1. Remember Me (PC)
2. Batman Arkham Origins (PC)
3. Steamworld Dig (3DS)
4. Diablo 3 (PC) Cracked out on Loot 2.0, made brand new 60's in all classes
5. Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls (PC)
Retired Bravely Default after Chapter 4 (3DS) I am simply not playing Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8. First half of Bravely Default is one of the best rpgs Square has published in years, second half is one of the worst.
6. Star Wars: Dark Forces (PC)
7. Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC)
8. Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast (PC)
9. Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (PC)
10. Tearaway (Vita)
Retired FFX HD at the 40 hour mark. (Vita)
11. Professor Layton & The Azran Legacy (3DS)
12. Watch_Dogs (PC)
13. Thief (PC and PS4)
14. Broforce (PC)
15. Wolfenstien: The New Order (PC)
16. Infamous (PS3) - Good, Evil and Hard 93% complete
17. Infamous 2 (PS3) - Good, Evil and Hard, 100% complete
18. Infamous: Festival of Blood (PS3) - 100%
19. Infamous Second Son (PS4) - Good, Evil and Hard 100%
I'm glad this turned out as good as it did, since I was starting to worry about its quality after some of the previews.The gameplay is super slick and lightning fast, the graphics and soundtrack are very reminiscent of Mega Man Zero and give off a cool cyberpunk vibe that's really fell off the radar these last years, and the boss battles are up there with some of Mega Man's finest. I wish there was some more story focus since it has some really cool concepts that I hope get more developed in a sequel (and there had better be a sequel. You cannot just leave things off on that ending, dammit).
World 9 was a treat to play for me. World 8 was much more difficult in comparison. I think World 9 was about getting into a groove more, but as long as you were in that groove, the level was smooth like butter!
I know that Catherine came out over three years ago, but after finishing it, I'd have to say that this game is now firmly in my top three 2014 GOTY list (Behind P4G and FFX HD).
What an amazing, amazing game. Let's just talk boring stuff first: the puzzling is fantastic. I suck at timed puzzles, so I actually struggled with some levels even on easy. Yes, I know, I suck. But towards the end of the game, I had really gotten the hang of the puzzling, so I plan to go back and give it a shot on normal. The puzzling is satisfyingly deep and the game continues to throw enough challenges at you that levels never feel really repetitious or boring.
Now for what I really care about: the other stuff. First off, the aesthetic. It's gorgeous. The anime cutscenes are beautiful, and the "normal" cutscenes are quite nice as well. The general aesthetic of the game, not just in cutscene, is stupendous. I'll say that in terms of Persona 5, I'm hoping that they manage to pull something of a similar quality off. Second, the music. It's really quite excellent and I've enjoyed listening to some of the tracks now that I'm done. It's not shockingly good and it's no GOAT, but it really serves the game's atmosphere well. Which brings me to my third thing: the atmosphere of the game. I think the atmosphere of the game is really summed up by the Stray Sheep bar. What an awesome setting. You can talk with friends, acquaintances, get drunk, text your girlfriend, play an arcade machine and change the music. Again, this is something I'd like to see in Persona 5, the use of a dynamic environment where people who you want to talk to come and go.
More importantly, what makes the game really stick out to me is the theme and story. I've seen some posts accusing the game of sexism and such. I think that if sexism is what you get out of Catherine, you've missed the point. I will say two things about the game to be fair though. 1) Atlus should have toned down the "sexy" covers and advertising. I assume they did it to get people to look at the game, but I know that even I who am pretty open to Japanese games thought it was just some kind of pervy story. And it's not. It's an incredibly mature story. 2) The game is not geared towards women at all IMO. While a similar story could easily be written from a female POV, the game with its bar bros and Vincent's struggles is clearly targeted towards young men (20s-30s).
Back to the theme itself though. I found the idea of commitment issues, "growing up" and struggles with "freedom" to be highly relatable and poignant. Listening to some of Vincent's inner monologues worrying about committing to Katherine, I was reminded of past relationships where I felt the same. However, even for guys in stable relationships (I'm single so take my opinion here with a grain of salt), I think this game will still have something to say. It's something we all (male and female) struggle with at some point in our relationship. And I think what makes Catherine stand out so much (at least to me) is that it handles these ideas in an incredibly mature way. It has its share of cliches and silliness, but overall, I always found myself marveling at how well the game was tackling these issues. Now granted, there's always room for improvement, but this was one of the first games that I've really felt such a strong message from.
I got one ending
True Lovers
, and I do intend on going back to get the rest. I don't know when I'll do it (not right now), but I'll be returning to Catherine for quite a while.
63. Wolfenstein: New Order...this game was amazing, definitely the best FPS since HL2. I thought I hated FPS's actually, but I now realize, they just suck by and large. I loved the characters, the story, the controls, the pacing.
Nice, the Hall of Fame is getting far bigger as of late!
Continuing on...
Game 55: Mortal Kombat (Vita) - August 25 - 21 hours
I've never liked MK mechanics, but I did enjoy this game enough to beat the game with each of the 32 characters and then the story mode. Didn't touch multiplayer. Roster was huge, graphics great, but I found a lot of the Xray moves and model damage grotesque. The story mode was very well done, with a ton of fights and 16 different characters used. Solid enough game, caused me to go right out and get Injustice.
Game 56: Test Yourself: Psychology (PS3) - August 30 - 3 hours
A Brain Training style game, with zero humor and charm. Not my cup of tea, but the wife bought it on a whim, and I went through each exercise once or twice. Cheap enough, I suppose.
Game 57: Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Persian Carpet (PC) - September 2 - 7 hours
Love Frogwares and their Sherlock games, keep them coming. I bored through this one fairly quickly, and it is more of a casual game, hidden object sections and the like. There were a few puzzles that kicked my ass, though, like the clown card game, ugh. Solid game overall.
Game 44. Batman: Arkham Origins, PC, 15 hours
I enjoyed it for what it was. It felt smaller than City, which is good. But still too big. I miss the claustrophobia of Arkham Asylum, and Knight sure as hell isnt going to deliver that. Nevertheless, completed the core game, did most, but not all of the missions. Wrapped up the story as I just felt like putting this one to bed.
Definitely worth going back for the endings, Catherine is one of my favorite games and I'd love to see Persona 5 match or pass the quality of the visuals.
I completed game 52 today! Some of the games I've played are a bit short, like Shivah, but I suppose I'll be able to finish a few more long games before the years end.
Game 58: Mind Zero (Vita) - 52 hrs 21 mins
Not sure why I even finished this. Played it because of the Persona comparisons but those aren't that accurate. Much closer to dungeon crawler leaning SMT games from what I can tell. Everything just felt really mediocre. Kept telling myself that it might grow on me but it never did. By the time I realized this I was too far gone.
Game 59: Always Sometimes Monsters (PC) - ~8 hours
Interesting idea for a game. Really enjoyed the branching paths even if they really only ended in a few different places. Was also really nice to have such variety in choices for the protagonist and such things.
Game 60: Shinobido 2: Rise of Zen (Vita) - 6 hrs 22 mins
Been wanting a stealth game similar to Tenchu for awhile now so I was pretty excited to play this one. It was pretty decent for what it was. The grappling hook was possibly the worst controls I've experienced in a game and combat was pretty bad but games like this are hard to come by.
Game 21: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep [PSP] 31:11
FIrst KH I've finished in the series, really enjoyed everything about it for the most part, PSP graphics for this game really hold up well, although it's not that old I guess.
Game 22: Corpse Party [Vita] 9:06
Loved this game so much, great music, awesome atmosphere. Everyone needs to give this game a chance. So good.
Game 23: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc [Vita] 28:58
Amazing characters, AWESOME music, Monokuma is a great mascot in a game. Visual novels continue to deliver, can't wait to pop 2 in asap.
Now Destiny awaits...we'll see how slow I beat games from here on out.
Ah, MrOrange is busy. Well, here it goes, all the 52 games I've managed to squeeze into this year!
