
Really fun bite-sized RPG/Tower Defense hybrid game. I had a bad track F2P games and it was nice to finally find one that didn't force you to fork over some cash (Although I did spend a few bucks every now and then through Google Rewards, which gives you credit for the Play Store by answering surveys). The stamina/energy part always felt fair, I was always able to progress in one way or another (i.e. leveling up a character or upgrading a weapon every time I played. As a F2P player, I'm
The most impressive part is how much content is packed into the game. All the characters you unlock have a side story quest to do which can lead to unlocking a skill for that character or give you premium currency. Each character is voiced and a variety of different character art style due to different artist working on them. There is always an event going on that gives out decent rewards. As a F2P I was still able to get some really good characters from events.
Now that I'm done with the main story, I can focus more on the extra side quests and events. I hope they announce the release date for version 2 soon.
Right Now: Picked up Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker today so i will be starting that this weekend. Making some good progress with FFV, making my way to the last lithograph.
Game 16: Prey (360) - 10½ hours [5/5/15] ★★★★
Beat campaign on Normal. Earned 25/44 achievements.
This was a really good, fun FPS game, and it has a lot of "Wow, that's cool!" moments. Starting with the kick-ass opening sequence, the game is full of surprising, disturbing and shocking moments all the way through to the end.
Compared to more modern games in other genres, Prey isn't overly creative or innovative, but as an FPS it offers a lot more than the standard offering. It's not a hard game, and the puzzles, while clever, aren't overly difficult. But by often altering your perspective and sense of scale, it ends up being fresh and unpredictable on a moment-to-moment basis.
The game goes above and beyond the average shooter with its design and mechanics, and set inside a well-realized alien spacecraft, the Prey experience is one that I found engaging from beginning to end.
I spent one year thinking about finishing this game, but only thinking, until yesterday when i decided to start all over again. What I didn't know is that I was very close to the end of the game in my original save, but I can say it was worth restarting my playthrough. To be honest, the first time I played Transistor, I had no idea what I was doing during the battles and I was getting really bored for that reason. Fortunately, on my second playthrough, the battle system clicked and the experience was way more enjoyable. Still, I think the gameplay could have been a tad simpler.
Before anything else, what was that ending? Wow, what a surprise. I wasn't expecting for that, I truly wasn't. And I liked it! I really did. It was beautiful.
The story of the game is quite complicated (something tells me that was the intention, like it seemed to be in Bastion), but what matters the most (the characters) are great. Red, the main character, doesn't speak (but unlike the majority if not all other silent protagonists, she has a reason) but she still is a great character, based on her actions (especially the one at the game's ending) and the little texts she types on the terminals. The person inside the Transistor is the game's narrator and like the narrator in Bastion, he does a terrific job at, well, speaking. His relationship with Red is quite interesting, also.
The game's visuals are absolutely gorgeous, what isn't surprising if you played Bastion. And like in Bastion, the level design is rather confusing, because often the background and foreground will be indistinguishable, making it confusing to know where you are supposed to walk. This problem would be easily solved by a mini map on the bottom of the screen. At any rate, it is not a huge issue, specially when you consider the game is short.
The soundtrack is reaaally good (again, not a surprise if you played Bastion). The game has this unique feature in which by pressing the left shoulder button, Red starts humming the music playing in the background. It is neat. Also, the ending song is one of the best I ever listened to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFrjMq4aL-g
In short, Transistor is an incredible game, one that I can safely recommend. It is also another reminder that nowadays, indie games are much more interesting than the majority of big budget games.
Game #6 Professor Layton and the Curious Village (14 hours, 06 minutes)
- Bought this on a whim after I enjoyed Phoenix Wright. Enjoyed this as well but for different reasons. Solving puzzles was fun and the story was quirky enough that I wanted to solve the mysteries. I sort of guessed the plot about halfway through but it was still a fun little game. I did all the puzzles of the main game but still have the extra ones to go.
Everyone says they guessed the twist halfway through but I can never figure out what they mean. I guessed that about some of the townsfolk but I didn't figure out it applied to all of them until it was revealed. It makes me feel kind of slow
Also I finished the main story of Diabolical Box last night, gotta finish up some stray puzzles but write-up's probably coming soon. Nobody saw that twist coming right?
Game 22: Grim Fandango Remastered - 13 hours
PC
Controls were a bit clunky, but other than that, I really enjoyed the game. Great soundtrack and voice acting. I had to look up a few solutions here and there. I guess my brain isn't as sharp as it used to be. I don't know. All in all, this was a great adventure game and no game after it really lives up to it.
I approve of the addition of the memo and the fact that digits are now entered in individual boxes instead of sequentially. Taking a train journey is a nice change from wandering the village of the first game, even if this game does eventually settle down into one city.
I'm getting sick of the constant "The Professor and Luke decide to do the thing they just said they decided to do" cutaways too considering they take 3-5 seconds and serve no purpose. Oh and that ending, at first when the twist was revealed my first reaction was "Oh fuck off", but it's so audacious I can't help but be amused by it.
Game Beaten #47 .detuned (PS3) - 2 Hours...don't laugh
(Started & Finished 5/6/15)
This is more of a mess around app than a game but it's a 'game' technically. It really feels more like a strange early 1990s take on the internet in a music video than anything. Couldn't get the song Eiffel 65 - Blue out of my head playing this game.
Game Beaten #48 Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (X360) - 8 Hours
(Started 2009? / Finished 5/7/15)
The Lost and Damned is a good stand alone expansion to GTA4. The problems of a boring protag are removed with this game because Johnny is a very fun character. He even meets lots of lively characters, and brushes with GTA4's own storyline. The issue for me is the biker gang motif doesn't feel like it was hit well especially watching shows like Sons of Anarchy. They don't find a way to make the riding in groups happen often. What happens when it does occur is slowdown and pop-in, everyone's least favorite aspects about sandbox titles. The overall story feels a little off because time passes between missions and it really is never clear how much. The brushes with GTA4's plot helps and hinders because it is very shocking how two missions can be so close in Johnny's story but so far in Niko's.
I usually don't like (turn based) strategy games. I liked this well enough because of the SMT systems implemented, plus the kind of visual novel approach inbetween battles, even though the atmosphere wasn't nearly as good as other SMT games. It was still fun enough for 30 hours, when I've reached the final phase. Which was when I should have bailed out with one of the bad endings, because the road to one of the proper endings was way too tedious. An additional 20 hours came up, of which at least half the time was grinding for demons and spells that could cope with the absolutely ridiculous increase in difficulty. I guess it was somewhat satisfying when I've finally had a proper strategy for the final battle ready, but there was also quite a lot of frustration. I would have probably been faster if I had gotten NG+ from a bad ending first and then got to a real one... At the end, I didn't even properly remember what the story was about anymore.
