My backloggery
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#12 High Hell (PC)
It's a pretty fun game but only took just over an hour to finish.
Main Post
#12 High Hell (PC)
It's a pretty fun game but only took just over an hour to finish.
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52 Games. 1 Year. 2018.
- Thread starter Wozzer
- Start date
14. Saints Row: The Third
Xbox One X | Time Played: 15 Hours | 8.5/10
I was not keen on this game at release, mainly due to the cartoony visuals and overall lack of immersion. But a friend who never played the title bugged me to give it another try, and we had another blast of a time. Volition is one of my favourite developers, and this title has so much love put in, despite few questionable problems including missions ending too soon. There was something about the mission structure, which allowed players to experience each signature activities was a genius idea for the franchise. A solid sequel, which gave the series a purpose after being a GTA clone for so long!
Xbox One X | Time Played: 15 Hours | 8.5/10
I was not keen on this game at release, mainly due to the cartoony visuals and overall lack of immersion. But a friend who never played the title bugged me to give it another try, and we had another blast of a time. Volition is one of my favourite developers, and this title has so much love put in, despite few questionable problems including missions ending too soon. There was something about the mission structure, which allowed players to experience each signature activities was a genius idea for the franchise. A solid sequel, which gave the series a purpose after being a GTA clone for so long!
47. Comix Zone
This game has some very impressive animations although I felt the combat system a tad outdated. It was quite tough esp. with how little health drinks I could find as I played through the game.
Not the best MD game I played but the visuals were quite impressive at least.
This game has some very impressive animations although I felt the combat system a tad outdated. It was quite tough esp. with how little health drinks I could find as I played through the game.
Not the best MD game I played but the visuals were quite impressive at least.
Link to original/summary post:
52 Games. 1 Year. 2018.
Games completed (26-36): LittleBigPlanet 3, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Late Shift, Urban Legend: Shin Hayarigami - Blindman, God of War (2018), Harmoknight, Celeste, Skypeace, Rhythm Heaven Megamix, Mom Hid My Game!, Serial Cleaner
26. LittleBigPlanet 3 - PS4
★★★★
Beaten 4/9/18
Around 7-8 hours
I really sold LBP3 short. Ive owned it for around 3 years now, I bought it as part of a 3 pack that included Tearaway Unfolded and Driveclub. However, I never got around to playing it because of the middling reviews and the fact that it wasnt developed by Media Molecule. I just now remembered that the "substitute developer" was actually Sumo Digital, who have since proven their chops several times over.
I gotta say, they did an absolutely cracking job with this game. I hate doing "creation" stuff in games, as I've never found it fun. However, the sheer ingenuity found in Sumo's level design work here is astounding, and the new game elements they introduced here help make LBP's notoriously floaty platforming feel tighten up (The boost dash and mid-air dash refill mechanics from Celeste! The boosted long jumps of Super Meat Boy!). Fantastic platformer, perfect for the pittance you'll likely have to pay for it in 2018.
27. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - PC
★★
Beaten 4/15/18
9.2 hours as per Steam
This is one of the most aggressively overrated games I've ever played. I bought it entirely to support Ninja Theory's "AAA indie" development, but only got around to playing it now. I will say that the game is frequently stunning graphically, with gorgeous vistas and chilling hellscapes available in equal measure. The combat, while simplistic (causing it to feel excruciatingly boring towards the end), is very solid-feeling, with the impact and intensity you'd expect from the developers of Heavenly Sword.
However, the gameplay is just basic as all hell. It's annoyingly repetitive, the story is completely uninteresting, the puzzles are all cut from the same cloth, and the psychosis mechanics just failed to interest me at all.
Get it only on a deep sale or through a Humble Bundle, if you're so inclined. Definitely not worth full price.
28. Late Shift - PC
★★★
Beaten 4/15/18
2.6 hours as per Steam (2pt)
A joyously fun, if lightweight, FMV adventure. Unlike its stable mate, The Bunker (from the same developer, which I am currently suffering through), this is a quick moving heist movie with quickfire Telltale Games-style split second decisions. Decent acting, solid cinematography, and some unintentionally hilarious moments made me feel like I got my money's worth. Despite the fact that the game is completely built using FMV, there are a surprising amount of branching paths and variations that really make the choices have consequence.
It IS a little annoying however that the devs didn't provide a branching tree style chapter select option (similar to the mechanics seen in the Zero Escape series) so you can easily check out what happens if you select alternate choices; you have to start from scratch every time. I managed two endings (the second being the "best" ending) both sufficiently varied playthrough, before losing interest and checking out the other five endings on Youtube. Still, great fun for the price.
29. Urban Legend: Shin Hayarigami - Blindman - Android
★★★
Beaten 4/25/18
Around 4 hours
Got into this due to Era recs, gave it a shot because its apparently self contained and I was in the mood for a mystery game. I enjoyed myself overall, although the translation is pretty dodgy - not Sword Art Online 1.0 levels of Google Translate, but still pretty bad. I heard that YouTuber GG Gab worked with the developers to fix the localization, but I just had no motivation to go through the entire thing again. Worth a couple dollars if you enjoy VN's, particularly horror themed ones.
30. God of War (2018) - PS4
★★★★★
Beaten 5/5/18
Around 20 hours
Like Darksiders before it, there's not a lot that's original about God of War 2018. The companion banter and overall themes are heavily influenced by The Last of Us. The overall combat feel is like an unholy hybrid of Dark Souls and the seminal Resident Evil 4. The exploration has shades of Uncharted. But all of it is just so well-executed, every facet polished to a mirror sheen, that it just might win my Game of the Year.
Well, it probably won't - if I can easily name things I don't like about a game off the top of my head (excessive enemy recycling, some tedious side content) then that generally isnt a good portent for winning the whole shebang. But GoW 2018 remains a monumental achievement, and has successfully resurrected a series that was all but dead to me.
31. Harmoknight - 3DS
★★★
Beaten 5/12/18
3 hours 59 minutes
And the 3DS is finally on the board!
Harmoknight is a very original game (a rhythm platformer, from before the period where the Runner series hit it big) with a great feel - you jump to grab collectibles and swing your club to whack them out of your way, with every action generating a note. The music then syncs perfectly when you're on a roll. The music remains great throughout, but theres a little bit too much trial and error near the end that soured me on the overall experience.
32. Celeste - NSW
★★★★
Beaten 5/12/18
8 hours 20 minutes
One of the greatest feeling platformers I ever played, and one of the hardest. Celeste is a true love letter to people who love platform games, and the feeling you get when you pull off a spectacularly hard section makes you feel like a fucking superhero.
33. Skypeace - NSW
★★
Beaten 5/12/18
Less than an hour
A mobile port that delivered less than expected - I was hoping for an endless runner style experience, but instead got a self contained score attack game. It's still fun, and.... sort of worth the money, I guess, given that it costs a couple of bucks? Still, I'm not sure how I feel about having supported this kind of game on the eShop.
34. Rhythm Heaven Megamix - 3DS
★★★★
10 hours 59 minutes
Finally! Jesus Christ, the last few levels of this game were brutal. You know what you're getting when you buy a Rhythm Heaven game, and that's hardcore as hell rhythm game action mashed with Wario Ware style oddball mechanics. There's a good selection of game types on here, which should last most people a good while. That said, your mileage may vary depending on how much you can tolerate replaying individual minigames to better your score and unlock more content.
35. Mom Hid My Game! - 3DS
★★
1 hour 7 minutes
Speaking of Wario Ware - this is another game in the same strange vein. However, it's such a short and shallow game, with only fifty levels, most of which are exceedingly short. I'll admit it got some laughs out of me - the surrealist nature of that damn Mom ruining everything can be comedy gold - but I wouldn't recommend you pay a lot for this.
36. Serial Cleaner - NSW
★★★
Beaten 5/14/18
More than 5 hours
Really unique premise on this one - youre the janitor who cleans up the mess that a serial killer leaves. If youre familiar with the cleaning service guys from the first John Wick, this is essentially that, in game form. One of the better pure stealth games Ive played in a while! The bonus contracts have too much trial and error for my taste, though.
52 Games. 1 Year. 2018.
Games completed (26-36): LittleBigPlanet 3, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Late Shift, Urban Legend: Shin Hayarigami - Blindman, God of War (2018), Harmoknight, Celeste, Skypeace, Rhythm Heaven Megamix, Mom Hid My Game!, Serial Cleaner
26. LittleBigPlanet 3 - PS4
★★★★
Beaten 4/9/18
Around 7-8 hours
I really sold LBP3 short. Ive owned it for around 3 years now, I bought it as part of a 3 pack that included Tearaway Unfolded and Driveclub. However, I never got around to playing it because of the middling reviews and the fact that it wasnt developed by Media Molecule. I just now remembered that the "substitute developer" was actually Sumo Digital, who have since proven their chops several times over.