Game 1. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages - January 8th - I technically started this at the end tail of 2013, but I went through most of it in 2014. OoA looks great for a GBC game but... honstly, I was disappointed. A lot of it was dull and very tedious (Jabu Jabu Belly, the collectathon at the island) and I felt it was badly paced. Game 2. Oracle of Seasons - January 15th - I actually preferred it to OoA, contrary to popular opinion. I found it better paced, the item selection was better, I prefered the main gimmick of OoS compared to OoA, as well as Subrosians to Tokays and overall found the game far less tedious. Pleasently surprised. Game 3. Kid Icarus - January 19th - the game is... actually good! Never before have I managed to get over the hump at the beginning but this year I pushed on and made it! The game gets much easier and enjoyable once you get through the first few levels and you start to understand it's mechanics. There is some decent variety between the levels too!n Game 4. Papers Please - January 25th - well, it was OK. Interesting game. I didn't really feel as emotionally invested as others so maybe that made this game not as outstanding as it did for others. Game 5. Super Mario 64 - January 29th - A long delayed replay spurred by AGDQ hype. The game looks terrible on my TV and controls are sometimes sloppy (N64 stick...), but I still had a ton of fun. First time I went through the entire 100% run since SM64DS! Controversial perhaps, but I still liked it over SM3DW. Game 6. Eternal Darkness - February 7th - part of what I always considered an eternal backlog, I've been meaning to play this game for over a decade and finally I did! First thing that stands out is 60fps, sweet, makes the graphics look less dated than they were and easier on the eyes. One of the best written games I ever played, ED seeps with atmosphere. Sanity meter is a fantastic addition, though combat could use some work as it feels very clunky. Game 7. Super Meat Boy - February 9th - I picked it up after a long time and made huge strides through it. As I last played it in 2010 I decided to go through all the levels from the beginning to the last normal evel. Didn't go for completion though as my thumbs started to really hurt after a while :/ Game 8. Metroid Fusion - February 13th - a quick replay of the game when I didn't have access to any console but 3DS (ambassador program thank god). It's still cool, though it certainly helps that I've played this game n times before and I know it really well. Game 9. Sonic the Hedgehog - February 17th - yeah, I'll never get why Sonic was as beloved as it was. Pretty cool game but the uneven pace kills it to me. Water levels are some of the most frustrating I've ever played in well designed games. Game 10. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - February 19th - a huuuge improvement over the original one, the difficulty curve is better, it's harder and a lot of water segments are skippable. Game 11. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - February 21st - I actually think I liked Sonic 2 more as far as level design goes, though going simply by mechanics this one is superior (varied bonus stages, choosable characters, SAVES). I vastly prefered the gameplay of Sonic 2, however... Game 12. GUACAMELEE! - February 25th - heck yeah metroidvania! It's great to see an indie dev take a stab at the genre and succeed that much. Very unique setting with interesting power-up design (chicken morph ball!). I really loved that special abilities could be used for both combat and platforming. Combo system was fun too. Game 13. Sonic & Knuckles - March 2nd - ok, Sonic & Knuckles! I ultimately decided to split it as they were released separately. This one is much better. There is some really incredible stage design going on here and it's impressive. Besides Mushroom Hill all the later stages are fantastic. Game 14. Duck Tales - March 2nd - I... I guess I expected more. It's pretty cool, but the game is so universally praised that I thought I'll be blown away... yet I wasn't. Hopping on cane is sometimes an exercise at frustration as it doesn't always connect as you'd expect. The music is sweet though! Game 15. Swapper - March 3rd - very eerie, great atmosphere. The game felt very disturbing and oppressive. Reminded me very much of Duncan Jones' Moon. Recommended. Game 16. Fez - March 8th - now holy moly some of you weren't kidding, this game is a masterpiece. It's mind-bending, impressive and beautiful. Stunning world design, deceptively deep gameplay and impressive puzzles. One for the ages, haters be damned. It's incredible detailed too and the music is so soothin. Beautiful game. Game 17. South Park: Stick of Truth - March 9th - I think that's the best game adaptation I've ever played. It's by no means perfect, but it's really fun, varied and HILARIOUS. I found myself laughing at the ludicrous scenarios throughout the length of the entire game. As a South Park fan it was everything I could have ever fished for from a South Park video game. Game 18. Super Mario Bros. 2 - March 15th - let's revisit the Mario series! The game is ok, but I think I liked more years ago. World 6 was incredibly frustrating and it was weird that World 7 was so much easier. It's the black sheep of the series for a reason. Game 19. Conker's Bad Fur Day - March 16th - really addicting game. Gameplay was often just incredibly frustrating, but I was engaged throughout the time and was surprised at the scenarios conjured up by Rare. It's stunning for an N64 game too, the writing and voice acting is top notch and the game is hilarious, if very low brow. Game 20. Super Metroid – March 20th - though I don't consider it any more the greatest game ever made, it's still a masterpiece. A milestone in game design. Incredible, stunning game. Game 21. Battlefield 3 - March 27th - new PC! Giraffics were great and the game looks stunning but god damn is the SP campaign terrible. It's so generic, it's baffling they released it as it is. Feels like a joke at times. It's really bad. Game 22. BioShock 2 – April 2nd - not as surprising or impressive as the first one, but at least it had a decent ending instead of that abomination of the original Bioshock and the game generally played far better. Playing as Big Daddy is far more fun than Jack in Bioshock 1, even if it doesn't make much sense in the context of the story. Game 23. Minerva's Den – April 5th - fantastic DLC, Minerva's Den has some of that Bioshock spark while retaining gameplay innovation of Bioshock 2. It enhances Rapture as a setting and the twist is carried out really well with little hints stuck throughout the narrative. One of the best DLCs I've ever played. Game 24. BioShock Infinite – April 9th - a beautiful, beautiful game. Very engaging. I loved the setting, loved the story, loved the characters. I even liked the gameplay mechanics, as shallow as they were. The gunplay isn't great, but I tried mixing it up as I went on. In my opinion this was the best Bioshock game. Game 25. Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode 1 – April 12th - not much more than a stopgap to fulfill 3 DLC obligation. It's ok but is overly rather useless besides the beginning showing Rapture at the height of it's glory. Game 26. Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode 2 – April 13th - I absolutely hated it and I hated what it did to the narrative of Infinite. Disastrous. Here's a wall of text I've written about the gazillion problems I've had with BaS Ep. 2. It's a disaster, is what it is. Game 27. Super Mario Bros. – April 16th - back to Nintendo and Mario! This was the first time I played through all the levels from 1-1 to 8-4 in a long time. Genius game, the simplicity of it's design is at the same time one of it's greatest assets. Engaging pick up and play gameplay, a triumph in game design, it still plays well. Legend. Game 28. Super Mario Bros. 3 – April 27th - I forgot just how densely packed and varied this game is. A ton of content, tons of variety and it's far more challenging than I remembered. Overall replay of this one improved my opinion on the game and moved it back to top spot of classic 2D Marios. Game 29. Pokemon White – April 27th – it’s been some months since Gen VI, it's time to transfer my good old Gen III pokes to X! The gen I skipped, it's drags really bad at the beginning. I found the rival characters annoying and that there was far too much emphasis on the story... which was rather weak. I still love the series and once you get hooked it's hard to resist rushing to the end. Game 30. Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels – April 28th - oh christ it's hilariously devilish really. I can't get really angry at the game when I'm laughing at how vile it is. Game 31. Super Mario Land Short – April 29th - wait, it's that short? And it's so easy... was it always so easy? Why did I even have any problem as a child with this game. The hell. Game 32. Pokemon LeafGreen – May 18th - sat down to it with friends after TPP, it's amazing how much I remember from this game, seriously. However this was a blessing and a curse as I planned the team perfectly to get through the gym leaders at hilariously low levels and I totally hit a wall at Pokemon League. The grinding :/ Game 33. Batman: Arkham Asylum – June 6th - start off slow, I hate the usual UE3 look and I'm not too attached to Batman comics... but does it pick up oh my! Even though I knew it was highly acclaimed back in 2009 I still managed to be surprised that it's really damn good! I didn't bother much with completion as, as I said, I don't care much about that universe, but to Rocksteady I say BRA-VO! Game 34. Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone PC – June 8th - I... I don't even know why I managed to get through it in some misguided attempt at nostalgia. It's so dull So dull. Obviously rushed development, plain bad gameplay and bland level design. At least it surprisingly has a great soundtrack composed by no-one else but Jeremy Soule! But that's about the only redeeming factor of the game. Avoid at all cost. Game 35. Mario Kart 8 – June 12th - so fun, so good. There could be some improvements obviously and the roster has some weird omissions, but it's a solid entry into the series. Finally a console Mario Kart to replace MKDD for me! It's been a while... Game 36. Luigi's Mansion – June 18th - well it sure was an interesting experiment. A very unique game, though somewhat monotonous at times. It's short, but due to that it doesn't overstay it's welcome. There are some really nice particle effects and the game generally looks great and moody. I don't think there were many games that played even remotely similar since (obviously besides LM2). Game 37. Super Mario World – June 19th - on the flipside, I liked that game better 10 years ago. I think it's a stepback in design over SMB3 and I prefer this game's physics to SMW ones. Kinda feels like it was, well, next-gen Mario. Better graphics, some new gimmicks, but ultimately kind of inferior to the predecessor. It started the collectathon trend in Mario games too, which I'm not too fond of. Game 38. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins – June 20th - so errr. The physics are weird. The game is shortish, but has some interesting and bizarre settings. Newer Marios could take a cue in that regard, experiment a bit. I think I still prefer the original Mario Land. Also, rabbits ears are totaly, completely, utterly broken. Game 39. Donkey Kong Country – June 24th - ...it's ok. I still think the game is overhyped (but I generally think that about most of Rare's output so maybe I ma biased against them), but it's not bad by no means. The difficulty level in later parts of the game is very cheap though. Not even something I'd call really difficult, but cheap. That is, until the final world which is very weird and experimental (and easier than prior worlds). It's fine though I don't think I'll ever get why these games are so beloved. Game 40. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – June 30th - RULES OF NTURE! I made an entire LTTP thread on this one. Suffice to say, I LOVED it. There are few games as beautifully over-the-top and fun to play as that one. It should by no means be taken seriously and if someone likes camp and playing video games, Revengeance is one of the most satisfying games of all time. Game 41. Gone Home – July 2nd - ummm... that's it? It was ok, but eh. Eh. It's neither earth-shaking achievement in game design, nor the big scary boogeyman that will destroy gaming. It's worth a shot and it's touchy feely and cute, but that's about it. Game 42. Dear Esther – July 8th - ...interesting. It's worth a shot and the views are STUNNING. Spoilers are best averted as it's better to piece the story yourself. One of the best looking games I've played (design-wise that is obviously), honestly. Game 43. Metroid 2 – July 11th - another one that I don't think I ever pushed to the end! A high quality effort by Nintendo, but one of my least favorite Metroid games. Great job at bringing Metroid gameplay to GameBoy, while still retaining some of the series' characteristics. Later levels are incredibly linear though. Game 44. Assassin's Creed 2 – July 30th - great game, but a terrible PC port. The plot of the game is absolutely ludicrous but it's fun how they try to tie that many historical events into an overarching conspiracy. It's engaging and the setting is great. It felt weirdly great when I arrived in Venice, got to Piazza San Marco and saw that HEY! I've been there, like, in real life! However, sidequests are mind-numbingly monotonous (especially endless assassination contracts... I know, you are an assassin, but there's way too many of them and they're not varied enough). The game also gets incredibly frustrating when it demands some level of precision from you, automatic platforming just isn't made for that. Game 45. Mega Man – August 13th - I don't even know why I replayed it. Why not I guess. Cool game, eh. Game 46. Mega Man 3 – August 13th - they really upped the production values in this one huh. I like it and there are some great improvements on Mega Man 2, but I'm not sure they needed to extend the game by adding second visits to some of the levels. Overall, I still prefer MM2. Game 47. Punch-Out!!! – August 14th - in the series of all-time classics that I never pushed on to the end, here's the last one in this list! It's fun, I guess, but I'm never gonna bother with Mike Tyson (well, technically Mr. Dream I guess). Too much of a hassle, I'm too weak Game 48. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood – August 17th - I played this after returning from a week in Rome and man, it felt good knowing instantly how to navigate the city. Precision is still a problem, but at least the combat had been massively streamlined. Mechnically the game is definitely superior, but I feel ACII was more... inspired. 100% sync is a mess, sometimes I liked it as it changed the way I tackled the mission, but going for 100% sync? Hell no. Especially with some of the more frustrating missions which you can fail even if you do it properly (because for whatever reason when killing two guards at the same time the game can register you as spotted by one of them). Too tedious. Game 49. Journey – August 20th - well, now that's something. It's a beautiful, unique game. Every game should play it. Very unique, charming and stunning.
Chills at the ending when you start soaring through the mountain, it reminded me of The Fountain. Playing with others is implemented really well, even if the charm is somewhat broken when you see their PSN names...
Game 50. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune – August 28th - eh, I liked it. However I found it fundamentally flawed, for reasons I listed here. I guess if you don't have anything else to play, why not, but it's easily skippable. FWIW, I thought Uncharted 2 fixed nearly every single of it's flaws.
