Finally finished my list and the short-reviews. It's too long for one post so I will make two new ones. Finished the challenge with 58 games beaten :)
Changed my rating-system from 1-10 with .5 steps.
#01 Deadpool (PS4)
While the game has a lot of good humor and made me "lol" several times the core game simply isn't good. It plays like a (very) poor mans Devil May Cry and you can clearly see that this game was made on a tight budget. Everything feels floaty, button-mashy and unprecise. Both melee and shooting aren't good at all. Doesn't help that the game throws hordes of enemies at you. It gets downright tiring to work through those hordes. And that comes from someone who loves hack'n'slays and everything with shooting. The sad part is that High Moon studio could have done so much better with more resources. I love both their Transformers games, but Activision decided to toss them into their content-creator-machinery without room to grow and make even better games. All in all the game reminded me a lot of Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard which was a similar subpar game with good humor and a similar scenario. And oh yeah, the game is butt ugly. Even for PS3 standards it's not good.
5.5/10
#02 Doom VFR (PSVR)
First I was disappointed in the bad move-controls. Fast movement with these is a pain and it wasn't fun at all. But then I switched to Dualshock controls and found it to be very enjoyable. It's basicalle DOOM-Mission-CD but in VR and shows perfectly how great every first-person-shooter could work in VR. It's also the best looking PSVR-game to date, yet there are some problems with (very) late loading textures. Sadly it's very short (~2hours) and there are no new enemies or locations. Everything consists of recycled assets from the original game. I feel that a full VR-port of the original game would have been better IMO because this brings nothing new to the table and lacks content. Still recommended for everyone who doesn't get motion-sick and wants to expierence the full FPS-experience in VR.
7.5/10
#03 One Piece Burning Blood (PS4)
To be honest I never found these 3D-anime-fighting games very good. I just can't find a real access to them. They feel random, unresponsive and confusing to me. But they look so good and that makes them fun in the end. And I like One Piece. But oh boy is the campaign mode an unbalanced mess. Some of the later fights are outright infuriating with enemies doing so much damage that you can die within the first seconds of a fight while their HP is buffed into infinity. There was no way for me to defeat these enemies without cheesing them and even that took many, many tries and a lot of luck. Also the campaign is very short with only four playable characters and only one story-arc from different perspectives. There is a meaty but repetitive "Wanted"-mode and multiplayer-variants though, but I didn't care much for them to be honest.
5/10
#04 Fallout 4 (PS4)
Not as good as Fallout: New Vegas, but better than Fallout 3. Another great Bethesda open-world with some good quests, nice characters, a good companion-system and rewarding exploration. Nick Valentine has to be some of my favorite companions in recent memory. Great character-creation and skill-system. Also the shooting was improved a lot what makes it fun this time. The base-building stuff seemed interesting at first but it is nearly impossible to build something "good looking" and so I just spammed the necassary buildings around the areas and used the supply lines to easily store all my junk-parts. The system was okay at first but felt like busywork in the end. I don't really want this to return in other Bethesda games. The crafting of weapons and armor was good though. They have to get rid of all the randomly generated fetch-quests. Or at least mark them as those. The main story-arc was okay, but I didn't like the ending (played with Minutemen). Felt like a big waste to be honest. Still a lot of fun just walking around in the wasteland and discovering new quests, locations and characters.
8/10
#05 Monster Hunter World (PS4)
This is the Monster Hunter game I wanted for a long time. New shiny graphics, streamlined expierence without losing the complexity of the franchise. Drop in-/out-Multiplayer is fantastic and works ver I wasn't hooked to a game that hard since Final Fantasy 14. I put close to 90 hours into it in 12 days and just couldn't stop playing. It was only at the very end that I felt a bit burned out after I had to grind 6 more Anjanath fangs to upgrade my fire weapon and the final boss was kind of a slog. I played the whole game with Shield & Sword and I am pretty sure that this will be my weapon of choice in future installments. It really fits my playstyle and is fast and versatile both in offense and defense.
9.5/10
#06 Tales from the Borderlands (PS4)
Another enjoyable interactive movie (it's hardly a game) from Telltale. I didn't think they could make much out of the setting but they really created some fun situations and characters and a compelling story. I especially love the intros to the episodes. But to be perfectly honest these games could be a bit shorter. I usually start losing interest in the episode before the last and it was no difference here. I will play Batman next. It's great that these kind of games get released regularly on PS+.
