Two more in the can, though I've slowed down considerably. Descent 3 is, oddly, much much worse than Descent 1 and 2 despite being newer. And by that I mean D3 feels creakier and less refined. If only its source code had been released like D1 and D2, we might have a reasonably modern version of Descent 3 to play. Also finished Monument Valley, which was a nice little trifle but not a serious investment of time. It's very pretty and the puzzles are at least somewhat substantial (if rather easy). I don't think it's a game that'll stick with me, though.
It's up to you. The original intent was to cover any game you felt you'd gotten a substantial experience from; MRORANGE suggested you could count things like "played a multiplayer game for 10 hours," for example. Really, the challenge is more for your own personal satisfaction than anything--you're not winning any prizes--so if you feel like you wouldn't be cheating yourself by counting it, by all means.
I'm not really one for shooters, but I can get into them as long as they're good, and Resistance 3 is definitely good. In a lot of ways it feels like the antithesis of the modern shooter, no cover mechanics or regenerating health, a huge variety of specialized weapons that level up as you use them, and a manly, sympathetic, well characterized lead instead of another generic military bro.
What a fun game! Perfect sort of thing I like to get from PS+. Well written, designed and voice acted. Don't forget to use the left stick during dialogue......and the credits! Great easter egg there.
MGS:GZ is up next, so that should also be quickly finished...
My first post on GAF, feel like I've made decent progress towards 52 with a long summer of free time to come....
1) Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Fantastic experience. Controls took a bit of time to get used to but I've never seen them payoff from a story perspective like they did here, so that was pretty remarkable. Loved the visuals, too, and just a really sweet, moving couple of hours.
2) Tearaway
Brilliant. Suffers a bit from imprecise platforming at times, although that only became noticeable when going for some of the 'do not lose your stamp' trophies. Absolutely loved the look and the use of all the Vita's functionality. Worst thing I can say about it is that my face was on screen far too often.
3) FIFA 14
I got the platinum trophy so I suppose that counts for this list, right? The best FIFA game yet, recently gotten hooked on Ultimate Team, and looking forward to how they take it forward again with another year of current gen development under their belt.
4) Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
My favourite AC so far, which I never expected to say going into it. The core gameplay and some of the mission design definitely needs a revamp this year, but I thought the setting was super fun to explore, the characters and story were well done, and all the ship stuff was terrific. Also very pretty.
5) Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry
Released as a standalone title so I suppose it's allowed on the list. Respect to Ubisoft for attempting to deal with some heavy themes, but I think they did a good job. Really liked the new weapons, and the slave-freeing side missions were better than a lot of the stuff from the main game. Adewale is a badass.
6) Outlast
Thought it really ran out of steam towards the end, and the enemy AI was too predictable to remain scary, but still got my fair share of chills and the atmosphere and setting were really effective. I'll probably play the DLC.
7) The Last of Us: Left Behind
A piece of DLC that I can't imagine having not played, despite it being for a game that I thought needed no sort of expansion. Pretty remarkable achievement, makes me want them to do a sequel.
8) RESOGUN
Finished all the levels on the hardest difficulty, great fun, looks fantastic, probably my favourite PS4 exclusive thus far.
9) inFamous: Second Son
I haven't been a big PC gamer since 2006 so this is probably the best looking game I've ever played. Thought the combat and traversal was really fun, also liked a lot of what they did with the story (great villain), but was a lot shorter than I would have liked and was done with it too soon despite two playthroughs. Great while it lasted, though.
10) South Park: The Stick of Truth
Probably the best episode of South Park in years. Also a pretty solid RPG, and it's amazing how they completely nailed the look of the show.
11) LEGO The Hobbit
These games are my weakness more than I'd care to admit, although I do feel as though this is probably the most unnecessary release in some time. Still enjoyed my time with it, though, platinum trophy and all.
12) Batman: Arkham Origins - Cold, Cold Heart
I thought it was better than a lot of the main content from the base game, but not sure how much that says. All very predictable, albeit well made. Worth playing if you're not burnt out on Batman, but I'd wait for Arkham Knight.
Currently working on playthroughs of KOTOR and KOTOR II for the first time in years thanks to the Steam sale last week, they'll probably be next on this list.
Game 29: Kirby: Triple Deluxe - 6 hours 33 Mins
(Started 5/3/14 - Finished 5/12/14)
I easily had as much fun with this Kirby than I have some of the best Kirby games made. Around 36-42 levels with 24 powers, and not a dud new power added. In fact the new powers they added are pretty fun to use and the games gimmick focus feels different every time and much more thought out than Return to Dreamland. Level design is all around great and there is a lot to tackle post game if you solely focused on the story mode.One of my favorites this year so far.
Update time again, plus adding a game I forgot to include earlier!
Game 34: Rogue Legacy - 7.3 Hours
Finally got round to finishing this, had a save with just the first boss beat so was good to go back and get it done. Great game.
Game 14: The Wolf Among Us - Episode 2 - 1.5 Hours
Good, not as good as the first Episode but still enjoyable. Won't say much due to spoilers and the like.
Game 35: Batman: Arkham Origins - 10.9 Hours
Got this in a sale, glad I didn't play full price but it was still fun. Got my fix of Batman fun, luckily didn't run into too many major bugs or what not. Just by the end I was kinda done with this sort of game again. Bosses can do one as well.
Game 36: Spelunky - 14.3 Hours
Had it on the 360 and never completed it, then grabbed it on the PC and never completed but it is done. Finally. Not much that hasn't been said about this game but if you haven't played it already. Do it.
Game 37: You Have To Win The Game - 1.4 Hours
Free and it had Playfire rewards so thought why not. Pretty fun and never too frustrating. Like the style as well. Good way to kill some time for free.
May is shaping up nicely and I am finding more time to game than I thought. I guess to be "on schedule" I need to get up to 25 games by the end of next month. I haven't given up on the 52 games, but I'm betting against myself now. Specially considering the amount of time I will wind up spending on TLoU: Remastered.