However, guardians were incredibly frustrating
Game 51. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror – 29th - I didn't play a Kirby game in a long time and hey, it's sitting here as an ambassador game so why not! It's... not that good though. Sure, it's fun to play, but the quasi-metroidvania design works against this game. It's too messy and confusing, though it's fun accidentally stumbling on a boss of an area before figuring out a way to the chest with the area map. It does feature some incredibly catchy tunes though! Game 52. Fire Emblem Awakening – August 30th - and the fifty-second game on the list if Fire Emblem Awakening! I LOVED it! I didn't expect to be so gripped by the game and I was always wary of playing japanese SRPGs, but this one changed my mind, I'm sure to check out other similar games next year. It's really fun and engaging. Story is nothing to write home about but for some weird reason I really enjoyed shipping characters. I'm not sure if it's my fav 3DS game, I just finished it last week and I have to consider Kid Icarus Uprising, but it's a must-play for any 3DS owner.
Well, here's that. This was amazing for my backlog and I'd like to thank deeply the creators of this thread, I don't think I would've done it without noticing this thread in January. I don't think I'm ever gonna attempt anything like this again
Game 1: Lego Marvel - Completed in January (but started in December) (Platinumed) Game 2: Knack - Completed in Jan (Platinumed) Game 3: Infamous - Completed in Feb (Platinumed) Game 4: Infamous 2 - Completed in Feb (Platinumed) Game 5: Ratchet & Clank: Crank in Time - Completed in Feb (Platinumed) Game 6: South Park: Stick of Truth - Completed in March Game 7: Infamous: Second Son - Completed in March (Platinumed) Game 8: Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeros - Completed in April Game 9: Final Fantasy X HD - Completed in May (Platinumed) Game 10: Mario Kart 8 - Completed in June (unlocked all the tacks/ chars) Game 11: Last of Remastered- Completed in August Game 12: Infamous First Light - Completed in August (Platinumed)
I've also started a bunch of other games which I've not finished or don't really have a finishing point.
Hotline Miami
Fez
Zen Pin-Ball
Uncharted 1
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Trials: Fusion
Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition
Strider
PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag
Saints Row: The Third
Infamous: Festival of Blood
Though don't think I'll finish of any of the above games any time soon as Destiny is out next week.
I've spent the last month or so playing Dragon's Dogma and loved every minute of it, even if it's put me behind schedule slightly. It was time I played a longer more meatier game. Highly recommended.
Game 22: Dishonored: Knife of Dunwall - 3 hours, Sept 5th
I thought the level design was on par with the base game, which is to say that it's quite excellent. The time-freeze blink and chokedust makes the non-lethal playstyle more enjoyable, and I appreciate that the character spoke this time around. If I hadn't gotten it with the GOTY version I might have been disappointed with the length (especially since there's one reused level), but it's nice to play something short once in a while. A problem is shares with the base game though is the shitty journal that isn't much help in a lot of cases. The very final objective is to "regroup", which involves meeting an invisible character at a specific spot. Good luck finding it without the objective markers (which I prefer to leave off).
46. Apollo Justice - Ace Attorney
Probably my second favorite game in the series after the very first Ace Attorney. Klavier Gavin is totally dreamy.
47. Velocity 2X
Free for PS+ members right now, so I went in not really knowing what to expect, and I got a great little shmup/platformer hybrid out of it that is very replayable. Good stuff.
It's been a while since my last update, so time for a mega update! Well, not really mega, because I ran out of space in my OP. To not fuck the aesthetics of the "OP posts" I decided to post the games that still fit into OP1 into this post, wait awhile for someone else to post and then post the rest of the games as the start of OP2. Anyway work, school, vacation and life in general made it so that I didn't really feel like updating the challenge until now.
Game #20: Tales of Symphonia - 54 hours
I went into this game without knowing anything about the game, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be an action RPG, instead of a turn-based RPG. The story is pretty much your typical RPG story, along with as much twists and turns the developers could come up with and put in the game. Some of the twists were really unnecessary though, some were easily predictable, while others were just laughibly bad. The most common theme in the game seemed to base around racisme, which I found surprising to see in a game. I can't really judge how well they touched on the racism aspect, since I don't have much experience with it, but I thought they handled it pretty well. The most fun parts of the game were the interactions between the characters, they were very nice to read, made you care about the characters.
The combat was okay, it wasn't really complex or anything, a lot of button mashing and abusing one skill (Tempest). When you just keep pre-emptive healing you'll almost never die. There was one feature I didn't really get, something with the Z button while in combat, but I don't think it would have mattered much if I knew what to do with it.
Everything in the game was "okay", an "okay" game with great character interactions
7/10
Game # 21: Transistor - 15 hours
Truly a beautifull game. There was a time, some years ago, where I pleaded that gameplay is the only thing that matters in a game. That was a time when I only played Nintendo games and only owned Nintendo systems. Over the years I have branched out, played almost every genre thinkable on a lot of different platforms and witnessed how wrong I was in this statement. Transistor only makes me realise that more and more. Now I'm not saying that the gameplay is bad, but it's not amazing either. The battle system is unique and fun, but it's definitely not the gameplay that makes this a great game. It's the entire package, art, music, story, they accomplish this game so amazingly. Honestly, I would play this game for just the art alone, even if the gameplay had been really bad. Every location is jaw dropping beautifull and just very stylefull. The city of Cloudbank is very well realised and it feels lived in. The game has so many little touches that are very pleasent to look at, or hear. The music is what originally sold me on the game. I remember a friend sending me the link to the the OT and after listening to the first song I was positively sure that I had to get this game. Even now, while I'm looking for the song on youtube and those first notes hit me, I get goosebumps. Yes, the soundtrack is THAT good. The story is simple and effective, the way Red and the Sword communicate is genuinly nice to listen to (or observe, since Red lost her voice). I feel like the story is the way it is, because the theme of the story. The theme of the story IS about boring and simple and people trying to break the mold.
8.5/10
Game #22: Mario Kart 8 - 5 hours
Well, what's there to say about Mario Kart other than "it's Mario Kart". Well maybe there is a bit more to say. After being really disappointed by the Wii version this is a return to form on consoles. I feel like the balance is atleast slightly back, some changes I like, some I don't. Online is decent, but has it's hiccups. And even though the game is great and plays well, I don't play it anymore right now. And I blame only just being merely "decent". Why is there no voice chat while in race? I want to hear live reactions to crazy shit that goes on while racing. The tournaments are not great. Everything is just shy from being great. Maybe the DLC will change my mind and atleast add more replayability.
7.5/10
Game #23: Persona 4 Arena - 25 hours
Fighting games, the only one I was atleast a little bit decent in was Soul Calibur 2. Though I always wanted to become good in one, the amount of time that you have to put into one was a bit too much for me, since I like to play all kinds of games. When I got into Persona I also got introduced to Persona 4 Arena. Hearing it was a VN I decided to give it a spin, since if I didn't enjoy the gameplay I atleast had the story to keep me going. After going through all of the character paths I came to the conclusion that it was the story that was a drag and that the gameplay kept me entertained throughout the story mode. The only story path I really enjoyed was the one with Labrys, because it was something else. The other paths ended up being the characters having the same problems as they had in Persona 4, coming to the same conclusions as they had come in Persona 4 and so on. It just felt too much like a repeat of Persona 4, which I already found the extra content in Golden to suffer from.
The gameplay on the other end was a lot of fun and fast. Even I, someone who never got into fighting games, ended up doing some flashy thing (And no, I didn't spam square). It was very easy to pick-up and play. I'm sure that even when I pick up the game now I'll manage to keep up with the CPU's. It also helps when the game is just a joy to look at, it's very chaotic, but for some reason it really fits and the pixel-art is beautifull too.
7/10
Game #24: They Bleed Pixels - 15 hours
Got this game during the Steam sale for a few bucks. Decided to play it when internet kicked the bucket and this was one of the only games I actually finished downloading. I ended up enjoying it. It's a fairly short game, but it has a lot of replayability. The combat system is a bit weird at first, since every moved is coupled to the same button, but you get used to it. Some stages can get a bit hard, but it's all perfectly managable. The platforming itself was pretty good, except for a few weird hiccups where hitboxes are off, or your character doesn't behave as you expected her to. The little story cutscenes that played between dreams were cute too.
7/10
Game #25: Tearaway - 11 hours
Really cute game and a very creative game too. The world is beautifull, so colorfull and just so... cute! If I had to discribe this game in one world it would probably be cute. All the little forest critters having conversations with you or the goofy scientist, they are all so cute. I'm not that creative as a person though and I feel like people who are more creative and can actually create nice things could have had more fun with the game. Sometimes the game asks you to make something and then makes it part of the game (which is really cool). But the things I made always looked like shit and after a while I just gave up on making something pretty and made some half-assed things. The platforming does it part, it's functional, but if the game was a little bit harder I think it would fall flat pretty hard. At times it's really hard to judge where you're going to land. It's good enough to get you through the game. Aside from that there a few little things that annoyed me. Frame rate would get pretty bad at certain points and the sound the camera makes when you make a picture. Even with headphones on the sound would be audible through the speakers and I only noticed this half-way through the game. Which was after the 4 hour plane ride... ehheh... I'm sorry people on the airplane.
7.5/10
Game #26: Touch my Katamari - 15 hours
It's Katamari, it's awesome. The candy system is a bit annoying though ¯\_(ツ_/¯.
Game 45. Mighty Gunvolt, 3DS
Very short, but I enjoyed it with all three characters. I'm excited for Might no. 9 even more now. I'm also considering importing galgun.
Game #27: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga - 20 hours
After getting to know the Shin Megami Tensei series thanks to Persona, I wanted to play a non-persona Shin Megami Tensei and in the end I settled on this game. The game starts out really strong with a great premise and it got me hooked on the game immediatly. I really liked the characters and setting of the game and I honestly wish there was more of it. Most of the time you are dungeon crawling, which after a while got boring to me. Sometimes you go from dungeon to dungeon without even a little bit of story. For my team I tried to go for a balanced team: one elementary attacker, one healer and on physical attacker. But the way the game is structured it seems like the developers just wanted you to have 3 elementary attackers, with one of them to have healing spells. Thanks to that my fights ended up taking way longer than necesary, since only one person was attacking and the others were just waiting. You had to be on your toes for every single encounter too. Every single encounter can end up killing you if you're not carefull. Also, the fact that you have the right skills to heal illnesses, but you have to set it on a character to use it is really annoying.