25. Kirby Super Star (SNES) - 6 hours;
I skipped this until recently because all the other post-NES Kirby platformers were pretty much underwhelming iterations of the original Adventure, while experimental titles like Epic Yarn and Mass Attack were the highlights last gen. However, this is still a great Kirby game I shouldn't have skipped. In fact, this might be one of the best 16bit platformers. There's really fast paced action and each of Kirby's ability has lots of different tweaks to keep gameplay fresh. Much better than anything that came after in classical Kirby platformers. The different ,,games'' are basically chapters of the same platformer really, but what really stands out that one of it is basically a small Metroidvania mixed with a bit of Wario Land and fan service and the last one is also a little inspired by Megaman I guess. Graphics are great for the console, just like Adventure before it. Only the music could have been better, I guess. And with the game being split like that, it kind of misses a proper ending that feels satisfying.
Platform: NES Duration: 1:20 on 5/6/15 Thoughts: Completed the game as part of Mega May. The game is very rough and I wouldn't consider starting here if you want to experience Mega Man for the first time. It's still a good game with some classic music. Try this out if MM is your cup of tea.
Rating: ★★★★☆ - Platform: PS4 - Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Absolutely magnificent game. The art is gorgeous, the music is beautiful and I didn't get bored with the story or the gameplay for one second. Brilliant work by Ubisoft Montpellier here, probably my biggest surprise this year, hope we'll get an other episode, maybe about WWII.
17. Titan Souls (Vita) - 7th May- 5 hours
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.
Game #15. Mega Man Zero (GBA VC)
- Time played: 14:29 hours.
- Completion reached: Beat the game twice, once with upgrades and once without upgrades.
Mega Man Zero is yet another Mega Man spin-off and is set 100 years after the X franchise ends. Unlike spin-offs like Battle Network or Legends, Mega Man Zero uses the classic Mega Man X gameplay as its base. In the game you play as Zero and the mobility options are the same that you'd see in a Mega Man X game, that is, you can dash, jump and climb walls. Like the classic X games before it, Mega Man Zero has incredible mobility and controlling Zero feels great. Here you also shoot a buster but, unlike the first X games, you have more weapons at your disposal, like the Z saber. You actually use two weapons at once all the time, which is very cool!
Mega Man Zero, however, isn't just a carbon copy of the X franchise. Instead of having you pick "robot masters" (a.k.a. Mavericks), the game takes place in an explorable environment with different missions. For example, in one mission you're tasked to search for a shuttle in a desert near the main base and in a following mission your base is attacked from the desert and you have to repel the attack. This mission based structure is pretty nice and, IMO, better than the structure in the classic X games.
Other big difference is how the game handles upgrades. In the X series you can get health and armor upgrades by exploring the stages and finding collectibles or Dr. Light capsules. None of that appears here. Instead, you collect little machines called Cyber Elves by beating enemies or reaching hidden areas in stages. Then, you can equip these elves and use them during gameplay. For example, certain elves can stun enemies and others can heal you. There are even some elves that grant you permanent upgrades, like health or sub-tanks. However, there is a penalty for using the elves. After every mission you're given a rank according to your performance and using elves lowers your rank. So, if you want to aim for a high rank run, you can't use elves, which adds a lot of challenge.
On the negative side, I have a few complaints about the game. First, since it's a GBA game, the screen is a bit small sometimes which means that you'll often get hit by things you can't see (especially annoying against fast bosses) and, a few times, you'll have to attempt leaps of faith, which is pretty bad design IMO. The game also has a lot of text during the missions which can be annoying while replaying. And, believe me, the game is pretty hard so you'll probably replay stages a lot. Finally, just like the SNES X games, Mega Man Zero tends to have framerate issues in crowded areas, but it's smooth most of the time.
Overall, I would strongly reccomend this game. I first played the game using Cyber Elves and stuff so I got a pretty bad ranking, but the game was so fun that I immediately wanted to attempt a run without upgrades (and got an A ranking)! If you're a fan of Mega Man games then you can't miss this one, unless you can't stand high difficulty since bosses in this game are rough.
Not really sure what to say about Act 2. It's obvious they've taken some of the feedback from Act 1 on board. There's a few tweaks to the difficulty here and there, and some really obscure old-school puzzles. Art design and acting remains great. Not sure how the story will play out as one game but I hear it's fine which is good considering how much changes at the end of Act 1/start of Act 2. I think that ultimately Broken Age was a victim of its own hype, but it's a good game and I am satisfied as a backer.
Game 12 - Bloodborne + Platinum Trophy (PS4)
What a game. What a fucking game. Easily the best game released this year, and easily the best PS4 exclusive game. This happened to be my introduction to the Souls franchise, and I downloaded my PS+ copy of Demon's Souls and bought Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition immediately after finishing the game. I'm gonna give it some time before I begin playing so I forget how I played Bloodborne. This is definitely the best platinum trophy I have at the moment too, because fuck the Defiled Watchdog and fuck the hour or so I spent fighting him.
Platform: NES (played on Wii U VC) Duration: 1:21 on 5/8/2015 Completed: Difficult mode
Thoughts: Completed the game as part of Mega May. My first ever Mega Man game. I was sooo happy when I played this for the first time as a kid. The many different stages I can pick on my own, the superb action platforming, the wonderful memorable music. Best of all, I was never marred by the original Mega Man game so I grew up on this game's mechanics. If you ever want to be introduced to an MM game, this is it. Plus it has two different modes for novice and advanced players.
38:16h. All masks, Gilded Sword, all Heart Pieces... only thing I missed were the Great Fairies, because fuck that noise. Beat
Majora
with the Fierce Deity mask. What can I say about Majora's Mask on this day and age? Except that I didn't get this game back when I had my N64 so it caught me by surprise. It's possibly the best constructed Zelda I've played, and also surprisingly dark and moddy. Only things I didn't like were the semi-timed nature of the gameplay and the anticlimatic final fight, which is way way too easy with the FD mask... though I understand it's sort of the reward for the sheer complexity of actually getting the mask.
All in all, one of those games I wish I could un-play so I could play it again.
Criteria: Standard completion
Time played: 5 hours.
A great start to a story that will now hopefully actually be completed. I played through this using entirely Kinect controls, and honestly think the game would lose something without it. Probably the best use of the Kinect so far for the Xbox One (not that there's a ton of competition). This type of game is usually the domain of handhelds, but this definitely makes me wish they were more prominent on consoles too. Looking forward to seeing what comes next.
- Finished 2015.1.16 | 70 Hours ★★★★★
# One of the best games ever on PS2 finally came to the PS3, when I was a kid I finished this game more than 5 times, and couldn't wait to play the HD version so I can get all the trophies and I did. The game have the best battle system in the series with a very optimist mechanics than Birth By Sleep's and Dream Drop Distance's mechanics.