I've been playing a couple games from the 29th Ludum Dare challenge. I'm at 22 games total now. If you guys have a couple minutes to spare check out Where Gods Sleep and Beneath the Surface. They're both pretty cool short titles.
Short and sweet, I think I am going on a RTS kick. Recently beat Wings of Liberty campaign now DoW2: Chaos Rising, and I think I want to play Heart of the swarm.
Anyway If you are interested in my brief thoughts on DoW2:CR here they are
Game 36: The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 3: In Harm's Way (PC) - 2.5 hrs~
Probably my second favorite episode from this season behind the second so far. Carver was a fantastic villain and I'm really looking forward to seeing where things go from here.
I wanted to challenge myself for a bit, so I thought: "Hey why not go for one of those hard NES games". To be honest, I didn't really think it was hard, more trial and error. Until I got to stage 5 and that final hallway + boss combo decided to fuck me up. I think I have spend more time in that stage than I have in the rest of the game. The final stage was pretty hard too, but way more managable than stage 5. Anyway, stiff controls and huge knock back made the game way harder than it should be. Still enjoyed it
7/10
Game #19: Max Payne 3 - 9 hours
Funny enough, I found this game to be harder than Castlevania, hurray for modern checkpoint systems. Max Payne is always fun, bullet time is awesome and this game in no exception. It was fun to fuck around with the physics and to do some stylin' moves. But I felt like the game didn't really reward the jump and shoot thing, just regular bullet time without any style. Doing a jump drained too much of your bullet time meter and you really need your bullet time to survive. I mean it's good that some modern games are actually difficult again, but in a game like Max Payne, I just want to style my way through the game, run and gun. Not hide behind cover, wait for someone to look up behind cover, activate bullet time and then pick him off. I enjoyed the over the top gruesome story and I mean really gruesome. Some parts were just genuinely "Holy shit, that's nasty". However the thing they did where some of the words in the dialogue appear on the screen made me cringe.
Game 38: The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 - 1.5 Hours
Damn. So good again. Won't say anymore because of spoilers, etc.
Game 39: Saints Row: The Third - 14.5 Hours
Started this end of last week just to do some co-op with a mate then seen there was Playfire rewards so got stuck into them. Then realised two of the assassinations didn't unlock to quite near the end so...just ended up playing through the whole thing. Played it on 360 at launch but nice to play the PC version. Really good.
Game 64 (May 14, 2014): Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS) - 34:36
I'm nowhere near done with this game, but I wanted to go ahead and put it in the record and spend more time with some other games. :lol Will update the time throughout the year, as I remember to check it, but for the record, it's over 34 hours 12 days out from release.
<cut>
If not for this 52-game year challenge, I probably wouldn't have been in a position to throw myself into this game like I have (would've had too many other games looming in the backlog), so thank you again for coming up with this idea for us to really trim that backlog and free us up to majorly dig into good games like this again!
Normal seemed about right. I picked it up at Christmas in an eShop sale where the tutorial boss killed me and it's taken me this long to try again but I'm glad I did.
My one wee disappointment is I would've loved the option to press a button and have it change into a straight port of the original game like the Monkey Island remakes did just out of interest but I can't begrudge them not including that really. Fun! And I still have the theme tune stuck in my head.
I've been updating my previous post with the new games I've been finishing, but I ran out of space, so here are all the games I've finished in may to start off the new post with as well as my thoughts on them.
May
54. Assassin's Creed III(WiiU) - May 6th - Time Taken: 14hrs 37m(Started in 2013)
I think this is the worst entry in the series since Assassin's Creed 1(not including spin-off's of course) it's not awful by any means, it just removed a lot of small features that I really enjoyed in the previous games, like how in revelations when you're walking with someone if you take your hands off the controller you automatically start walking along with them and match their pace, that's cool, why was it removed?
Also WiiU version has lots of freezing problems towards the end, constant texture loading issues(loading only the lowest quality texture) and also occasionally it'd forget to load a hay barrel or something so I'll be walking along the street and then it'd pop a hay barrel in right on top of me and fling me away, really weird.
Aside from the technical problems it's an okay assassin's creed game, but definitely ranking towards the bottom of them, right now my list is
AC:R > AC:B > AC2 > AC3 > AC1(most to least favourite)
Now onto the AssFlag!
55. Doom 3 BFG Edition(PC) - May 10th - Time Taken: 6hrs(Started in 2013)
There are only a handful of games I can think of where I agree with people who say "It gets better later on" and I think Doom 3 is going into that category.
While the early levels give you tons of ammo but only give you a handful of enemies to fight it can get really boring, and the levels are so dark you get lost very easily, but later on the game really gets going, one thing that makes the game a lot easier later on is that you can see stuff again! The game starts placing lava everywhere and that's really bright so you end up being able to see the enemies and where you're supposed to go making progressing much easier.
Another thing that makes it much better is that they start piling on lots of enemies onto you, big badass enemies will fill up your screen and you'll have to tackle lots of enemies coming at you from multiple ways which will keep you on your toes and moving a lot, but the enemies also have lots of build up time in their attacks so you never feel any attacks are cheap.
Doom 3 BFG Edition is worth it just for Doom 1 and Doom 2 which are some of my favourite FPS games of all time, but Doom 3 is an alright game, but the entire time I played it I just wanted something more Doom and when I got it, it was pretty good but still I'd recommend Doom 1 and 2 over Doom 3 because Doom 1 and 2 are Doom all the time rather than just during the last few hours.
56. Splinter Cell: Blacklist(WiiU) - May 12th - Time Taken: 7hrs 14m
In just this year alone I've started and finished the following Splinter Cell games,
SC1, SC:Chaos Theory, SCouble Agent("Next-Gen" version) SC: Conviction and now SC: Blacklist, that's 5 Splinter Cell games I've finished in just this year, I started out really liking the games, but when it jumped the shark in Double Agent and then in Conviction when it basically turned into a meh third person shooter I didn't have much hope left for the series.