7.5/10
Game #28: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - 30 hours
A friend of mine never played Ocarina of Time before, so me and some other friends decided we would marathon this game in the vacation. The original plan was to do it in one evening, but if you look at the time you can see already that that idea didn't pass through. In the end it took us around 3 half days to go through it, which was partly my fault as I was the only one who wanted to 100% the game and everytime I got the controller I went off to do some other stuff. It was pretty fun to see someone who never played the game already try to figure stuff out. We also did some discussing on the fly about the game, like tidbits we read online and showing others stuff they didn't know, for instance; where heart pieces are hidden, or skulltulas they knew were hidden at places. We had a lot of fun doing it and it made me appreciate the game a tad bit more.
I think the game holds up pretty well, thanks to the fairly simple, but well executed design ("Zelda formula"). Only instances of real annoyance were the water temple and a glitch that prevented us from getting 100%, but 99% ;_;. However I still count it as a 100%.
8/10
Game #29: Silent Hill 3 - 8 hours
Just as the previous 2 Silent Hills, this one is very good again. And just as the previous one, not much has changed from the previous entry. They did streamline it a bit more and removed some annoying things, like hitting the wall with your combat item. In this game, you play with a female protagonist and the developers conveyed this with the gameplay too. In the previous entries it was either run or fight and each option had it's own merrits and each option could be considered in most situations. Now in this game it seemed like they made the enemies extra annoying and strong so that you just avoided them instead of trying to beat them. The enemies were either too low to hit with combat or too strong to hit with combat. Of course there is the option to shoot, but you really want to limit your shooting to hard situations and bosses.
Silent Hill 3 is pretty much the sequel to Silent Hill 1, a lot of callbacks are made and you'll be seeing old faces again. I always love it when games have a continuing story and they did a great job here. It took a while before the story really picked up, but when it did, it was great(Which, honestly, after SH 1 and 2 was to be expected).
They took the sound direction to another level. The sound direction in Silent Hill 1 & 2 was already superb, but in this game I found the sound effects and the background noises to be truly horrifying, maybe a bit too much even. Sometimes the sound effects were just so loud and creepy that i could feel real anxiety. Sometimes maybe a bit cheap even, really loud sound effects right near you while the enemy is pretty far away. Akira Yamaoka is truly a god when it comes to soundtracks and sound effects.
8.5/10
Game #30: Wolfenstein: The New Order - 22 hours
Once in a while it's nice to play some FPS, mind to zero and shoot some bad-guys (esspecially when the bad-guys happen to be nazi's). Wolfenstein certainly filled that crave. At first I had some troubles getting the game to start on my PC, it ran terrible even with all settings on low. Thanks to BPoole who posted a fix in the performence thread I was able to play it. But the fix made me unable to change setting, as they were set to "value". There wasn't really much I wanted to change anyway, so I dealt with it. Unfortunaly the default settings were no subtitles and for some reason I always have a really hard time hearing what people say in games, movies, everything. So I didn't hear most of the story, which I heard was pretty good.
That aside, I had fun playing the game. It wasn't amazing, nor bad, it was good I guess. Well it kept me entertained for most of it, so there's that. Gunplay was solid and the cover systems did have a few quirks once in a while. There isn't really much variety in enemies, you have you typical fodder and around 3-4 other, stronger, enemies. The game has an "alternate reality" going on, where the nazi's won WW2. It's realized pretty great and some of the locals you go to are pretty breathtaking. Which is also what makes this games fun to keep playing, the different locals keep you wondering what awesome location lies around the next corner.
One of the things that stood out from the game were the scenes with gore in them and some of them were really brutal. One off them made me feel pity pain and go "sssss ooooohh", if you know what I mean, hah.
7/10
Game #31: Skullgirls - 6 hours
After playing Persona 4 Arena earlier this year, I decided to get back to this game. I played it when it got released last year, but at the time I wasn't really that into fighting games and pretty much just button spammed my way through the story mode. This time though, keeping in mind what I had learned from P4A, which is an excellent start btw, I tried to refrain from button mashing and try to play it like "it's supposed" to. Though it wasn't that much of a challenge, except for that cheap-ass boss, I feel like the game left a better impression with me. One of the things I did have a bit of problems with was how much the different characters differed from each other. I feel like in P4A every character pretty much had the same "fundamentals" and then some specific characterics for that character. In Skullgirls I found that there was a much starker contrast between characters, which is not really a bad thing, but it makes it so that I only end up using one character when I do something else than story.
The thing I really liked the first time I played it and which was even what made me get the game in the first place even though I had never played a fighting game, was the style it has. And, well, that has not changed, hehe, the game is stunning. Also wished there were a bit more characters, but atleast there are no clone characters, right?
7.5/10
Game #32: Dead Rising 3 - 37 hours
First Dead Rising game I played and I loved it. It's pretty straightforward, make some crazy stuff and kill a shitload of zombies. I would have enjoyed it so much more if Capcom actually had put effort into this port. At first, when the news hit how horrible the port was, I wanted to wait and see what would happen. Maybe Capcom would release some patches or maybe someone could mod it. Then I noticed that Playfire had around 5 pound of rewards for this game and decided to play it anyway, if it wasn't for that it would probably stay unplayed in my steam library (maybe forever).
The framerate was absolutely horrible and a lot of times it dipped below 30. If this was a good port I think it would stand firmly in my top 3 of the year, alongside Danganronpa 2 and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, but right now I doubt if it will even make the top 10.
7/10
Game #33: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 65 hours
Took everything the first game did and well... matched it and made it slightly better. There were a lot of things this game borrowed from the first Danganronpa and of course, that's a bit of a shame. There's very little new music and the visuals were exactly the same. Some people might call this a bad thing, but I really didn't mind. The few extra songs were good additions to the already excellent Danganronpa 1 music. Everything should point to Danganronpa 1 being the better game, the plot is better, the twist is better, it's more fresh and original, the mini-games are less horrible and yet I still think Danganronpa 2 is the better of the two. Danganronpa isn't a game I play for the "mind-blowing" final twist (which I find lacking in both games, though is better in the first one), but for the characters, the crazy shit that happens and the trials. I found all three of these things to be better in Danganronpa 2, which is of course subjective. I can see how people like the first game's cast more, but I found this cast to be more appealing. The thing that really pushed it over Danganronpa 1 were the trials and the crazy stuff that happend during them, I found them to be much more enjoyable.
8.5/10
Game #34: Phenomeno - 3 hours
Yearly replay, I love this game. This was the third time I played it and each time I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. There is just something special about this game. It has beautifull art, the music is amazing, the story is awesome, the atmosphere is superb and I could go on and on about how much I love this game. Only thing of note could be the translation which is a bit shoddy from time to time, but this was done by one Russian guy and I should thank him for translating it instead of criticising him. The true horror of this game is that every time I finish it, I wish a full length version is in development, because it has so much potential
Game #35: Corpse Party: Book of Shadows - 20 hours
After really liking the first Corpse Party, which is one of the first ten games I played this year, I decided to give the sequel a try. Or well it's not really a sequel, but more of a different alternate view on the events of the first game and also some "if (alternate universe)" scenarios which for some reason they really love to make in Japan. The game has very different gameplay than the first game, which took me by surprise, it's a hybrid between a Visual Novel and a Point and Click adventure. Sounds very unconventional for a horror game, just like the first game which was a RPG maker-esque game, but just like in the first game they manage to make it work. Mixing tension and some truly horrifying descriptions of some of the most fucked up things I've read while never resorting to jump scares the game manages to get you on edge every time. But what I really didn't like was the lack of a over-arching plot, no that's not really what it is. There was an over-arching plot but at the same time there wasn't and it was all just thrown together a bit. It seemed to me like the writer had a nice idea for a sequel, but decided it wasn't worth making a whole game around, so they made it a short little story and decided to just throw in some other short stories. The last chapter however actually did pick up the plot again and thanks to that it's immediately the high point of the game. If all chapters were like the final chapter or atleast 50% of them I would have absolutely loved this game. It actually does some fresh things
namely a different setting than the school
and I loved it. It was a nice change of pace again and actually having a bit of an unknown factor again made it a lot more scary again. In the end, the game just gets me longing for the new Corpse Party, which hopefully gets translated!
7.5/10
Game #36: Hammerwatch - 15 hours
Been playing this one on and off with my friends. There isn't that much to say about the game honestly, it's just a solid game all around. Although we always got a little bored after playing an hour so, it's not a game fit to be played for long periods of time. The classes could use a little balance too, some classes are just obviously better than the other classes, while some classes are just downright awful. It can become really hard at times, some of the bosses were brutally hard, but always fair except for one boss that had an attack with very shoddy hit detection. I tried to play some single player without friends too, but got bored pretty fast, so I'd recommend playing this one with friends because playing alone isn't nearly as much fun as playing with some friends.
8/10
Game #37: Lovely Planet - 16 hours
Twitch shooter that has a very easy premise, but gets very hard later on. Shoot all the enemies, block their shots with your shots and get to the finish, all while going as fast as possible. I had a lot of fun with it and ended up getting all the achievements for it. Worlds 1-3 were a lot of fun, but after that they started to introduce some pretty sketchy new features that turned the game into trial and error a bit too much. I've seen some complaints that the music started to get annoying after a while, but I thought otherwise. When you're kind off "in the zone" you filter the music out anyway and just focus on completing the level. But sometimes you get out of the zone, thanks to frustration or other stuff and then you hear the music which can only make you shake your head, smile, relax a little bit and get you right back at it. The music is so pleasant <3.
7/10
Game #38: Gunpoint - 6 hours
Fun little game
7/10
Game #39: Dead Space 2 - 9 hours
Great sequel to DS1, but at times the game gets really cheap with stuff.
8/10
Game #40: Catherine - 12 hours
A very pleasant game. The game is very Atlus. Atlus is just VERY good in world building, setting the right mood, tone and atmosphere
Game #41 Killer Queen - 10 hours
Very disappointing game. The premise the game has, people trapped in a building playing a game having to survive, is always a good one. So when the final product turns out to be really shallow it's always a big disappointment. First things first, the art this game has is very ugly, the eyes, oh god the eyes. Second, the characters, they are very boring, trope-y, and seem to have almost no development at all. The few times that some characters get development it's not even subtle, they realize something and suddenly change in the blink of an eye. Third, the story is very predictable and just generic all around, some twists (not all of them) you can see coming from miles away and the most annoying thing is how oblivious the MC is towards these situations. The endings are the worst offenders, it's like the writer doesn't know how to write a fitting climax, so he just skips in time at a very weird moment.