Game 2 : Beyond : Two Souls
- Finished 2015.2.3 | 20 Hours ★★★½
# The story is not that perfect but it's satisfying as someone who loved David Cage's last game Heavy Rain, but the timeline makes you kinda confuse if you didn't give much attention and it lacks of actual gameplay you'll spend half of the game watching instead of playing. Going after the platinum is going to make you hate the game xD
Game 3 : Saints Row The Third - Finished 2015.1.31 | 20 Hours ★★★½
# What can I say, it's so good for a Grand Theft Auto's Parody game and it's kind of wired to say that I enjoyed it more than GTA IV, the game give so much diversity, this is one of the open world games that doesn't give you repeated missions over and over like WatchDogs and Assassin Creed. But the game have a PS2 game graphics and out of tune story that's include uncountable number twists and surprises.
Game 4 : Red Dead Redemption - Finished 2015.2.07 | 18 Hours ★★★★★
# Never really enjoyed it in the beginning it just wasn't encouraging but after the first two hours I started really to enjoy John Marston's story and the old western cowboy theme, but really hate the long distance between every mission but I guess that give the game a longer age cause I finished it in less than 20 hours by doing only story missions. The game give you an amazing moment before you face the ending it was like the best games moments ever.
Game 5 - Portal 2 -Finished 2015.2.09 | 8 Hours ★★★★½
# Didn't actually play anything like this before the game is not about killing other people.. Will it's more like killing robots but it's really different than any First Person Shooter game that I ever play and can't say I hadn't enjoyed it but I can't say also that I didn't used Youtube support.
Game 6 - Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII
- Finished 2015.2.12 | 30 Hours ★★★★½
# Well it's the better than the first Final Fantasy XIII cause this time there's no linearity, but for graphics this game is the worst for the whole final fantasy series the game graphics looks like it's been late for a whole generation and felt like it's an early PS3 game or worse, it's felt like a PS2 game, but at least like the PS2 RPGs this one have that Amazing Action RPG's game mechanic it's definitely worth a try.
Game 7 : The Wolf Among Us
- Finished 2015.02.19 | 11 Hours ★★★★
# I completed the whole season at ones. Tellatale knows how to close an episode with an interesting cliffhanger, and that's what I saw in the first three episodes and i became interested in Fables series, but not all of them have that much of super powers, they're more like The X-Men but more normal, speaking of X-Men the main character Bigby is behaving and looking like Hugh Jackman's Wolvirine.
Game 8 : Resident Evil Revelation 2 Episode 1 - Finished 2015.02.28 | 06 Hours ★★★★
# The first episode of the game is the most episode that I've replayed over and over so I can get medals and finishing it on both Countdown and Invisible mode, I can say that I memorized the whole episode doing the speed run over and over. as for the game story Capcom really learned from Tellatale how to put a great Cliffhanger.
Game 9 : Far Cry 4
- Finished 2015.02.28 | 28 Hours ★★★★★
# The Best of 2014, and the best of Ubisoft 2014's games, all of it was shitty but this game was a satisfying sequel, I enjoyed exploring the game and doing activities, and animal hunting, Sabal's and the other girl choices was necessary to change how the story goes, and that gives you more to regret for XD, I hope that the sequel doesn't disappoint us.
Game 10 : DuckTales Remastered - Finished 2015.03.04 | 03 Hours ★★★½
# It's really a simple 2D game, enjoyed playing it between games you can finish it in one playthrough, it's similar to Mario games with Disney's nostalgia, the final boss really made me pissed off, but great that there is some difficulty at last, because the game was kinda very easy.
Game Beaten #49 Super Double Dragon (SNES) - A few hours?
(Started & Finished 5/8/15)
This game is forgotten but it stands up decently. The blocking/counter button makes every boss really vulnerable. Not that you have any idea how much health enemies or bosses have because they don't tell you. They also don't even let you know when you are fighting a boss because the music doesn't even have a hint at it. The game suddenly ended on me and I sat there confused.
Game Beaten #50 Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS1) - 6 Hours
(Started 5/6/15 / Finished 5/8/15)
Klonoa is a really interesting platformer that despite being an ugly 3D platformer manages to remain really creative. The use of 3D planes in this 2D platformer along with fore/background being interactive to an extent is really neat. It feels like it has pieces of Yoshi's Island, Tomba, and many other platformers stuffed inside of it.
Platform: NES (played on Wii U VC) Duration: 1:56 on 5/9/15 Thoughts: Completed the game as part of Mega May. If Mega Man 2 was a classic masterpiece, MM3 was that great summer blockbuster you are always fond of. Yes, MM3 improved on some aspects over its predecessor like introducing Proto Man, the slide mechanism and the length of the game. However, some of the Robot Masters and Wily bosses I didn't find as memorable as MM2. Also some enemy misplacement created on some cheap pit deaths. Still, a lot of ppl love Mega Man 3, me including...even if it doesn't dethrone MM2 as the best Mega Man NES title.
Got this courtesy of PS+, overall a strange little game that makes surprisingly good use of the Vitas touch screen and pad. Couple of bits that were frustrating but definitely worth a try. Only a couple of hours long and it won't be to every bodies taste but if you've got Plus might as well try it out.
GTA V (360) - 09/05/15 (Story)
Great game, in fact the only GTA that actually I finished.
It´s big, funny and diverse, not try it a lot the online, but in one of those games that let you spend a lot of time just doing side missions, that actually are pretty fun.
The main story is great, and characters are indeed the best of the series.
For me it´s a must have, and I´m sure with the PC and the mods will be double interesting.
Finished next 2 games. This time was fast, especially DLC to Soldner-X 2.
Run Sackboy! Run! is endless runner, so I decided to finish it, when I reached 20 lvl.
Game 19: Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China (9 Hours)(PS4) – 5/7/2015
So much potential from this game. To start, i found the art style absolutely fantastic. The setting just showed how much potential an assassins creed game in china could have and if anything it just makes me want them to finally listen and give us a main game in this setting. However, my praise for the game pretty much ends there. This is very much a stealth game; while you can go in with combat in mind its not very deep or all that fun. Sadly each level plays just about the same with a small stealth tactic added which causes this game to get stale real quick. The shining parts of the game were 3 levels where you are forced to move as fast as possible jumping, sliding, and climbing over terrain. Quickly assassinating enemies with slides, jumps, or falling throughout the level. It just felt so fluid and fun. I really wish more of the game had this feel and focused less on the slow paced stealth and boring combat.
