52 Games. 1 Year. 2018.

[hersheyfan]

POST 4 (Games 47-66)

It took me until September to hit 52 games this time out - I'm slipping, man!

Having a baby has cut really deep into my game time, and also into the time I have to write these things up.

47. Sakura Beach - PC, 7/22/18, 56 minutes
★
Rote and boring sound novel; not NSFW, but will not discuss any further.

48. Dead Cells - NSW, 8/21/18, 18 hours
★★★★
I finally beat Dead Cells! Always having the Switch on hand allowed me to chip away at it with a run or two whenever I had downtime. It's an absolutely fantastic Roguevania that nails the "Vania" feel. I own this on PC as well, and the performance on NSW is more than acceptable. I didn't feel a huge need to start another run after the catharsis of finally beating that last boss, but the time I spent on this was truly enjoyable.

49. Peggle 2 + Windy the Fairy/Jimmy Lightning DLC - PS4, 8/26/18, around 7 hours
★★★
Cleaned up my playthrough of Peggle 2 on the PS4. It's unremarkable, it's Peggle. Didn't hold up as well as I thought it would, especially compared to other PopCap games.

50. NBA 2K18 - NSW, 8/27/18, over 20 hours
★★★
I tried the MyPlayer mode again for the first time in years and had a pretty good time. I don't play online (local matches only against friends, with NBA teams) so not having an absolute monster player isn't a deal breaker for me. Where this falls apart is the basketball for me, they put a little too much emphasis on defense this time out, which makes no sense as the NBA actually tightened up the criteria for hand checks this year. It's still good, but playing pickup just wasn't as fun using the default settings. I shouldn't have to adjust the freaking sliders to get a competent game of hoops.

51. Wulverblade - NSW, 9/14/18, over 5 hours
★★
Man, fuck this game! It's fairly competent as side scrolling beat em ups ("belt action" games) go, but the difficulty is just overbearingly hard. I made it all the way to the end, then was stuck on the last boss for more than a year (ragequit). I only picked it back up again when I saw they released an easy mode patch; I redownloaded it, kicked that guy's ass, swore like a motherf*cker, and burned all evidence of this game from my Switch. For the record, I have never done this for any other game (adjusting the difficulty to Easy because I couldn't hack Normal); it's just that goddamn hard.

52. 428: Shibuya Scramble - PS4, 9/16/18, 35 hours
★★★★★
My personal Game of the Year thus far. A truly remarkable visual novel that kept me on the edge of my seat; laughing out loud, getting creeped out by pseudo horror vibes, always in suspense as to what happens next. If you're the type of person who appreciates a good yarn, I can't recommend this game enough.

53. Knights of the Round (Capcom Belt Action) - NSW, 9/20/18, around an hour 15 minutes
★★★
KotR was the main reason I bought this collection, as it was the one I was most nostalgic for. Sadly it hasn't held up as well as I thought; it's still good times, but I think I would be viewing it far differently if I wasn't viewing it from the perspective of somebody who played it back in the 90's. A solid, if unspectacular beat em up with lots of hilariously cheap deaths.

54. Final Fight (Capcom Belt Action) - NSW, 9/26/18, around 45 minutes
★★★★
OK, this was a whole lot better. I've never played the arcade version of Final Fight, I cut my teeth on the SNES version. The feel of this game is just so solid - the hits are impactful, and you always feel like you're in full control, any deaths being completely your fault.

55. Captain Commando (Capcom Belt Action) - NSW, 9/26/18, around 45 minutes
★★★
Like KotR, its mostly the nostalgia talking here. Captain Commando is mechanically far superior to it, but it's just not super great by 2018 standards. Still fun, but some of this shit was clearly designed to munch on your quarters.

56. Grand Theft Auto V - PS4, 9/29/18, 30 hours
★★★★
Oh my God, I finally finished GTAV! (Made it 60% of the way through on the PS3, but had to start from scratch on the PS4.) It was a great ride most of the way through, although it really began dragging towards the end. Not much else to complain about otherwise. They'll need to change things up significantly in GTAVI if they want to keep people's interest, I'd say the base formula is getting long in the tooth (I can't speak for GTA Online, as I only ever played it once back in the day).

57. Vostok Inc. - PS4, 10/7/18, around 15 hours (2nd full playthrough this year, different platform)
★★★
What can I say? I just love clicker games apparently. I beat the NSW version earlier this year (paid full price, no regrets) and when I got this free on PS Plus I couldn't resist. It's not "good" good, but it sure as hell is addictive.

58. The Walking Dead: Michonne - PC, 10/13/18. 3.8 hours
★★★
It was fun enough while it lasted, but nothing much really happens in the Walking Dead: Michonne. The mini series run time is too short for you to get really emotionally invested in any characters, save one of the villains I suppose.

59. Warriors of Fate (Capcom Belt Action) - NSW, 10/14/18, around 45 minutes
★★
Easily the crappiest game I've played through so far as part of the Belt Action collection. I have a little nostalgia for this, and there's certainly less cheap kills in WoF vs. say, Captain Commando, but the feel just isn't as good. Also, who the hell designed that useless archer guy? He's completely useless!

60. Space Channel 5: Part 2 - PC, 11/1/18, 2 hours
★★★★
I went on a run through Mizuguchi's Dreamcast classic one more time - it's been long enough that I don't remember most of it. Still fun, still catchy as all hell, well worth what Sega charge for it during Steam sales (a dollar or so? Jesus).

61. Hollow Knight - NSW, 11/1/18, 30 hours
★★★★★
I wasn't going to buy this again, I totaled the game on Steam last year (it was on my personal GotY list). Then it went on sale for half off on the eShop IIRC, and I caved yet again. Hollow Knight is still a masterful experience, and is (for my money) the greatest Metroidvania game ever created.

62. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Castlevania Requiem) - PS4, 11/4/18, 9 hours, 197%
★★★
Just to be sure all that shit I wrote about Hollow Knight above wasn't pure BS, I bought and played through SotN (for the 6th time or so?) by way of Castlevania Requiem. To be clear, the 3 star rating doesn't reflect SotN's quality: it's still a great game, definitely 4 stars/8 out of 10 or so when judged by modern standards, if a little dry (Dawn of Sorrow is better, and is probably still a 5 star game). However, this port is pretty lazy - it's the PSP ISO shoved into an emulator, and while that's fine enough you certainly don't get a lot for your money.

63. Injustice 2: Legendary Edition - PC, 11/13/18, 4.7 hours
★★
For some inexplicable reason I had a lot less fun with this game versus the first Injustice. The story sure made a whole lot less sense, and there was just something off about how the game gives you parts with stats, like the game. I guess it was cool that I got to play as a Ninja Turtle? That joy lasted all of two matches, I regret buying this even for cheap.

64. Minit - PC, 11/24/18, 2 hours
★★★★
A bite sized shot of classic Zelda with a unique premise - you only ever stay alive for one minute. To explain further would be to spoil things. Fun game, pick it up in a sale.
As a caveat, I'm aware that my playtime is low, but thats by no means a 100% playthrough.

65. Fight N' Rage - PC, 11/24/18, 5 hours (3pt)
★★★
An incredible feeling side scrolling beat em up in the vein of Streets of Rage, but modernized. It's clear that the people who made this game have a deep love for both beat em ups and 2D fighting games, and the skill you can utilize when pulling off chains is unreal. There's plenty of replay value as well for a game of this type, some pretty obtuse branching paths leading to a boatload of endings, as well as Street Fighter style dojo modes where you train to master combos.
So why the 3 star rating? Having played through all three characters, I feel one of the selectable characters (the bull dude) just didn't fit in much to the type of game this was; I understand wanting to put in a Mike Haggar type to satisfy the archetype but he simply feels much less satisfying to play as.

66. Sunset Overdrive - PC, 11/26/18, 27 hours
★★★★
I'll just quote myself from the OT to save time:

Well, I just finished Sunset Overdrive today, after 27 hours.

As a first timer, I'm happy to say I was pleasantly surprised. The game doesn't make the best first impression - the game implies that the Style mechanics are critical to your success, and shooting people while grinding around like a lunatic is key to the gameplay. They also chose to lead with some rather weak tower defense levels with rather substandard mechanics. Fortunately, as it turns out you can largely ignore all of that stuff: the TD levels are few and far between, and while staying mobile is definitely important you can definitely get away with fighting enemies mostly on the ground.

As for the obvious, the movement mechanics are absolutely glorious, and are collectively the best mobility suite I've ever seen in an open world game, bar none. I may not have "needed" the style (as I mentioned, I prefer to fight mostly on the ground), but while moving around I always made it a point to string along as many movement chains as I could without touching the ground - it's like playing Tony Hawk. The world is nice and colorful, and while some of the humor is hit and miss, the wackiness grows on you and it helps keep things interesting. The soundtrack is catchy enough, although I outgrew most punk rock a long time ago.

Basically its the irreverent tone and general structure of Saints Row 2 + the super solid weapon feel of Ratchet and Clank + the freedom of movement granted by, say, Prototype (but taken even further). Fantastic game, and well worth full price.

Click to shrink...

 

[Tambini]

#67 Enslaved 7.5 PS3 - Nov 23rd - 9 hours
Good story with great voice acting, gameplay is a bit simple and easy even on hard mode but it's still fun, I would have liked to see a deeper combat system with more combos but overall a well paced fun game

#68 Deus Ex 8.5 PC - Nov 27th - 17 hours
Finally after years of having started and stopped halfway through I finished Deus Ex. The writing and voice acting are cheesy but charming, the level design is great and the amount of choice the game gives you is very impressive. The graphics are not good but it's okay because my vision is augmented

 

[Clickypen Champion]

Completed (to credits roll)

1. Persona 5 – 186h

2. Super Mario Odyssey – 36h

3. Tekken 7 – 4h

4. Monster Hunter World – 28h

5. Infamous Second Son – 12h

6. Spider-Man – 14h

7. Heist DLC – 3h

8. Sonic Mania – 5h

9. Hyrule Warriors – 25h

10. Breath of the Wild – 82h

11. Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wilds – 13h

12. Overcooked - 13h, three star with wife

13. Overcooked Winter DLC – 6h, three star with wife

14. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag – 46h

15. Assassin's Creed : Freedom Cry -12h

Finished with L.P. watching help (to credits roll)

16. Batman The Enemy Within

17. Guardians of the Galaxy

18. Yakuza 0

19. A Way Out

20. Detroit x2

21. Walking Dead season 3

22. Cuphead x2

23. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove

24. Until Dawn x2

25. Soma


Started, in progress

26. Battle Chef Brigade – 6h

27. Kirby: Star Allies – 5h

28. Valkyria Chronicles 4 -28h

29. Axiom Verge – 3h

30. Snipperclips – 2h

31. Nioh – 22h

32. The Surge – 7h

33. Red Dead Redemption 2 – 11h

34. God of War – 12h, but restarting again

35. Overcooked 2 – 7h

36. Rime - 3h

37. Tyranny – 17h

38. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – 4h

39. Octopath Traveller – 5h

40. Far Cry 4 – 23h

41. Stardew Valley – 20h

42. Tales of Berseria – 6h

43. Cluster Truck – 4h

44. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

45. Uncharted 4 – 2h

46. Witcher 3 – 68h

Bounced off, giving up

47. Rime – 3h (was more curious about it. Didn't get into it, But it seemed like a good puzzler)

48. Absolver – 7h

49. The Witness – 6h

50. Battleblock Theatre – 3h

51. Let it Die – 12h (yes it did)

52. Borderlands Pre-sequel – 4h

53. Transistor – 8h (this one hurt to put in this category, but I died too many times, losing everything near the end, and I kept running into a wall of enemies. I felt so bad that I bought the Vinyl Soundtrack.)