5/10
Game #42 Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 - 37 hours
Even though the game is very much like the first one, I enjoyed this one quite a bit more.
Thought I might be closing in on 52, so I should update my post that I hadn't touched since... March? Regardless, the first post filled up pretty fast, so here is the second part of my updated list:
Game 39: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Started 6/23/2014 - Beaten 6/24/2014 - 14 hours played
Such a cool union of Metal Gear and Platinum. Again, not a big character action game player, but I think I get a little bit better at these with each one I play. The parry mechanic was pretty easy to pick up, although the timing for Zandatsu's stayed pretty hard for me, especially on the gorilla like enemies. This game had amazing bosses that were right at home in the Metal Gear rogue's gallery, and absolutely fantastic feeling combat once you got into it. I'll have to return at some point to play the Jetstream Sam and Bladewolf DLC.
Game 40: Costume Quest
Started 7/2/2014 - Beaten 7/3/2014 - 25 hours played
Played this one and its dlc chapter. Adorable, compact little RPG with a lot of the JRPG gameplay tropes reminiscent of Super Mario RPG. Telltale makes some charming, laid back games.
Game 41: They Bleed Pixels
Started 7/4/2014 - Beaten 7/7/2014 - 15 hours played
For a game that is, upon reflection, so short, this game took me a surprisingly long time. I was drawn to this little action platformer by its art, but I stayed for the brutal difficulty. The dynamic checkpointing system added a neat risk/reward element that encouraged you to make a punishing game even more so, and I indulged. Awesome game. I really enjoyed it, but I was glad when it was over.
Game 42: Battleblock Theater
Started 6/23/2014 - Beaten 7/24/2014 - 11 hours played
Another cool platformer. I played this one entirely in co-op, and my friend and I had a lot of fun, several aha! moments, and more than a couple of shouting matches over this one. The writing is pretty hilarious, but eventually the style of comedy does wear thin, especially with all the on-death one liners (And we died A LOT.) Cool, challenging levels that really required teamwork right up until the end though.
Game 43: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Started 6/25/2014 - Beaten 7/25/2014 - 113 hours played
God damn, this was the biggest Assassin's Creed game yet by a fair shot, and while I did not enjoy the chest hunting on uncharted islands, the full exploration of the naval elements of AC3, along with the fantastic addition of optional end game content in the form of Legendary Ships, it was a great game. It did have me burying my head in my hands at the stupidity of the main character for the first half, but things eventually came around. The way all the elements ended up working together, particularly in the ship to ship fights, really impressed me. I'm a little miffed at the further minimization of the out-of-animus parts of the game, but I know that they're not wildly popular. A little sad we won't see naval combat in unity, but I think they've wrung it out for all its worth in this one anyways, so I'm happy enough to move on to other things.
Game 44: The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
Started 7/3/2014 - Beaten 7/30/2014 - 105 hours played
Another huge fucking RPG. This is actually my second attempt to get through The Witcher, but with The Witcher 3 fast approaching and looking awesome, I decided it was time. It dragged in parts, but the depth in the character customization and the ways in which player choice affected story path were pretty neat. The combat was kind of mind numbingly straightforward, the itemization was pretty minimal, some of the quest design was terribly bland, and the visuals showed their age and then some, but I still found enough to like in this one to get through it.
Game 45: Divinity: Original Sin
Started 7/10/2014 - Beaten 8/4/2014 - 97 hours played
Not outstandingly well written, but the organic quest design and discovery, the world brimming with points of interest to find or miss, and the outstanding design of a completely functional co-op campaign turn based RPG that's fun to play in and out of combat make it an outstanding game. I've never played anything quite like D:OS, and it stands shoulder to shoulder with other, very different RPGs with very different strengths.
Game 46: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
Started 7/30/2014 - Beaten 8/6/2014 - 74 hours played
Fixed almost everything wrong with the last game. Cut the fat, way prettier, better combat, more gear... and it even improved on some of the things that the first did well, like the writing and the player choice/consequence stuff. I think my last niggling complaint about this one was that the animation still didn't always feel particularly organic. The improvement upon the previous game is outstanding. It's hard to imagine how they'll outdo themselves with Witcher 3, but suffice it to say, I'm looking forward to finding out. This has been a very RPG year.
Game 47: Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
Started 5/20/2014 - Beaten 8/7/2014 - 25 hours played
The Layton games seem to keep getting better and more various in terms of puzzle and visual design, and this one also added the interesting ability to choose your destination in a sort of Megaman Boss Select screen. This one didn't quite have the same emotional impact as Unwound Future, but was still a very enjoyable llittle adventure/puzzle game. Can't wait for the Ace Attorney crossover.
Game 48: Astebreed
Started 8/17/2014 - Beaten 8/17/2014 - 2 hours played
I am awful at SHMUPs, and this was no exception. Super frenetic game, fun gameplay, and while it has a fully voice acted story with big anime cutscenes, I could hardly tell you what the hell happened, because its all in Japanese with English subs. How is anyone expected to read subtitles while playing a SHMUP? I dunno. Still, kind of beside the point. I enjoyed this one, but I don't think it bears a repeat play from me.
Game 49: SteamWorld Dig
Started 8/7/2014 - Beaten 8/23/2014 - 9 hours played
I'm not a Minecraft or a Terraria fan so I was not at all disappointed by what I found here. Cool little digging/platforming game, very lightweight, regular changes in environment and threats and regular introductions of new tools, upgrades, and weapons. The visual style for this one worked well and it was just all around a joy to play.
Game 50: Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed
Started 8/17/2014 - Beaten 8/28/2014 - 19 hours played
I had more fun with this one than I had any business having. The combination of mild titillation, an abundance of weapons, sub-culture in-jokes, and its sense of self-awareness made this one a pretty well rounded, enjoyable game. I only wish it had run a bit better and been just a little bit more satisfying in its combat. Love it when an impulse buy works out well.
Game 51: The Stanley Parable
Started 7/29/2014 - Beaten 9/3/2014 - 5 hours played
Such a weird game. I don't even know what to say about this one. Sort of fits into the genre of walkers, if you want to call them that. Just an experiment in gameplay narrative, taken to its own natural extremes. I played this one through in all the ways I could think of before looking up a guide and getting all the endings I missed, and while it was cheating a little, it was definitely worth it. I have but one thing left to do in this game, and that involves not playing it for five years, so for the time being, I'm considering this one finished.
Game 52: LEGO The Lord of the Rings
Started 9/7/2014 - Beaten 9/12/2014 - 61 hours played
With Shadow of Mordor coming up, I wanted to scratch the Middle Earth itch. Sadly, this fell just as short as a Shadow of Mordor substitute as Lego Batman did as an Arkham substitute. Still, I know that's not what it was trying to be, and I can't fault it for not being something it never intended to. The collectibles and the hidden things were fun to find, but nailing down the locations of the last handful of chest items, for which there was no tracker, was a bit of a drag that necessitated hitting up a guide. I'm partial to games that give you aids to finish off their collectibles, but it's a matter of taste. The rendition of Middle Earth, Lego-ized and made miniature was pretty cool. Being able to see from Minas Tirith, all the way up to Rohan and beyond... it's kinda cool for open world games to shed pretensions to realistic scale and just make everything super close.
Game 53: Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Started 9/1/2014 - Beaten 9/19/2014 - 32 hours played
I love the Ace Attorney games and enjoy the Layton games, so for me this was a great joy. Not a real Ace Attorney game, and i got frustrated with Phoenix being such a dolt compared to Layton, constantly being upstaged, even in his own arena... but still a cool meeting of the minds. An awesome joining of visual styles, gameplay, characters, and soundtracks. And what a soundtrack it was. I absolutely loved the fantasy atmosphere of the game, and how it was supported by the music. The unique twist on regular Ace Attorney themes was great. I just wish the ending hadn't been such a let down. Great game. Not a full AA, but it sated my thirst until we see the next.
Game #9 Hard Corps: Uprising - 11 hours 40 minutes
No update.
Game #11 DragonQuest Monsters 2 - 23 hours and 36 minutes(Finished)
Beat this 5 days ago and I enjoyed it. I had completely forgotten about substitutions so it made the game super easy once I figured it out. My final team ended up being:
Tyrantosaurus
Tyrantosaurus
Abyss Diver
Substitutions:
Hackasaurus
Great Sabercat
Noble gasbagon
Game #12 DragonQuest Monsters - 3 hours and 35 minutes
So far I'm preferring the sequel but otherwise the overall system is the same. Team is decent at the moment and I'm at the desert island levelling up. Got my first darkonium crystal.
Game 25: 140 - ~1 hour according to HLTB, finished September 4, PC
Not sure about the playtime, I spent way too long alt-tabbed being annoyed at failing before going back. It's a minimalistic rhythm precision platflormer of sorts and I got myself into it on purpose, these games are a challenge for me. The frequent checkpoints were the reason I managed to get though it (although half of the achievements are for going without them, but that's not something I'd even consider attempting). With only 3 levels it's a pretty short game, each game ends with a boss, of which the last stage of the last one is damn annoying. Finishing it does give satisfaction though, and it's a game that works well with the rhythm.
Game 26: Blackwell Unbound - 3 hours, finished September 6, PC
Back for the second game in the series, and I'd rank it pretty equally with the first one. The characters are fun to be around, getting stuck for a long time doesn't seem very likely.
Game 36: Lovely Planet - 16 hours 12 minutes according to Steam but that time includes a whole lot of idling.
# I got all the achievements. You can read my impressions over at the Steam thread:http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=126560198&postcount=3275 TL;DR Delightful but flawed game at times.
Game 37: Portal - 5 hours ~
# Played it again. Classic.
Game 38: The Walking Dead: Season Two - 8 hours 42 minutes
# Beaten with all achievements. The Walking Dead Season 1 was my game of the year when it was released. I can't help but find Season 2 inferior to it. Many unmemorable characters and really caring for anyone but the main character didn't come until the last episode. Speaking of last episode it was amazing. I really liked how it finished the season. Very emotional from time to time. The season overall was an enjoyable experience but I'm still disappointed. High expectations tend to lead to that.
Game 39: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - 6 hours 42 minutes
# Story beaten. Good stuff from the beginning to the end. I enjoyed Far Cry 3 but Blood Dragon basically takes away almost everything I disliked about that game while amplifying the good parts. Setting is obviously incredible and something not often seen in games. Lots of fun references. The writing comes off as very self-aware and it works very well with the game. One of the funniest games I remember playing. Gameplay is very enjoyable too. It doesn't evolve as much as I would have hoped but it's still a blast to the end. I wouldn't have objected to this game going on a little longer but considering it's a DLC it's actually quite meaty. This game made me reconsider getting Far Cry 4 close to launch.