7.5/10
#07 Thumper (PSVR)
– Man, what a ride. I usually suck at these kind of games but I pushed through without too many troubles. My scores were bad most of the time but this game is all about the experience for me. And it certainly is one of the VR-games I played yet.
8.5/10
#08 – Fallout 4: Nuka World (PS4)
While the setting is really cool and unique the overall game-design is pretty weak. It's basically "Clear all the places and collect a lot of shit along the way". Yeah, yeah I know. All the Fallout 4-haters will now tell me that the whole game is that way. But that's not true. Fallout 4 and the other addons actually have many good quests and characters. Also this one has some really tedious search missions without quest-markers where you have to find 20 computer cores and other shit. I didn't enjoy this one very much and forced my way through. The Raider-feature for the Commonwealth is pretty good though. Instead of settlers you can now home raiders in settlements that extort money from nearby settlements. A nice option if you want to play an evil Mad Max villain character.
5/10
#09 – Fallout 4: Far Harbor (PS4)
This is how a meaty game addon should be done. An interesting new place, interesting new factions and an interesting story-line with good new characteres. I really enjoyed my trip to Far Harbor and the main quest-line.
8/10
#10 – Fallout 4: Vault-Tech Workshop
A nice sidequest-line where you can build and manage your own vault. I am not that big into base-building, especially not when it's poorly done like in Fallout 4, so this DLC didn't much for me. The main-quest in this DLC was enjoyable though.
6.5/10
#11 – Fallout 4: Automatron
A great new companion and a solid new quest-line. The second best DLC for Fallout 4 after Far Harbor.
7.5/10
#12 – Dragon's Dogma (PS4)
I already beat this game two times on PS3 and I couldn't stop playing it on PS4 either. It's still my favorite open-world-RPG of all time that does so many thing so right. It's simply amazing. The party-system, the battle-system, the non-handholding-game-design (you can actually miss and fail a lot of quests and kill off NPCs for good), the story (it's fantastic dark fantasy if you pay close attention), the world and the monsters. I tried Ranger this time but that simply wasn't as fun as hacking and slashing your way through the enemies with a sword. Then I wanted to try magick but still deliver some punches so I took the Mystic Knight. I kinda regret this in hindsight. I mean he has some cool spells, but it can be a real hassle to set up your magic traps and great canons right and I often got disturbed by the enemies so I went full melee instead. For the next remaster on PS5 I will go full Warrior again with a sorcerer pawn that can infuse my weapons with elements and heal me. I think that's the most fun way to play the game. Those two-handed swords are simply a blast to use and cut through Dragons like butter. Man the hit-feedback in this game is soooo damn good and satisfying. It's totally Devil May Cry x Monster Hunter!
10/10
#13 – Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (PS4)
This is one of the finest Addons ever created. It's a total treat for all high-level characters. It can be a pain to get the right equipment and upgrades to stand a chance against the brutal monsters here. But there are a lot of good guides how you can effectivly farm mats, equipment and dragon forging chances. It's still a grind, but mostly a very fun one because the battle system really is THAT good. It's also one of the most atmospheric dungeons ever created with some truly terrifying foes, easily matching Souls-series best areas and boss fights.
10/10
#14 - Transformers: Devastation (PS4)
The battles in this game are great. It's mainly bayonetta with heavy use of "witch-time". The music is awesome, reminded me a lot of Metal Gear Rising. The camera can be a problem at times when too much is going on or in bigger boss fights. Also there simply isn't much content. The campaign is like four hours long and even within that small timespan it recycles a lot of content like stages and boss fights.
7/10
#15 - A Way Out (PS4)
Finished the game in one sitting with a friend. It was a fun ride. Nothing amazing or groundbreaking, but a really well done coop-experience. It shows that this game was made for coop from the ground-up and leads to some fantastic situations. Appart from the coop stuff done so well the game's biggest problem is that everything else seems a bit shallow. The characters, the setting, the gameplay, the story. Nothing of that is bad or boring but it's also not especially good or special. I have to admit though that the final act is really cool and makes this a game to remember. I wish them big success with this game, because I want to see them improve on the formular und bring it to other settings.