A lot of people have been telling me how good Blacklist is though, that it's actually as good as Chaos Theory and this really sparked my interest, is that true? Could it be true? Well since I had 4 splinter cell games under my belt may as well add another one because hey, it can't be worse than Double Agent, right?
And...Yep, this game is...amazing.
Like, holy crap this level design is amazing, multiple entry and exit points, lots of vertical gameplay, even the small boxed levels have multiple ways of tackling the area, this is amazing! and the mobility from Conviction actually plays really well into this type of level design the sense of movement is just so good it's enjoyable to just move around the map and you're rewarded for moving around and exploring alternate paths.
There are a few sections in the game though that aren't that great
Briggs FPS level, escort missions, and the drone missions(mini rotor is cool tho)
Things I wasn't a fan of though are the lack of Michael Ironside as Sam Fisher, the fact that despite Sam being 50 something he looks around 30 something, and while I do praise the game for thinking outside the box on trying to encourage players to go stealthy I don't think the way to do that is by making the FPS drop to sub-20 levels when some heavy actions starts going on(That may be a WiiU exclusive feature though, not sure)
The game also did freeze on me at one point which was both annoying and strange since when I looked at the disc there wasn't even a scratch or a smudge on it, it was in perfect condition, weird.
Load times are also REALLY long, getting into the game takes about 90s, loading a mission takes about 60s and exiting a mission takes about another 60s, when editing your loadout they load an item to show you what it'll look like before you buy it, which is cool but when you click the exit button before the item is loaded(which can take 5-10s) you'll get an annoying beep sound telling you that you can't do that yet, and with how often I changed my loadout, it got reaally annoying.
Lots of time wasted in load screens, not a fan of that.
But overall, I would totally recommend this game to basically any stealth game fan, if you've never played Splinter Cell before this is a pretty good game to get into it, the game continues off of Conviction and Double Agent, but aside from that it's basically a standalone story and it isn't required to know anything about third echelon or stuff like that.
Anyway, ramble ramble ramble, I should play Pandora Tomorrow one of these days.
57. Assassin's Creed IV(PC) - May 15th - Time Taken: 20.6hrs
I had heard a lot of good things about Assassins Creed IV but didnt have that much interest in it since I hadnt bothered to finish the rest of the AssCreed games at the time, so now that Ive finished AC1,AC2,AC:B,AC:R and AC3 I set sail for Assassins Creed IV Black Flag and thankfully I didnt need to buy it because Niceman199 got it for free but he already had it so he gave it to me(much obliged, mate)
Assassins Creed IV starts off in easily the best way of any Assassins Creed so far, no animus talking, no mention of Desmond Miles just straight into you on a stormy night on the sea as an Assassin is coming to defeat you, and lord what an intro it was absolutely terrifying seeing an assassin on the edge of a ship as the lightning strikes its such a powerful image and works wonderful.
The land gameplay is your average Assassins Creed game, but Ubisoft has changed and removed a few things for the better, theyve reduced the inventory significantly and now you only have a few items gone are the bait for animals and the poison blade, and all that other nonsense, instead youve got pistols, treasure maps, swords, sleep and bezerk darts as well as Scorpions special move where you use a rope dart to make someone GET OVER HERE.
When AC2 came out I feel like the developers wanted to make Ezio cooler than Altair and how they did that was by giving him TWO hidden blades instead of one and now theyve gone ahead and done it again with Edward Kenway but instead of hidden blades they gave him two cutlasses, which is fucking awesome, I barely used the hidden blades though, the cutlasses are just way faster and way more lethal and way more piratey, Kenway really isnt an Asssassin in this game, I think he technically is at the end of the game, but hes more of just an independant, he starts off in the Templars, then lands in the Assassins and then just fucks about a lot.
Unfortunately the cities arent as big as they were in Ezios trilogy, really all the cities are downright tiny, and I actually think it works to this games benefit everything is more compact this way so theres less faffing about and Im more inclined to just go slightly out of my way to pick up an animus fragment or a shanty song or beat up some people in a bar brawl, in AC2-R collecting a chest generally meant climbing up a three story building, not the case in ACIV, now its two stories, at the most. This does have the downside of the synchronization moments being a lot less awe inspiring, climbing up 10 story church in AC2 and seeing a birds eye view of the area around you for kilometres was amazing, but in ACIV at most youll see is maybe half a K, if that.
Anyway onto the boat gameplay, I was really skeptical of this before playing the game thinking theyd mess it up, I was never a fan of sailing in games like Windwaker because the ocean is so empty and theres not much to do and fighting in a boat isnt much fun, but MAN, is it fun in ACIV.
It takes the same design philosphy of the cities by making everything just slightly out of your path, Ship wrecked sailors, collectibles on uncharted islands, lost cargo, all our just slightly out of your way and its never too much of a bother to get the collectibles, so theres always a lot to do on the sea, but even then theres still a lot of quiet time where youre just sailing on the ocean at night as your crew sings a shanty, its a very calming experience.
And a lot of the side things to do are also pretty fun, like harpooning a whale which works exactly like the boss fight from Resident Evil 4 with that monster in the lake.
The ocean is MASSIVE and theres so much content in it, you can even explore under water at certain sections with your diving bell and sea shipwrecked areas and you have to avoid detection from sharks and plunder smuggler dens, with so much to do in it I can definitely see why the credits for the game lasted for like 40 minutes.
Thankfully the fast travel system has been changed to accommodate the new large ocean, everytime you go to a sync point or visit a location you unlock it as a fast travel area, I definitely approve of this change as it actually made me want to climb every building to sync up because Id save time in the end where as in the previous games I tend to skip it because all it did was show off more area of the map and I didnt care that much about info on the map.