Game 40: Hexcells - 3 hours 6 minutes
# Got all achievements. Short but sweet puzzle games. Really cool atmosphere. Not easy but not too difficult either. Basically how I like my puzzle games. Reminds me of a Picross a bit which is cool. Certainly made me interested in trying the next two games in the series.
Game 51. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror 29th - I didn't play a Kirby game in a long time and hey, it's sitting here as an ambassador game so why not! It's... not that good though. Sure, it's fun to play, but the quasi-metroidvania design works against this game. It's too messy and confusing, though it's fun accidentally stumbling on a boss of an area before figuring out a way to the chest with the area map. It does feature some incredibly catchy tunes though!
This reminds me never to replay that game x.x; It was much much to much of a mess for me. Also your list is giving me an itch ta go back an do some pre 32-bit era games!
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.
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.
Game 23: Just Cause - 5 hours, Sept 8th
Bad PC port of a mediocre open world game. I suppose the size of the world was the draw of the game when it first released, but it's not worth putting up with the poor mechanics and uninspired (sometimes awful) mission design. There are also some massive difficulty spikes that come out of nowhere. I own the sequel but I'm not terribly excited to try it now.
Games 1-25 (Hit the character limit for the post.) Games 26-42 (Hit the character limit for the post.) Games 43-63 (Hit the character limit for the post.) Games 64-81 (Hit the character limit for the post.) Games 82-92 (Hit the character limit for the post.)
Game 93 (September 4, 2014): Halo 4 (360) - ~6 hours
Few quibbling things (ammo/weapons don't carry over from section to section, where's the classic Halo music?), but still like this Halo tons more than Reach. Did not like the team based aspect of "go to this guy, follow this guy, help out this guy" in Reach. No, thanks. Give me a lone Spartan with guiding AI and let me loose on the planet. Overall a good game. Wouldn't call it better than Halo 1-3, but it was still good. Not planning on buying an XB1, so hopefully Halo 5 comes to PC (
Ha!
) or (more likely) there's a good playthrough on Youtube with no commentary.
On the guiding AI, hate that Cortana's "gone" but with her rampancy duplicating herself all over that ship, there's an outside chance that a copy of her made it out somewhere. Seems a bit of a stretch, though.
On the story, I want Master Chief to be a super-human and not
a Neo ("You are the remainder of an unbalanced equation, an eventuality" compare to "you are the product of 1000s of generations building you and Cortana to this point.") The librarian could've altered Master Chief's DNA without him having a super high count of Midi-Chlorians.
Recommended!
Game 94 (September 5, 2014): Crystalis (NES) - ~13 hours
Playing some NES games earlier in the year got me into a mood to play Crystalis again, and I finally got around to finishing it. Still an awesome, awesome great game. Action RPG and what really makes it stand out to me is the just smoooooth controls. I've always played this with the NES Max, and the circle pad and turbo buttons just make this game so much more enjoyable. Even the grinding (if you choose to do so, but not absolutely required if you're wandering around to find everything and killing the enemies you find) is better and shorter with such smooth controls and turbo buttons. Really wish they'd put this on 3DS VC, since would love to get screenshots of some parts of the game. Really large scale without going into very long time frames to beat. Highly recommended if you can find a copy and a system to play it on. Have the GBC verison, too, but while it's good, the NES one is still better.
Game 95 (September 19, 2014): Shovel Knight (3DS) - 8:14
Loved the graphics, the humor, the gameplay, and the limitations in the game that promoted more focused gameplay. Didn't like the boss fights, at first, but after figuring out that there's a useful upgrade system and that you're not supposed to hoard your money for big purchases like in almost every other game ever, that part got much better, too. Glad that Yacht Club Games is having a good success for the game, since liked Wayforward's mindset and bent when making games already. Hope the future non-Nintendo/PC releases do well for them, too.
Game 96 (September 24, 2014): Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Wii U) - 42:53
Didn't like that they got rid of the Tingle Tuner (GBA connectivity) in favor or Miiverse bottle throwing when they announced the change, but the Miiverse "Tingle" bottles did help out in making the figurine collection go easier, which was a nice bonus. Remember playing this on the GameCube and setting direction, setting wind, and then going off to do something else while the ship eventually got where it was intended to go, so the fast sail was an incredibly useful item, too. Looked back at my Wind Waker GCN Player's Guide, and was shocked at how much worse the figuring collecting was back then, even though I got all of them back then (1 figurine per day, and 3 pictures at a time with no indicator if it was a "good" one or not vs. Wind Waker HD ~10 figurines per day, 12 pictures at a time, and an immediate "good" indicator if it was figuring worthy + Miivese Tingle bottles to fill in hard to reach gaps).
They also still kept in the hidden Tingle treasure chests in the dungeons, so that was nice even though they took out the actual Tingle Tuner!
Overall, this is the same Wind Waker from back in the day. The changes to make tedious tasks easier were very nice, but the game itself is essentially unchanged. Was surprised how much Majora's Mask-type "do this, then this, leads to this special condition" gameplay was still there, as didn't seem to recall that much of it at the time. Maybe due to just having come off of Majora's Mask a few years earler, already. Glad to have replayed it.
Finished the figurine collection, and in a world where Amiibo is now a thing, glad this came out last year. ;P
Game 97 (September 29, 2014): Mega Man X (SNES, Wii U VC) - 6:48
If golf is a good walk spoiled, then Mega Man games are good shooter/platformers spoiled. I know some people get off on the difficulty (mainly staring at the final boss in this game, as the rest of the game wasn't anywhere near as insanely hard as that crackpot
Wolf's head
final
final, final
boss), but I am not one of them. At all. Save states are the only reason this game wasn't thrown down in disgust and never completed. As said several times, save states are one of the biggest redeeming qualities of buying old games on Nintendo's VC. Why they weren't bought on Wii (no save states) and why I'm much more willing to buy these classicly hard old games on 3DS/Wii U VC. Most of the game was pretty good. Fun level design. Patience requiring sections that teach you to beat them after dying a few times. Bosses that become much easier once you find the "key." Etc. That final boss, though, was stupidly hard. Yes, figured out patterns in there (couldn't have beat him otherwise even with save states) but also recognized that even knowing the patterns, beating him would've been by the skin of my teeth even with four Sub-Tanks available due to those slight misses that lead to a quarter of your life being taken away while to chip 1 health bar at a time for every hard fought attack you're able to get in.
Really liked the "stand slightly off-center of his hands and he can't hit you" way of getting more hits in EXCEPT for the other hand knocking you around! Grrrrrr!
. Bah. Was better than the NES Mega Mans (in my opinion) up until that final masochistic boss, at least. If you're not too proud to use save states, would highly recommend playing the game (and then grinding your teeth through that final
final, final
boss)!
Game 98 (October 4, 2014): Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS) - 46:34
That game took forever! "Go this area and fight the baddy." Okay. "Oh, but first you gotta collect these five things." Okay. "Oh, but each thing is locked away in a dream world that's like its own level and takes a while to get through." Ummm. "Oh, and every single battle can take a few minutes as you whittle down the enemies HP to be able to move on to finishing exploring the dreams/levels and collecting all the stuff." Say, what?!? Levels within levels within levels. What should've been a 20-hour game with an optional level of content got coerced into nearly a 50-hour game that you just want to end already! The game (all 10 nested ones) was fun for itself, but not all thrown together. You'd think they were ending the series and had to throw everything they could think of into one final "Hurrah!" Taking each 10-hour segment in itself is fun, but the game just takes too long to see the credits. If you're fine with that monotony (didn't I beat this guy 15 times already? Why is the game making me prove I can do it again?) and like the Mario & Luigi series, then it's good, and I'd definitely recommend any of the 10-hour chunks to anyone. Put altogether takes a bit of fortitude to trudge through, though.
The particular downside of long drawn out games is that you don't want to replay them. Superstar Saga? Could see wanting to replay that down the road. Mario & Luigi RPG 4 (and might as well be 5 added, too, for the length)? Probably not any year soon. :/
Game 99 (October 5, 2014): Organ Trail: Director's Cut (PC) - 0:57
Man, this game sucks! I was glad to die, just to be finished with this horrible game. A key, freaking crucial element of a good game to me is good controls, and these were absolutely disgustingly horrid. I don't care one iota if some versions of Oregon Train played that badly (I liked the version of Oregon Trail I played way back when, and it didn't have any of this terrible movement and horrid shooting controls of this abomination), that is absolutely no excuse to foist such horrible, horrible, horrible controls on a person in this day and age. Could not uninstall this game fast enough. Have to imagine that despite the lackluster game and the total swing and miss at hitting any kind of nostalgia button for me (beyond the title), this game might've been somewhat fun, if you could actually reliably control the shooting. As is, you can't, and the game sucks. The End.
Game 100 (October 8, 2014): Mega Man X2 (SNES, Wii U VC) - 7:24
This game was an iterative but absolute improvement over Mega Man X. In particular, the final boss in Mega Man X was a terrible chore, whereas the final
final
boss in Mega Man X2 was a straight out war of attrition. No
you have to ride the stupid hands up to be able to even hit the boss while everything's attacking you
and just flat out charge, shoot, climb, dash jump to avoid, shoot boss and dropped enemies, and keep on charging to do it all over again until he's dead. What a relief of a final boss! (As an aside, always thought the "X" meant Mega Man 10, so neat to see that it's actually the main character's name! ) Really like the
Air Dash
mechanic as an iterative improvement on Mega Man X's dash ability, too. Samus needs that ability if they ever do another 2-D Metroid! Results in some creative platforming to chain together needed movements to get places. Really fun to see it, try it, save state back after failing, try again, save state back, and then finally getting it. It wasn't cheap but just difficult, and I can absolutely appreciate that kind of platforming! Wonderful game! Not sure if I'll ever get Mega Man X3 unless it's on sale like Mega Man X/X2, but glad to have played these two members of the Mega Man family, at least.
Game 101 (October 9, 2014): Kirby's Dream Land (GB, 3DS VC) - 2:49
Beat it once again, and then played Hard Mode and beat it. Had played it earlier this year on Wii with the Kirby Collection disk, and said that liked it so much that I may buy it again on 3DS VC, which would certainly make Hard Mode more doable. With it and KDL2 going on sale with the Smash sale, was a perfect time to do that and see just what Hard Mode was fully like. It was tough! Bosses had new attack patterns, but were actually kind of easy once those patterns were figured out. The major issue was the spiky balls everywhere now. They take off half of Kirby's health with each touch and they were everywhere. Save states saves another "too hard for its own good" game (mode). Still enjoyed it and glad to have it available on a portable now.