Game 20: Mario Party 10 (8 Hours)(Wii U) – 5/9/2015
Played through each party board, the Bowser board, and all the other games. As with many of Nintendo games i have been absent from them since the n64. The lack of a multiplayer was a bit odd given smash and kart taking that leap. The (new for me) change to the car system for the Mario party aspect just wasn't that fun and felt like winning was really just completely up to pure luck instead of strategy on rolls with your dice or being good at the mini-games. It worked alright for the Bowser boards but then there were so little variation in the mini games there that it got old real quick. Where as the mini games in party were mostly a good bit of fun. The side games were interesting and a nice change of pace but overall not something to keep me in the game when the two main modes left a lot to be desired in their own respect.
My previous post will probably get pretty big after I've played the games on it more and filled it in so I decided to start a new post.
Game 36: Black Mesa - Finished
Replay now the paid version is out. The current version fixes some of my biggest issues with how the free version was, but some major bugs and oversights seem to have slipped in, I guess they'll be fixed soon enough though. I now have a lot of faith that the finished version of this will be a top-tier remake.
Doom MegaWAD. While I don't plan on mod reviews here, I have to commend this one for having some of the most well-done environmental storytelling in a Doom mod, along with a really clever ending that makes you rethink various things you've seen along the way. Despite it not being the best of the best in other areas (although it's plenty competent for the most part) it came together to make one of the most memorable Doom mods I've played.
Game 40: Dying Light - Finished
Given I'm getting sick of the typical open-world AAA formula this was a pleasant surprise for me; I was already intrigued when it was obvious Mirror's Edge was an inspiration for the navigation mechanics, but it worked better than I expected. Dead Island was heavily flawed and fell apart towards the end, but a few parts of it really resonated with me; namely the second chapter in the town which felt like a true survival experience of working through overwhelming odds with what little you had. Dying Light feels like an attempt to transpose that over a whole game, and it generally works, even if your improved capabilities make it easier (but also much less janky) than that section of DI. It kind of reminds me of Red Dead Redemption (one of the only other open-world games to transcend the formula for me), in that the standard cliches of the genre are mostly leveraged as part of the game rather than just being added because that's what open-world games do. For instance, with the movement mechanics, the "run to the icon on the other side of the map" design actually feels like a innate part of playing the game rather than open-world dumbing down/filler, as there's always the drive to do it as efficiently as possible, and plenty of ways to screw that up (or optimise further). I also like how all the side-quests have actual narratives to them and frequently visible effects on the world when they're done, even if they're mostly subtle, like seeing people you've helped in safe places. Even the grindy challenge missions have some sort of resolution when you finish them. It's also one of the few modern AAA games to get an upgrade system right rather than just tacking it on; you start off a bit weak but the vast majority of upgrades have a very noticeable effect, and right up until I was almost maxed (which requires some effort to do) I had to keep choosing between multiple abilities that sounded very enticing, and wasn't just picking options because there was nothing better.
I was also surprised how much I liked the main character as things went on; in the end I found Crane to have enough personality to transcend how generic he seemed at first, though I felt the initial concept of multiple conflicting loyalties got dropped a bit too fast. I also have no idea if the villain was supposed to be taken seriously or not, because half the interactions with him seem to involve the main character telling him he's full of shit, but then the other half seems to try and make him a legitimate threat, and the implementation feels a bit confused. On that note the main story is surprisingly brisk by open-world standards, and the amount of missions is relatively low but most involve substantial content, rather than endless filler missions that most open-worlds go with. It also stays away from instanced content (one of the biggest things I dislike in current open-worlds, as it removes the whole point of having one in the first place) when it can, and when it does it's confined to buildings and other places where it's somewhat logical; outside of that the world functions the same during missions as it does elsewhere. The day-night mechanic is nice too, although removing the XP penalty for death at night is weird, and actually sort of makes it safer when you know what you're doing (especially when you realise that the Volatiles are pretty blind). I'm still not sure what to think of the multiplayer invasions; I think they're a bit disruptive rather than being smooth Souls-esque ones, but as the game went on I started to learn more tactics and gained a certain appreciation for them; I mostly won easily, but in the endgame I came across one or two invaders who kicked my ass, so I guess more knowledgeable players are capable of keeping up with late-game Human players.
It felt like there were too many attacks that had a "shit on the screen" effect which got obnoxious at times, and also a few too many random instant kills and similar (to that point that towards the end most of my deaths came from random explosions and similar, some of which I still have no idea of the origin of), and fuck the suicide bomber things. The weapon damage scaling also felt a bit extreme; at the start I could slice a Zombie in the head ten times and have it still get back up, then at the end I could one-shot everything short of a miniboss. I did play on hard which may have affected some of this, but from what I've heard most of it applies normally too. Also a QTE final boss fight when there are no others in the game, and actual boss fights earlier? FFS. Those were the only major issues I had though, outside the weird respawn system that's obviously balanced for co-op. Finally the free developer support is nice, and just as I finished an upgrade came out with content and multiplayer changes and a new weapon tier, and that's on top of it having mod support, which is all motivation for me to revisit it later (which I normally never do with open-world games).
This was a pleasant surprise. It takes the Zelda concept but changes it just enough to feel fresh, and I like the weird dream logic style of the world structure, which provides just enough structure with it's main hub area and then goes off the rails later (with that early grounding providing the context for the weirdness to stick out). The Zelda-type gameplay is decent enough to hold it together too, and the surreal themes allow for some interesting twists on the style at times. I also like how the upgrades are kept minimal and the world is mostly open with only minor gating elements. It's also got some great music.
Game 44: Asura's Wrath - Finished (+ending DLC)
An interesting experiment. While I normally dislike QTE's the game is consistent about them from the start and establishes what it is quickly so it works, it also does a good job merging the interface and the action (like the burst meter showing up during cutscenes). The non-QTE parts are actually more challenging than I expected on hard, but they are also pretty exploitable (it's really easy to just build up the gauge that makes you invincible for a bit with ranged attacks). For a character action type game the framerate is really bad at times (and the biggest challenge to hitting some QTEs), although the visual design is strong. At full price I'm not sure it would work so well for me (and the paid DLC ending is a big dick-move), but at sale price it does what it's trying to do well.
Game 45: 3D Dot Game Heros - Finished
It took a little for me to get into this, but after it started opening up I started to appreciate a lot of things it does; as a top-down Zelda inspired game it's got a few interface improvements over them (although they have mostly been implemented in the newer Zelda's). The world is very open and there's tons of secrets (such that I've apparently missed a massive amount of weapons along with some other stuff), and it's occasionally slightly obscure, even if I never needed a walkthrough for the normal progression. It doesn't do anything especially ground-breaking with the formula (beyond the unique aesthetic), but it's a well-executed take on it. The amount I missed also makes me curious to go back and see what sort of secrets I overlooked.
Game 46: Defense Grid: The Awakening - Finished (main campaign)
I've had this for awhile but didn't actually finish the main campaign until now; something about the tower defense minigame in 3D Dot Game Heroes compelled me to finally go and finish this. I don't know much about TD games in general, but going for gold on every level I can see how this game has a lot of depth if you want to go for the highest scores. I'll probably move onto the DLC stuff later too.