I gotta say, they did an absolutely cracking job with this game. I hate doing "creation" stuff in games, as I've never found it fun. However, the sheer ingenuity found in Sumo's level design work here is astounding, and the new game elements they introduced here help make LBP's notoriously floaty platforming feel tighten up (The boost dash and mid-air dash refill mechanics from Celeste! The boosted long jumps of Super Meat Boy!). Fantastic platformer, perfect for the pittance you'll likely have to pay for it in 2018.
27. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - PC
★★
Beaten 4/15/18
9.2 hours as per Steam
This is one of the most aggressively overrated games I've ever played. I bought it entirely to support Ninja Theory's "AAA indie" development, but only got around to playing it now. I will say that the game is frequently stunning graphically, with gorgeous vistas and chilling hellscapes available in equal measure. The combat, while simplistic (causing it to feel excruciatingly boring towards the end), is very solid-feeling, with the impact and intensity you'd expect from the developers of Heavenly Sword.
However, the gameplay is just basic as all hell. It's annoyingly repetitive, the story is completely uninteresting, the puzzles are all cut from the same cloth, and the psychosis mechanics just failed to interest me at all.
Get it only on a deep sale or through a Humble Bundle, if you're so inclined. Definitely not worth full price.
28. Late Shift - PC
★★★
Beaten 4/15/18
2.6 hours as per Steam (2pt)
A joyously fun, if lightweight, FMV adventure. Unlike its stable mate, The Bunker (from the same developer, which I am currently suffering through), this is a quick moving heist movie with quickfire Telltale Games-style split second decisions. Decent acting, solid cinematography, and some unintentionally hilarious moments made me feel like I got my money's worth. Despite the fact that the game is completely built using FMV, there are a surprising amount of branching paths and variations that really make the choices have consequence.
It IS a little annoying however that the devs didn't provide a branching tree style chapter select option (similar to the mechanics seen in the Zero Escape series) so you can easily check out what happens if you select alternate choices; you have to start from scratch every time. I managed two endings (the second being the "best" ending) both sufficiently varied playthrough, before losing interest and checking out the other five endings on Youtube. Still, great fun for the price.
29. Urban Legend: Shin Hayarigami - Blindman - Android
★★★
Beaten 4/25/18
Around 4 hours
Got into this due to Era recs, gave it a shot because its apparently self contained and I was in the mood for a mystery game. I enjoyed myself overall, although the translation is pretty dodgy - not Sword Art Online 1.0 levels of Google Translate, but still pretty bad. I heard that YouTuber GG Gab worked with the developers to fix the localization, but I just had no motivation to go through the entire thing again. Worth a couple dollars if you enjoy VN's, particularly horror themed ones.
30. God of War (2018) - PS4
★★★★★
Beaten 5/5/18
Around 20 hours
Like Darksiders before it, there's not a lot that's original about God of War 2018. The companion banter and overall themes are heavily influenced by The Last of Us. The overall combat feel is like an unholy hybrid of Dark Souls and the seminal Resident Evil 4. The exploration has shades of Uncharted. But all of it is just so well-executed, every facet polished to a mirror sheen, that it just might win my Game of the Year.
Well, it probably won't - if I can easily name things I don't like about a game off the top of my head (excessive enemy recycling, some tedious side content) then that generally isnt a good portent for winning the whole shebang. But GoW 2018 remains a monumental achievement, and has successfully resurrected a series that was all but dead to me.
31. Harmoknight - 3DS
★★★
Beaten 5/12/18
3 hours 59 minutes
And the 3DS is finally on the board!
Harmoknight is a very original game (a rhythm platformer, from before the period where the Runner series hit it big) with a great feel - you jump to grab collectibles and swing your club to whack them out of your way, with every action generating a note. The music then syncs perfectly when you're on a roll. The music remains great throughout, but theres a little bit too much trial and error near the end that soured me on the overall experience.
32. Celeste - NSW
★★★★
Beaten 5/12/18
8 hours 20 minutes
One of the greatest feeling platformers I ever played, and one of the hardest. Celeste is a true love letter to people who love platform games, and the feeling you get when you pull off a spectacularly hard section makes you feel like a fucking superhero.
33. Skypeace - NSW
★★
Beaten 5/12/18
Less than an hour
A mobile port that delivered less than expected - I was hoping for an endless runner style experience, but instead got a self contained score attack game. It's still fun, and.... sort of worth the money, I guess, given that it costs a couple of bucks? Still, I'm not sure how I feel about having supported this kind of game on the eShop.
34. Rhythm Heaven Megamix - 3DS
★★★★
10 hours 59 minutes
Finally! Jesus Christ, the last few levels of this game were brutal. You know what you're getting when you buy a Rhythm Heaven game, and that's hardcore as hell rhythm game action mashed with Wario Ware style oddball mechanics. There's a good selection of game types on here, which should last most people a good while. That said, your mileage may vary depending on how much you can tolerate replaying individual minigames to better your score and unlock more content.
35. Mom Hid My Game! - 3DS
★★
1 hour 7 minutes
Speaking of Wario Ware - this is another game in the same strange vein. However, it's such a short and shallow game, with only fifty levels, most of which are exceedingly short. I'll admit it got some laughs out of me - the surrealist nature of that damn Mom ruining everything can be comedy gold - but I wouldn't recommend you pay a lot for this.
36. Serial Cleaner - NSW
★★★
Beaten 5/14/18
More than 5 hours
Really unique premise on this one - youre the janitor who cleans up the mess that a serial killer leaves. If youre familiar with the cleaning service guys from the first John Wick, this is essentially that, in game form. One of the better pure stealth games Ive played in a while! The bonus contracts have too much trial and error for my taste, though.
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1) Jan 01: Rise of the Tomb Raider.
2) Jan 21: Escape Goat 2
3) Feb 10: Gravity Rush: Remastered
4) Feb 11: Batman: The Telltale Game
5) Feb 18: BattleChasers: Nightwar
6) Mar 11: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
7) Mar 16: Ratchet and Clank
8) Mar 22: Dishonored 2
9) Mar 26: Ni No Kuni 2
10)Apr. 15: FarCry 5
11)Apr 23: God of War
12)May 13: Tales from the Borderlands.
2) Jan 21: Escape Goat 2
3) Feb 10: Gravity Rush: Remastered
4) Feb 11: Batman: The Telltale Game
5) Feb 18: BattleChasers: Nightwar
6) Mar 11: Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
7) Mar 16: Ratchet and Clank
8) Mar 22: Dishonored 2
9) Mar 26: Ni No Kuni 2
10)Apr. 15: FarCry 5
11)Apr 23: God of War
12)May 13: Tales from the Borderlands.
Update, main post here
#19 - Rusty Lake: Roots (PC)
GOOD - A very bizzare little adventure-game I got in a humble-bundle. I am normally not an adventure-game player but this one actually motivated me to finish it because everything was so strange and wrong. It's one of those static-screen-click-games without a lot of production value. But the artstyle and overall strangeness of the stuff that happens makes up for it.
#20 - God of War (PS4)
AMAZING – 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.
#21 - Star Wars Battlefront 2 (PS4)
AMAZING – 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.
#22 - Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition (PC)
GREAT – 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.
#19 - Rusty Lake: Roots (PC)
GOOD - A very bizzare little adventure-game I got in a humble-bundle. I am normally not an adventure-game player but this one actually motivated me to finish it because everything was so strange and wrong. It's one of those static-screen-click-games without a lot of production value. But the artstyle and overall strangeness of the stuff that happens makes up for it.
#20 - God of War (PS4)
AMAZING – 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.
#21 - Star Wars Battlefront 2 (PS4)
AMAZING – 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.
#22 - Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition (PC)
GREAT – 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.
Main Post part 2
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48. Sam & Max 203: Night of the Raving Dead - 2 hours
Thank goodness, this episode is miles better than previous one. Very satisfying and fun story, with some nice plot twists, also new characters and jokes are great. Best episode from second season so far, i hope Telltale would keep it up and last 2 episodes would be as good as this one.
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48. Sam & Max 203: Night of the Raving Dead - 2 hours
Thank goodness, this episode is miles better than previous one. Very satisfying and fun story, with some nice plot twists, also new characters and jokes are great. Best episode from second season so far, i hope Telltale would keep it up and last 2 episodes would be as good as this one.
#27 Brutal Legend 8 Xbox 360 - May 14th - 11 hours
I really like Brutal Legend, more than I did in 2010 when I first played it. The live action intro is great. The soundtrack is quality and so is the cast, Jack Black especially. I wish the story kept the humour it promises in the first hour but it sort of fizzles out and the game feels a bit unfinished like they ran out of time. I like the on foot missions but the game sort of ditches these in the second half to focus on the RTS battles, which are fun but control a little clunky and they're pretty easy if you take your time. I enjoyed exploring the open world for secrets and while the side missions are repetitive, they are fun and short enough to not be a problem.