One of the biggest problems I had with the game was that the file size is massive, its 25GBs! I remember thinking like what the hell did they stick in here? but honestly its very reasonable now that Ive played the game, the game looks fucking gorgeous, there are so many little details put into the game like when theres a storm going on and its super windy all the leaves and will start blowing in the wind and so will clothes on a clothes line, and everything else, and at times Id get lost in the detail of the faces of the characters because DAMN it looks good, it also runs surprisingly well considering how pretty it is and how poor Ubisoft optimizes their games, word of advice to all of you on PC, dont use the in-games VSync, disable it and then force vsync through nVidia/AMD control panel, iunno why but the vsync in game is all glitched up and just messes up your framerate and keeps it at around 20FPS, but as soon as I swapped to the nVidia/AMD control panel I was getting 30-60FPS.
Speaking of surprising things, what surprised me was how much I enjoyed the music in this game, Id constantly be getting lost in the sound of the music at the tavern or when my crew would start singing a shanty, I absolutely love the Leave Her Johnny shanty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F3_7WqzefE
And the main theme is really good as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JudtkSaTuE
Turns out getting rid of the previous composers and getting Brian Tyler(guy who did Far Cry 3) was a much better idea, the music is just freaking awesome, it has such a pirate vibe to it and yet it also feels very unique and new and FUCK.
Its so good.
I recommend ACIV.
The best Assassins Creed game Ive ever played.
58. The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3(PC) - May 15th - Time Taken: 90m
The ending of the episode with
Kenny beating the shit out of Carver
was so satisfying.
That's what you get for messin with my homeboys ya punk.
59. Deus Ex: Human Revolution(PC) May 20th - Time Taken: 13.4hrs
Alright, I've got something to admit, I never actually finished Human Revolution, I've owned it since 2011 but I've never finished it.
I actually got up to the final boss and I forget what happens but there was a glitch or something and I just couldn't finish it so instead of finishing the game I just watched the ending on YouTube.
But now after so many years I have now finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution and it was a pretty fun game, loved ghosting through the sections, boss fights were pretty crap tho, I remember them at first taking a lot of time to figure out how to beat and being super frustrating but going back to them this time around I had a REAL easy time.
(Barett = Throw explosive barrels and poison barrels at him, Win.
Lady who doesn't ever speak = Shoot the servers, stun her with electricity, typhoon her twice, win.
Namir, go behind wall, wait for him to jump over, punch him ONCE, win.
Final boss lady, use laser rifle on her for about 4s and then win)
But yeah, it's a fun game and I'll probably be playing through the Director's Cut one day, or maybe I'll actually finish Deus Ex 1.
WHO KNOWS.
Not me.
60. Max Payne 3(PC) May 28th - Time Taken: approx 8hrs
Really enjoyed this game, I played the PS3 version a while ago but never got around to finishing it(it was my brothers copy, I got up to around chapter 7) I purchased it on PC 6 or so months ago but it had just been lying on my shelf for that time until I decided why not give it a shot, and well, it's pretty damn good.
The PC version is very good, and it controls fantastically, and it's super well optimized I have a pretty mid-to-low range rig but the game ran fantastically at 1080p 60FPS and with all settings cranked to the highest.
I wish the game was less all over the place in terms of when the story takes place because you'll start off in the "present" then go to the past, then back to the present and just zip all around, my personal wish would be that it stayed in the past and that it had comic book cutscenes for the more dramatic moments, and then during the transition to when Max shaves his head and changes his life around they stop using the comic book panels and instead use the effects that they are using in the game currently.
I think that'd be a cool way to try and show how Max is drunk and that this time he's actually seeing the world how it is.
61. Gunman Clive(3DS) May 30th - Time Taken: 88m
Finished Gunman Clive again, but this time on Hard Mode, I no damaged a lot of stages since you take so much damage on hard you end up learning how to avoid all damage to complete the stage.
Also the game said it took 88m to complete but the 3DS timer said it took way longer than that, but I'm not sure which one is correct since I do have a few other save files I was playing.
June
62. Portal(PC) June 3rd - Time Taken: 1.4hrs
Finished Portal again, I hadn't played it for about 3 years so I thought I would've forgotten the majority of the puzzles, but nope, my memory is better than I thought it was, haha.
63. Castlevania(3DS) June 4th - Time Taken: 4hrs 26m
This game got CRAZY difficult at the end of the game, the first like 12 stages weren't that tricky to beat, but then it just gets crazy difficult, I was stuck on the area before you fight the final boss for months.
64. InFamous: Second Son(PS4) June 5th - Time Taken: 8.5hrs
Pretty fun game, but I hate how glitchy climbing up buildings is, a lot of the time Delsin will just hump the wall instead of actually climbing it, frustrating.
And aside from Delsin and Reggie, the rest of the characters aren't as interesting, inFamous 2 had a better cast and better gameplay imo, so I still think that is the best.
65. Ico HD(PS3) June 6th - Time Taken: 6hrs 3m
This is the first time I've ever played Ico, and wow, what a really well done game, I loved just holding Yorda's hand and helping her get to places, also the small bits of vibration that happen whenever Yorda takes a step when you hold her hand, very nice touch.
66. Anarchy Reigns(PS3) June 9th - 3hrs 46m
Eh, I really didn't like it.
The character designs are really weird, a lot of the characters look like they were set in the wrong aspect ratio and the gameplay was super simple, I haven't tried it out on Hard mode or the multiplayer yet so maybe it's better there, but on Normal, it was pretty uninteresting, if it wasn't so short I probably wouldn't have finished it.
68. Batman: Arkham Asylum(PC) June 17th - 4.6hrs
Finished this again because Arkham Knight is coming out next year and I'd like to have it fresh in the mind, will also probably playthrough Arkham City again even though I finished it earlier in the year twice already lol, replays! WOO!
69. Bayonetta(PS3) June 24th - 6hrs 52m
I really enjoyed my time with Bayonetta, the combat system was really interesting although I did have a tendancy to fall back on the dante sword with the dante moves, I can't help it I'm too use to Devil May Cry, haha.
I am REALLY looking forward to playing Bayonetta on the WiiU though, the framerate at certain times was nearly unplayable(chapter 8 was dreadful, low FPS and requiring me to platform across cars and if I miss I take damage? ugh!) so when I get to play it at 60FPS it'll be awesome!