 

[Tizoc]

115. Dragon Quest XI

Enjoyed my time with this game. The Strong enemies option really added to the tension of boss battles, but by the time I defeated the major boss I just felt burned out.
Non the less I highgly recommend it to fans of traditional jRPGs.

 

[Deleted member 1759]

Main Post

#76: Battlefield V (PC) | 6.6h | Nov 20 | ★★★


First off, the multiplayer is genuinely great even though it's too light on content. As for the campaign: if you don't play on the highest difficulty as I did, I guess it's a bit short, you can probably finish it in 3-4h. But I still quite enjoyed the three War Stories which all take place in different locations with different protagonists. What's a bit unusual is that the missions usually are more stealth focused than you expect from a Battlefield game. I didn't mind it but if you accept lots of action, you might be disappointed. I just wish the different stories were a bit more intervened with each other and had an overreaching story arc. But in the end it's just the campaign and I don't think anyone buys a Battlefield game just to play the SP. It's a Battlefield game, it's a DICE game. It looks, sounds and plays great but the campaign is nothing exciting.


#77: Detroit: Become Human (PS4) | 11.2h | Nov 25 | ★★★½


Better than I expected. The story and characters are good but it's a Quantic Dreams game, so don't expect any revolutionary gameplay ideas but you get some lovely visuals. The controls were a bit clunky at times but still ok. There are lots of decisions to make and they do have an impact on the outcome of the game. The story switches between three protagonists and the different episodes are quite short which I think was a good decision. Otherwise it could have become a bit boring.


#78: Attentat 1942 (PC) | 2.8h | Nov 26 | ★★★


The game tells the story about the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. As a self-proclaimed history buff I was obviously quite interested in it. You interview different eyewitnesses and try to figure out why your grandfather was taken prisoner by the Gestapo. The interviews are sometimes accompanied by some mini games which were ok but nothing noteworthy. The game also gives you a lot of background information about Germany and Czechoslovakia during WWII with original clips and documents. Check it out if you're interested in this time period.


#79: Star Wars: Battlefront II (PC) | 6.0h | Nov 28 | ★★★½


(Spoilers) Just played the campaign and in the end I was positively surprised. The story made sense I the characters were good, especially the protagonist, Iden Versio. Gameplay isn't as good as in BFV but the graphics are top notch as well. I've read the accompanying novel before playing the game and I'm a bit disappointed the Iden joined the Rebels tbh. I'd have preferred a story with a bigger focus on the Empire.

 

[Baloota]

Main post
8- Hitman 2: Silent Assassin - PS3 - 8/10
Weird. I remeber this game being one of the best Hitman games but after playing Codename 47. I feel like there is not much difference between this and the first one except maybe more weapons. I also feel like the levels in Codnemae 47 were better. I think i will give it the same score as the first. But other then nostalgia. Hitman Silent Assassin is not as special as i thought it was. Onward to Hitman: Contracts

 

[Bosh]

MAIN THREAD 1
MAIN THREAD 2

#56: Pokemon Platinum (11/3/2018) | 8/10 | 3DS XL | ~ 18 Hours | Recommend: Y
# Overall - 8 | Aggregate of 4 components below. Decimal rounded up or down by personal bias.
Gameplay - 7.8 | Not much changed from previous titles but the game is well made.
Sound - 8 | Those jolly Pokemon tunes will keep you going the entire game.
Story/Online - 7 | A little wilder than previous games but not the main focus
Asking Price- 8 | Flew through the game, good amount of content though and some nice extras after finishing the game.

#57: Astro Bot Rescue Mission (11/6/2018) | 9/10 | PSVR | ~ 7 Hours | Recommend: Y
# Overall - 9 | If you have a PSVR you owe it to yourself to play this game.
Gameplay - 9.2 | Game is a joy to play, I can see myself coming back to this often.
Sound - 8 | Great tunes, but not a ton.
Story/Online - NA | Not really a story to this game
Asking Price- 10 | Easily the best VR game I have played and a variety of challenges to play after the initial story

#58: Ace Attorney (11/15/2018) | 8/10 | 3DS XL | ~ 17 Hours | Recommend: Y
# Overall - 8 | Aggregate of 4 components below. Decimal rounded up or down by personal bias.
Gameplay - 9 | Was bored initially but the game does a 180 quickly and turns into a tense back and forth.
Sound - 7 | Limited tunes through the game. Everything there is okay.
Story/Online - 8 | Story has a nice mix of silly/seriousness
Asking Price- 8.33 | More content than I expected and gives an adequate challenge

#59: Fire Emblem Awakening (11/27/2018) | 9/10 | 3DS XL | ~ 31 Hours | Recommend: Y
# Overall - 9 | First Fire Emblem game I have played, made me buy three others titles before finishing this one!
Gameplay - 9.2 | Nice RPG strategy, its fun trying out and mixing characters and abilities.
Sound - 8 | I really enjoyed what the game had but it reuses most of its songs through the game.
Story/Online - 9 | As the game went on, the story picked up big time and I loved the character interactions.
Asking Price- 9.67 | A lot of content (and good content) challenges mixes up maps to make you think

 

[Psychotic_Mantis]

Main Post

59. Star Wars: Battlefront II - PS4
Completed 11/22/18
Score - 6/10

Yikes. I really couldn't stand the main character at all. The story was a complete mess and just went all over the place. It really sucks because I felt that the graphics, sound and music were an amazing representation of Star Wars. The space battles were the best part of the game...but they were so short and basic that I was left wanting more. I really expected to like this one. Just a complete disappointment for me.

Side note - I randomly picked this one to play out of a pile of games and it's funny to see a few other posters have completed it this past week as well.

 

[Tizoc]

116. Ode

This was a short Platformer where you collect Orbs and navigate through areas in order to power up some kind of space plants or fungus or whatever.
While visually it may become annoying to the eyes after playing for a while, it was a decent enough platformer.

 

[Rokal]

Finished with L.P. watching help (to credits roll)

16. Batman The Enemy Within

17. Guardians of the Galaxy

18. Yakuza 0

19. A Way Out

20. Detroit x2

21. Walking Dead season 3

22. Cuphead x2

23. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove

24. Until Dawn x2

25. Soma

Click to shrink...

What does this mean? You watched a Let's Play video and consider the game "Completed"? I know this challenge is super laissez-faire about what constitutes "finishing" a game, but even still Let's Play videos seem like they are clearly not the same as finishing a game.

If you watched someone beat Cuphead twice on Youtube you didn't finish Cuphead.

 

[saenima]

What does this mean? You watched a Let's Play video and consider the game "Completed"? I know this challenge is super laissez-faire about what constitutes "finishing" a game, but even still Let's Play videos seem like they are clearly not the same as finishing a game.

If you watched someone beat Cuphead twice on Youtube you didn't finish Cuphead.

Click to shrink...

I read it as using an LP for help with finishing a game, like a guide. But maybe i'm wrong?

On another note, as the end of the year approaches and my goal has long been met, i find myself looking at shorter games and thinking 'i'll take care of you next january'. Anyone else doing this?

 

[LonestarZues]

I read it as using an LP for help with finishing a game, like a guide. But maybe i'm wrong?

On another note, as the end of the year approaches and my goal has long been met, i find myself looking at shorter games and thinking 'i'll take care of you next january'. Anyone else doing this?

Click to shrink...

Same I'm planning my playthroughs for the 1st quarter next year as new releases I'm interested in are light (RE2 and Metro Exodus). Have a lot of indie titles lined up for the 1st quarter.

 

[Memory Pak]

Main post
Got a PSP this year. There's loads of them out there for little money now, and games are dirt cheap for it too. Here's what I played on it the last 3 months or so:

29. Burnout Legends (2005, PSP) ★★★☆☆
Looks very good for a handheld game, and does at times hit the exact white-knuckle action notes you want out of a Burnout title. That said, the soundtrack has aged rather poorly, and if you've already played other entries in the series, this basically functions as a best-of release with the takedown mechanic from Burnout 3 integrated. Good thing you can ram A.I. opponents off the road too, because their rubber banding is kind of ridiculous.

30. LocoRoco (2006, PSP) ★★☆☆☆
Really liked the art style and music on this title, so it was a bit dissapointing to realise the experience never really evolves in many meaningful ways. The game winds up overstaying its welcome ever so slightly, and the slow pace doesn't help with this aspect.

31. Buzz!: Quiz World (2009, PSP) ★★☆☆☆
These games were kind of a big deal for a brief period of time. I never played one, so this was an overdue introduction. It's basically a trivia/quiz game with a couple thousand possible questions, so they don't repeat too often. Kind of a neat curiosity, even if it does feel like an ancient relic already.

32. Ridge Racer 2 (2006, PSP) ★★★☆☆
Never played a Ridge Racer title either, but I wound up liking this one! The minimal techno soundtrack is pretty catchy, and the drifting feels well done. There's loads of courses and cars to unlock here, too, although it does get very challenging towards the end.

33. beats (2007, PSP) ★★★☆☆
This is a PSN download title and basically functions as a rhythm game. It auto-generates button-press patterns if you load mp3 files onto your memory card, which seems to work pretty well. The pre-loaded stuff is mostly EyeToy music, but that's decent too.

34. flOw (2007, PSP) ★★☆☆☆
Another PSN download game. This one I was looking forward to, but it didn't really deliver. The promise of a relaxing, nigh-meditative experience just doesn't mesh very well with the inherent aggression in the gameplay - at least for me. Would genuinely be better if you could just swim around as a fish, set to ambient music, I think.