I really like Brutal Legend, more than I did in 2010 when I first played it. The live action intro is great. The soundtrack is quality and so is the cast, Jack Black especially. I wish the story kept the humour it promises in the first hour but it sort of fizzles out and the game feels a bit unfinished like they ran out of time. I like the on foot missions but the game sort of ditches these in the second half to focus on the RTS battles, which are fun but control a little clunky and they're pretty easy if you take your time. I enjoyed exploring the open world for secrets and while the side missions are repetitive, they are fun and short enough to not be a problem.
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Game #82: Hungry Cat Picross
Started ??? 2014 - Completed 10 May 2018
Verdict: The best mobile game I have played.
I used to buy a lot of games for my iPhone a bunch of years ago, since it was soo cool to finally have a smartphone and so on. I guess I bought this since people claimed it was great but I didn't really "get" Picross back then. Picross didn't click with me until I played Paint it Back last year, and when it did it really hooked me. Imagine the joy when I found this hidden in the darkest depths of my app folders! The only problem with this game is that I will probably have a hard time playing any other Picross game now since everything will be compared to this one. It's the best game I have played on my phone and one of the better puzzle games I have ever played. Highly recommended. Oh, and another problem, I am still playing it all the time which means I am not playing any other handheld game. Ooops.
Game #83: Far Cry 4
Started 3 May. 2018 - Completed 15 Apr. 2018
Verdict: Pretty much Far Cry 3 again. Which is good.
I liked Far Cry 3 a lot. This is basically Far Cry 3 in new environments and with some typical samey-sequel additions. I liked most of it. Especially since
I could kill Amita, Sabal and Pagan (after fulfilling Ajay's mother's wish of course!). So now Ajay the mass murderer is the King of Kyrat, muhahaha!
_
Master Post!
Hmm, this is cool. Lets see.
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Not sure why I did not finish this earlier and what can i say that has not been said already. It's a great game, not very long if you only focus on the main story but still lengthy enough.
2. A Way Out
Played through it once with a friend and its one of my favorite games this year. I absolutely adore "cinematic" games that focus mainly on story. Quite short though, took us about 6-7 hours.
3. F.E.A.R.
Ahh, this has been sitting in my library for the longest time and I finally played it. While it might not be as scary as it was when it came out, the atmosphere and combat are absolutely amazing. PC version needs community fixes to run well on current hardware however.
4. God of War
I honestly wasn't really blown away by it as i anticipated. It's a great game, near perfect even, I just wasn't as interested.
5. Detroit: Become Human
As with GoW, I think I've overhyped myself and in the end, the game didn't deliver. Highly replayable, very beautiful, I'll give it that much.
1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Not sure why I did not finish this earlier and what can i say that has not been said already. It's a great game, not very long if you only focus on the main story but still lengthy enough.
2. A Way Out
Played through it once with a friend and its one of my favorite games this year. I absolutely adore "cinematic" games that focus mainly on story. Quite short though, took us about 6-7 hours.
3. F.E.A.R.
Ahh, this has been sitting in my library for the longest time and I finally played it. While it might not be as scary as it was when it came out, the atmosphere and combat are absolutely amazing. PC version needs community fixes to run well on current hardware however.
4. God of War
I honestly wasn't really blown away by it as i anticipated. It's a great game, near perfect even, I just wasn't as interested.
5. Detroit: Become Human
As with GoW, I think I've overhyped myself and in the end, the game didn't deliver. Highly replayable, very beautiful, I'll give it that much.
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Well, here we are 52 Games in 1 year completed. Apologies that the dates are a bit muddled I copied this from my excel sheet of games completed with how much GamerScore/Trophies etc.
1. L.A Noire: Remastered - Xbox One - 29/01/18 - 44H, 19M
I thought I would pick this up after never playing the DLC from when I originally bought it, the game still holds up very well.
2. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - XONE - 31/01/18 - 15H, 38M
Not as good as the New Order but still good in it's only right.
3. Papers, Please - PC - 16/04/18 - 6H
I had already completed the campaign but I wanted to check out unlimited mode, I ended up playing for 6 hours!
4. The Walking Dead: Michonne - XONE - 2/01/18 - 4H, 49M
To put it bluntly it's not as good as the main series, it's also a bit on the short side.
5. Wolfenstein: The New Order - XONE - 14/01/18 - 28H, 34M
Possibly one of the greatest first person shooters of all time, the level design, gameplay and story were all top notch. The only downside was that the final boss was awful.
6. The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Xbox One - 06/01/18 - 9H, 32M
I wasn't really sure how this game would pan out but I ended up enjoying it.
7. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Xbox One - 8/02/18 - 40H, 54M
One of the better LEGO games and also the first LEGO game I have played bug free.
8. NieR: Automata - PS4 – 17/01/18 – 32H
Not a fan of games with huge amounts of boss fights however a lot of the bosses were straight forward.
9. Hellblade: Senua Sacrifice - PS4 - 26/01/18 - 8 Hours
I really, really enjoyed this. The story is great however I felt there were a bit to many enemy encounters.
10. Skyrim VR - PSVR - 8/02/18 - 82H, 26M
It's Skyrim in VR and it works pretty great.
11. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus - XONE - 9/3/18 - 32H
I enjoyed The New Colossus more than The Old Blood however some of the levels became confusing to navigate.
12. Back to the Future: 30th Anniversary - XONE – 18/02/18 - 10H, 26M
Way to long. The game started off great, however the controls were finicky and the game overstayed it's welcome.
13. Far Cry: Primal - XONE - 24/02/18 - 37H, 09M
Not the best Far Cry in the series, the idea's were interesting but it needed more variety in weapons. However I do think that Far Cry: Primal would make a great VR game.
14. Firewatch - XONE - 18/02/18 - 6H, 6M
Incredible game from start to finish.
15. Assassin's Creed: Origins - 04/03/18 - XONE - 104H, 6M
The main story is interesting in this one, the game doesn't take the Traditional Assassin's Creed route. Instead it's a lot more open and lot of the missions I didn't feel like I was a Assassin. Although seeing how this game focuses on the birth of the Assassin's it was to be expected.
16. Gone Home - XONE - 08/02/18 - XONE - 2H, 21M
Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, there really isn't anything bad in this one. Except it's way to short.
17. Telltale: Game of Thrones - XONE – 12/02/18 – 13H, 56M
Boy didn't this game overstay it's welcome. This is easily one the slowest Telltale games I have played that and a lot of it I didn't really understand.
18. The Wolf Among Us - XONE - 16/02/18 - 9H, 33M
Now this is a game I wish was longer. I really enjoyed this one and it always kept you engaged.
19. Sherlock Holmes: Crime and Punishments - 11/02/18 - XONE - 14H, 12M
Great puzzle solving and mostly a great story. A lot of the cases were very well thought out.
20. Sherlock Holmes: The Devils Daughter - 14/02/18 - XONE - 9H, 36M
This is a odd one, in a lot of ways it improved upon it's predecessor and in a lot of ways it didn't.
21. Tales from the Borderlands - 18/02/18 - XONE - 12H, 11M
My favorite Telltale game to date. Incredibly funny, well written and was bang on the right length.
22. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood - PSVR - 14/02/18 - 6H
This was a okay on the rails PSVR game with no real story to note.
23. Playroom VR - PSVR - 11/02/18 – 4H
A fun and kinda cool set of mini-games for PSVR.
24. VR Worlds – PSVR - 10/02/18 – 6H
London Heist is the highlight here and it's really, really good.
25. Agents of Mayhem - XONE - 14/03/18 - XONE - 40H, 48M
I wanted to like this, I really did. But when it boils down to it your pretty much doing the exact same thing over and over again.
26. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War - XONE - 9/03/18 - 40H, 05M
Another game which was so good except the pacing was really off. At times it flowed great then as soon as you have to do anything with Nemesis system it slows down to a crawl.
27. Super Lucky's Tale - XONE - 03/03/18 - 10H, 27M
I didn't enjoy this at all, in fact I think it's one of the worse platformers I have played. The level design and player camera is infuriating at times.
28. Rise of the Tomb Raider - 16H - XONE - 08/03/18
This was DLC run but I thought I would count it as I haven't played any of the DLC and together they are quite long. All the DLC delivered that I played apart from the Cold Darkness which I was having trouble trying to understand what the point of it was.
29. Bravo Team - PSVR - 09/03/18 - 6H
I am moving straight on to the next game. I can't help but feel this game would have worked ALOT better if it had free movement.
30. God of War - PS2 – 9H
God of War was a very interesting game, the story was cool and the level design was cool. The platforming segments were not good however.
31. God of War II - PS2 – 12H
God of War II improved upon God of War a lot and it shows, the platforming is 100% better and the story is very good.