Alright so I finally have some free time to get through my backlog! Hallelujah!
Question: Do I start The Last of Us Remastered (Never played it on PS3, dying to play this for the first time). Do I finish Bloodborne (Part way through and loving it) or do I finish Sunset Overdrive (Got a fair way through and stopped playing not long after launch).
With this, one to go....and of course I'll be away until monday night before I can touch a game again >_<
Game Beaten #51 Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure (3DS) - 11 Hours
(Started 2014 / Finished 5/9/15)
The random missions are boring, the story missions are boring. I like the DC stuff but it's not a saving grace for the lack of puzzles. The best moment of the game is taking on Sinestro's Corp by picking a lantern of your choice to summon that corp. Otherwise this game was the worst game since the first entry.
Alright so I finally have some free time to get through my backlog! Hallelujah!
Question: Do I start The Last of Us Remastered (Never played it on PS3, dying to play this for the first time). Do I finish Bloodborne (Part way through and loving it) or do I finish Sunset Overdrive (Got a fair way through and stopped playing not long after launch).
Finish Sunset Overdrive, then play TLoU Remastered, and play Bloodborne throughout? Or too much? If that's too much to play two at once, just finish Bloodborne since you're enjoying it
Game 22 - Shovel Knight - Started 5/1/15, finished 5/4/15 - 4:57
This is a replay of a game that I beat last year but I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go for it again. This time, I did a few levels and collected as many things as I could, including a bunch of achievements. I had a good time, although the game was unsurprisingly easier the second time around. Bitchin' soundtrack too.
I've really fallen behind this month because I haven't been feeling well. Working on Demon's Souls now but it's a long game so not sure when it'll be finished.
This is actually the first "Souls" game I've ever beaten, so I guess it's the one I enjoyed the most. The story was a little incomprehensible. I got some of the broad strokes and finished with the true ending, but there wasn't much resolution, and I didn't actually understand what had actually happened until I read the trophy description. I reckon that, throughout the game, I probably called for help for about half of the bosses. Mostly the earlier ones, after the Lecture Building's farm spot got seriously exploited and I got a little overlevelled. It took me 40 hours and it was all memorable, so there's not a lot I can do in a mini-review to pick highlights. A wonderful, Lovecraftian fever-dream that I'm unlikely to ever forget. Loved it.
(Special mention goes to the online community, who are mostly great. I was invaded a few times in Mensis, and most of them wouldn't engage until I bowed to greet them and begin the duel. I only got to the final shortcut because they were good enough to sit back while I worked my way to it. I almost let him win as thanks. Almost) If you like Dark Souls, you'll like this
Platform: NES Duration: 1:46 on 5/9/15 Thoughts: Completed the game as part of Mega May. Mega Man 4 is where I saw a decline in the series. While it is a good game, you can tell the Robot Masters were a bit uninspiring. Level design is a tad better however can't say the same for the music. Totally forgettable except for Theme 2 from Dr. Cossack's fortress. Also I think adding the Mega Buster wasn't such a hot idea. Some people may disagree but to each his own. Still, it's a great game, it just happens to live in the shadows of 2 and 3.
Rating: ★★★★☆ - Platform: PS4 - Developer: Flippfly
So, like Super Meat Boy for example, this is the kind of game that makes me want to trow my controller at the screen after 5 minutes but also the kind I can't stop playing for hours. It's a simple concept but it's really effective and addictive...and hard. I love it....but I hate it too.
This is a really cute physics puzzler that in a lot of ways reminds me of my Game #9, Bob Came in Pieces. However instead of a customisable space-ship with thrust-physics based
movement you're a simple robot capable of simple and consistent movement and a single tractor beam underneath you. I think Unmechanical (which came out two years later) is the better (and certainly prettier, the input from the developers of The Ball really shows) game, but Bob Came in Pieces has more interesting ideas due to it's increased complexity.
The atmosphere in Unmechanical is really good, with lots of alien machinery and dark areas. It's pretty short at 2-3 hours, but I only had a problem with that because it ends very abruptly. There's two endings dependent on a choice at the end and I didn't even realise I was making the choice, or that I was even close to the end, until the credits started scrolling across the screen.
Not every gag hits in Jazzpunk but damn do some of them hit hard. I actually laughed out loud when I tried to interact with a turtle and ending up throughing sais and a pizza at it while a old-school spy movie sting played. It's a pretty shallow joke but the fact that it comes out nowhere makes it work in the moment. I think that sums the game up pretty well too.
31:32h. Saw credits, Adventurer Rank 64, 562 pokemon caught. Why did I play this for so long? It's repetitive and sort of boring, it only has a slight resemblance of a plot, and the usage of Miis feels out-of-place and "cheap". Yet it's cute, oddly satisfying and addicting. I'll probably replay it until I complete the Hard challenges and then I'll forget about it forever.
Game 19: Monument Valley - Less than one hour total - May 11th, 2015
So that's what the hullabaloo was all about eh? I'm not quite sure what to think. On the one hand, Monument Valley looks, sounds, and in an amazing way, feels gorgeous. On the other hand, the "puzzles" are about as easy as pie. It wasn't until the last level that I really felt like I even remotely had to think about what was going on. And that's a shame, because the idea of the geometric puzzling is fantastic. Maybe the concept would be harder to grasp for people younger or less familiar with games than myself, but for me, the concept was so easy to grasp. I'm also shocked that this game goes for around $4. I picked it up on sale for $0.99, and to be honest, that's about how much I value the experience. It was short, sweet, worthwhile and that's about it. Given the shortness and the simplicity, I find it too hard to score right now. I'll have to dwell on it., I don't think I can really give it more than a seven.
- 7/10
I enjoyed this somewhat but it is highly overrated. I hated the chase sequences, and gave up on the final boss chase after failing it once while I was pretty far along. It's just not worth my time.
11. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number / 10 hrs
I loved this sequel. I thought it was just the right amount of more difficult and it fit my play style of checking corners and blind firing from the last game. I can see why some wouldn't mesh well with it though.
April
12. Axiom Verge / 13 hrs
One of the best games I've played this year. A sure fire top ten. Sadly I find it hard to find anything past 85% without using a guide and I refuse to. Every time I went back I came up empty handed in the same areas. Still an absolutely -perfect- Metroid feeling experience.... and more.
13. Never Alone / 4 hrs
LIked the idea, pretty lame execution. By the end I couldn't wait for it to be over.
14. Monsterbag / 2 hrs
An okay little diversion that becomes way too much about split second timing instead of puzzles.
15. Pillars of Eternity / 60 hrs
Also another top ten game of the year, I am confident. Worth the wait, well worth backing(I only backed for a copy).