Game 102 (October 22, 2014): Anodyne (PC) - 7:38
Loved the music. Graphics were appealing. Story is non-existant with some minor "points for life" thrown in. Very well executed game, though. Would've been more engaging to have a more cohesive story/enemy thematics, though. Probably why Nintendo reuses Mario in new game types, as it instantly brings that world cohesiveness to the picture. This would be a better game if it felt like more than just a exploratory game in a strange environment(s). Glad to have played it, though.
Finally getting back into more PC games. Trying to finish up more of the little games bought on Steam over the months...
Game 103 (October 23, 2014): Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB, 3DS VC) - 4:38
As said with Game 101, played this earlier this year in the Kirby Collection on Wii, and said at the time that I'd want to get it on 3DS VC at some point. With the Smash sale, it was good time to do so. As expected/hoped, the final boss battle that was a bugger of buggers on the save state-less Wii was much easier on 3DS VC with save states. Amazing how a wonderful, simple platformer that's overall very enjoyable and not too frustrating anywhere in the main game can have so exhausting of a final boss to play! Good purchase to have available all the time on the 3DS, in my opinion.
Game 104 (October 29, 2014): Nintendo Land (Wii U) - 10:11
This game is an incredibly mixed bag. On the one hand, the purely single-player games almost all are useless. This is what would happen if Nintendo decided to make mobile games instead of dedicated console games. Time-wasters alone. That said, it had the best version of Balloon Fight I've ever played, but that's not exactly setting the bar high.
On the other hand, the team attractions (Zelda, Pikmin, Metroid) were outstanding ... for a $20 game compilation. Would like to have these (and just these) as a download option on Wii U for $20 or so as they're really interesting.
Metroid also has the first reappearance of Kraid that I can recall since Super Metroid maybe?
Zelda is reminiscent of Link's Crossbow Training, except using the analog sticks and gamepad to aim instead of the pointer. Pretty close to the pointer and not near as frustrating as Wii Motion+ aiming from Skyward Sword. Pikmin is a fun romp through time trials and general levels with you as Olimar and a friend(s) as Pikmin. So.Cute. :lol Metroid has you flying Samus's ship! You could also be on the ground, but why would you do that when you can fly Samus's ship! Most of the levels there are just clear everything out types, but the boss battles make this mode quite fun and tense.
Lastly, the competitive modes that require multiple people are okay, but it probably helps (a lot) to have the full 5 people playing instead of just 2.
Overall, a decent game with some very fun parts, but a poor substitute for Wii Sports ability to carry the message of the new gameplay options to the public. I still dislike using both screens, unless I have to. Thankfully, the team attractions that I liked could be played in single-player mode with just the gamepad.
And that's a second set of 52 games! Still plenty more to go.
Game 105 (November 3, 2014): Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (3DS) - ~80 hours (not including time spent getting to 50 hours of Smash Challenge completion
Wow. Didn't put this much time into Smash Bros. since Melee, and that was for totally different reasons (hacking vs. playing). Really sat down and played it this time, nearly to 100% completion. Completed All-Star and Classic with every character, played a ton of Smash Run (like an open world Adventure mode with a time limit and an annoying battle at the end), Target Blast with all characters, played some of all the multi-man melees, played tons of Home Run Competition, tons of trophy rush (final tally at
683
out of a possible
685
possible trophies), tons of Streetpass play (thank you Homepass! ), played around a lot with the customizations, and just generally had a rip-roaring good time! Playing through all the All-Star and Classic was more than a bit of a grind, but I really got to try out and experiment with all the possible movesets for the players, which is something I haven't done since the N64 version. Found some players that I just do not gel with (Kid Icarus,
Dark Pit
, Olimar), some that I loved and was predisposed to loving *cough*FE*cough*, and some that were a surprise in how fun they were (
Duck Hunt
, Pac-Man). In the anti-spirit of Smash Bros., played almost no multiplayer (not counting grinding to get the 50 hours played challenge) or online (some, but not much). Just really enjoyed enjoying the game instead of having all the fun sucked out of it by people who want 1v1 stock with no items all the time (Yuck! Like Mario Kart with no items!). Robin was amazing. Could see using him/her to annoy the heck out of people with their Up+B since it's the only one (I think) that attacks people below them in the process.
Lucina
was perfect, and loved that each of her outfits was based off a a different female character from
Awakening
. So much fanservice (the good kind) for FE:A fans!
Shulk
is that way, too, and loved his Up+B -> slash combo. So much fun with that! Have really enjoyed getting the insights into the game that the daily updates have brought. Tried not to get completely spoiled, but still knew pretty much 100% of it before really getting into the game. Oh, well.
Great game. Lasts a super long time, even if you don't care for competitive multi-player. Well worth getting even with the Wii U version coming.
Still plan on reading through all the trophies that I have, which is also something I haven't really done since Melee. Also, don't think I'll be getting as much into the Wii U version. Plan on playing the Wii U version on the GamePad most of the time, so may not want to sink another 50+ hours into a handheld Smash Bros. game this quickly. We'll see. Have it preordered with the GCN adpater and controller (never hurts to have more backup GCN controllers!), in any case.
Game 106 (November 8, 2014): Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA VC, Wii U) - 12:21
Hadn't played this Castlevania before, so was looking forward to trying it out. It's reasonably less evolved than the later Aria of Sorrow and has a lot of (probably intentional) similarity to Symphony of the Night, just scaled down for a handheld. Good game that is a good lead-in to the later Castlevania portable titles. Not too complicated, and the best ending wasn't some obscure thing, either, which was nice. Good, solid Metroidvania title without a ton of secrets requiring OCD levels of searching to find without a guide.
Game 107 (November 11, 2014): Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA VC, Wii U) - 11:43
Had played this Castlevania way back on the GBA, so it was somewhat familiar. Was good to go back and play it again, though. Final secret combo to get the best ending made some sense once you thought about all the parts, and there still weren't a lot of impossible to find secret rooms to get to 100% completion. However, did have to break out a map for a few of the hidden breakable rooms. Oh, well. Was good to remember some of the old tricks from the original play-through, and the save states made tackling later boss fights early on very doable, so that kind of order breaking was fun! Wonder if Dawn of Sorrow will come out on the Wii U DS VC...
Game 108 (November 17, 2014): The 39 Steps (PC) - 5:13
Game starts in May 1914, and yet there's a newspaper from June 1914 in the first room. Time-travel!
Ahem. Anyways, a quite enjoyable novel with some minor interactive elements. Hadn't read the original book or the apparent Hitchcock episode based on it, so it was all new to me. Quite appropriate on the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI!
Game 109 (November 24, 2014): Pikmin 3 (Wii U) - ~20 hours
I really liked this game. It didn't have the randomly generated caves of Pikmin 2 that could last forever, but it did have a more confined goal of Pikmin 1 but without a 30-day time limit. In this case, the "time limit" is based on how much fruit you can find, since you need to have 1 fruit per day to keep going. This is not a tight restriction, though, as I got all
66
fruits by Day
40
. The final boss/level has no fruit, so you need a reserver to play through him. It took me
5 days
to figure out everything to do, but fruit was never an issue and ended with like
55
fruit containers still available. Didn't play the Bingo or Mission modes, as they seemed similar to Pikmin 2 and from having played dozens of those, they're fine but not something I want to devote my time to again. Single-player was still a great game, though. Great followup to Pikmin 2, and hope there will be more in the future!
Game * (November 26, 2014): Thomas Was Alone - Benjamin's Flight (DLC) (PC) - ~45 minutes
I didn't know this game had DLC until seeing it on the announcement for the console release recently. Come to find out it was a free DLC in June on Steam, so had to go back and play it. Was good to go back to this game, too. The story wasn't anything crucial to the much larger saga of the main game, but it was still fun to play. Glad I found out about it! :lol
Game 110 (November 27, 2014): Monument Valley + Forgotten Shores DLC (Mobile) - ~3 hours
Escher puzzle game. The main game is more mind-bending than the DLC, but the aesthetics are nice in both. Not much of a story, but there is some there and the ending of the DLC is nice to see.
Game 111 (December 2, 2014): Gateways (PC) - ~5.5 hours
Wouldn't have heard of this game if it wasn't for Adventures of Shuggy giveaway a few months back, so the giveaway did its job! :lol Really fun 2-D Metroidvania/Portal gameplay with more than just in-and-out portals. Regular portal,
shrink/grow portal, change gravity portal, and time portal like Winterbottom (and those time ones where you have to interact with previous/forward streams are a bit mind-bending!)
. Some of the puzzles would've been more than a bit problematic to figure out, but thankfully the game does offer a (expensive) puzzle solving option. The hint title will give you something for free, but to have it solve it for you (all but the last puzzle) costs 45 in-game orbs of which there are only 500 in the entire game (and they don't respawn). Better pick-and-choose what you really need help on then! Good quality game, though, and well-recommended. Smooth controls (like Shuggy), similar simple graphics, and a whole lotta gameplay.
39) Danganronpa 1: 30H
Lived up to the hype. Cons? Some of the mini games/the tutorials, I felt the game could have done a better job explaining some of the mini games.
So this was pretty great. It has some serious flaws, what with its useless sidequests, cumbersome leveling and shop mechanics, and completely barren and generic fields, but the good outweighs the bad here. It has one of the better casts in a Tales game, each of them uniquely flawed and characterized, even the token kid character ended up being one of the best of the cast, and the villains are all displayed in compelling ways; none of them aresad sacks that the game desperately tries to make us sympathize with, and they aren't stark raving lunatics who want to blow the world up for giggles. They feel like people with actual goals and motives, who will do anything to see them through. Combat was excellent, as is expected of Tales, but it maybe had too much crap going on for it ever to go beyond "mash buttons while all this crazy shit obstructs your view."
Symphonia is still my favourite, but this was good too. Is ToX2 any better?
I'd wanted to play this ever since I heard about it - it all sounded so random, an Iberian exclusive, based on a popular franchise, that had a retail release AND full English. I was sure that someone would throw it up on the full European PSN at some point, but when it became clear they wouldn't I kept an eye out for it to pop up cheapish. On the one hand I'm kinda happy I ticked it off the sheet, but on the other it's an awful game. Very repetitive simple gameplay, full of jaggy edges and frame stutter. It's just a cheap cash in - they didn't even bother throwing a plat at the game. It's almost a perfect import, apart from being spectacularly crap.