32. God of War III: Remastered - PS4 – 26/03/18 – 9H
The opening was incredible but I felt it needed more time between boss fights.
33. Farpoint - PSVR - 16/03/18 - 8H
One of the better PSVR games which I hope get's a sequel.
34. Far Cry 5 - XONE - 02/04/18 - 46H, 26M
This is the best Far Cry game next to Far Cry 3. The map was incredibly awesome to explore and the variety of weapons and vehicles were great.
35. South Park: The Fractured But Whole - XONE - 12/04/18 - 36H, 26M
A funny game which ultimately turns out slightly stupid plot wise. The combat system I found very interesting.
36. Life is Strange: Before the Storm - PS4 - 12/03/18 - 18H
One of my joint number one game of all time, this was one of the best games I have ever played.
37. LEGO City: Undercover - 12/04/18 - XONE - 53H, 19M
An original LEGO game by TT Games and it actually worked out very well. I did encounter quite a few glitches though.
38. God of War – PS4 - 28/04/18 – 42H
The story and one-shot camera was incredibly cool. However I felt the side content a bit on lack-luster side.
39. Final Fantasy XIII-2 - PC – 17/05/18 – 17/04/18 – 18H
I don't really understand the story at all, I don't really know what else to say.
40. Shadow Warrior – PC – 12/04/18 – 13H
Another game which was about 3 hours to long. The story works and the combat isn't bad at all. Unfortunately a lot of the enemies become sponges towards the end.
41. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider - XONE - 16/04/18 - 12H, 26M
Another great entry into the Dishonored series.
42. Yakuza 0 - PS4 – 02/05/18 – 42H
Yakuza 0 has one of the greatest Beat'em up gameplay I have ever played.
43. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – PC – 12/05/18 – 26H
Ok, seriously this was the last entry into the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. If someone could tell me what is going that would be great. Quite honestly, the entire story makes zero sense.
44. Unmechnaical: Extended – XONE – 08/05/18 – 6H, 4M
A great little platformer, the only downside is that the physics are very odd.
45. F.E.A.R – PC – 8/05/18 – 14H
What a great game this turned to be. Although not really horror the atmosphere was great.
46. F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin – PC – 12/05/18 – 8H
This game had a lot better pacing than the original game but someone of the enemies were sponges.
47. Assassin's Creed: Liberation – PC – 14/05/18 – 9H
Not the best Assassin's Creed game out there but you can see it was designed for the Vita.
48. Spyro The Dragon – PSV – 12/05/18 – 12H
A very easy and relaxing platformer in a colorful world.
49. Moonbase Alpha – PC – 14/05/18 – 62M
A short fun and enjoyable little game.
50. Sniper: Art of Victory – PC – 3/05/18 – 83M
I got nothing to say about this one let's move on.
51. Sniper: Ghost Warrior – PC – 4/05/18 – 3H
A HUGE improvement over the first game.
52. Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 – PC – 14/05/18 – 5H
A bit of a lackluster story, the game actually works without any bugs.
1. L.A Noire: Remastered - Xbox One - 29/01/18 - 44H, 19M
I thought I would pick this up after never playing the DLC from when I originally bought it, the game still holds up very well.
2. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - XONE - 31/01/18 - 15H, 38M
Not as good as the New Order but still good in it's only right.
3. Papers, Please - PC - 16/04/18 - 6H
I had already completed the campaign but I wanted to check out unlimited mode, I ended up playing for 6 hours!
4. The Walking Dead: Michonne - XONE - 2/01/18 - 4H, 49M
To put it bluntly it's not as good as the main series, it's also a bit on the short side.
5. Wolfenstein: The New Order - XONE - 14/01/18 - 28H, 34M
Possibly one of the greatest first person shooters of all time, the level design, gameplay and story were all top notch. The only downside was that the final boss was awful.
6. The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Xbox One - 06/01/18 - 9H, 32M
I wasn't really sure how this game would pan out but I ended up enjoying it.
7. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Xbox One - 8/02/18 - 40H, 54M
One of the better LEGO games and also the first LEGO game I have played bug free.
8. NieR: Automata - PS4 – 17/01/18 – 32H
Not a fan of games with huge amounts of boss fights however a lot of the bosses were straight forward.
9. Hellblade: Senua Sacrifice - PS4 - 26/01/18 - 8 Hours
I really, really enjoyed this. The story is great however I felt there were a bit to many enemy encounters.
10. Skyrim VR - PSVR - 8/02/18 - 82H, 26M
It's Skyrim in VR and it works pretty great.
11. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus - XONE - 9/3/18 - 32H
I enjoyed The New Colossus more than The Old Blood however some of the levels became confusing to navigate.
12. Back to the Future: 30th Anniversary - XONE – 18/02/18 - 10H, 26M
Way to long. The game started off great, however the controls were finicky and the game overstayed it's welcome.
13. Far Cry: Primal - XONE - 24/02/18 - 37H, 09M
Not the best Far Cry in the series, the idea's were interesting but it needed more variety in weapons. However I do think that Far Cry: Primal would make a great VR game.
14. Firewatch - XONE - 18/02/18 - 6H, 6M
Incredible game from start to finish.
15. Assassin's Creed: Origins - 04/03/18 - XONE - 104H, 6M
The main story is interesting in this one, the game doesn't take the Traditional Assassin's Creed route. Instead it's a lot more open and lot of the missions I didn't feel like I was a Assassin. Although seeing how this game focuses on the birth of the Assassin's it was to be expected.
16. Gone Home - XONE - 08/02/18 - XONE - 2H, 21M
Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, there really isn't anything bad in this one. Except it's way to short.
17. Telltale: Game of Thrones - XONE – 12/02/18 – 13H, 56M
Boy didn't this game overstay it's welcome. This is easily one the slowest Telltale games I have played that and a lot of it I didn't really understand.
18. The Wolf Among Us - XONE - 16/02/18 - 9H, 33M
Now this is a game I wish was longer. I really enjoyed this one and it always kept you engaged.
19. Sherlock Holmes: Crime and Punishments - 11/02/18 - XONE - 14H, 12M
Great puzzle solving and mostly a great story. A lot of the cases were very well thought out.
20. Sherlock Holmes: The Devils Daughter - 14/02/18 - XONE - 9H, 36M
This is a odd one, in a lot of ways it improved upon it's predecessor and in a lot of ways it didn't.
21. Tales from the Borderlands - 18/02/18 - XONE - 12H, 11M
My favorite Telltale game to date. Incredibly funny, well written and was bang on the right length.
22. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood - PSVR - 14/02/18 - 6H
This was a okay on the rails PSVR game with no real story to note.
23. Playroom VR - PSVR - 11/02/18 – 4H
A fun and kinda cool set of mini-games for PSVR.
24. VR Worlds – PSVR - 10/02/18 – 6H
London Heist is the highlight here and it's really, really good.
25. Agents of Mayhem - XONE - 14/03/18 - XONE - 40H, 48M
I wanted to like this, I really did. But when it boils down to it your pretty much doing the exact same thing over and over again.
26. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War - XONE - 9/03/18 - 40H, 05M
Another game which was so good except the pacing was really off. At times it flowed great then as soon as you have to do anything with Nemesis system it slows down to a crawl.
27. Super Lucky's Tale - XONE - 03/03/18 - 10H, 27M
I didn't enjoy this at all, in fact I think it's one of the worse platformers I have played. The level design and player camera is infuriating at times.
28. Rise of the Tomb Raider - 16H - XONE - 08/03/18
This was DLC run but I thought I would count it as I haven't played any of the DLC and together they are quite long. All the DLC delivered that I played apart from the Cold Darkness which I was having trouble trying to understand what the point of it was.
29. Bravo Team - PSVR - 09/03/18 - 6H
I am moving straight on to the next game. I can't help but feel this game would have worked ALOT better if it had free movement.
30. God of War - PS2 – 9H
God of War was a very interesting game, the story was cool and the level design was cool. The platforming segments were not good however.
31. God of War II - PS2 – 12H
God of War II improved upon God of War a lot and it shows, the platforming is 100% better and the story is very good.
32. God of War III: Remastered - PS4 – 26/03/18 – 9H
The opening was incredible but I felt it needed more time between boss fights.
33. Farpoint - PSVR - 16/03/18 - 8H
One of the better PSVR games which I hope get's a sequel.
34. Far Cry 5 - XONE - 02/04/18 - 46H, 26M
This is the best Far Cry game next to Far Cry 3. The map was incredibly awesome to explore and the variety of weapons and vehicles were great.
35. South Park: The Fractured But Whole - XONE - 12/04/18 - 36H, 26M
A funny game which ultimately turns out slightly stupid plot wise. The combat system I found very interesting.
36. Life is Strange: Before the Storm - PS4 - 12/03/18 - 18H
One of my joint number one game of all time, this was one of the best games I have ever played.