16. Sorcery / 4 hrs
17. Sorcery 2 / 8 hrs
Both of these games have blown me away....I've found them extremely engaging and I love that your progress carries over. I've played them a few times now, and I have the third one ready for a playthrough soon. From what I've heard it should be equally as fun.
18. Shovel Knight / 6 hrs
*Shrug* I find this one of the most overrated games in years. It's perfectly fine, but I've played a dozen other NES/SNES like games in the last few years I liked better or just as much. I played up to the boss rush. Never tried it, and never gonna go back, since that's just not my idea of fun or worth my time.
May
19. Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim / 12 hrs
Probably the worst of the Ys games on Steam, but that doesn't mean anything since I still loved my time with it and can't get enough of these....unfortunately that's basically it for this style of gameplay in the Ys series I guess.
20. Memoria / 7 hrs
Solid adventure, I enjoyed the different puzzle structure of some of the Acts. Well worth playing.
21. Legend of Grimrock / 20 hrs
I absolutely LOVE the explorationpuzzle factor of this game and have been feeling so bad for putting it off for so many years. I hate the combat though. I got used to the keyboard square dancing and they know its limitations so it never gets too hard but it's just silly and repetitive. I hope to get the sequel and find that it is somehow evolved in that area.
22. Ace Attorney Investigations 2 / 40 hrs
I played half of this last year and half last week. I have to say it is by far my favorite of the entire series. Case 4 especially. Even despite the fact that I find Case 3 pretty stupid and overly long(it's what halted my progress for so long), the characters and cases otherwise are my favorites in the series. I still haven't played Dual Destinies, will later this year.
Demon's Souls Started 4/25/15, finished 5/11/15 27:55
I suppose it's not fair to compare this game to Dark Souls, one of the most engaging gaming memories I have. After all, it was made before and Dark Souls made a bunch of changes and improvements. Still, Demon Souls felt a little empty to me. There were some amazing levels (some shitty ones too) but the boss battles were largely too easy and disappointing. And some of the mechanics (an item burden) were overly frustrating. The game simply didn't feel as polished as Dark Souls. I also deeply missed the interconnected world, which brought Lordran to life for me. The hub system was interesting and I can see why people like it but it separated the world too much. On the bright side, it was significantly shorter than Dark Souls so it didn't get the chance to overstay its welcome but I'm looking forward to bigger and better from Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne.
Game 17: Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) - 23h59m (6h52m in 2015) [5/11/15] ★★★★½
Completed all main and special stages (all star coins and gold flags) as Mario.
I beat this game a few years back, and have been chipping away at the special stages when I've been traveling. I finally finished the last four special worlds on my flights over the weekend. It got pretty challenging towards the end, especially with a few in-flight drinks in me. Lots of "Too Bad!"s and my buddies laughing at my futility.
Anyways, I still think this is a great game. Fun and addicting bite-sized chunks of Mario platforming goodness, which makes it a game that is tough to put down. The bonus content lived up to the hype for sure. I have no intention of going through all of the stages as Luigi, though, so I'm considering this one done. There are other 3DS games I want to get to.
My first review post ran out of characters, so this will be my second. The first set of reviews/musings can be found here. For just a list of the games themselves, go here.
Game 20: Sorcery! - About an hour and a half - May 12th, 2015
Let's just get this out of the way. Yes, my 10/10 score is probably hyperinflated by my huge nostalgia goggles that I wore while playing this game. Why? Because good Lord, this game is an amazing iOS version of the choose-your-own-adventure (CYOA) books of yesteryear. Many of us grew up with these and can remember making choices, turning pages, going back to earlier pages to fix mistakes, re-reading the books and letting our imaginations run wild. Sorcery! is that, but a little fancy and a little more modern. Like the old CYOAs, the game ultimately creates a wonderful, personalized tale for you, but it's unique in that it does so by mixing the fantasy prose of books with game mechanics. The world is laid out on a beautiful, old-style map, upon which you'll leave markers and footsteps to remind you of your journey. The battle system is simple, but actually requires some amount of thought to get through. You won't be able to breeze your way through every battle. Most of the game is left to your imagination, but on occasion, you will be shown a sketch of an area and you'll see sketches of your opponents in battle. Yet, even with these details given to you, most of your journey is left to your imagination. And this is what makes Sorcery! so damn beautiful. It's an amazing example of the power of strong-writing, and it's mixed with simple and functional contemporary game design, with nothing overwraught or flashy. No cutscenes or overbearing sound design will intrude on your journey. In a world that wants to leave nothing to the imagination, Sorcery! is a chance to remember what it's like to truly fantasize.
- 10/10
Game 21: inFAMOUS: Second Son - Around 8 hours - May 17th, 2015
So I finished I:SS last year for the first time actually. But I decided to go back to I:SS this week to finish up the Platinum trophy. As part of that, I had to do an "Evil" playthrough on Expert, so I absolutely played the game again. To some extent, I felt like the Evil playthrough was a little bit better written than the "Good" one. My main complaint from last year still stands. The "choices" are just too binary to take seriously. You can either be a perfect little angel or an absolute piece of trash. Yeah, so I want to be rough and tumble and kill soldiers. That doesn't mean that I want to kill activists, civilians and musicians! But the game gets past its mediocre writing by virtue of its glorious visuals and really fun core gameplay. And even within the weak writing, they still get the hero's attitude right. It's fantastic to play a character who isn't scared of his powers or resistant to them. inFAMOUS really is about "enjoying your powers."
- 7/10
Game 22: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - Around 8 hours - May 19th, 2015
It's not really an upgrade on TNO. In many ways, it might even be a downgrade. But at the end of the day, TOB was just an excuse for me to return to Wolfenstein and BJ, and that's all I really wanted. There were some truly frustrating moments in this game. In fact I was so irritated at one point that I just dropped the difficulty so I could finish it quicker. But by and large, I enjoyed myself and I hope more developers consider giving us meaty expansions like TOB. The characters and story aren't quite as strong as that of TNO, but I still found myself engrossed by the Nazi setting and the supporting cast of characters.
- 8/10
Game 23: Home - Around 3 hours - June 12th, 2015
I'm just going to come out and say it. I played this game to hunt for trophies. I bought it in a PSN flash sale for around $0.99 and was intrigued by the concept. The concept didn't actually turn out to be that amazing in execution. So because I'm lame, I finished this game to get trophy score. I wish this game had been a little bit more.
- 5/10
Game 24: Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes - 77 minutes - June 20th, 2015
Alright, I get the complaints about dissonance in the MGS series. I'm currently playing through the first MGS game, and it has incredibly goofy moments, jokes and even mechanics. Then I come into MGS:GZ and it's grounded and "real" with scenes of torture, mutilation, sexual assault and more. And then, I watch MGS: TPP demos from E3 and I see more "grounded" missions trying to tackle hard topics, mixed with goofy humor. I'm not totally sure that I'm sold on the execution of this combination. But regardless, I don't really care all that much. The gameplay in MGS: GZ is a helluva lot fun. Probably some of the most fun I've had with a stealth style game in a long time.