70. Guacamelee: Gold Edition(PC) June 30th - 4hrs37m
Finally got around to finishing this game, it was an okay game but it didn't really click with me, nothing really stood out for me to make it amazing, soundtrack was pretty good though.
July
71. Gone Home(PC) July 1st - 53 minutes
I like to think of this games story like I do with half-life, it's a pretty interesting story but the way its told makes it WAY better, it was an interesting little game but I'd like to see it expanded upon further, also there are a few things that just don't make any sense, like apparently some
hair dye
has been in the bath for a couple of years? why has no one cleaned that up? or that
One of the points the game makes is about looking in the mirror, BUT THERE ARENT ANY IN THE HOUSE, once I heard the dialogue for the bit with the mirror I spent a lot of the game just looking for a mirror, ANY mirror, but nope, none at all in the house, seems like they should've just reworded the dialogue to make it so that it didnt bring up a mirror because that's the only reason I noticed the lack of mirrors
72. Batman: Arkham City(PC) July 5th - 5.5hrs
I've already talked about my thoughts on this game earlier in the year so I'm just replaying it for fun, good game.
73. Mario Kart 8(WiiU) July 5th - 2hrs3m
Pretty enjoyable game, I've never played a Mario Kart game before so playing this was rather interesting, although I did mainly pick it up for the free game, Wind Waker HD, here I come!
74. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition(PC) July 10th - 26hrs 44m
It's a pretty enjoyable game, although OnS and the final boss gave me a BUNCH of trouble(spent 4hrs on OnS and 3hrs on the final boss, every other boss I beat on my first or second try, lol)
I LOVE the world of Dark Souls though, it's just so beautiful in a disgusting way, a friend of mine describes it as the prettiest ugly game ever, and that's exactly what I think of it as well, it's just oozing with atmosphere and I'm not sure how to explain it's atmosphere but it's a good atmosphere, in a disgusting kinda way!
75.Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance(PC) July 16th - 3hrs
Incredibly fun hack 'n' slash action game, I've got tons of hours on it across PC and PS3, hopefully there will be a sequel! 76.The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds(3DS) July 17th - 12hrs 14m
Probably the best Legend of Zelda game I've ever played, the only downside to it is that the non-linear level design makes the game get easier as you progress through the game rather than harder. 77.Batman Arkham Origins(PC) - July 20th - 7hrs 10m
Finished the main game, the DLC cold cold heart and also did the Bruce Wayne challenge map DLC.
Meh, it's Arkham City but worse, even if the game was as good as Arkham City I'd still recommend AC over AO because AC has Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill who are just fantastic <3 78. 007 Legends(WiiU) - July 22nd - 7hrs 12m
WiiU port is terrible, my god.
Lots of framerate drops and the horizontal sensitivity is WAY higher than the vertical sensitivity so trying to aim becomes a real pain and you end up having to rely on the auto aim to do the job for you. 79. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes(PS4) - July 23rd - 27m
Fun stealth game, reminds me of the newer splinter cell titles with how agile Boss is, super short though, I'm looking forward to The Phantom Pain though.
80. The Walking Dead Season 2 - Episode 4(PC) - July 24th - 96m
No comments due to spoilers, but I will just say that I wish there were more meaningful choices in this game. 81. The Swapper(PC) - July 27th - 4.7hrs
Very fun puzzle platformer that has some nice questions about what is a soul and what makes a person themselves and all that sort of stuff, recommend you check it out for sure.
Game 25: Monument Valley (Android) 15/5/14. about 90 minutes
Really enjoyed this, I'm a sucker for isometric puzzlers. It spends most of its duration being quite simple, albeit very charming, but towards the end when it knows you've got the hang of it they show glimpses of just how tough they could make it if they wanted. Or maybe I'm just a big dope but I spent a good twenty minutes on that final chapter. A sweet, pretty distraction and well worth £2.50.
(If you too have played this and enjoyed it then you should try Naya's Quest by the ever-reliable Terry Cavanagh which is similar but free and if I'm being brutally honestly a teeny bit better.)
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I can never get enough Picross. I want more, Jupiter! Though it seems like this is it for the "e" series. Maybe another 3d edition....just please something more soon!
Also beat Walking Dead ep 3, continuing Clementine's slow descent into becoming a sociopath.
Gaffers who have met this challenge will be displayed in full glory here.
Please send a PM with a link to your post of 52 games with comments when completed.
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Game 28: Mega Man Zero 3 - 2 hours (plus all my deaths)
I'm finishing off the Zero Collection sort of in preparation for Gunvolt, and this was lots of fun. It looks, sounds, and controls wonderfully, and dashing into an enemy, slicing them in half and watching their bisected bodies explode is extremely satisfying.
If I had any complaints, it's that the game is stupid hard. I was barely ever able to obtain the ranks necessary to get the EX skills, and it's just bad design to penalize you for using the cyber elves when their whole point is to be used. It's actually more reminiscent of Devil May Cry than any Megaman game.
Some fun boss battles and really liked being able to use such a variety of abilities. Been so long since I've played a Kirby game I couldn't really remember what they were like. Good times.
Game #18: Kirby: Triple Deluxe - 19 hours, 43 mins (Completed)
I didn't wanna add it until I 100%d it. It's a tradition with Kirby games. Anyway, yeah, this game is awesome. Although I found the main game easier than Return to Dream Land, the levels were far more charming and clever. The side games were legit. Kirby Fighters could've been sold separately as is and it would be great. This game was meatier than I expected it to be. Oh, and the new powers are cool too, even if Circus is kinda ridiculous.
The part that sucked for me was getting all 256 keychains, which is one of the 100% requirements. For some reason you can't track your progress for the rare ones, so unless you make sure to get each one on the first playthrough you're likely to simply not know which ones you're missing and where to get them. I had to use a guide to keep track. Not only that, the regular keychains you pick up can be repeats. If I didn't have all my Play Coins, I'd be grinding for keychains for who knows how long. Also, the music didn't grab me too much; it seemed like the best songs were from Return to Dream Land
Game 30: NES Remix 2 - 9 Hours
(Started 5/9/14 / Finished 5/16/14)
Remix 2 is great but the whole characters crossing over is a bit overblown. Its ok but mostly its Mario 2 Peach in Mario 3. The only downside is the pen-ultimate game you unlock is NES Open Tournament Golf which is extremely disappointing.