7.5/10
#16 - Atelier Ayesha: Alchemist of Dusk (PS3)
After beating the original Arland-Trilogy I kept buying all the games but didn't play them. So I wanted to return to this RPG-series and picked up where I left. It's another charming and very relaxing experience but I have to admit that the formular gets a bit stale for me and the characters and story aren't as good as in the Arland-Trilogy. I still had a lot of fun playing this and the very forgiving time-limit in this one makes it even more relaxing to play.
7/10
#17 - Nights of Azure (PS4)
Another good JRPG from Gust, this time an Action-RPG. While the story itself isn't something special I liked the darker setting, the hotel-hub and the main characters. The gameplay is good for some mindless action and grinding and felt like a mix of Folklore and Victor Vran. It also isn't overly long so it doesn't overstay it's welcome and that is always a plus, especially for modern JRPGs that seem to drag on a lot.
7/10
#18 - Bravo Team (PSVR)
I played this with a friend in coop. While the shooting is fine the movement system more or less kills a lot of the fun that could have been had with free movement. It's really, really clunky and you always lose your orientation while trying to navigate from cover to cover and the camera switches between first- and third-person. It's also a short game with only a few types of enemies and four types of weapons. Nothing to unlock or improve. It's a very lovelessly made game that also feels low-budget. It's not the worst game ever made but it's definitely one of the weaking "Lightgun"-game I've played. It's also extremly overpriced but I got it with the Aim Controller for 60€, so that's still a good deal for the controller alone.
5/10
#19 - Xanadu Next (PC)
Tis is a great, old-school ARPG. It's basically Y's meets Diablo and a lot of fun to play. It's neither overly long nor is there a lot of text to read so that you can concentrate on killing monsters, collecting gold, navigate through the finely crafted world (totally reminded me of the Dark Souls games) and improving your character. Highly recommended like most Falcom games.
8/10
#20 - God of War (PS4)
I was a bit sceptical about the new gameplay and camera-perspective but it turned out that this is in fact THE perfect soft-reboot. Everything about this game is amazing: The story, the graphics, the gameplay, the fighting, the world, the music and sound. I can't praise it enough. It's easily among my most favorite games of all time and the best game of this generation. I can't wait for the sequel.
10/10
#21 - Star Wars Battlefront 2 (PS4)
I finally finshed the campaign. While the campaign is solid and easily among the best "Battlefield"-campaigns (not really hard) the true fun lies in the multiplayer. I still play this game on a regular basis and I love all the content it has to offer and the arcadey gameplay. I especially like Starfighter Assault which is probably the best versus-space-battle-game I've ever played. It's so intense and fun and never gets old. My favorite multiplayer-game of this generation.
9.5/10
#22 - Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition (PC)
I really had a hard time getting into this game. Since release I started it three times and never got far. I finally pushed through with the Enhanced Edition on PC. I am still not a fan of the morbid setting and the overly long dialogues. But the setting, characters and story are so unique and often bizzare, it's totally worth the overall experience. Sadly the game falls a bit appart during the last act. Suddenly there are too many fights and the battles aren't half as fun as in other Infinity Engine games. It got really annoying. Still highly recommended for everyone who wants something out of the ordinary in the CRPG genre.
8/10
#23 - HEX: Chronicles of Entrath – Chapter 1 (PC)
Despite it being a blatant Magic The Gathering ripoff it's a really well made CCG, especially if you are interested in single-player content. The campaign is a nice mix between CCG and CRPG light where you travel a worldmap, visit locations, talk to people and embark on quests. Single-player is perfectly playable without investing any money.
7.5/10
#24 – The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset (PS4)
The MMORPG that keeps delivering for me. I normally quit these games after finishing the main-story. But TESO is so single-player-friendly and filled with entertaining content that I always return to it. I again had a good time collecting all the relics, doing all the world-bosses and dungeons and finishing the story. The story itself was your typical Elder Scrolls stuff but the presentation and some of the characters are nice enough. The new locations are stunning and a joy to explore. There is also, like always, a lot of lore and interesting background to almost everything.