- 8/10
Game 25: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - 140+ hours - June 23rd, 2015
10 out of 10 for a game with so many glitches, technical issues and other problems? Yes. Yes indeed. Even with all its warts, TW3 is a masterpiece. I think the last WRPG to have a world that drew me in so thoroughly was probably Mass Effect 2. TW3 puts even that game to shame. There's not a whole lot I can say about the game that hasn't been said by others already. But from the heart, I can say that I fell in love with this world, with the characters and even with the story itself. That's quite a feat considering that I had never played any of the other games or read any of the books. Even so, the game just oozed so much substance and style that I couldn't help but be drawn in. Every quest seemed meaningful and worth my time. My choices generally seemed to matter and not to just be some facade for the game actually making choices for me. I would do something in game, forget about it and then ten hours latter, the game would throw that decision back in my face. More than all of that though, I think the interactions between
Ciri and Geralt were some of my favorite in any game ever. The father/daughter relationship that you develop is so utterly sweet and wonderful. Every scene tugged at my yearning paternal heart-stings
. I get distracted playing long games, and this game held my attention for over 140 overs. That says it all. I know we have DLC coming and the Cyberpunk, but I hope that someday CDPR can return to doing TW4!
- 10/10
I haven't written an update in forever, so it's time to play some catchup.
Game 26: Valiant Hearts: The Great War - 6 hours - July 4th, 2015
This game is really something else. I may poopoo Ubisoft a lot, but I've got to give them props for their amazing UbiArt games. I can only hope they greenlight more, because this one was really special. The story actually really moved me, and that was helped on quite a bit by the wonderfully crafted OST. It may not be everyone's cup of tea given how light the gameplay can be, but it was just what I needed to pass some time, and it was a great way to spend my 4th of July alone while my family was out traveling!
- 9/10
Game 27: Entwined - 2 hours - July 10th, 2015
I'm so thankful that I got this from PS+. If I had paid full price for this game, I probably would have been pretty furious. Thank goodness I held off. I did not have a good time with this game. I hated the controls and it absolutely punishing and taxing to play. Not in a way that felt fair either mind you, but in a way that made me want to delete the game and never come back. The visuals are vague and empty at best. The narrative presented did not move at all. This is a game that's trying to desperately tap into the emotional genius of something like Journey, but absolutely failing. I could have spent these two hours doing something worthwhile, like clipping my toenails and cleaning the gutters.
- 4/10
Game 28: Injustice: Gods Among Us - 6 hours - July 11th, 2015
I'm a weirdo. I play fighting games for the stories because I'm so terrible at them. The story here was pretty good, but the game loses some serious points in my eyes because the character design in a few spots is godawful. Wonder Woman is a travesty. The game also loses some points for having their account system not work between mobile devices and consoles anymore, rendering a bunch of stuff not unlockable. Bleugh.
- 6/10
Game 29: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 17 hours - July 20th, 2015
I loved this game so much. I had played the demo of the iOS version a while back and thought it was pretty cool, but I never got around to actually buying it. The sale on the eShop was the perfect opportunity to get the trilogy though. The only problems I have with the game is that the replay value is minimal (for obvious reasons) and there are a few instances where the "correct" thing to do is a bit obtuse. But otherwise, I really enjoyed my first meaty experience with Phoenix Wright and I can't wait to move onto the next title!
- 8/10
Game 30: Journey- 2.5 hours - July 21st, 2015
It's a masterpiece through and through. The visuals are still perfection. The OST is still among the greatest to come out of the last gen. The experience of actually playing the game is still wildly unique and evocative. Although I hold the game is a timeless masterpiece, the PS4 port does have a few problems. I still really enjoyed my return, and I'll go back a few more times for sure.
- 10/10
Game 31: Transistor - 7 hours - July 23rd, 2015
I finished Bastion earlier in the year, and while I thought it was certainly very good, it never really clicked with me. I'm not sure what it was about the game, but the combat itself really bored me. Transistor was a whole new ballgame though. The artstyle? Gorgeous. The combat? Stupendous. The story and characters? Intriguing. I mean the mere fact that the game has a dedicated "hum" button makes it amazing. I can see myself returning for a few more playthroughs given how many different playstyle possibilities there are~
- 9/10
Game 32: Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - 25 hours - August 7th, 2015
This game has been on the backburner for a while for me. I got this when it came out to play the Duscae demo, and I played it for like four hours while waiting for the demo to come out. I enjoyed it, but then I played Duscae and soon forgot to go back. So I deleted my saves and just started fresh early last week. The game frankly has a lot of problems. Much of the cast, even within Class Zero seems underdeveloped and "meh." The story is an incoherent mess and I had to spend an hour reading summaries and analyses to understand what was going on. The English voice cast is generally mediocre throughout. The port itself is vastly underwhelming and doesn't take advantage of the hardware. It certainly looks decent enough considering that it's a PSP game, but the loading screens began to grate on me quickly. I suppose it's too much to expect them to have changed that and made the game seamless, but still. So many loading screens on a PS4 game is just strange. On the positive side though, I really loved a few of the characters. As you can tell from the picture I chose, I loved Deuce. I also became pretty fond of Queen, King and Cater. As for the story, once I understood the lore and what was actually going on, I became pretty invested. The OST is delightfully good, especially that one Bump of Chicken song. And the gameplay was actually really engaging. I loved being able to control all of Class Zero and switch between characters. There were a few characters who didn't really gel with my style, but most of them were genuinely fun to play as. I just got the Platinum trophy today, and eventually I may go for a second playthrough to get the alternate ending. Overall, I enjoyed my time with the game and I sincerely hope it gets a sequel.
- 7/10
Game 33: Rocket League - 20+ hours - August 23rd, 2015
Rocket League is in every way, a joy to partake in. Whether it's actually playing the game, sharing highlights, talking shop or watching "Pro" matches, there's an infectious thrill that pervades the game. I showed it to a friend and he asked, "Is this the PS4/PC's Splatoon?" meaning "is this their weird, unique multiplayer title?" and for me, it has been that. The game provides a multiplayer scene that is more addictive than anything I've played in recent years. Perhaps part of the appeal centers around that old adage "easy to play, hard to master." Getting into a game of Rocket League is easy as pie. But mastering spins, flips, boosts and all those "MLG" worthy moments is hard as nails. And the best part is that the game makes me want to chase those skills. It's intimidating, but it manages to still be welcoming. The game is just plain fun. Everything works in tandem to create those aforementioned thrills...but more importantly, it creates a sense of fun. Personalizing your car with wacky accessories. A pulsating and awesome OST. Bright, vibrant colors. A sense of speed, and a sense of achievement. The whole game works as an amazingly complete package. I'm marking it as "completed" because I got the Platinum trophy and feel like taking a break now. Mind you, I'm not done with the game, but I need a breather.