Game 8: The Walking Dead Season 2 - ~5 hours - In Progress
Episode 3 completed. Liking the direction the story is going in. Only complaint so far is that this game is going to end up being under 10 hours after the first season took almost 18. It doesn't need to be padded out, but each episode has been insanely short.
Game 17: Child of LIght - ~15 hours - Completed 5/17/14
Finished up the game just now. Liked the simple story, but the rhyming bit got in the way far too often. Some of it was cute and funny, but they should have just left it completely out, even if they were going for the storybook feel.
Combat was good and I felt somewhat challenged on Hard, especially on a few of the boss battles. The final though was a bit of a letdown as the prior one felt harder. A few of the characters I didn't really use all that since some of the characters has spells and abilities overlap. Still worth it to use them all in certain situations, but more definitely got more use than others.
As for the story:
I assume the dark world was actually our own world and they are both somehow connected to 14th century Europe and Lemuria? Even reading the confessions didn't make too much sense outside of those points. I suppose the first part was from the Queen of Light's perspective coming to Lermuria and the war that supposedly caused all of this, while the rest is from some explorer from our time?
I wish they had fleshed out some of these ideas a bit more.
Overall, I really like the game. It was visually appealing, had some really fantastic music, and had a good combat system. The story could have been better, but the main story was pretty simple and fairy-tale like.
Wonderful game, the color palette is a sight for sore eyes. And my eyes are pretty sore.
Mainly because I've been playing the delightfully greenish gray Mario's Picross, otherwise. And then I'll finally tackle Picross 2, which I've long awaited. That 52 game achievement may be a little bit. Nothing else short and already purchased is really catching my eye right now.
Frustrating RPG Puzzle Freedom Simulator, which while wrecks your very soul into a slobbering pathetic of lifeless drool (and will leave you contemplating your very being) offers one of the most (strangely) rewarding completions ever.
It's a simple game that on the surface should be completed within a matter of minutes - the goal is simple: Achieve 10,000,000 points in 1 one and you're free to leave. If you die your score is reset. Yet, it's not that simple. Not only do you face a string of increasingly difficult monsters on your run to freedom, you also have to overcome your own inability to match 3 or more tiles together.
So simple.
Yet so freaking difficult.
And thus addicition is born.
The feeling you can beat this game, with the secretly scoffing bellows of laughter from whatever twisted mind designed this game spur you on to play it. There's not much more to say than that.
It would probably be best enjoyed as an iOS/Android game, certainly one where you could pick and play in small time windows, rather than long drawn out PC sessions (and a quick look shows that it is available for less than £2 most of the time).
If you like puzzle games, and games that tease you with their simplicity (yet burn you with their difficulty) than this game is for you. If, however, you cannot stand iOS/Android apps, and despise their existance on Steam... avoid it.
As finished, I count games that I reached the ending credits in. All are on PC:
Game 1: Dishonored: Knife of Dunwall + Brigmore Witches - 18 hours in total
Probably the best DLC ever made, it is practically a fullblown sidequel when played together, better than original game. Flawless level design and atmosphere, wonderful Madsenesque Daud. If only all DLCs were like this.
95/100
Game 2: DMC Devil May Cry - 10 hours
Good action game, but I was not super thrilled with this. It is just not my genre. Some fun level design though, and cutscenes were enjoyable.
70/100
Game 3: Fallout: Resurrection - est. 15-20 hours
This is a full blown new game made on Fallout 2 engine. It is practically a sequel to Fallout 1. It takes place 10 years after Fallout 1 (70 before FO2), in New Mexico. There are characters here that are directly from Fallout 1 and it is awesome to interact with them and seeing what they were up to.
It is very hard and very survivalesque, it has deppresing atmosphere (darker than either Fallout, in my opinion). There are not many pop-culture wacky references.
Writing is fine, comparable to original games. Production values are suprisingly high. Some quests and scripts are so involved I was surprised what devs were able to achieve.
This was in development for 10 years, by the way. Its only problem ? It is only in Czech for now, english release is yet to be done (although they are working on it). I hope it comes out and is of high quality, because this deserves to be played by every Fallout fan.
90/100
Game 4: Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag - 30 hours
I am starting to loath the typical Ubisoft design of "collectibles everywhere of 10 different varieties, every other mission is the same", but it was still a fun pirate adventure. Fairly well written, perfectly voiced, I love the soundtrack and general atmosphere. Ship combat was fun. But please, Ubi, cut down on the repetitiveness and collectibles, will you? Pretty please ?
70/100
Game 5: State of Decay - 16 hours
Surprisingly chunky and well rounded survival action game. Nice atmosphere, good gameplay, enjoyable world to explore. No stupid BS like in AC. Do not really know what to add. However, 16 hours of this gameplay were enough for me, so I do not think I will be getting any DLCs.
80/100
Game 6: Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance - 10 hours
Damn. I bought this because of GAF hype and because it is MGS on PC, which needs to be rewarded (I do want MGS5 on the best platform, after all). But as with DMC, I just further convinced myself that this genre is not for me. I finished it, but I was occasionally bored. Some fights were a lof of fun and the soundtrack is brilliant, so at least that. Ending pissed me off because of a bug, but I was able to circumvent that and finish the game.
60/100
Game 7: Battlefield 4 - 6 hours
I am not interested in MP, so I only played singleplayer campaign. Oh boy. It had some beautiful looking levels and it was quite entertaining, some missions were even somewhat open, but the story and script were so horrible it was unbelieveable. How could anyone even write this shit I will never understand, but to actually let it get made and released ? WTF. But again, as far as game goes, it was fun and very nice to look at, so there is that. And soundtrack was pretty good.