37. LEGO City: Undercover - 12/04/18 - XONE - 53H, 19M
An original LEGO game by TT Games and it actually worked out very well. I did encounter quite a few glitches though.
38. God of War – PS4 - 28/04/18 – 42H
The story and one-shot camera was incredibly cool. However I felt the side content a bit on lack-luster side.
39. Final Fantasy XIII-2 - PC – 17/05/18 – 17/04/18 – 18H
I don't really understand the story at all, I don't really know what else to say.
40. Shadow Warrior – PC – 12/04/18 – 13H
Another game which was about 3 hours to long. The story works and the combat isn't bad at all. Unfortunately a lot of the enemies become sponges towards the end.
41. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider - XONE - 16/04/18 - 12H, 26M
Another great entry into the Dishonored series.
42. Yakuza 0 - PS4 – 02/05/18 – 42H
Yakuza 0 has one of the greatest Beat'em up gameplay I have ever played.
43. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – PC – 12/05/18 – 26H
Ok, seriously this was the last entry into the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. If someone could tell me what is going that would be great. Quite honestly, the entire story makes zero sense.
44. Unmechnaical: Extended – XONE – 08/05/18 – 6H, 4M
A great little platformer, the only downside is that the physics are very odd.
45. F.E.A.R – PC – 8/05/18 – 14H
What a great game this turned to be. Although not really horror the atmosphere was great.
46. F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin – PC – 12/05/18 – 8H
This game had a lot better pacing than the original game but someone of the enemies were sponges.
47. Assassin's Creed: Liberation – PC – 14/05/18 – 9H
Not the best Assassin's Creed game out there but you can see it was designed for the Vita.
48. Spyro The Dragon – PSV – 12/05/18 – 12H
A very easy and relaxing platformer in a colorful world.
49. Moonbase Alpha – PC – 14/05/18 – 62M
A short fun and enjoyable little game.
50. Sniper: Art of Victory – PC – 3/05/18 – 83M
I got nothing to say about this one let's move on.
51. Sniper: Ghost Warrior – PC – 4/05/18 – 3H
A HUGE improvement over the first game.
52. Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 – PC – 14/05/18 – 5H
A bit of a lackluster story, the game actually works without any bugs.
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48. Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Investigations
Didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped. It's a simple Adventure game where you interact with stuff and characters and use items you picked up with objects and characters to progress. There is some item combing, but hardly any noteworthy puzzles.
Worst offender of the game is that you can't skip dialog, as someone who is a fast reader, I would've been able to beat the game faster if I could just skip dialog.
The game being locked to 30 FPS with barely any graphics option is unfortunate too, but the game does have some nice textures for the character models.
Didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped. It's a simple Adventure game where you interact with stuff and characters and use items you picked up with objects and characters to progress. There is some item combing, but hardly any noteworthy puzzles.
Worst offender of the game is that you can't skip dialog, as someone who is a fast reader, I would've been able to beat the game faster if I could just skip dialog.
The game being locked to 30 FPS with barely any graphics option is unfortunate too, but the game does have some nice textures for the character models.
Original post
5. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (PS4, 2018) - 48:10
Completed the campaign on Normal difficulty.
About half of Yakuza 6 takes place in a sleepy port town called Onomichi, in Hiroshima prefecture. The place feels like the end of the known world. Something about it suits Yakuza 6, the game we already knew to be Kazama Kiryu's last adventure. After decades of getting to know the tough yet kind-hearted former yakuza over six games, it's fitting that Kiryu should spend so much time in a place that feels like a retirement community. Onomichi serves as stark contrast to the well-worn streets of Kamurocho, a place that feels exciting and vibrant in ways that no longer suit Kiryu.
Weirdly, the game itself reinforces this feeling inadvertently. Every game changes Kamurocho to suit its needs, but in Yakuza 6 many of the cuts feel almost like concessions made because of a limited budget or lack of development time. Entire sections of the city are marked as under construction, and the areas that remain are less populated with side activities and the series' trademark sidestories. But those cuts also play into one of the game's recurring themes, which is that Kamurocho is no longer Kiryu's playground. Kamurocho is a place for the young, drunk and stupid, things Kiryu no longer is or is no longer willing to be. That the city should close itself off to him makes a lot of sense.
Kamurocho's sidestories are often about Kiryu's slight alienation from the city and its modern marvels. He does battle with a drone, chastizes a YouTube personality, and argues with a voice-activated smartphone AI. Kiryu still manages to find the humanity in these stories, but the problems he has to solve in Onomichi feel more familiar to him. One of the major minigames has Kiryu managing a rec-league baseball team; another has him discuss the various mid-life problems of a bunch of barflies at the local pub. I can't help but wonder if the wealth of things to do in what should be the quiet countryside is an intentional choice, a hint that if things had taken a different turn, Kiryu could've made Onomichi his home instead.
As a sign of things to come for the franchise, Yakuza 6 succeeds. The new engine looks great, though some parts like character animations haven't caught up to the new standard yet. All the gameplay systems work roughly as well as you'd want them to in a Yakuza game, and though not all of the combat changes work for me (why are so many heat moves locked behind Extreme Heat Mode?) it's still basically the franchise I love. The Dragon Engine will make a fine foundation for future games.
As Kiryu's last outing, I imagine Yakuza 6 will be more polarizing. For me, while I can definitely see why people might be upset or confused by how some things unfold, it ultimately feels like a real ending for everyone involved. It strikes just the right tone, and it makes my heart hurt just the right amount. It'll be hard to let Kiryu go--what will we do without everyone's favourite video game dad?--but I look forward to seeing how the franchise reinvents itself with Kazuga Ichiban. And hey, if nothing else, we'll get to see Kiryu again in August when Kiwami 2 comes out.
5. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (PS4, 2018) - 48:10
Completed the campaign on Normal difficulty.
About half of Yakuza 6 takes place in a sleepy port town called Onomichi, in Hiroshima prefecture. The place feels like the end of the known world. Something about it suits Yakuza 6, the game we already knew to be Kazama Kiryu's last adventure. After decades of getting to know the tough yet kind-hearted former yakuza over six games, it's fitting that Kiryu should spend so much time in a place that feels like a retirement community. Onomichi serves as stark contrast to the well-worn streets of Kamurocho, a place that feels exciting and vibrant in ways that no longer suit Kiryu.
Weirdly, the game itself reinforces this feeling inadvertently. Every game changes Kamurocho to suit its needs, but in Yakuza 6 many of the cuts feel almost like concessions made because of a limited budget or lack of development time. Entire sections of the city are marked as under construction, and the areas that remain are less populated with side activities and the series' trademark sidestories. But those cuts also play into one of the game's recurring themes, which is that Kamurocho is no longer Kiryu's playground. Kamurocho is a place for the young, drunk and stupid, things Kiryu no longer is or is no longer willing to be. That the city should close itself off to him makes a lot of sense.
Kamurocho's sidestories are often about Kiryu's slight alienation from the city and its modern marvels. He does battle with a drone, chastizes a YouTube personality, and argues with a voice-activated smartphone AI. Kiryu still manages to find the humanity in these stories, but the problems he has to solve in Onomichi feel more familiar to him. One of the major minigames has Kiryu managing a rec-league baseball team; another has him discuss the various mid-life problems of a bunch of barflies at the local pub. I can't help but wonder if the wealth of things to do in what should be the quiet countryside is an intentional choice, a hint that if things had taken a different turn, Kiryu could've made Onomichi his home instead.
As a sign of things to come for the franchise, Yakuza 6 succeeds. The new engine looks great, though some parts like character animations haven't caught up to the new standard yet. All the gameplay systems work roughly as well as you'd want them to in a Yakuza game, and though not all of the combat changes work for me (why are so many heat moves locked behind Extreme Heat Mode?) it's still basically the franchise I love. The Dragon Engine will make a fine foundation for future games.
As Kiryu's last outing, I imagine Yakuza 6 will be more polarizing. For me, while I can definitely see why people might be upset or confused by how some things unfold, it ultimately feels like a real ending for everyone involved. It strikes just the right tone, and it makes my heart hurt just the right amount. It'll be hard to let Kiryu go--what will we do without everyone's favourite video game dad?--but I look forward to seeing how the franchise reinvents itself with Kazuga Ichiban. And hey, if nothing else, we'll get to see Kiryu again in August when Kiwami 2 comes out.
Modern RPG classic. Fantastic cast of characters with a great world full of secrets, side quests and vistas. Kept me entertained for near 200 hours.
This held up much better than expected considering it's held is fairly low regard. If nothing else this has me excited to play the following entries in the series.
The start of my full Kingdom Hearts 100% trophy playthrough. The first in the series has a simple charm to it before the added bloat of the insane plot the series is known for. I find it holds up extremely well with some minor camera and control issues.
Really just not a big fan of this one. I don't think the gameplay translated well to the 3D environments, but the cutscenes are definitely drastically improved from the GBA version.