- 10/10
Game 34: Until Dawn - 7+ hours - September 7th, 2015
This game is way, way, WAY better than it had any right to be. I was excited for it but kind of expected it to be an average game, maybe one that bordered on the old "so bad it's good" trope. But lo and behold, the game isn't ironically good. It's legitimately good, full stop. Instead of taking itself so seriously that it became a self-parody, the game seems to have a healthy awareness of the cliches and tropes that it's pulling from 90s horror movies. And the self-awareness is charming. The game never seemed intent on swaying me to believe in some self-serious story. It knows that its primary goal is to stay fun. I was also impressed by Until Dawn seeming to be comfortable with you actually not liking the characters (at least at first). The characters really play into the awkward, horny, vulgar teenager cliches, and the game is alright doing that. And it just works, so damn well. So what really stands out then, is the well done writing. Also impressive though is how good the game looks and sounds. The Killzone Engine did wonders for this game, although the whole "uncanny valley" facial issue crops up here. In some scenes that should have been tense, I found myself examining character's faces and commenting on how weird they looked...rather than appreciating the tension. But perhaps more important than "dem gwaphics" is how they manipulated the engine with camera work. I love how Jim Sterling described what they accomplished:
What I love most about Until Dawn is how its taken that look behind you urgency from the movies it apes and transferred it flawlessly to the videogame medium. Except here, youre screaming I need to look behind myself, and you cant. Youre controlling a character who has no idea theyre being stalked, and you feel like youre leading a lamb to the slaughter. Its an astoundingly disarming and creepy thing to deal with.
I ended up playing the game with three other friends through the night for hours straight. It made for a brilliantly fun experience as we switched off the controller when character perspectives changed, and had group debates on which choices to make. Personally, I'm not someone who really enjoys horror games or horror movies. But Until Dawn instilled a healthy appreciation for both in me. On top of that it also strengthened my adoration of "interactive movie" type games. Until Dawn really made me feel justified in believing that interactive movie-games can be something great.
- 9/10
Game 35: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain - 60+ hours - September 18th, 2015
Disappointment. That's the first word that comes to mind when reflecting on MGSV. Actually, that's not totally true. The first thing that comes to mind is the voice in my head going "UGHHHHHH." I'm probably one of the people with some of the most negative impressions of the game. Of course, there's all the obvious complaints. Quiet is ridiculous. The story's pacing is absolutely terribly conceived. Chapter 2 is terrible. Motherbase management is a chore at best. The missing Mission 51, and possibly other missing Chapters leaves an unfinished product behind. But my feelings of disappointment went deeper. The core gameplay that is so touted, is indeed...well, great. But there's not enough substance engaging that gameplay to keep me interested. Sure, there's a myriad of routes and equipment pieces and such. But there's not enough interesting content to use it on. Main missions range from fantastic to blah. Side op missions are nearly without exception, blah. More importantly, I feel that the game is too easy. Much like my experience with TW3 earlier this year, after the tense first 10 or so hours, the difficulty just fell off a cliff. In the first 10-15 hours, I was weighing the risks of fultoning a good soldier, tracking my suppressor durability, worrying about weather and generally feeling really immersed in the tactical infiltration. Then by mid to late game, I had better suppressors, wormhole fultons, silenced non-lethal snipe rifles and buddies that can sniff out every enemy and/or kill them. The game became a cakewalk. And I've been told what I think is frankly a lazy excuse, like "just equip less powerful gear." Why? Should I have just removed some of my armor or one of my swords in TW3? Why should I handicap myself to make a game interesting? A well-designed game (at least in my mind) should give me more powerful equipment and then give me appropriate consequences/cost for using them. A well-designed game challenges me as a player and force me to adapt to novel situations. Sure, soldiers will adapt and throw on some gas masks or wear helmets. But by and large, they seem to do the same stupid stuff at the beginning of the game as they do at the end. It seemed like they could have done so much more with the AI than what they did. The only time I really felt a sense of accomplishment was when touching Subsistence missions, but even that felt contrived. It's amazing that the shorter experience of Ground Zeroes feels more memorable and worthwhile after TPP. Maybe I'm being overly harsh, but I think it's interesting to contextualize my disappointment with the fact that I'm not a long-term, hardcore MGS fan. I went into the game having played part of MG1 and MGS1. And I expected more and I guess I just didn't find it here. Still a good game, but not one that's not for me, and I'm at peace with that now.
- 7/10
Game 36: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - 5.5+ hours - September 26th, 2015
This game was a great linear follow up to the gigantic, overwhelming sandbox of MGSV. The unique narrating style was a breath of fresh air, and I absolutely loved how the narration itself would result in level design changes right in front of my very eyes. There were touches that felt absolutely brilliant, such as the dialogue between Silas' audience while he goes to pee and the game becomes basically paused. The artstyle was surprisingly nice and the gameplay just felt satisfying. Nailing combos and headshots just felt good. The thing that made me really love the game though was that it respected my time and it knew when the hell to end. Too many games try to get long in the tooth, but Gunslinger knows when to close up shop. My only complaint was that there were times when it seemed like the game could use a few less corridors and maybe a few more "arena" type areas in between corridors. If the game had been any longer, the simplicity of gameplay mechanics and fewness of weapon types might have been a problem as well. But with its perfect length, that's not a factor at all. Highly recommended.
-9/10
Game 37: The Beginner's Guide - 81 minutes - October 5th, 2015
The entire review is spoiled because there's no way to talk about it without spoiling something of it.
I've played a lot of games over the years, but I don't know of one that has actually made me feel as physically discomforted as this one. I understand that Coda isn't real, but I still don't know if I'm settled on how I think Davey relates himself to Coda. Is it his subconscious, his artsy side? Is it all just bullcrap made up to create a game? I dunno. But to some extent, that's not totally important. Whoever's struggles were being described, they felt real, almost too real. They made me feel literally uneasy. At times I looked away from the screen while the narration rolled, not because I was bored but because I was feeling awkward. I felt like someone, whoever they were, was opening their soul to me. And without actually knowing the individual, I just felt wrong. More importantly though, the issues being described hit home. The depression. The loneliness. The need for validation. The creative dead ends. The destructive clamor for me to create more, more and more stuff. The closing people off. I've been there. I get it all. And I say that as someone who doesn't work in game design. A lot of my free time is spent doing graphic design work. And I've felt almost all of those things. And it burns and it hurts, and it's uncomfortable being reminded of that. This isn't a game that is meant to be "liked" per se, but one that's meant to be experienced and reflected on. And in that regard, I'm glad it was made. I don't think I can ever give it a score though.