60/100
Game 8: Bioshock: Burial at Sea (Episode 1&2) - 10 hours
It had some very high points (start of both episodes) and some decent parts (endings of both episodes), but the middle points, the longest parts, were the same BS gameplay, that is to say, not exactly great. I had decent fun with it, but was glad when it was over. Story-wise, it did not really impress all that much. BS just feels too convoluted for me to completely enjoy it. But taken together, I still liked it.
70/100
Game 9: Duke Nukem Forever: Doctor Who Cloned Me - est. 5 hours
This was pure shit. Basically they took the worst part of original campaign (grey boring corridors of Hoover Dam) and made whole new campaign out of it. Area 51 was just grey boring slog. I was able to enjoy most of original game, but this DLC was boring from start to finish. I am still hopeful that Duke Nukem can be salvaged though. I liked the guy and want him back.
30/100
Game 10: Dark Souls 2 - 50 hours
Despite the downgrades, Dark Souls 2 was a great game, very entertaining and ocasionally infuriating. But thanks to MP working correctly, it was not such an issue anymore. Level design was worse than in DS1, but some locations were amazing (Dragon ones, No Mans Wharf..). Bosses were fun. I liked it, but 50 hours was more than enough. Not sure if I want another game with this exact gameplay.
Oh and From, never repeat the bullshit crashing on the TV bug you pulled off here. Sure you fixed it in 3 days, but still.
80/100
Hoo boy this just rocketed up into my all time favourites list.
The story is pretty much one of the best I've seen in a game, a slow crawl through absolute pain and despair that just gets worse and worse until the inevitable heart rending conclusion. James is so loveable as a character, so filled with subtle depth and complexity that he's become my benchmark for all video game characters from now on. The supporting cast manage to have very interesting personalities, while also exacerbating the creepy atmosphere; unlike Cybil from the original, or Parker in Resident Evil Revelations, they're all completely unreliable and look like they're seconds away from snapping on you. The level where you escort Maria was one of the creepier parts of the whole game, because she seems so natural following you through the halls of the abandoned hospital.
The monsters themselves got to me in a way that most games just don't, and it's another amazing example of Silent Hill's horror process. Seeing twisted, decrepit monstrosities loom through the yawning black chasm in front of you while your radio gives off ear piercing shrieks is something that no amount of jump scares will ever match.
Not a whole lot to say other than May has been a good month for finishing games. Actually summer is looking pretty good in terms of free time. My company is going to be switching over to "summer hours" pretty soon which will free up some more time for me.
I am starting to feel a little better about hitting 52 games this year, though it'll depend on how many huge RPGs I start playing soon.
Ok game, animations reminded me of a USA cartoon from the 90s. Some of the puzzles were tedious with the backtracking, but it was an enjoyable game over a weekend.
The monsters themselves got to me in a way that most games just don't, and it's another amazing example of Silent Hill's horror process. Seeing twisted, decrepit monstrosities loom through the yawning black chasm in front of you while your radio gives off ear piercing shrieks is something that no amount of jump scares will ever match.
Game 31: New Super Mario Bros. U - 14 Hours
(Started 5/2/14 / Finished 5/17/14)
Another NSMB title another solid game. No real gripes as each level had solid variations/gimmicks to it that made it an enjoyable experience. The Squirrel suit was neat but not very useful and not used a lot. My only gripe is way too much ice flower, really hate that powerup as nothing is effected by it. Gathering Star Coins will be a journey of re-playability..
Game 1: Remember Me - PC- 10 hours - beaten Jan 2nd
Completed the game on Normal/Errorist. Picked it up for 10$ in the recent Steam winter sale and so far it's my game of the sale. Remember Me has one of the most stunning worlds, it's simply a beautiful game. I haven't felt compelled to take as many screenshots like that in a good long while. I normally don't dig linear, highly cinematic games but I was completely enthralled by Remember Me. Will probably replay it after I polish off a few other games.
Game 2: Batman Arkham Origins - PC - 18 hours - beaten Jan 12th
Completed the main campaign. Got this for free with my new GPU, At first I was kind of ambivalent about the game, aside from the larger openworld of Gotham City Origins didn't feel like it was adding much. But the more I played of Origins the more I liked it. The art direction, specifically WB Montreal's take on the characters is super well-done, I like them more than Rocksteady's. The main thing that won me over was the story, it's easily my favourite out of the three Arkham games.
Bought the season pass in a Steam sale and I'm screwing around finishing off the remaining openworld activities and combat challeneges while I wait for the next story DLC to drop. Something I didn't really feel compelled to do in Arkham City.
Honorable mention: Bravely Default demo - 3DS - 9 hours beaten Jan 12th
I played this demo nearly 10 hours. I maxed all of the jobs, maxed the village and got all of the reward drops for the main game, which I cannot wait for a pre-ordered shortly after I began playing the demo.
Game 3: Steamworld Dig - 3DS- 6.5 hours - beaten Jan 15th
It's like Dig Dug with persistant mines, loot and upgrades across three sizeable areas peppered with multiple dungeons. Fun game, overall it took me about 6 and a half hours. Got all of the upgrades and mined for all of the loot. About the only thing to shoot for in a repeated playthrough would be a faster time and fewer deaths. It's a really fun little game, I'll definitely double dip on it in the next Steam sale, although I'd say it's totally worth the 10$.
Game 4 - Diablo 3 - 150 hours - whenever Loot 2.0 dropped
Started a brand new Barbarian with Loot 2.0 and ended up with my first level 60 hero. I think I got bored with Vanilla D3 shortly after launch, I had a hero in every class but the furthest I got back then was level 42 on Nightmare before getting bored. I loved Loot 2.0 so much I powered through with that new Barb to 60 and then finished leveling up my Monk, Wizard, Demon hunter and Witch Doctor to 60. The barb and Wizard were the only two I seriously farmed with. Ended up making a few lvl 60 Hellfire Rings in anticipation of the Crusader and Reaper of Souls.