Possibly my favourite game of all time after this playthrough. I'd never properly played Final Mix and I decided to do this on critical. This is one of the finest action games ever made and the post game boss fights were phenomenally crafted.
My opinion of this game somewhat dropped with a replay, maybe being on a handheld previously made me overlook some flaws. The characters are all pretty dumb and the gameplay can be a bit clunky and unbalanced, but it's still pretty good for what it is.
This game controls super well but it has similar problems to Birth by Sleep. Boss fights aren't very fun and you can get your hands on some stupid overpowered commands pretty easily. The dream eater pet system is also not very good and the level design wasn't designed around the flowmotion system.
A replay of this after the rest of the games has made me realise just how good it is. It seems the team has learned from their missteps and is really taking a page from KH2's book here. The post game secret boss in particular was phenomenal.
This was a really fun little 2D Zelda-like. Short game but that's good as it didn't overstay it's welcome. The one minute life idea is pretty neat and it makes you really think about what your objective is rather than aimless wandering.
I'd never actually played this so after the full series on PS4 I decided to whip out the old DS. Yeah, it's not great. There's some good ideas but it's really held back by the platform, the controls and camera are absolutely dreadful.
I started this when it first came out but got distracted (I feel like something else released the same week), so decided it was time to start a new file and give it a proper go. I enjoyed it more this time and saw it through but I think it's a questionable remake that makes some unnecessary changes and dumbs down a bit. But it's still Pokemon and it's comfort gaming to me.
Not sure why I had a desire to play this but yeah, the general consensus is pretty spot on. This is a stunningly mediocre game and a lot of the design choices are so baffling I can't understand how they made it into the final product.
I've been eagerly anticipating this port for a long time and it definitely lived up to the hype. Such great value for money (put in over 40 hours), the world is well designed, their is so much enemy variety, a ton of bosses, fantastic art and music and a good level of challenge. It's dethroned Super Metroid as best in genre.
Didn't really pay a whole lot of attention to this after the announcement, seemed kind of unnecessary. After finishing it, yeah it was kind of unnecessary, but it was still a fun game and not too long. I really liked Chloe in the original game so seeing what led up to her being who she was was quite nice.
Bought this on a whim and god damn am I glad I did. Tightly designed, pure platforming perfection. Bought it thinking it'd be too hard for me and I'd maybe finish the story then use assist mode to polish up the trophy list, but nope. I finished the entire thing all by myself, every c-side was conquered, and boy did that feel good.
Free to download "Chapter 0" for Life Is Strange 2? Yeah I won't say no. This was actually quite fun and it was well done. Explored some powerful themes and I'm looking forward to seeing how it ties into the full game.
Man this was fantastic! This has simply the most engaging turn based battles I've ever experienced. You have a massive variety of options available and you have to make the most of pretty much all of them. Timing all your buffs and debuffs and keeping an eye on when the bosses next attack will strike to try and 'break' them beforehand is so engaging and you really have to stop and think, especially with the end game bosses that really do not hold back!
The game did have some structural problems and could have used a bit more variety and set piece moments, and the world was slightly too linear, but overall it was fantastic and I'm looking forward to an ever better sequel.
In an RPG mood I thought I'd make a dent in a big series I haven't really touched much of, and why not start at the beginning? For how old this game is I was really impressed with what was on offer, boats, airships, class changes and more. Definitely exceeded my expectations.
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49. Conflict: Denied Ops - 4 hours
Damn, this game is pure garbage, so many idiotic design problems. First of all, you never EVER make checkpoint system in game when your character can die after few shoots. Also, making FPS with terrible movement and shooting is a bad idea from the start. This game is ugly, clunky, outdated trash without any pros, avoid it like a plague.
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49. Conflict: Denied Ops - 4 hours
Damn, this game is pure garbage, so many idiotic design problems. First of all, you never EVER make checkpoint system in game when your character can die after few shoots. Also, making FPS with terrible movement and shooting is a bad idea from the start. This game is ugly, clunky, outdated trash without any pros, avoid it like a plague.
Main Post
28. Resident Evil - The Darkside Chronicles - PS3
Completed 5/16/18
Score - 7/10
Getting close to the end of playing the Resident Evil games. I wasn't a big fan of Umbrella Chronicles so I was putting this one off. I actually enjoyed this a lot more than UC...outside of the super shitty shaky camera. What were they thinking? I was fighting the camera for most of the game. I didn't run into too many issues outside of that. I found it easier and more fun than UC. The final boss was easy but I didn't seem to have enough ammo so I had to spam pistol shots which made it take longer than it should have. This also reminded me how much I enjoyed Code Veronica. Glad I finally played it. Now just need to beat Revelations 2 and RE 7!
28. Resident Evil - The Darkside Chronicles - PS3
Completed 5/16/18
Score - 7/10
Getting close to the end of playing the Resident Evil games. I wasn't a big fan of Umbrella Chronicles so I was putting this one off. I actually enjoyed this a lot more than UC...outside of the super shitty shaky camera. What were they thinking? I was fighting the camera for most of the game. I didn't run into too many issues outside of that. I found it easier and more fun than UC. The final boss was easy but I didn't seem to have enough ammo so I had to spam pistol shots which made it take longer than it should have. This also reminded me how much I enjoyed Code Veronica. Glad I finally played it. Now just need to beat Revelations 2 and RE 7!
Even though I have completed 52 games can I continue to post games that I have completed?
I believe Spyware is the only other person who has completed the challenge and they're still posting the games they've beaten so I would guess you can.
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50. Sam & Max 204: Chariots of the Dog - 2 hours
That was amazing, easily one of the best Sam & Max episode ever! Great jokes and time traveling puzzles reminded me Day of the Tentacle a lot, Telltale would be hard to top that but i expect to see them finishing second season on high note.
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50. Sam & Max 204: Chariots of the Dog - 2 hours
That was amazing, easily one of the best Sam & Max episode ever! Great jokes and time traveling puzzles reminded me Day of the Tentacle a lot, Telltale would be hard to top that but i expect to see them finishing second season on high note.
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8) Virginia(PS4) 3/3-3/4
Every now and then does GAF/ResetEra get something right as far as my taste of gaming. Off the top, games like Danganronpa jump out at me as games I would have never really liked without the advice and recommendation from you guys. However, there have been plenty more misses than hits and games like Gone Home which were well-regarded ending up being dreadful bores and you can consider Virginia among the latter. The art design looked nice and the game was cheap which made me bite but I can't for the life of me understand the appeal of this game and it is quite possibly the worst game I have played since Gone Home.
The story is purposefully confusing and all over the place where I had to read up afterwords on what the heck I just "played" and experienced. And unlike the great Soulsbourne franchise, yes SoulsBourne games have lore to read up, the story comes second to the great gameplay. This game is a walking simulator and it's bread and butter which should be story should not be confusing and full of confusion to throw off the player. I can oversee the lack of voice acting but I don't agree with the decision to make this a silent game with seldom to zero text because I found myself just lost and borderline disinterested to the game. The couple hours this game runs for(It is a short game so it's purpose is good for this list) you just wanted to pull for this game to do well with the Twin Peaks sort of appeal of quick to it but the execution was missed for me.
Should you play it?: Yay or Nay?
There wasn't a single redeeming quality "Virginia" had for me, I cannot recommend this game to anyone unless they are looking for an easy game for this challenge. Maybe the game flew over my head but nowhere during the 3 or so hours of this game did I feel engaged or thoroughly entertained and when I wanted to be blown away or have the twist of twists to hit, the game pulled back and went out with a pure whimper. These are characters that just come and go and have zero attachment to you as the gamer and the game pretty much fits that mold of being a game that says hello, and then abruptly says goodbye, with the people in the house not even caring in the least bit.
9) Doki Doki Literature Club(PC) 3/3-3/4
I heard everything about this game being such a mindfuck, it was free to play so I said "Why not, let's give it a go!"….and the game does accomplish itself in being a mindfuck but was the game truly revolutionary and leaves a lasting impression on the player? I don't know if I can say that. The game takes quite a bit of time before it starts throwing the kitchen sink of OMG at you but after playing titles like Steins;Gate and 999, I have come to learn that these style of games that you can't rush the mind blowing. That isn't so much my problem, I just think the game is rather bare bones as far as the depth goes. You have a Literature Club, you have four individuals who recruit a 5th member(You) to their club and want to show you what it is all about. The gameplay matters hardly if at all in this game so what it comes down to is a 5-6 hour(For 1 playthrough) experience that has you just write up poetry as a means to obtain a path towards a girl that you might end up falling in love with and that's about all for gameplay. So it comes down to if you get into the story enough to really appreciate and like the game because there is next to no challenge because it's a visual novel and doesn't apologize for that.