9/10
#25 – Wolfenstein: The New Colossus (PS4)
I really didn't like New Order and this is basically more of the same but with a better presentation. The presentation with all it's well made cutscenes is easily the highlight of the game. The problem is that this game is in a deep identity crisis. It's dead serious at times then it tries to be like Inglorious Basterds with over-the-top character-performances (but fails miserably IMO, Eva is especially annoying and that whole Hitler-scene is just grotesque) and then it delves into utter trash cinema territory. And then there is the "old-school"-gameplay. The difficulty is all over the place. "Normal" feels like hard-mode in other games. But that's not even the problem. My problem is that this game just plays not very well. I can't exactly put my finger on it but it just feels off. Like I can't really make out all the enemies. The weapons cover too much of my sight. The field of view feels just wrong. I normally don't have this problem with FPS, but here it is – just like in the prequel – very prevalent. But maybe it's just the drab color-palette with complex setting after complex setting. The level-design is so boring. The enemies are bullet-sponges. Some weapons like the Maschinenpistole feel totally useless while the (upgraded) Sturmgewehr was my weapon of choice in almost every situation. Well I just turned it down to very easy at some point early in the game and mowed through the nazi hordes which was kinda fun and enjoyed some of the cutscenes. But overall it's not a good game. But I never really liked the series to begin with. I didn't even like Return to Castle Wolfenstein (except the mutliplayer, that was ACE). The often hated PS3-era Wolfenstein from Raven stays my favorite game in the series.
4/10
#26 – Farpoint (PSVR)
The game I bought my Aim Controller for and I didn't regret it. Despite some problems with controller shifting that got better with different light options in my room it was a fantastic experience. Great presentation and graphics, good story and fun firefights. We absolutely need more games like this in VR. I would be even happy with ports of older games like Resistance 3 and Killzone 3 which already supported the PS3 Sharpshooter. At least we get Firewall Zero at the end of this month.
8/10
#27 – Earth Defense Force 4.1: Shadow of Despair (PS4)
I already beat this game on PS3 but my brother an I started it again with a friend on PS4. The biggest difference most certainly is the now rather stable framerate which is a huge improvement. Too bad our friend left halfway through, but my brother and I finished it anyways. We had to set the difficulty to easy this time in one of the last missions because we didn't want to grind any weapons but that was fine for us because we already beat it on normal on PS3. The weapon- and power-up system could use some overhaul. Would be great when all the dropped stuff is collected automatically at the end of each mission. Otherwise a great game as usual with lots of action and a huge trash factor.
8/10
#28 – Eternal: The Tale of Horus Traver (PC/Android)
The second campaign of the game I bought with ingame-money. It was rather easy what gives me confidence in my decks and that they got better ;-) I still really like this game I think it's the best digital CCG out there. A perfect middle ground between Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering.
8.5/10
#29 – Persona 5 (PS4)
The big negative first: This game is way too long. Seriously I already thought this about Persona 3 and 4 but this one adds another layer of tediousness and unnecessary chatter to the formular. I think this is the main reason why I liked Persona 3 and 4 more. Also they need to overwork the game mechanics. The time management feels archaic at times. Especially in situations when the game just completely blocks your actions. Stuff like just going down the stairs or go out and buy some new items. While I really liked Morgana in the end he was a serious pain in the ass in the first half of the game ("Let's not do this today!"). Romances are also handled poorly. There is no acknowlegment in the game world when you are together with another character. But still, the positives by far outweight the negatives what makes this great game overall. The story is good and it has a memorable cast of characters. It's also one of the most stylish games ever made and the soundtrack is nice. The basic gameplay formular still works. I am actually not a big fan of the new dungeons because I prefered "dumb" crawling like in Persona 3+4, but there is still Mementos.
8.5/10
#30 – Dark Chronicle (PS4)
This game is known as Dark Cloud 2 in the US-market and it's a damn gem of a game. I still remember getting it for PS2 back then when it was new and I loved it. I played it a lot but for some reason I never finished it after getting to the last chapter. Years later I lost my savegame and restarted the game. Must have been around 2014 or 2015. Same story again, I played it until the last dungeon and just dropped it for no reason. This time though I kept my savegame and picked the game up again to finally finish it. Even in 2018 this is a great game. Sure, it's clunky but you get used to that type of gameplay. Building cities, crafting weapons, grind dungeons and kill monsters never gets old. It's too bad we never got a third game.
9/10
#31 – Detroit: Become Human (PS4)
It's not as good as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls IMO, but it's still a great game with lots of possibilities and outcomes. In that regard it's surely the best of Quantic Dream's games. But I liked the story, action and pacing of Beyond: Two Souls more and Heavy Rain felt more dramatic overall. The graphics are amazing as expected. I especially liked Connor and Hank.
8.5/10