Game 5 - Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls - 100 hours? - late March/ early April
Played through the main campaign and then Reaper of Souls with a Crusader. Once I got it to 70 I farmed up my Wizard, Witch Doctor and Barbarian to 70 as well. Most of my time in Adventure mode was spent with the Crusader and Wizard.
Honorable mention: Bravely Default - 40 hours - got up to Chapter 4 and stopped
I liked the game but it honestly felt like it was dragging on for far too long. I'm not certain if I want to go back to it or not.
Game 6 - Star Wars Dark Forces - 8 hours
The Dark Forces/Jedi Knight pack went on sale and since I owned the series but hadn't played it, I decided to hammer my way through them all. I hadn't played Dark Forces before this, it was a pretty solid SW themed Doom clone.
Game 7 - Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II - 9 hours
First time playing through Jedi Knight. A sizeable leap over Dark Forces but the force powers and lightsaber combat were kind of more an interesting idea at this point in the series.
Game 8 - Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast - 9 hours
This was the first game in the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series that I played back in the day. I love it as much now as I did back then. It's just so damned fun once Kyle gets his saber and force powers.
Game 9 - Star Wars Jedi knight Jedi Academy - 13 hours
Played through the game twice as a Light and Dark Side Jedi, just to try out both Force affinities and to see the different possible endings. Mechanically it's the most refined game in the series but it's still not as good overall as Outcast, for my money.
Game 10 - Tearaway
I loved this game from start to finish. The overall aesthetic and soundtrack are completely brilliant and I loved how the game used all of the Vita's various features (front and rear touch as well as the built in cameras and microphone).
Honorable mention - Final Fantasy X HD - put in over 40 hours before stopping
Got bored and stopped, pretty close to the end too. I'll probably get back to it when I've got nothing else to play.
I think what gets me about the Zero series is that for every good idea, they bring in a bad one or take away something that previously worked. Zero 1 had an interesting hub system where you could fail missions but still keep the story going, but you had to grind weapon skills and the cyber elves were practically useless. Zero 2 made them a little better and added in the EX skills but ditched the hub system. Zero 3 had probably the most streamlined gameplay system and customization and ditched the terrible weapon grinding but replaced the awesome Chain Rod with the useless Recoil Rod. Now there's Zero 4, which has the best Cyber Elf system, easier to access EX skills, a cool mechanic where you can alter weather to make levels easier or harder, but is one of the grindier games in the series, with upgrades acquired by scavenging for parts from defeated enemies, instead of just getting them from bosses like the other games. It's just total busy work, and I only payed it any attention at the very end, where the final level kept curbstomping me and through a handful of recipes I ended up stupidly overpowered. Lastly, the Z Knuckle ended up being mostly useless, since enemy weapons are never worth the effort I like the idea behind it, though. I'd like a whole game based around stealing weapons from enemies. Still, it's a good finale to the Zero series, and it has the best level design of them all.
Game 20: Papers, Please (PC) [Played: 4 1/2 Hours]
NEXT!
Papers, Please...
DETAIN!!!!
How can a game about a border control booth be interesting? It's the characters involved. The premise is simple enough, point and click your way through documents making sure people have all the correct papers required to enter your glorious nation. Earn enough money to feed your family and keep them safe, and everything else is just secondary... or at least that's what you think.
As you play through this game familiar faces are formed, characters and their stories start to become apparent and a small morality check starts to creep across your thoughts - do I keep my family safe or do I help this stranger out?
This game might not be for all, as it's simple graphics and audio might put some people off, and it's not the most 'exciting' of games, however if you don't require constant action and zany cutscenes than you might find something different in Papers, Please.
This is actually a great wee game but has a huge flaw that tainted my enjoyment of it quite a bit - like all the New titles, you can't save when you feel like it. Unlike the rest of them, I found it very difficult to build up a stockpile of lives and saw a continue screen a few times so I couldn't go for the star coins in every level with the constant threat of losing everything and starting back at the last save with five lives. Whyyyyyyyyy. Fantastic level design throughout and plenty of content but points off for the needless limited saves. Or just remove lives entirely!
19) Dawn of War 2: Retribution
DoW2 was a nice evolution from Chaos Rising. I really liked being able to play multiple campaigns from different races, even though that resulted in shorter campaigns overall. Being able to summon regular ground units to go along with your heroes was a nice touch as well. Other than that, I recommend playing it on a higher difficulty. It becomes too easy otherwise, specially if you decide to do all the optional missions.
20) Project Diva F
Diva F was a slow burner for me. I played a few songs a night before I went to bed and I finally reached "the end", for me at least. Got all the trophies I was interested in getting (no interest in leveling up friendship portion of the game), and played my favorite songs to death. Now all that is left is waiting for Diva F 2, and go back to playing DJMax. I do have to say I preferred the controls in Diva F to DJMax.[/QUOTE]
44. Metroid Fusion (Finished 5/18/14 - total playtime 3 hrs 53 min)
Comment: I came into this game having never played it before and now that I've beaten it I'm kicking myself for not having played it sooner. I really enjoyed playing this game especially the new game mechanics that allowed you to absorb enemies in order to replenish Health & Ammo. I also really liked most of the boss battles and the tension of having to hide from the SA-X throughout parts of the game.
This is actually a great wee game but has a huge flaw that tainted my enjoyment of it quite a bit - like all the New titles, you can't save when you feel like it. Unlike the rest of them, I found it very difficult to build up a stockpile of lives and saw a continue screen a few times so I couldn't go for the star coins in every level with the constant threat of losing everything and starting back at the last save with five lives. Whyyyyyyyyy. Fantastic level design throughout and plenty of content but points off for the needless limited saves. Or just remove lives entirely!
I agree that the lack of between-level saving is pretty rough at times. FWIW, you do unlock the ability to save anywhere after beating the game normally.
Aye, I remembered that from NSMBU so just kind of powered through the game so I could go back at my leisure later and get the stars. Bit daft though as the stars are the best bit. Still I enjoyed it a lot, I don't want to sound too down on it.