Game 34: Proteus (Vita) c. 4 hours
Wow, thanks PS+. I'm firmly in the camp that this was awful awful instead of arty good. I gave it more than it's fair share of time, exploring everything, trying to get into the mood, and it just didn't click. It feels like half a game, a tech demo of an engine to get funding to go away and make the game. I'm not sure whether the story on Wikipedia is accurate, but it sure feels like it makes sense.
Game 35: LEGO Ninjago: Nindroids (Vita) 15 hours
Notable for being the first Lego title on the Vita without appalling FMV and sound quality, Nindroids brings some good changes to the table - smaller bite sized missions, objective based replayability, some vehicle bits to break up the gameplay. But then it breaks stuff that used to work fine, and feels a bit rushed - could have been more than a TV show cash-in with just a little more work, methinks
Game 9: The Wolf Among Us: Episode 4: In Sheep's Clothing & The Wolf Among Us: Episode 5: Cry Wolf (PS3) c.5 hours
Well, what a fantastic finish. I've liked TWAU a little more than the critical scores I've seen, and the series really delivered on that through Episodes 4 and 5. I'll not mention specific story points here, but if you do give it a go and find the early episodes slow then please stick with it, the narrative payoff is all worthwhile.
Game 36: Hohokum (Vita) c.6 hours
It's fun, it's arty, it's relaxing and it has objectives, which is always nice. But it doesn't quite manage to merge being 'arty' and 'a good game', and the elements of each aren't always complimentary. Worth checking out if you're after something different, however.
Game 37: Metrico (Vita) c.7 hours
As someone who managed to grow up and land a job in an office (yey me!) anything that tries to make stats fun has got a headstart with how I'll view it. Metrico's a nice platformer, something different at least that had my attention until the final level, where the use of light and individual colours enraged me more than either Uncharted or AC:L did. A shame that annoying functionality use keeps popping up, really.
31. God of War III [PS3] – 10.5 hours – finished July 5
I think I’m over Kratos. This game is pretty, and atmospheric, and the settings and lore are occasionally awesomely cinematic. But I’ve had this game in my library since nearly Day One and it’s taken me until now to finish. Glad it’s done; I’m not sure I can see myself tackling another game in the series.
32. Portal 2 [PS3] – 10 hours – finished July 14
This game and its predecessor are two of the finest electronic entertainment experiences ever created. Clever, funny, and mind-bendingly creative, Portal 2 had be scratching my head and laughing out loud in equal measures. Absolutely classic.
33. Uncharted: Golden Abyss [PS Vita] - 13 hours – finished July 27
One of the finest franchises in gaming lands on PS Vita in a console-sized adventure that makes great use of the hardware. Studio Bend lets players use the touch screen to climb, fight, make charcoal rubbings, and complete puzzles with the flick of a finger. One segment even asks players to hold their Vitas up to a light source to “see through” a piece of parchment. (The built-in camera detects if they’ve done it right.) Once again, great characters and witty dialog had me laughing out loud at points, but the series’ rigid formula of cut scene/platform climbing/firefight/puzzle/repeat does tend to drag. In the end, however, this title stands tall as an admirable and innovative effort that’s worthy of its pedigree. It’s packed with loads of collectibles, too.
34. Tomb Raider [PC] – 16 hours – finished August 3
Having originally completed this game on Xbox 360, I enjoyed Lara’s latest adventure a lot more my second time around on PC. Maybe it was the fact that in 2013, I had just come off playing one of the Uncharted games and I’d been super-impressed with that. Regardless, Tomb Raider thrilled me. I liked the story, pacing, and spectacular vistas. But I would like Crystal Dynamics to lay off the torture porn for their next game. You can only see poor Lara, a videogame icon, be beaten and tormented so much before it becomes creepy, exploitative, and exhausting. Special kudos to the game’s artists and to Camilla Luddington, who turned in a wonderful performance as the voice (why not the face?) of Lara.
35. Nindhogg [PC] – 2 hours – finished August 7
This little game focuses on pure fun, with simple graphics that harken back to my 16-bit glory days. The fast-action swordplay is uproariously fun with friends, and even reasonably enjoyable in single player. Great stuff.
36. Tekken 3D Prime Edition [3DS] – 3 hours – finished August 7
Best portable Tekken, on a Nintendo platform? Well . . . not quite. Looks good, plays great. But no story mode and drab, low-poly environments mean this title loses its luster fast.
37. Flower [PS4] - 2 hours – finished August 9
This indie game is a critics’ darling. I found it calming and occasionally gorgeous, but also pretentious and heavy-handed by the end. Ooh, electricity is bad! But oh, we’re not going to show you how those giant wind turbines turn indigenous birds and bats into chicken puree. Overrated “video-game” “art.”
38. Hawken [PC] – 12.5 hours – finished August 23
It was fun while it lasted. This fast-action mech game dazzled me briefly with amazing visuals and a control scheme I really grew to love (after customizing it to my liking on the Xbox 360 pad). But a little-known software company called Respawn Enterntainment dropped a titan on it and alas, Hawken just couldn’t keep up. A nice (if small) selection of maps and customizations make this a game I will remember fondly, even I never did appreciate the less-than-friendly user interface.
39. DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil [PC] (from DOOM: BFG Edition) – 7.5 hours – finished August 24
Some frankly annoying multi-monster molestations (as well as the trademark Doom 3 monster closets) mar what is otherwise, in my mind, one of the most atmospheric and riveting first-person shooters ever. I find the art design and ambiance positively exquisite; it’s no wonder I go back to playing Doom 3 every so often. Strangely, I thought I’d played this back when it was released, but no—this was my first time through and, aside from the aforementioned monster-gala gangbangs, it was glorious. I do wish the double-barrel shotgun packed the same sonic punch as the older games, and the plethora of weapons is frankly unmanageable using a game pad, but even so, this is top-tier stuff.
40. InFAMOUS: First Light [PS4] – 3.5 hours – finished August 31
After avoiding Second Son largely due to the main character’s aggressively douchey design, I was excited to play as a female character voiced by my beloved Laura Bailey. Alas, Ms. Bailey’s vocal talents are mostly tied up in service of Fetch’s grating accent, but I still appreciate the character’s story of redemption. The series’ trademark janky controls are once again evident here, although Fetch’s super-mobility negates a lot of the frustration I experienced in InFamous and its sequel (the latter of which I have yet to finish). First Light delivers good value with lots of collectibles (I do love gathering orbs, smashing drones, and spraying neon graffiti tags) and challenge arenas, but I am still waiting for a game that looks as great graphically as I had hoped from this generation of consoles. Overall, a pleasant way to spend a handful of hours.
Game 17: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - 8,5
Completed at 100% in veteran mode (the game comes from the Trilogy re-release). The game holds its ground well, even against a masterpiece such as the first Prime: there are way more bosses, the Ings are cool, the scanner has been overhauled for the better, the feeling of dread is real. However it's somehow lacking in level design, the places aren't as original as those of the first game (Ing Hive aside), the non-Ing enemies are too samey, the colours used are too dark and gritty, there's too much mechanics and items recycling. The action is great, the puzzles and secrets too, but the game has that "been there, done that" feeling, which leaves a bad aftertaste; the whole light and dark gimmick is certainly not original, and lacks depth. Also the menu and logbook are made by the devil.
Game 18: Papers, Please - 8
Completed story mode with four badges and a bunch of ending, a good one too. The game is great, it starts from a pretty boring premise and builds on it deploying heaps of fun. It's some sort of action puzzle, involving quick thinking, having a good memory, clever decision making and so on; the way it gradually teaches you the basics while always adding something new everyday is amazing: it never gets boring (at least on your first playthrough). The plot is nothing to write home about, but you slowly begin to care about your character, due to the constant struggle for your family's survival; the recurring characters are also nice and there's a few plot twists in there. Hail Arstotzka!
Game 19: Heavenly Sword - 5,5
Completed the game with all the glyphs. Now the game isn't horrible by any means, graphics are good (aside from ground textures), some scenes are impressive and the facial animations are still stunning to this day IMO. The gameplay on the other hand... ugh... you either slash one of 5 different kind of enemies or you shoot something in slow-mo. I understand they needed to showcase the power of the PS3, but the whole game feels like some sort of graphic tech demo. Hiccups are frequent, the combat is dull and repetitive, often janky, the aftertouch is nice the first few times but it gets boring and annoying after a while, especially when you're forced to use it, the plot is barebones and lacks any kind of innovative trait. Andy Serkis is great but watching Bohan in the game feels like seeing Hamlet thrown in medieval Japan: he feels so incredibly out of place. Progression is a snoozefest, long corridors, almost no puzzles, and when you find one they are either stupidly easy or spoiled by the game itself. Finishing the stages with three marks is almost completely futile, the rewards are mostly comprised of external goods, such as art and videos, the only in game reward are new moves... too bad you mostly don't need them, as the ones you start with are more than enough to complete the game. I'd say the team clearly wanted to create an interactive movie (one guy says it himself at one point) and that Heavenly Sword is the maximum and first exemplum of the "games-as-blockbuster-movies-with-barebones-gameplay" that's plaguing the industry nowadays and that reached the point of saturation (I hope) a bunch of years ago, just before the rise of the indies.
40) Strider 6H
No idea how people beat this on max difficulty, I suck at these type of games apparently. Only real problem with the game is some of the checkpoints, other than that it was a pretty fun button masher. Good length so I didn't get bored, but I imagine someone wanting a challenge could have fun with the game at max difficulty.
Game 24: Borderlands - 25 hours, Sept 11th
I picked this up from an old save. It's an all right game, but it gets quite repetitive and it's probably too long. A problem I have with it is that it never manages to be fun and challenging at the same time, if there's a tough enemy you're best off cheesing it. Not a fan of the health system either. Just mindlessly killing stuff is more fun than in most shooters I've played on this list though, so there's that.
52 - The Sun and Moon... with the school semester kicking in, I just wanted to finish this challenge with something short and simple. Something I that didn't require a commitment. The Sun and Moon was the perfect title for me. Really neat indie game with a cool platforming/gravity mechanic. check it out.
Whelp... I'm finished for the year... I'm sure in late December I will be returning to video games, but for the next couple of months it will be all about bacteria, body parts, physics, and lab grunt work. I probably wouldn't do this next year, or at least lessen the goal if I did.
Game 46: Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn, PS3. 97:58
Finally unlocked everything, golded every mission, got every card. The best of the 4 Gundam Musous by far, I just wished there was more of the back half of the Universal Century and WAY less SEED.