35. Gitaroo Man Lives! (2006, PSP) ★★★☆☆
Really stylish, very Japanese rhythm game. They find good use for the analog stick on the PSP too. That said, not all of the songs are winners, and the difficulty curve seems curiously wonky. There's a shark boss who's seemingly only there to stop any progression dead in its tracks. Liked it for the most part though.

36. Me & My Katamari (2006, PSP) ★★★☆☆
Another franchise I never got to try out before, and had high expectations of. This game feels very polished in some ways, presentation is excellent across all aspects. From how the credits are done, to the amusing loading screens, and even the menu interface with the islands and animals is done with care. There's a lot of outfits to collect and different songs too, the overall game is very colourful, bright and aims to delight.
The controls are pretty unintuitive though, you're really lacking a camera control here, and honestly it would play better if you controlled the Katamari directly, rather than push it with the Prince. There's also a real dearth of stages here, I swear there's less than 10, and that includes several re-used ones with different theming. Maybe my expectations were unreasonably high?

37. Sega Rally Revo (2007, PSP) ★★★☆☆
This one's enjoyable, there's no bothering with much realism/damage physics/repairs etc., which gives it a Sega arcade feel. No weather effects either, although the tracks do have varied surfaces which you gotta account for during tyre selection. Good for pick-up and play sessions, drifting around dirt tracks and crashing into opponents with no repercussions.

38. Every Extend / Every Extend Extra (2004/2006, PSP) No score - unfinished
Bounced really hard off of both these titles, unfortunately. It's easy to see the merit here; it's a novel variation on twin-stick shooters, where you have to position yourself carefully and set off chain-reactions from a single explosion instead of shoot at enemies. I'm not sure what was added in the 'Extra' edition, but it's cool both games are on a single UMD along with a demo for Lumines II. I can see the appeal here, but it's not for me, so I won't score this one.

39. PaRappa The Rapper (2007, PSP) ★☆☆☆☆ - unfinished
I had a very difficult time getting anywhere in this game, and stopped after level 3. At first I thought it was just my terrible sense of rhythm, but I'm secretly convinced the game is just kind of broken in a strange way. I'm not sure if input lag is even a thing on PSP, but sometimes you need to press commands just before the icon appears, other times at the same time... Maybe they're purposefully trying to throw you off, like Rhythm Heaven Fever does with its visual distractions, but then why use a note ribbon at all? I would recommend everyone to avoid this port, it unfortunately doesn't seem to live up to the series' pedigree.

 

[Spyware]

On another note, as the end of the year approaches and my goal has long been met, i find myself looking at shorter games and thinking 'i'll take care of you next january'. Anyone else doing this?

Click to shrink...

I did that at this time last year, also focusing a lot on the shorter games in my backlog pretty much all of this year. This year I have not and will not. Next year will be the year of the long games! That doesn't mean I won't play shorter games of course, just that I don't have my sights set on them.

 

[saenima]

Same I'm planning my playthroughs for the 1st quarter next year as new releases I'm interested in are light (RE2 and Metro Exodus). Have a lot of indie titles lined up for the 1st quarter.

Click to shrink...

Yeah i'm lining up a few indies for next year as well and trying to finish up a couple of veeeery long games this year. I have a few days off in early December and not much else going on so it should be doable.

I did that at this time last year, also focusing a lot on the shorter games in my backlog pretty much all of this year. This year I have not and will not. Next year will be the year of the long games! That doesn't mean I won't play shorter games of course, just that I don't have my sights set on them.

Click to shrink...

I've been without a PC for a while and that really affected the kind of games i have access to. There's a lot more short and experimental stuff there that you can just fire up on a whim and finish in a couple of hours. I feel like my console play is more planned overall, less flexible.

On the other hand, gone are the countless hours of indecisively staring at my Steam library before just giving up and watching a movie :/

 

[Baloota]

Main post
9- Hitman: Contracts - PS3 - 8.5/10
Definitely the best out of the first three. A huge step forward in terms of level design and UI with a much needed tweaks for controls. However, it took a step backwards it terms of how they handled missions. In previous Hitman games you get to choose what you start with in each mission. In this one you only choose when you replay the mission. I have no idea why they went with that decision especially that it heavely impacted the atmosphere of the game. Overall, if i would rank them right now it will go Contracts > Codename 47 > Silent Assassin. Onward to Blood Money.
Edit : I forgot to mention that while the game is good, it felt rushed to me. 5 or 6 mission were remade from the original Hitman. I think that they were excellently remade but too easy to finish because i already know everything apart from the few changes. Got a Silent Assassin rank in all of them in less than 2 hours overall and the game is pretty short too.

 

[Spyware]

Seems monthly updates is simply what I do nowadays!

Also, I have now beaten 3x52 games! Maybe this is where I should stop for the year ;D

Game #148: Human: Fall Flat
Started 23 Dec. 2017 - Completed 6 Nov. 2018
Verdict: Best multiplayer game I have ever played.

I wish there were more games like Human: Fall Flat, because this game is the funniest multiplayer game I have ever played. I played this for the first time around Christmas last year, streaming it together with my brother. We only got to the Water level before having to stop, and for some reason we didn't pick it up until now. We streamed it again and almost fell out of our chairs laughing. After beating it on stream, I went back and finished up the achievements. What a fantastic game it is.​

Game #149: Woolfe - The Red Hood Diaries
Started 9 Nov. 2018 - Completed 9 Nov. 2018
Verdict: Cool looking take on a classic.

I hadn't heard many good things about this but I am happy I didn't listen to that. Yes the combat is bad (but easily exploitable and therefore not a problem) and the inviible walls can be an annoyance. But I really loved the style of it, the story was an interesting take on the fairytale andit had a lot of charm.​

Game #150: STASIS
Started 4 Oct. 2018 - Completed 7 Oct. 2018
Verdict: Successfully scared me!

What a game! An isometric point-and-click horror game that succeeds in being scary! The first time I played it I got stuck and put it aside, but this time I was immediately hooked and had no trouble getting through it. The puzzles make total sense. It sounds amazing, the story is great and it really nails the scares.​

Game #151: Super Mario Party
Started 13 Oct. 2018 - Completed 12 Nov. 2018
Verdict: Great fun.

I have never before thought that the Mario Party games look even remotely fun. Party games in general aren't really my thing and especially not ones where you mess with each other. But something about this made it seem fun. Maybe the personal dice thing, the looks, the different modes or the minigames. I don't know. But something pulled me in and I bought it on impulse after seeing a friend stream it. And I had a blast with it! Mostly played it with just my brother against the AI but also four people which was very fun. We didn't really mess much with each other so that felt good. The single player challenge mode was also a very nice thing since I really liked the minigames.​

Game #152: Spyro the Dragon
Started 13 Nov. 2018 - Completed 14 Nov. 2018
Verdict: Stunning remake. Best in the series.

I didn't play the first Spyro game much as a kid. I never owned it myself and my step-sisters didn't want to let me play it much. But I really loved what I played of it and it made me get the other games. I played through it completely for the first time a couple of years ago and thought it was a fine game, but not as good as the others. With this remake I think I have changed my opinions on that. With the added charm of the remade dragons and the look of the game, I think this one is my favourite out of the bunch. I definitely enjoy being able to 100% a level on my first visit. The skill points and trophies were nice extra goals too. The remake absolutely nails the feel of every level from the originals for me, and this point goes for all of the games.​

Game #153: Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!
Started 14 Nov. 2018 - Completed 16 Nov. 2018
Verdict: Just as stunning, nailed everything from the original.

I played this after the third game as a kid and I think I didn't like it quite as much back then. I don't know what I thought when I played them a couple of years ago, but now I think it's the second best one. It don't appreciate that I have to backtrack due to having to unlock abilities but that's just nitpicking to be honest. It doesn't happen too often. It does make the fact that the levels reset completely every time you leave a bit of an annoyance tho. I liked the remade character looks and loved that one of the bosses was a bit of a challenge.​

Game #154: Spyro: Year of the Dragon
Started 16 Nov. 2018 - Beaten 19 Nov. 2018
Verdict: Stunning like the others and mostly perfect.

Year of the Dragon was the first one I owned as a kid. Got it as a christmas gift and loved it to bits. It's basically the game that changed gaming from something that was sorta fun to do at times to a real hobby of mine. Now I consider it the least good in the trilogy but it's still a great game. I just don't like the animal companions. They feel off to play as and are not used much, which is both good as I don't like playing as them but also makes them feel absolutely unneccesary. Love the Sparx levels tho. The levels being circular and not resetting is nice for the backtracking, so that's a good quality of life change from the second game.​

Game #146: Donut County
Started 20 Nov. 2018 - Completed 20 Nov. 2018
Verdict: It didn't even really feel like a game.

This was underwhelming. I mean, you just move your mouse pointer around and... that's that. There are a couple of levels that have some form of puzzle feel to them but in the end there is nothing really puzzling about them. The "trashopedia" was a bit funny but the story wasn't interesting. It's sorta cute but in the end it felt like I had just done nothing for two hours.​

Game #147: Call of Cthulhu
Started 28 Nov. 2018 - Completed 30 Nov. 2018
Verdict: Shaky start, great after that.

I had read a bit about this game beforehand so I sorta knew what to expect. What I found was a great experience that took a bit of time to get into, mostly due to the feeling that the skill system always worked against me. But you pretty much have to approach the skill system as if this was a "pen & paper RPG" with dice rolls, and accept that you can't do everything in one playthrough. I really loved the characters and while I don't really care for Lovecraft stories I liked the atmosphere and parts of the story. I liked that while the investigation stuff wasn't mandatory anymore a bit into the game, you could still find a bunch of areas to do optional investigations to find out more about things. I liked the puzzle parts of the game and would have liked to have more of it. I also would have liked if the investigations didn't solve themselves. All in all a great experience that I chose to go through more than once to get all the endings, some of which were really satisfying.​

_

Master Post!

 

[blackMamba1187]

List Dump (for now). Its been a busy year.