For me, I would urge to play this game in a group or with friends, maybe blind because I feel this game is sort of a carnival act in a way. "Come one, come all see Doki Doki Literature Club, be amazed, be astonished!". This game relies on having people in shock and for the shock treatment to get your attention, not that there is anything wrong with it because the twists this game goes to are admittedly very, very clever, from reading your CPU memory to creating files on the spot that reflect the game's characters to moving your mouse by itself. You will be amazed the first time around, I know I was, so in that regard the game really does that part well. The characters are pretty standard run of the mill waifu service though the main antagonist happens to be a pretty well written character, especially if you allow yourself to get caught in the game's lore.
Should you play it?: Yay or Nay?
Had this game been charged or wasn't free, I would have been inclined to be hesitant on marking a yes or no here but it's free…..it's donate if you'd like but it's free which credit to the creator(s) of this game in doing so and it is smart in doing so since this game would have never taken off without that important factor. The game isn't some ______ cute Japanese dating simulator, it's more than that. Now, I think the game at best is good for show and tell, sort of like Five Night's at Freddys happen to be and I think it's purely a small term phenomenon and nothing else but you know what? That isn't the worst thing in the world, there should be more games that are good for parties or get togethers and having everyone sort of watch the madness for the 1st time. Like 2 Girls 1 Cup or any of those other shock horror 2000's clips, the game I don't think really warrants multiple playthroughs(IMO) though the option happens to be there but for that very first time, I think the game accomplishes what it wants to do and nothing more.
If the game is treated as a side show, you are going to have a good time. I think taking the game ultra-seriously will lead to disappointment so it comes down to how you enter this gam….err I mean experience. I think the game is good for what it was, but I can't say the game gripped me enough to want to play it again though I will admit I liked to watch other people's reactions to the same portions of the game I played and again, I think that's how Doki Doki Literature Club is best played.
10) Life is Strange: Before the Storm
Episode 1: 11/26/17
Episode 2: 12/25/17-12/27/17
Episode 3: 3/3/2018
Bonus Episode: 3/7/2018
I really liked Life is Strange, sure the episodes truly pick up for me by episode 3 but I think it was a well-done 5 episode game and a lot of the characters had meaning in the grand scheme of everything and there were intriguing plot twists that kept you on the edge of your seat. So when a prequel of this game was announced, my interest was rather peaked to see how they can 1-up all of the experiences the original game threw at you. What I came up with Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a game that honestly didn't come close to the original game in many aspects. From the uninspiring plot twists to the unnecessary addition of characters that are relative one note in the general plot to some side content being rather length paddy for the game, this game did absolutely nothing for me…….until Episode 3. Sadly, this is a 3(4 if you count the bonus) so this was a pure mixed bag for me.
You are thrown characters that hardly serve much of a purpose in the game, characters like the Janitor, one of Chloe's best male friends and some of the adversaries of the "antagonist" of the game. They grace your game for maybe 3 minutes and that's about it, they get mentioned 1, maybe 2 more times but they serve hardly a purpose if at all in the game. The original twists had your jaw drop from
, just from a pure awe perspective this game doesn't bring anything to the table that isn't very mindblowing.
. Point blank, if you are not a Chloe Price fan, this game is going to be tough to swallow as she hasn't changed personality wise, has more of her tragic backstory brought to your face left and right and is still as naïve to the world as she was in the original. I don't like the character but I totally get the appeal for others, she was tolerable in the original since it was Max's story but this game throws no apology for Chloe being the key cog of the story so nothing of my opinion changes from this game about her and I am glad the new LIS is going to stray away from this cast.
Should you play it?: Yay or Nay?
If you are wondering what is Before the Storm, I would have to say the best word that describes what comes before it is…..filler. Filler in the form of multiple board game dialogue that is meant to humanize the respective characters involved but gets overdrawn out and too cute for it's own good. Filler in the form of having side characters that are introduced in this prequel that have zero importance in the eventual successor timeline wise of Arcadia Bay's Degrassi. Because this 3 episode series is just filler that has the name of the game in theory but it doesn't really close much holes if at all. You still get zero closure over the biggest plotline of the disappearance of one vital character, you get more of the same for Chloe that has already been touched in the original game and you are thrown situations that pale in comparison to the original. The game just does not live up to the original's overall solid story and I think the game takes way too long to pick up as far as engagement goes.
Episodes 3 and the bonus episodes save this game from being a disaster but in all honesty, I can't say I really recommend it unless you must have more Life is Strange and even then this game is nothing more than a tease of what the original one and nothing more.
8) Virginia(PS4) 3/3-3/4
Every now and then does GAF/ResetEra get something right as far as my taste of gaming. Off the top, games like Danganronpa jump out at me as games I would have never really liked without the advice and recommendation from you guys. However, there have been plenty more misses than hits and games like Gone Home which were well-regarded ending up being dreadful bores and you can consider Virginia among the latter. The art design looked nice and the game was cheap which made me bite but I can't for the life of me understand the appeal of this game and it is quite possibly the worst game I have played since Gone Home.
The story is purposefully confusing and all over the place where I had to read up afterwords on what the heck I just "played" and experienced. And unlike the great Soulsbourne franchise, yes SoulsBourne games have lore to read up, the story comes second to the great gameplay. This game is a walking simulator and it's bread and butter which should be story should not be confusing and full of confusion to throw off the player. I can oversee the lack of voice acting but I don't agree with the decision to make this a silent game with seldom to zero text because I found myself just lost and borderline disinterested to the game. The couple hours this game runs for(It is a short game so it's purpose is good for this list) you just wanted to pull for this game to do well with the Twin Peaks sort of appeal of quick to it but the execution was missed for me.
Should you play it?: Yay or Nay?
There wasn't a single redeeming quality "Virginia" had for me, I cannot recommend this game to anyone unless they are looking for an easy game for this challenge. Maybe the game flew over my head but nowhere during the 3 or so hours of this game did I feel engaged or thoroughly entertained and when I wanted to be blown away or have the twist of twists to hit, the game pulled back and went out with a pure whimper. These are characters that just come and go and have zero attachment to you as the gamer and the game pretty much fits that mold of being a game that says hello, and then abruptly says goodbye, with the people in the house not even caring in the least bit.
9) Doki Doki Literature Club(PC) 3/3-3/4
I heard everything about this game being such a mindfuck, it was free to play so I said "Why not, let's give it a go!"….and the game does accomplish itself in being a mindfuck but was the game truly revolutionary and leaves a lasting impression on the player? I don't know if I can say that. The game takes quite a bit of time before it starts throwing the kitchen sink of OMG at you but after playing titles like Steins;Gate and 999, I have come to learn that these style of games that you can't rush the mind blowing. That isn't so much my problem, I just think the game is rather bare bones as far as the depth goes. You have a Literature Club, you have four individuals who recruit a 5th member(You) to their club and want to show you what it is all about. The gameplay matters hardly if at all in this game so what it comes down to is a 5-6 hour(For 1 playthrough) experience that has you just write up poetry as a means to obtain a path towards a girl that you might end up falling in love with and that's about all for gameplay. So it comes down to if you get into the story enough to really appreciate and like the game because there is next to no challenge because it's a visual novel and doesn't apologize for that.
For me, I would urge to play this game in a group or with friends, maybe blind because I feel this game is sort of a carnival act in a way. "Come one, come all see Doki Doki Literature Club, be amazed, be astonished!". This game relies on having people in shock and for the shock treatment to get your attention, not that there is anything wrong with it because the twists this game goes to are admittedly very, very clever, from reading your CPU memory to creating files on the spot that reflect the game's characters to moving your mouse by itself. You will be amazed the first time around, I know I was, so in that regard the game really does that part well. The characters are pretty standard run of the mill waifu service though the main antagonist happens to be a pretty well written character, especially if you allow yourself to get caught in the game's lore.
Should you play it?: Yay or Nay?
Had this game been charged or wasn't free, I would have been inclined to be hesitant on marking a yes or no here but it's free…..it's donate if you'd like but it's free which credit to the creator(s) of this game in doing so and it is smart in doing so since this game would have never taken off without that important factor. The game isn't some ______ cute Japanese dating simulator, it's more than that. Now, I think the game at best is good for show and tell, sort of like Five Night's at Freddys happen to be and I think it's purely a small term phenomenon and nothing else but you know what? That isn't the worst thing in the world, there should be more games that are good for parties or get togethers and having everyone sort of watch the madness for the 1st time. Like 2 Girls 1 Cup or any of those other shock horror 2000's clips, the game I don't think really warrants multiple playthroughs(IMO) though the option happens to be there but for that very first time, I think the game accomplishes what it wants to do and nothing more.
If the game is treated as a side show, you are going to have a good time. I think taking the game ultra-seriously will lead to disappointment so it comes down to how you enter this gam….err I mean experience. I think the game is good for what it was, but I can't say the game gripped me enough to want to play it again though I will admit I liked to watch other people's reactions to the same portions of the game I played and again, I think that's how Doki Doki Literature Club is best played.