(01) 01/03/18 Never Stop Sneakin' (NS)
(02) 01/04/18 Night in the Woods (PC)
(03) 01/06/18 Bleed (PC)
(04) 01/06/18 Bleed 2 (PC)
(05) 01/07/18 Mr. Shifty (PC)
(06) 01/07/18 Bury me, my Love (iPhone)
(07) 01/09/18 Tekken 7 (PC)
(08) 01/14/18 Passpartout: The Starving Artist (PC)
(09) 01/20/18 SteamWorld Heist: Ultimate Edition (NS)
(10) 01/27/18 RUINER (PC)
(11) 01/29/18 Doom (2016) (NS)
(12) 02/05/18 SteamWorld Dig (NS)
(13) 02/07/18 Doom (2016) (PS4)
(14) 02/14/18 Cuphead (X1/PC)
(15) 02/19/18 Bayonetta 2 (NS)
(16) 02/25/18 Call of Duty: WWII (X1)
(17) 03/15/18 Life is Strange: Before the Storm - Bonus Episode: Farewell (PS4)
(18) 03/19/18 Shadow of the Colossus (2018) (PS4)
(19) 03/21/18 Tesla vs Lovecraft (NS)
(20) 03/21/18 Dragon Ball FighterZ (PC)
(21) 03/25/18 Sonic Mania (NS)
(22) 03/25/18 Monument Valley 2 (iPhone)
(23) 03/26/18 Kirby Star Allies (NS)
(24) 03/30/18 Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017) (PS4)
(25) 04/02/18 Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017): Resurrection (PS4)
(26) 04/02/18 Doom (2016) (X1)
(27) 04/04/18 A Way Out (X1)
(28) 04/15/18 Dragon Quest Builders (NS)
(29) 05/08/18 God of War (2018) (PS4)
(30) 05/27/18 XCOM: Enemy Within (iPad)
(31) 06/01/18 Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection: Street Fighter (NS)
(32) 06/03/18 Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (NS)
(33) 06/09/18 BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (NS)
(34) 06/10/18 Shadowhand (PC)
(35) 06/21/18 XCOM: Enemy Within (iPad)
(36) 06/23/18 Star Wars Episode I: Racer (PC)
(37) 06/26/18 The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (X1)
(38) 07/15/18 The Walking Dead Collection: The Telltale Series: The Walking Dead: Season One (X1)
(39) 07/15/18 Gravity Rush 2 (PS4)
(40) 07/20/18 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (NS)
(41) 07/22/18 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (X1)
(42) 07/22/18 Assault Android Cactus (X1)
(43) 08/12/18 XCOM: Enemy Within (iPad)
(44) 08/16/18 Word Search by Powgi (NS)
(45) 08/16/18 Guns, Gore & Cannoli 2 (NS)
(46) 08/17/18 holedown (iPhone)
(47) 08/19/18 The Waking Dead: The Final Season - Episode 1: Done Running (X1)
(48) 08/19/18 Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode 3: Fractured Mask (X1)
(48) 08/19/18 Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode 4: What Ails You (X1)
(48) 08/19/18 Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode 5: Same Stitch (X1)
(49) 08/22/18 Nier: Automata (X1)
(50) 08/26/18 Batman: Return to Arkham: Arkham Asylum (X1)
(51) 08/29/18 Donut County (iPhone)
(52) 08/30/18 Picross 3D: Round 2 (3DS)
(53) 09/02/18 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Remastered (X1)
(54) 09/07/18 WarioWare Gold (3DS)
(55) 09/10/18 Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4)
(56) 09/13/18 10000000 (iPhone)
(57) 09/14/18 NHL 18 (X1)
(58) 09/15/18 Raiden V (X1)
(59) 09/20/18 Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition (NS)
(60) 09/22/18 RUINER (X1)
(61) 09/23/18 Wolfenstein: The New Order (X1)
(62) 10/13/18 The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (PC)
(63) 10/14/18 Life is Strange 2- Episode 1: Roads (PC)
(64) 10/20/18 Halo: The Master Chief Collection: Halo: Combat Evolved (X1)
(65) 10/27/18 The Orange Box: Half-Life 2 (X1)
(66) 11/11/18 The Orange Box: Half-Life 2: Episode One (X1)
(67) 11/18/18 Tetris Effect (PS4)
(68) 11/21/18 Rogue Legacy (NS)
(69) 11/28/18 Astebreed (NS)
(70) 11/29/18 R-Type Dimensions EX: R-Type (NS)
(71) 11/30/18 R-Type Dimensions EX: R-Type II (NS)
(72) 12/01/18 Battlefield V (PC)
(73) 12/01/18 Astebreed (PC)
(74) 12/02/18 Doki Doki Literature Club (PC)
(75) 12/10/18 Battlefield V - War Stories - The Last Tiger (PC)
(76) 12/23/18 Subsurface Circular (NS)
(77) 12/24/18 Quarantine Circular (NS)
(78) 12/28/18 NHL 19 (X1)
(79) 12/30/18 Florence (iphone)
(80) 12/31/18 Rocket League (PC/X1)

Hardware used: PS4 Pro. Xbox One X. Nintendo Switch. iPhone 7+. iPad (2018). PC 7700k 1080TI. nN3DS XL.

 

[Illusionary]

AC: Odyssey's immenseness means that I've only two games to report for November. I suppose that I could include Odyssey as I've just beaten the main story progression, but there's plenty more for me to do still - so it'll be in my December update. Let's see how close I can get to the 100 in December, as I think I'm due a few smaller games once I finally get done with Odyssey!

85. Pic-a-Pix Deluxe (Switch) - 6 November 2018
All puzzles completed with medals awarded, including both base game puzzles and the bundled "black and white pack". Essentially Picross by another name, there's a good amount of content included in this base package (300 puzzles, with 150 colour and 150 black and white) which will certainly last for a while, and the larger puzzles present a decent challenge. With an accessible interface and a potentially handy error-checking function for those who want to use it, this is a good implementation of the genre.

86. Toki Tori (Switch) - 18 November 2018
All levels completed (normal, hard and bonus). Toki Tori is an enjoyable, very charming side-scrolling puzzle game, tasking players with guiding a (flightless) bird to collect a number of eggs cattered about each level. In a manner somewhat reminiscent of Lemmings, navigation through each level is facilitated through applying a number of abilities (e.g. building bridge segments, moving blocks or short-distance teleportation), each typically with a limited number of uses per level, though here, players have direct control of Toki Tori. The levels start off fairly simple, but towards the end the game presents a decent challenge, as the number of available abilities and the size of the levels increase; it's always satisfying to work out a solution to each level, though I get the feeling that there's usually an intended 'correct' solution in many cases - albeit these do get quite creative in the ability usage that they expect.

Graphics are bright and colourful, conveying everything clearly, with similarly upbeat music - though this can get somewhat repetitive, with a given track being used throughout all levels in each 'world' (there are four main worlds in total). With somewhere around 70 levels in total the game can last a good while, and while there's little replay value once you've beaten all of them, the game's low price makes it a good value prospect too.

 

[Rokal]

Busy month to post about!

November

40: The Evil Within 2 - 18 hours

TEW2 2 felt like it traded some of the eccentric brilliance of TEW1 for a much more competently made game and a significantly more coherent story. I ended up really liking the open world pieces despite my reservations, and this felt like a very worthy current-gen follow-up to the original. The gunplay is still fun, the setting is still tense, but it feels much more polished overall both in concept and execution. It's not as interesting as TEW1, but it's much more fun IMO. I loved it, and I really hope we get to see TEW3.
9/10

41: The Lost Winds - 3 hours

I played this on PC, but it's originally a Wiiware game that embraced motion controls in a smart and non-frustrating way. Pointer movement can be used to push and pull the character around, with regular controls for basic movement. The whole thing is pretty forgiving of inexact pointer gestures, which meant it was a great fit on Wii. On PC and with a mouse the precision trivializes the game a bit. Overall it felt short and a little shallow, a reminder that even the games that managed to compromise well enough to make motion control serviceable last gen were mostly fun in spite of it rather than because of it.
7/10

42: Astro-Bot: Rescue Mission - 6 hours

I had been looking forward to this since the original Astro Bot PSVR Playroom mini-game and the full-fledged game did not disappoint. It never stopped surprising me or giving me experiences that felt 100% new which I didn't think were possible after gaming for so many years. I think the thing I liked most about it was how it demonstrated how powerful You being the camera was: the game rewarding your ability to peak around corners by physically moving in a way that felt totally natural or intuitive, the effect of water rising over your head and how that made you feel, etc. Despite how much I enjoyed it I couldn't get over the VR nausea with this one, and there are really no config options that will help you mitigate it. I got through it by playing 1-2 levels at a time and stopping when I started to feel nauseous, but I definitely can't say the experience was 100% pleasant throughout. Astro Bot really demonstrates the massive heights that VR is capable of bringing gaming to, as well as how the current technology just isn't there yet.
9/10

43: Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void - 14 hours

After enjoying the mission design of Heart of the Swarm last year I was hoping the LOTV might feel like a better product overall with the same mission quality but with less campy or cringy writing given that it was focusing on characters besides Kerigan and Reynor. No such luck. For me, the mission design in this felt much less interesting, with most missions being very similar and the same "build a deathball and roll over the enemies" strategy prevailing in all of them. I didn't feel like I had missions this time around that didn't focus on base building: they all followed the same mold. As for the story, the less said the better. What an incredibly dumb way to end a trilogy that was already full of disappointing writing. There are still great production values in the campaign and the product as a whole, but on the single player side they aren't enough to rescue LOTV from boring mission design and terrible writing.
6/10

44: For Honor - 6 hours single player/20+ hours multiplayer

I finished the single player campaign in this for the challenge but it mostly felt like an afterthought. It isn't really interesting or varied enough to stand on its own, and the tutorial-esque moments of it that could have been nice to prepare you for multiplayer are too shallow to accomplish that goal. Multiplayer, on the other hand, is great. The combat is system is brilliant and it feels simultaneously very intense and deep while still being accessible. You can be an asset to your team and help with objectives even if you're learning the ropes on a new character. It's also worth mentioning that the game performance and visuals are unbelievable: liquid smooth and super optimized, I was able to play with maxed settings on PC and see gorgeous visuals without a ridiculous computer or any tweeking. The single player is a bit soft and the meta-game Faction War system is mostly confusing and doesn't feel particularly rewarding, but it's a great multiplayer game.
8/10

45: Gorogoa - 3 hours

I wasn't wild about Gorogoa. The puzzles were often clever and had beautiful art, but too often felt like they devolved into process of elimination by tapping randomly to find what could be interacted with in each picture. The game makes some minor effort to tell a visual story, but I didn't find it very coherent. Between the short play time, disappointing puzzles, and barely existent storyline I wouldn't recommend this to others.
5/10

46: Pokémon Let's Go: Pikachu Edition - 22 hours

This is the first Pokémon game I've finished since the original Blue, despite having purchased almost every Pokémon game since. I loved the emphasis on gameplay and exploration instead of tutorials and cinematics. If I'm being perfectly honest I think combat in Pokemon is pretty stale and random battles have been a tired concept for over 20 years by now. Because of that, the new catching mechanic was a welcome change from mandatory battles, but the ball throwing felt very inconsistent. I got the hang of it by the end of the game but it was never intuitive – I was flicking the Joycon at a 90 degree angle towards my wall in order to succeed, rather than at the point on the screen where the Pokémon was as you'd expect. The lack of hand-holding and toning down the frequency of combat were enough to let me enjoy the game to the end though, and I'm hopeful that they make more Pokémon games like this in the future. Like with Monster Hunter World, this makes enough quality of life improvements that I don't think I can go back to the old style of Pokémon games.
8/10

47: DOOM 2016 - 10 hours

In a lot of ways DOOM 2016 is a throw-back to older game design. Very little set-up in the story before you're thrown into the action, extremely fast combat, and map/level design that seems intent on proving that this style of game still has a place in the modern era. I haven't played a game that felt this frantic in ages, and the combat & glory kills feel better than any FPS in recent memory. The performance of the game was also liquid smooth and well-optimized even on my old PC. On the downside, the combat scenarios do get a bit boring by the end, and while the focus on combat and level design was a nice throw-back, it does wear out its welcome eventually. Even with combat as fun as this is, I wish the game did more to switch up enemy variety and tactics. Instead, it feels like a never-ending gauntlet of neigh-identical murder box arenas. Which is still pretty great, but it could have been better.
8/10

I'm particularly happy about finishing DOOM because it was the first game I added to my backlog on Grouvee when I decided to participate in the 52 games challenge last year on the old site.

I think I'll make it to 52 this year but I'll be spending December playing some GOTY contenders that I haven't gotten to yet so we'll see.

 

[Tizoc]

117. Megaman 11

Beat it in one setting. Enjoyed my time with it for the most part though stages kind of felt longer than I would've liked. Non the less It's a nice return to the classic Megaman formula.

118. Gunman Clive

Well that was a short but fun game. Took me about an hour or so to beat but mainly because I would die and need to replay stages.

 

[Lightningboalt]

Original Post


39. WarioWare Gold - [8.5/10] 4 hours, September 7th
It's been way too long since the last Warioware. Please give us one a little sooner on the Switch, Nintendo. Not a lot to say about this one considering it's mostly a greatest hits collection with some fantastic cutscenes and Charles Martinet doing some of the finest voice work in his career. Let the man speak more, and he produces gold.

40. Fire Emblem Heroes Book 2 - September 22nd
Well, I guess this counts. Sort of an arbitrary "game" but hey, it's basically an episodic release.

41. Castlevania Bloodlines - [9.5/10] 5 hours, October 8th
This was actually the very first time I've ever played a Sega Genesis. Bloodlines was genuinely one of the best classicvanias I've ever played, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to get to it. Both characters were a ton of fun to play as, though I did kind of prefer John just because he was a fun take on Belmont gameplay. Eric was a lot of fun, but for some reason I just love the upwards diagonal whipping and the ability to swing from the ceilings. Each level was really fun to play through too, some especially distinct locales by Castlevania standards. I also loved recognizing a ton of the music as songs that Portrait of Ruin would later remix.

42. Spyro the Dragon (Reignited) - [9.5/10] 7.5 hours, November 25th
Like with Crash last year, I've never actually played a single Spyro game before so this was wholly uncharted territory for me. I loved this game and found it to be a genuinely fairly impressive 3D platformer. It sort of felt like a midway point between Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, more of a collection focus than Mario but a bit more relaxed than Banjo. I was always looking forward to finding more dragons, too, for incredibly minor characters they had a ton of personality and creative flair across their surprisingly detailed and varied designs.

43. Hohokum - [8/10] 3.5 hours, December 1st
I almost never really knew what I was doing throughout this game but I don't mind. Each little world was a unique little sandbox with its own minor story to tell and I appreciated that. Ultimately for as vague and weird as it tries to be, the game is basically "go find your friends"" and it was always satisfying to do just that.

 

[Rhaknar]

Game #58 - World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth
Time: A lot

Coming off a fantastic expansion in Legion, unfortunately BFA couldnt keep the momentum, and in fact it stumbled, a lot. While it's in a better place now, and there are promising changes in 8.1 in the months ahead, the simple fact is it launched in a bad state. Classes felt worse, content felt worse, systems felt worse. The raid is good and I actually raided more than I usually do these days (raided half of the first raid in heroic until my small casual guild quit again lol), but none of the new stuff like Island Expeditions or Warfronts do much to keep me engaged. I've quit for now after playing for about 3 months, and I'm sure ill come back to it soon enough with new patches, but it sure is a far cry from Legion, that's for sure.

Game #59 - Diablo 3 The Eternal Collection
Time: 100 hours+ (season 15)

This was the year I got back hard into Diablo 3 after not paying it for a few years, and all because of the fantastic Switch port. Playing it exclusively on handheld (as I do all my Switch games mind you), I cant believe how good this looks and feels on it. It's one of those cases where it doesnt feel like "a port", it just feels like the game, if that makes sense. I specify season 15, where I mostly played Crusader and Witch Doctor, because this will easily be one of my go-to games next year aswell, where I will play future seasons, so its nice to deferentiate I guess. Anyway, just a fantastic port, 60fps even portable, great controls (actually feels like a new / different game playing with a controller tbh), all the content released on PC, just a overall amazing package. Stealth runner-up for my GOTY list to be honest, and like I said something that will be a part of these yearly lists from now on I think (the number of games I have on these that I go back to every year keeps growing, and speaking of...)

Game #60 - Paladins Champions of the Realm
Time: 40 hours+

And chalk another one up to my growing list of multiplayer games I'll get back to regularly over the year, as I have gotten into Paladins in a semi-big way. I had played it a little bit back in early access years ago, and it seemed ok for a janky "overwatch clone". Fast forward a few years, I decided to try it again and what I found was a content rich, super fun to play, polished..."overwatch clone". I know I know, one can argue that Overwatched cloned TF2, and TF2 had previously cloned whatever, but its hard to deny the similarities. But, I'm an old man, and back in my day, people didnt mind playing Street Fighter 2 and MK and Fatal Fury and World Warriors and whatever else fighting game was out there, so I dont mind playing another hero shooter, especially since I actually dont play Overwatch anymore. Fantastic characters, especially now that they have moved on from the more similar to overwatch heroes, matches are fast and frenetic (and dont take too long which I like), its fun to play especially the healers, it just really clicked with me, so much so that I even bought the champion pack to support the devs (and get all current and future champions of course), even tho the F2P model is actually quite fair and I already had quite a few champions just with the in-game currency. The constant stream of new content (we are about to get a new map and the 40th champion) helps keep it fresh and will make me come back to it next year for sure.

Main Post

 

[saenima]

Main post 1: https://www.resetera.com/posts/2784229/
Main post 2: https://www.resetera.com/posts/5234679/
Main post 3: https://www.resetera.com/posts/12272007/

81. Life is Strange ep.1 - Chrysalis / 3h20 - completed 29.11.18

A random youtube autoplay of Spanish Sahara immediately transported me back to Arcadia Bay. I missed it. Chrysalis is a strong first episode, it wastes no time presenting us with its rich cast of characters and getting things moving along. It gives us what clearly seem very cliché one note characters and then quickly proceeds to subvert expectations. It's something that Dontnod keeps doing through most of the series.


82. Life is Strange ep.2 - Out of Time / 3h - completed 30.11.18

This is the episode that kicks everything into place and that first punches you breathless. We finally get to know Chloe and start making the connections that are the life of this small town. We get to play around some more with our powers and also get acquainted with their limitations. It's also the episode where the soundtrack starts to truly shine. There's a sense of dread throughout most of it that really pays off in the final act. Might be my favorite episode from what i remember.


83. Life is Strange ep.3 - Chaos Theory / 3h10 - completed 01.12.18

Chaos Theory starts off slow, focusing on the renewal of Max and Chloe's relationship. It's also here we start to get to know Rachel Amber and what she meant to so many people on Arcadia Bay. Between doomsday visions and the monsters among us, Max gets a first glimpse of what happens when you play with time. The final sequence is equal parts extremely cute and downright heartbreaking. Goddamnit Dontnod :(

 

[Baloota]

10- Hitman: Blood Money - PS3 - 10/10
Alright now we are talking. Hitman Blood Money and Hitman Absolution are the only 2 Hitman games i played from start to end. I remember Absolution being a great game (more on that below) and Blood Money being one of my favourite game of all time. Well, it is still one of my favourite games of all time and after replaying it i can help but feel that this is the perfect Hitman game. Everything about it screams Hitman. Best level design to date and boy where did the newspaper go? i would love if they added it to Hitman 3 and improved it. I'm giving this game a 10/10. Best Hitman out of the first 5 and one of the best video game experinces i've ever had, even after what 12 years?

11- Hitman Absolution - PS3 - 6/10
Great game my ass. What were they thinking when they made this? it's a complete and utter failure in terms of the Hitman formula. When i finished Blood Money 10+ years ago i was waiting eagrly for a new Hitman and when Absolution released i enjoyed it a lot even more than older Hitman titles and that's probably because i didn't play much of the older titles and forgot what Blood Money felt like. After playing through all of them i can say that this game is not great at all. I like the improvments in gameplay and the new contract mode but goddman this is so linear with some levels less then 2 mins long and most of them doesn't even have targets, actual targets.
However, gotta give credits to the developer. Some of the assassination are the best in the series and some levels are okay. The king of chinatown is great but small. Oh well i guess without this we wouldn't have gotten Hitman reboot.
Right now it's Blood Money > Contracts > Codename 47 > Silent Assassin > Absolution. Onward to Hitman. I think i will stop there however, i will invest a lot in the next Hitman (doing challenges and contracts) and i don't want to burn myself out of the series. I will play Hitman 2 later maybe after finishing the rest of the backlog. I will also play Hitman Go and Sniper in my free time.
Edit: I also wanted to say that even though it's not a good Hitman game this isn't necessarily a bad game if you take it for what it is. Just don't compare it to previous titles.

After finishing the Hitman series i will play Dead Space. Only the first one. I've heard it's one of the best horror games out there and recently i've became a fan of the horror genre. Can't believe i have so many great games in my backlog.
Previous Post

 

[Deleted member 43077]

Main Post
(Update Dec 3, 2018.)

Game 40/52: Marvel's Spider-Man: The Heist (PS4)

Did you miss me Spider?

The Heist DLC brings a short but sweet story to the world of Insomniacs Spider-Man that dives deeper into Black Cat which was pretty much just teased in the original game.
It adds some more challenge missions and characters as well as new costumes for you to unlock.

It coming so soon after the release of the game I set my expectations for the length of the DLC pretty low and I think that helped because man...its quick. If you go in expecting
even a 5 hour story you will be dissapointed, 5hrs is what it may take if you 100% the DLC like I did (and that would be if you did it pretty slowly or unlucky with crime spawns)

75/100

Game 41/52: Marvel's Spider-Man: Turf Wars (PS4)

Crossing a thin blue line.

The Turf Wars DLC like The Heist was pretty short and gave us more of the same but this time focused on Spider Cops buddy Yuri and the villain Hammerhead.
This DLC has the same flaws but the same highlights as the first one, its short, comes with the same kind of content.

The reason for me scoring this lower is I just didnt enjoy what Yuri and Hammerhead brought to the game as much as I did Black Cat even tho yes both are very short.
I do think that the original Iron Spider outfit is easily the best one so far and I look forward to what the final DLC has for us this month.

65/100

Game 42/52: Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox)

Driving Excellence

They did it again. I dont really know what to put here for this game tbh. They made another stellar game and probably the best one this generation once they (hopefully) add some of the fun dlc like Hot Wheels for Horizon 3
If you want a driving game to blow you away just pick this up or hey subscribe to GamePass.

90/100

Game 43/52: Battlefield V (PC)

You punch like a girl!

Well this game had an interesting lead up to launch huh. Welp regardless what came out was a super fun Multiplayer game that delivers those same epic Battlefield moments.
Now that the DLC is all free I expect to jump in more frequently and hopefully that Battle Royale mode coming in a couple months can add something interesting to the mix.

BFV continues what they started with Battlefield 1 with more War Stories but this time around I do think they were weaker and made me miss a traditional campaign (where on the other hand BF1 made me want even more War Stories!)
I look forward to see what the new free War Story adds when it releases tomorrow as it will tell the story of a German squad in WWII which well...is ever rarely told which makes it the one i have anticipated the most.

Overall its another great Battlefield game and I look forward to all the updates it will receive leading up to the next gen Battlefield. (Vietnam? Modern? *gulp* future?!)

80/100

Game 44/52: Ring of Elysium (PC)

I should have brought a jacket...

Ring of Elysium is (yet) another Battle Royale but...its actually quite fun.
No other BR has interested me as much as this one and its free! (it recently introduced a Battle Pass system which yes I did buy)

The things that make this game a little different from other games is that you actually have classes which impact your mobility and storage space (Rope Gear, Snowboard (my fav) and the Glider).
Ring also doesn't repeat the "last alive" idea that all the other games have. Here at the end of the game a helicopter arrives and you only win if you board the Heli before dying. There are 4 seats.
Will you try to peacefully get on with the other players or leave no one standing?

75/100

Game 45/52: Conker's Bad Fur Day (Xbox)

F@#$ING Great.

Its Conker its filled with fun levels and characters and is one of the best at pulling of its style of humor.
Must get imo for anyone on Xbox that is old enough to understand some of the references its just so damn good.
CBFD 2 please!

90/100

Game 46/52: DeadRising 4 (Xbox)

BrAaaAaAins with no heart

DeadRising 4 could have have been damn cool but man is it disappointing. You still meet wacky characters and make crazy weapon combos but
it feels more of the same while 2 and 3 were sequels that felt like they belonged or had character.

DeadRising 4 I would say is a decent pick up if you find it for real cheap, lets hope that if DeadRising 5 ever comes out it looks more like 2 or 3 than 4.

65/100

 

[Theswweet]

Wow, before I knew it - I passed 51 games! Now, just one more left... got a few options for that, so I'm gonna give it a separate post. These last 5 games couldn't be any different, could they...?

#47 Muv Luv: Unlimited – Completed 10/28/18
#48 Super Mario Party – Completed 11/7/18
#49 Mega Man 11 – Completed 11/13/18
#50 Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee! – Completed 11/24/18
#51 Tom Clancy's: The Division – Completed 12/3/18

Muv Luv: Unlimited - Don't really feel comfortable talking about this yet, especially since Alternative is probably gonna be my #52. I'll have to make a thread for the whole series when I'm done.

Super Mario Party - Did a full 20-turn game with a few friends. Can't say I'm a big fan of the minigames, but it's otherwise fun enough.

Mega Man 11 - This was actually the first Mega Man game I beat! Loved it. Felt hard but fair, loved the bosses.

Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee - Not only did I review this one, I streamed the whole thing too! You can find my thoughts there.

Tom Clancy's: The Division - Decided to finish this since I had picked it up earlier this year. Wasn't a big fan, but since I paid for it I wanted to "finish it" at least.

 

[saenima]

Main post 1: https://www.resetera.com/posts/2784229/
Main post 2: https://www.resetera.com/posts/5234679/
Main post 3: https://www.resetera.com/posts/12272007/


84. Life is Strange ep.4 - Dark Room / 4h20 - completed 02.12.18

This is where Life is Strange delivers very strong payoffs for most of the threads we had been slowly unraveling. A truly fantastic episode that hits you over and over with emotional highs and lows. Despite being the longest episode, there is barely any filler or wasted moment. The revelation at the end is not wholly unexpected but i still feel like Dontnod played their cards right as to not make it too obvious.


85. Life is Strange ep. 5 - Polarized / 3h10 - completed 03.12.18

And Dontnod stumbles near the end of the line. Not enough to mess up the whole thing, but the last episode is a bit of a stinker. It has great moments in it, especially in the first half, but the latter half's writing decidedly drops off a cliff. There is some truly bad writing here. Like, bad daytime tv bad. And throwing half-assed stealth sections in a game that has no need for them has always been a bad idea. Everything until the nightmare sequence works well enough but little after it does.

As for the last choice Max gets to make:

Spoiler

I chose bae last time around. My Max just couldn't let go, she wasn't mature enough. This time around, this new Max heeded Chloe's wishes and saved everyone! I liked this ending much more. It just felt right.

 

[Snowfruit]

main post

Been updating my list but haven't made a new post in quite a while, whoops.
Got a new phone recently so I started checking out some mobile games again.

44: Azur Lane
Heard a lot about this from friends so I checked it out. It has a pretty fun gameplay loop but the art/story/characters do nothing for me.

Game 45: Fire Emblem Heroes
So this is nowhere near as good as a proper FE game obviously but it still feels great to play. I really hate gacha mechanics though so I don't think I'll keep playing it. Three houses can't come soon enough.

Game 46: Fortnite: Battle Royale (Season 6)
Much better season than 5 in terms of the battlepass but the map and gameplay changes were so uninteresting that they made me just take a break for most of the season. Mostly don't like how they gave in to all the people whining about "spam" that countered their ridiculous building. Rip Drum Gun.

Game 47: Dragon Age Inquisition
Feels like a lot of steps back from Origins in terms of.. almost everything. Besides graphics and the combat, I still much preferred Origins to this one.

Game 48. Path of Exile
The game got a new expansion and my friends really wanted me to try it out. First time playing a game like this, I actually enjoyed my time with it. Most surprising thing was almost everything being voice acted. That actually makes me more likely to pay attention to quests and lore in a massive game like this.


Game 49. Destiny Child
I got drawn in by the art from none other than Hyung-Tae Kim.. only to be met by yet another gacha grind fest. Why must all mobile games with good looking art I try be like this? Still stuck with it for a while hoping it would get better but it's unfortunately just a cash grab it seems.

Hoping to check out some actual mobile games next instead of just free to play gacha stuff.

 

[Cyclonesweep]

I haven't updated in a while but I need to. Sitting at 47 done....getting worried I won't finish. Might have to just...find some shorties to plow thru

 

[Deleted member 1265]

OP

---

Game 53 - Pokemon Black (DS) - 42 hours, 29 minutes - 3/5

Wanted to try to get back into Pokemon and went with Gen 5 since I remember enjoying that region a lot. Really like how this gen went all in with the new pokemon until the post-game, it was a pretty bold move. This was the start of some more troubling trends gameplay wise for me but this was still very solid overall. Going to try to branch into another gen eventually.

Game 54 - Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time (DS) - 19 hours, 58 minutes - 1.5/5

Probably my least favorite Mario RPG out of the ones I've played. Things were already dragging with the level design (not a fan of the level/hub based design compared to the open world in the first game) and overall pacing but then the increased enemy HP counts happened with the NA version. I had to search online to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong because the boss fights in this game dragged so badly. The end game bit with a few boss phases took at least an hour and this was with no save points to be found. Zoning out wasn't an option since you needed to pay attention to counter/dodge enemy attacks since they do so much damage. It was mindnumbing.

Game 55 - Detroit: Become Human (PS4) - ~12 hours - 1/5

It's another QD game, if you've played one you know what you're getting. It managed to somehow be more tone deaf than i was expecting (I was already expecting a mess) which sure was something.

I kinda enjoyed Connor's chapters and other elements here and there elsewhere but it didn't come together. I always find myself wishing these elements were expanded on in a more solid work. I guess that's what fan created material is for but it sucks to have to go to that so often.

I wish more games like this were being made because there's so much unmet potential. I know adventure games have and always will be a thing but the way they're done in QD games still feels pretty unique to QD. Until Dawn was the closest thing I could think of in recent years and it was incredible but I need more.

Click to shrink...

 

[Deleted member 401]

25. Kirby Star Allies (5+ hours)
Something to pass the time before Smash Ultimate comes out, and honestly, I think I liked this one better than Triple Deluxe. Having a band of allies accompanying you, including major characters from past Kirby games, makes a delightful difference.

Full list to date

 

[Deleted member 9305]

WARNING, someone got into VR ...

33. Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (Steam, 2018/11/19, 2.5 hours)

My first VR game and I loved it. The writing and situations were on par with the TV show, but being able to partake just made things even better. You take on the role of a Morty clone and mind the garage while the usual chaos unfolds. Lots of point&click inspired puzzle solving, dexterity challenges, some shooting and lateral thinking. The wonky physics just add to theater of error. The brief experience didn't overstayed its welcome. There are many easter eggs and secrets, so some replay value is included.

34. The Lab (Steam, 2018/11/20, 1 hours)

Valve still got its Portal 2 wits, I enjoyed this lovely collection of bite sized VR games and experiences. More would have been nice, but for free this is already a treat. It's really a great introduction to Steam VR or VR in general.

35. Star Wars: Droid Repair Bay (Steam, 2018/11/24, 1 hours)

The game's titles says it all, you mind a droid repair bay. Doing the repair work in VR is very fun and casual. This small slice of Star Wars nails the atmosphere of the movies in every regard: sound design, animation, setting, urgency, it's all on point. Definitely a must for Star Wars fan.

36. Rez Infinite VR (Steam, 2018/11/27, 2 hours)

How can you make the perfect game better? VR! It was amazing to revisit this gem and to really dive into the cyberspace. I've used the head tracking aim, it felt so natural and right. Just seeing the crosshair bob in perfect sync with my head bobbing to every beat ... made me smile.

[index]

 

[Deleted member 9305]

Sorry, double post.

 

[Tizoc]

119. Ittle Dew

This was a short but fun Adventure game. It has its influences from the Legend of Zelda series as you explore dungeons solving puzzles along the way using the items at your disposal or by moving blocks around, etc.
The visuals were great and the music was quite nice.

 

[StarPhlox]

84) Devil May Cry 4 - The game looks really nice and plays well. Story is mostly nonsense, but the characters are cool and charming. The big problem is that there is some really goddamn boring level design and it's extremely repetitive (run down corridor, you're locked in to kill the monsters, door unlocks) and the second half is literally the first half backwards with the more popular Dante. Maybe I'll like DmC...


85) DmC - This is not all that much like the rest of the Devil May Cry games but I think it's easily among the best (right behind DMC3). Really great presentation, good level design for the most part, excellent controls, and fantastic boss battles. The game is so tryhard edgy, but at the same time there is some cheesy humor that really works and I enjoyed immensely. I doubt this will be something that I go back to, but I had plenty of frenetic fun in the 10 hours that it took to get through it. Definitely a good game and far better than what it gets credited for.


86) Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! - Haven't collected all 150 (153?) yet but I have become the Pokemon Master of the Kanto region. This is a simple but effective game and one that I liked many aspects of. I dip in and out of the Pokemon games and I'm glad I came back for this one. It's a charming and totally inessential game that definitely relied on nostalgia to be most impactful. Really nice, simple graphics, great music, easy to play and to get through, and I love the changes to have Pokemon in the overworld rather than as random encounters. I hope they keep that moving forward and take many innovations from this game into Gen 8.

 

[StarPhlox]

87) Florence - What a special and intimate experience this game is. Beautiful music, touching story, and the gameplay communicates ineffable feelings remarkably well. It's a 45 minute story that will stay with me for some time. Highly recommended and easy to relate to.

 

[TheIlliterati]

October cont.

53. Orwell - 4 hrs
*54. Orwell s2 - 4 hrs

The first installment of this is pretty brilliant, and it was given free, so I bought the second, which is a pale thin sequel in comparison.

*55. Dragon Quest XI - 56 hrs

For all people hyped up the post-game, I wasn't interested to play beyond the setup of it. I enjoyed the enemy art the most in this game.

*56. Return of the Obra Dinn - 10 hrs

Third person multi tiered sudoku using people and murder. Amazing, top ten of the year for sure.

November

*57. Red Dead Redemption II - 60 hrs

Fantastic game that overstayed its welcome with me, which the first never did.

*58. Flipping Death - 6 hrs

Eh. Loved Stick it to the Man, didn't love this.

59. Zelda Picross - 12 hrs

Finishing up PIcross from years ago.

December

*60. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey - 80 hrs

I loved this game, as I enjoyed all AC games to one degree or another. Kassandra is amazing and I wouldn't mind more of her.

61. Pokemon Picross - 41 hrs

I did not collect all the mural pieces or beat any of the Alt-world puzzles yet, but I finally had to beat all the main puzzles.

61 games / 1085 hrs / 2018

 

[JarrodL]

Games 1-4
Games 5-9
Games 10-13
Games 14-17
Games 18-22
Games 23-30
Games 31-42
Games 43-47

Games 48-52:

#48
Heavy Rain
PS4
Completed: November 05, 2018
Playtime: 9h 29m
My first game from Quantic Dream, and visually it's the closest thing a game can get to a movie without going FMV. Animation, especially facial expressions, are very impressive. The story starts kind of boring until the serial killer plot begins, but from then on it got my interest. I like how it keeps switching between multiple protagonists while advancing the plot - helps keep things from becoming boring and predictable. There are several endings, and all main characters can live or die depending on player decisions (or their success/failure in QTE sequences, in some cases), so this is not the case where player choice holds only imaginary importance. I didn't foresee the identity of the real killer, it actually was quite a shocker moment (and awesome, I applaud the game for managing to surprise me like that). Managed to achieve (what I think is) the best possible ending in my playthrough. Now for the not so good stuff. The way the game controls is terrible. I can't overstate how BAD the controls in this game are. Shaking or twisting your gamepad in a certain way to trigger a QTE action or just to move through an in-game menu - are you kidding me with this? There are also some potential minor inconsistencies when you start to really think about earlier events after learning the killer's identity - "but if this is true, why did that person say this or react that way earlier, this doesn't make sense...".

#49
The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories
PC
Completed: November 10, 2018
Playtime: 6h 51m
A bit disappointed with this one, as I expected more from a new Swery game than just disturbing atmosphere and gruesome body-dismembering mechanics. It's a platformer with an original cool main mechanic and some interesting puzzles based on it, and finding ways to reach cleverly hidden collectibles can be fun. But the story is very straightforward compared to say D4, and just not that interesting to me personally (while I understand that for such stories to be told is important and rare in itself). The main plot twists can be seen from a mile away if you pay attention. One thing that annoyed me was how you're sometimes locked out of going back after passing some invisible border, which triggers the next "level". This sometimes leads to "wait, noooo, I still need to pick up that collectible back there! Oh for crying out loud..." moments.

#50
Nier
PS3
Completed: November 16, 2018
Playtime: 49h 1m
Nier is widely praised for its story, so I expected to love this. But while it does indeed have good story with memorable plot twists, what stuck with me more is the grinding required to see all of it (you pretty much have to replay the second part of the game multuple times to see new endings). Plus the grindy side-quests of the worst possible design ("Collect 10 of X, 10 of Y, and 10 of Z, oh and do enjoy getting Z especially because it drops like 1 out of 4 times when you kill any of those 3 respawning goats in that part of the map. Oh, and yeah, you need to leave and re-enter the area to get them to respawn. Have fun!"). Yes, there are better side-quests too with interesting banter or good lore, but those aren't the ones stuck in my memory after finishing the game. And you can't just skip them - one of the endings requires you to have all weapons, and to buy those weapons you need lots and lots of money. Overall, because of this Nier is a mixed bag of love/hate emotions for me. The combat gameplay is decent at least - I don't agree that the game is junky at all (another popular rumor I've heard).

#51
Beyond: Two Souls
PS4
Completed: November 23, 2018
Playtime: 10h 11m
Next QD game. Different "movie", same principles. Controls are a bit better this time around, at least they no longer make you shake the controller to navigate a menu. It still impresses visually - I can never get tired of those facial expressions (all in-engine!). Never seen tears so real, except in real life. Story was decent if nothing amazing, worth a playthrough. In my game, Jodie

Spoiler

chooses Life and returns to live (hopefully happily) with Jay and Cory. Because screw Ryan.

#52
Hitman Season 1
PC
Completed: December 08, 2018
Playtime: 105h 37m
Technically this is a replay since I played the original Hitman when it first released. But back then I only played each mission once or twice to get a SA rating, and postponed really playing the hell out of it for whatever reason (I did really love it though, it's the best hitman on par or even better than Blood Money). Hitman 2 with its Legacy Pack option gave me the kick necessary to finally go and do just that. I played through the main campaign several times, getting most mission stories that I missed, and challenges that seemed interesting, plus played all the bonus missions including Patient Zero campaign. I even recorded my sniper silent assassin on Master difficulty challenge run. I love this game, can't wait to finally delve into Hitman 2 after this. Just wish it was more successful so I can be sure Season 3 gets made. Hitman games deserve more recognition for their creative and multiple-approach sandbox gameplay than they get.

Currently playing:

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
Divinity: Original Sin II (PC)
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GameCube)
Late Shift (PC)
CLANNAD (PC)
Hitman 2 (PC)

 

[Tizoc]

Original post

120. R-Type (Arcade)

Yeeeesh either I was playing on Hard or this really is how normal is like.
Not my favourite shmup, but I can appreciate its fame. Gonna try R-Type 2 later on.

121. Burly men at sea

A short and light adventure game where you choose how a group of burly men go about their adventure out at sea.
Decided to Platinum it since it was a quick and easy on.

 

[CurrY]

I'm not gonna make it this year. Ill give it another shot next year!

 

[Psychotic_Mantis]

Main Post

60. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - PS4
Completed 12/1/18
Score - 10/10

Words can't really do the game justice. It's still a classic in every single way. Amazing gameplay, music and a pretty decent story. It's still incredibly fun and challenging but fair. So glad that this game still holds up after all these years. When I move on to OoT it will be interesting to see if that still holds up. That along with Wind Waker have been my top Zelda games for a long, long time.

61. Syndicate - PS3
Completed 12/8/18
Score - 8/10

Thought this would be an easy throw-away game to help clear the log. I've had it for years and it just looked so generic. Nope, this game freaking rocked. I love the world it setup, even though it was a bit grim. The gunplay and mechanics were a ton of fun. I loved my time with it and just wanted it to be longer. The final boss fight was no joke. I hope this becomes playable on XONE soon, more people need to play it. I'm sure it won't get a sequel or anything and I fear that when using the Syndicate license they really just confused the audience. If you get a chance, play this one. It's only about 6 hours long.

 

[Ted]

Number 10! 42 to go. It doesn't look hopeful, particularly since I bought Hitman 2 this weekend. There goes another hundred hours over the next few months.

Main post

GAME #10: HITMAN
IO Interactive - PC - ★★★★☆

Completion State:
Completed main and patient 0 campaign as well as the numerous bonus missions (91 hours - main campaign, 24 hours - patient 0, bonus missions, all opportunities/achievements etc. 100% Steam achievements).

Comments:
I've always been a bit of a Hitman fan, completing and enjoying them all multiple times so when a new Hitman was announced I was in equal measures excited about the release and trepidatious about the episodic style of the release. Knowing how I play games the episodic release schedule was out for me so I waited for the GOTY release at the back end of 2017 but having now played through it I can actually see how, with the right support, a staggered release can work for a game that is so much about the stories and game-play within each individual sand box level.

IO made a big deal out of returning to the classic Hitman formula after a significant change in style for Absolution and the game beginning with what is essentially an HD tribute to Hitman 2, Contracts and Blood Money in the "legacy" opening cinematic feels like the team responding directly to this - at times vociferous - criticism. Framing the game as a return to wide open sandboxes liberally peppered with opportunities to get the job done raises expectations significantly but, for me at least, these expectations are not only met but thoroughly exceeded.

Right from the off the presentation is stylish and cohesive. The UI does initially feel complex as a result of some of the design choices but I quickly came to terms with it and navigation was never difficult. In the menu are a good number of game play related options that allowed me to tailor the experience to the challenge level that suited me, I turned down opportunity prompts but left the mini-map and most of the rest of the UI prompts on.

This meant I really had to explore each of the [mostly] brilliantly designed and intricately detailed levels to get the best results. I've heard the maps described as "clock work puzzle playgrounds" and I think this is an almost perfect interpretation of how the game works. The places feel alive, they feel lived in and dynamic but really it's all smoke and mirrors. That could be seen as a negative but it's really not, in fact that's where the game comes alive the most for me.

Learning the routines and rules of the game world, then learning what I can and can't do to affect and abuse these, viewing the consequences of my input from afar, has always been a big part of the Hitman appeal for me and here it is present by the bucket load. There's so much to do - serious and silly - in each and every location that even now, with one hundred hours plus invested, I still don't feel like I know each map as well as I should, as well as I could. Thankfully, IO have included these same maps again in Hitman 2 so I can see myself putting in even more hours all over again.

Adding even more to encourage replays are the escalation missions - where the player is tasked with taking on a series of challenges on a single map in three or five increasingly complex iterations - and the expanded contracts system that originally appeared in Absolution. These contracts allow players to select targets within the existing maps and add various complications to increase the complexity, difficulty or spectacle of the mission. As with any community driven feature these vary wildly in quality but there are some absolute gems so I was glad to see it return despite not spending a huge amount of time with this mode over the main, studio crafted content.

With the game of the year edition (and possibly others, I don't really know) I also got access to a number of bonus missions that re-use the core assets of the main map but re-purpose them to make, at times, dramatically different night time environments. These are mostly pretty good but you can tell they are additional content as they tend to focus on particular areas of a map rather than fully recycle the whole play area. These make them feel slightly more limited, slightly more scripted than the core content but they are still worth the play through... if only to titter at the spectacle of watching a rather pompous actor getting launched into the teeth of a giant mechanical monster.

IO also seem to try in these missions to play with a couple of different spins on the content. First up there is the return of a sniper challenge but perhaps more interestingly there is also an attempt to quicken the pace of the game with a mission where you must quickly dispatch targets to avoid the spread of a deadly virus. These both work well enough but don't pull me away from the main concept of Hitman, the latter does make me think about game play modifiers in general though that could be interesting in future iterations.

All in all the game is magnificent. The love and thought that has been put into every detail is palpable. From presentation to level design to controls, it's all top notch stuff. Even the story beats are pretty cool! Performance on my mid-range PC is also very very good, being able to run it at mostly top settings at a pretty much locked sixty frames per second on my 1080p monitor.

My only real issues were two-fold. The first was the long loading times on PS4 (where I started playing the game) and the second is the always online requirement which feels like a pointless annoyance rather offering any additional functionality.

Oh, and as an aside, what the hell happens at the end of the patient zero campaign?!

Spoiler

47 dead?

 

[JarrodL]

Oh, and as an aside, what the hell happens at the end of the patient zero campaign?!

Spoiler

47 dead?

Click to shrink...

I'm confused, what gave you that impression? As far as I recall,

Spoiler

the last cutscene in PZ ends with 47 speaking with Diana and cutting the call because "he's acquired the target". Which I assume just refers to the sequel or just the next random elusive target.

 

[Ted]

I'm confused, what gave you that impression? As far as I recall,

Spoiler

the last cutscene in PZ ends with 47 speaking with Diana and cutting the call because "he's acquired the target". Which I assume just refers to the sequel or just the next random elusive target.

Click to shrink...

Hi JarrodL, you may very well be right but something about it seems off. I just re-watched the cut-scene on Youtube and...

Spoiler: 47 at the end of the patient 0 campaign

...perhaps it is 47 on the phone. But the setting and exposition seem a little odd if the message is meant to just be "we're done here, moving on".

The camera pans in from the back room of the ICA safehouse, and on the left on the floor is a dead body, dressed in a dark suit. "47" on the balcony has his back to the camera and is not in his trademark dark suit but instead a damn roll neck jumper. The conversation on the telephone continues as normal but when he turns and is framed against the harsh light outside I'm convinced that it is a subtly different face.

Youtube quality (and being at work so not being able to blow it up to larger than 24 inches!) is making me rethink myself though!

You're probably right and I am reading too much into it particularly given...

Spoiler: 47 and Hitman 2

Hitman 2 is now out! That said, I've not long started Hitman 2 and the character does look subtly different but on the other hand the stories there are presented in a different order to how they were chronologically released (Hitman, Hitman 2, Patient 0 rather than Hitman, Patient 0, Hitman 2). I don't know, it's probably just me!

 

[InquisitorAles]

Main Post part 3

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72. King's Bounty: The Legend - 35 hours
This is a great turn-based tactical game, it starts really strong but unfortunately overstays it's welcome. There are too many battles (around 300-400 at very least during for one walkthrough) and they become repetitive and boring at late stages of the story. There are no skirmish battles like in HoM&M, only story campaign, and while it's very good, it's just way too long, I feel like the game should have ended at Necromancers world but it's just kept going on and on. Another problem is lack of ability to quickly replenish your armies, on normal difficulty this game is really challenging and after each battle you will suffer major losses in your units if you won't be extremely careful, but in most cases, there is limited armies supply in castles and houses where you hire your troops. This concept actually forces you to use different units depending on which one available in your current region, but it also forces the player to constantly backtrack in order to replenish his armies, which becomes really frustrating at late stages. There are also the occasional difficulty spikes, which doesn't help in making the game more fun. But despite problems I mentioned above, I still can recommend this game if you love tactical games and looking for a challenge, execution is great, graphics and world are colorful and interesting, there is a lot of dialogue and lore, and main gameplay loop is highly addictive.

 

[JarrodL]

Hi JarrodL, you may very well be right but something about it seems off. I just re-watched the cut-scene on Youtube and...

Spoiler: 47 at the end of the patient 0 campaign

...perhaps it is 47 on the phone. But the setting and exposition seem a little odd if the message is meant to just be "we're done here, moving on".

The camera pans in from the back room of the ICA safehouse, and on the left on the floor is a dead body, dressed in a dark suit. "47" on the balcony has his back to the camera and is not in his trademark dark suit but instead a damn roll neck jumper. The conversation on the telephone continues as normal but when he turns and is framed against the harsh light outside I'm convinced that it is a subtly different face.

Youtube quality (and being at work so not being able to blow it up to larger than 24 inches!) is making me rethink myself though!

You're probably right and I am reading too much into it particularly given...

Spoiler: 47 and Hitman 2

Hitman 2 is now out! That said, I've not long started Hitman 2 and the character does look subtly different but on the other hand the stories there are presented in a different order to how they were chronologically released (Hitman, Hitman 2, Patient 0 rather than Hitman, Patient 0, Hitman 2). I don't know, it's probably just me!

Click to shrink...

Huh, that's interesting, I never gave much thought to the cutscene. But after rewatching it, I'd still say my interpretation is that

Spoiler

47 infiltrated that apartment because it's a good sniper spot (thus the sniper rifle at the window) for his next target. Since they're aware it might be a good sniper spot, the place had a bodyguard stationed there - the knocked out dude on the floor (note the dropped radio and unsilenced gun at his feet).

Also I doubt they'd kill off the main character in such a subtle way in a dlc campaign, which not everyone would get a chance to play. It's an interesting theory, though - you should post it in the OT maybe.

 

[Ted]

Huh, that's interesting, I never gave much thought to the cutscene. But after rewatching it, I'd still say my interpretation is that

Spoiler

47 infiltrated that apartment because it's a good sniper spot (thus the sniper rifle at the window) for his next target. Since they're aware it might be a good sniper spot, the place had a bodyguard stationed there - the knocked out dude on the floor (note the dropped radio and unsilenced gun at his feet).

Also I doubt they'd kill off the main character in such a subtle way in a dlc campaign, which not everyone would get a chance to play. It's an interesting theory, though - you should post it in the OT maybe.

Click to shrink...

I'd not noticed the gun and radio, that's a great shout, eagle eyes!

I'd considered the subtlety aspect and I think that's why I was so "WTH" about it. That said, if it were true, I'd really dig a subtle and adroit note to the story that could lead to some grand and fantastical consequence down the line given that most video game story telling is equivalent to being punched in the nose!

Imagine a Hitman 2 where you think...

Spoiler

...everything is as before but in fact you're playing as, for want of a better term, 48 and the only difference is a numeric change to his bar code ink.

The story beats could be fantastic if done well or it could all just be a bag of dildos).

Nice to chat to you Jarrod. Have a great day.

 

[Tizoc]

122. R-Type II

Well this one started out easier than R-Type but later stages and bosses got too much shit going onscreen that anyone who 1 CCs it must've been a shaman or something.

 

[Rhaknar]

Game #61 - Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
Time: 18 hours

One of my most anticipated games of 2018 from the moment I saw it at E3, Duck Boar X-Com as I like to call it didn't disapoint, but it also didn't exaclty blow me away either. It's good, sometimes great, and I'm glad I got it day one, but it has quite a few things that prevent it from becoming the cult classic it could have been in my opinion. The game is very punishing on the default difficulty ("hard" since there is only normal, hard and very hard) and way too easy (and thus, boring) on easy. So the first few hours of the game are very frustrating, especially since your squad doesnt fully heal between fights or even when you move zones (or go back to the base!), you have to use medkits to heal, which early on with limited resources becomes a huge pain as you constantly walk around on half health. And in a game with percentage-based shots as the genre is known for, that is a very weird system to implement, and encorages save-scumming more than the average x-com style game. But, after getting some more abilities, some more passives from the homebase skill tree, better gear, the game became quite manageable and I couldnt imagine playing it on normal (aka easy). Once you get over the first few frustrating hours, you will find a very well made blend of rpg and xcom game, as you can freely move around real time the zones before you get in combat, cllecting money or loot, there is a cool stealth / ambush mechanic which lets you pick off lone patrols so they dont join in fights later on, good abilities, good characters, gear changes your look and each zone is full of personality. The story is your typical post apocalypse "what happened? who created mutants?" type deal but its serviceable and not why youre here anyway. Lastly, voice acting is quite good and the characters have a lot of little lines between each other as you walk around, and much like the zones themselves, they ooze personality, the whole game's universe is very well crafted. While not without it's share of problems I would easily recomend it for X-Com fans, and I would gladly play more of it, be it a sequel or a much needed expansion pack (since it ends abruptly and on a cliffhanger).

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