10) Life is Strange: Before the Storm
Episode 1: 11/26/17
Episode 2: 12/25/17-12/27/17
Episode 3: 3/3/2018
Bonus Episode: 3/7/2018
I really liked Life is Strange, sure the episodes truly pick up for me by episode 3 but I think it was a well-done 5 episode game and a lot of the characters had meaning in the grand scheme of everything and there were intriguing plot twists that kept you on the edge of your seat. So when a prequel of this game was announced, my interest was rather peaked to see how they can 1-up all of the experiences the original game threw at you. What I came up with Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a game that honestly didn't come close to the original game in many aspects. From the uninspiring plot twists to the unnecessary addition of characters that are relative one note in the general plot to some side content being rather length paddy for the game, this game did absolutely nothing for me…….until Episode 3. Sadly, this is a 3(4 if you count the bonus) so this was a pure mixed bag for me.
You are thrown characters that hardly serve much of a purpose in the game, characters like the Janitor, one of Chloe's best male friends and some of the adversaries of the "antagonist" of the game. They grace your game for maybe 3 minutes and that's about it, they get mentioned 1, maybe 2 more times but they serve hardly a purpose if at all in the game. The original twists had your jaw drop from
Mr. Jefferson being the serial killer to Chloe living an alternative life of being handicapped
Big deal a forest goes up in flame, it serves no purpose but besides to try and emulate Rachel Amber's feelings over her father's second life. The only twist I can say is pretty nifty is finding out Rachel's real mother and even then Rachel isn't much more than a side romance for Chloe and is meant as a mechanism to make Chloe more likable.
Should you play it?: Yay or Nay?
If you are wondering what is Before the Storm, I would have to say the best word that describes what comes before it is…..filler. Filler in the form of multiple board game dialogue that is meant to humanize the respective characters involved but gets overdrawn out and too cute for it's own good. Filler in the form of having side characters that are introduced in this prequel that have zero importance in the eventual successor timeline wise of Arcadia Bay's Degrassi. Because this 3 episode series is just filler that has the name of the game in theory but it doesn't really close much holes if at all. You still get zero closure over the biggest plotline of the disappearance of one vital character, you get more of the same for Chloe that has already been touched in the original game and you are thrown situations that pale in comparison to the original. The game just does not live up to the original's overall solid story and I think the game takes way too long to pick up as far as engagement goes.
Episodes 3 and the bonus episodes save this game from being a disaster but in all honesty, I can't say I really recommend it unless you must have more Life is Strange and even then this game is nothing more than a tease of what the original one and nothing more.
Main Post
31: Contra III: The Alien Wars
Run and gun action fun.
32: Secret of Mana (SNES)
I was surprised how much of this game I remembered. I wasn't surprised how much I still enjoyed this game.
33: Star Fox 2
What would have happened if this game had come out when it was originally supposed to? How would Star Fox have evolved? We will never know...
34: Earthbound
See Secret of Mana.
35: Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
These games are really hard. But they're also really fun.
36: Super Mario Kart
Vroom vroom.
37: Kirby's Dream Course
I've always enjoyed those weird Kirby spin-offs.
38: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
I really can't think of anything to say beyond how colorful this game is, how charming this game is, and how fun this game is.
39: Rise of the Tomb Raider
I've been enjoying this reboot, but I must admit to missing Sam, and am saddened she was regulated to a tie-in comic.
40: Dragon Quest III
So I've played a lot of Dragon Quest games. But I don't think I ever actually beat this one. Until now.
41: Shadow of the Colossus
I found the camera very frustrating in this game. I'm also not as wild about this game as everyone else seems to be.
31: Contra III: The Alien Wars
Run and gun action fun.
32: Secret of Mana (SNES)
I was surprised how much of this game I remembered. I wasn't surprised how much I still enjoyed this game.
33: Star Fox 2
What would have happened if this game had come out when it was originally supposed to? How would Star Fox have evolved? We will never know...
34: Earthbound
See Secret of Mana.
35: Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
These games are really hard. But they're also really fun.
36: Super Mario Kart
Vroom vroom.
37: Kirby's Dream Course
I've always enjoyed those weird Kirby spin-offs.
38: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
I really can't think of anything to say beyond how colorful this game is, how charming this game is, and how fun this game is.
39: Rise of the Tomb Raider
I've been enjoying this reboot, but I must admit to missing Sam, and am saddened she was regulated to a tie-in comic.
40: Dragon Quest III
So I've played a lot of Dragon Quest games. But I don't think I ever actually beat this one. Until now.
41: Shadow of the Colossus
I found the camera very frustrating in this game. I'm also not as wild about this game as everyone else seems to be.
Main Post part 2
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51. The Wonderful End of the World - 2 hours
Indie Katamary Damacy clone from 2008, nothing really special, but it's good. Rather short though, less than 2 hours to complete all levels and get most of the achievements.
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51. The Wonderful End of the World - 2 hours
Indie Katamary Damacy clone from 2008, nothing really special, but it's good. Rather short though, less than 2 hours to complete all levels and get most of the achievements.
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Main Post part 2
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52. XCOM: Enemy Within - 27 hours
Finally did a full playtrough of Enemy Within, played it on my Windows tablet and it was a damn nice to play such a great game during travels. DLC itself is just improved version of original Enemy Unknown, which i loved already, and with all those new changes great game become even better. I guess I'm ready to go for XCOM2 now, too bad it definitely won't run on my tablet judging by what i've heard about it, hoping for decent performance on my PC.
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52. XCOM: Enemy Within - 27 hours
Finally did a full playtrough of Enemy Within, played it on my Windows tablet and it was a damn nice to play such a great game during travels. DLC itself is just improved version of original Enemy Unknown, which i loved already, and with all those new changes great game become even better. I guess I'm ready to go for XCOM2 now, too bad it definitely won't run on my tablet judging by what i've heard about it, hoping for decent performance on my PC.
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Master post:
https://www.resetera.com/posts/3243362
34. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - PS4 - 5/21 - 175 hours: Decided to finally go for the platinum as I never got it back on PS3. So loaded up a old save and completed the Thieves guild, Dark Brotherhood and Companion quest lines. Still remains in my all time top 10 games. Absolutely love the world, lore, soundtrack, etc. Will be finishing up the dlc's next.
35. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard - PS4 - 5/21 - 15 hours: Enjoyed the dlc despite hating Serana. Had more to do with her being forced as my follower. Really loved the Vale section and some of the smaller dungeons. Will be playing thru Dragonborn sometime this week.
36. Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris - PS4 - 5/21 - 5 hours: Bought the season pass at launch, but hadn't gotten around to doing the dlc until tonight. Did the campaign and some extras. Was better than I was expecting. Reminded me that Bungie excels at gunplay. Will be diving into the new dlc soon.
37. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn - PS4 - 5/23 - 20 hours: Really liked the Solstheim setting, but disliked the 2nd half of the main quest. The side quests made up for it though as I enjoyed them.
38. Destiny 2: Warmind - PS4 - 5/24 - 6 hours: Did the campaign, adventures and extra stuff like the new world event. Had fun with it will definitely playthrough at least this weekend with Iron Banner up and running and see if I'll stick with it or wait until the next expansion/dlc.
39. Detroit Become Human - PS4 - 5/26 - 10 hours: My favorite Quantic Dream and interactive drama game yet. Really loved the voice acting and feeling like my choices mattered. The Kara OST was my favorite of the 3.
https://www.resetera.com/posts/3243362
34. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - PS4 - 5/21 - 175 hours: Decided to finally go for the platinum as I never got it back on PS3. So loaded up a old save and completed the Thieves guild, Dark Brotherhood and Companion quest lines. Still remains in my all time top 10 games. Absolutely love the world, lore, soundtrack, etc. Will be finishing up the dlc's next.
35. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard - PS4 - 5/21 - 15 hours: Enjoyed the dlc despite hating Serana. Had more to do with her being forced as my follower. Really loved the Vale section and some of the smaller dungeons. Will be playing thru Dragonborn sometime this week.
36. Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris - PS4 - 5/21 - 5 hours: Bought the season pass at launch, but hadn't gotten around to doing the dlc until tonight. Did the campaign and some extras. Was better than I was expecting. Reminded me that Bungie excels at gunplay. Will be diving into the new dlc soon.
37. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn - PS4 - 5/23 - 20 hours: Really liked the Solstheim setting, but disliked the 2nd half of the main quest. The side quests made up for it though as I enjoyed them.
38. Destiny 2: Warmind - PS4 - 5/24 - 6 hours: Did the campaign, adventures and extra stuff like the new world event. Had fun with it will definitely playthrough at least this weekend with Iron Banner up and running and see if I'll stick with it or wait until the next expansion/dlc.
39. Detroit Become Human - PS4 - 5/26 - 10 hours: My favorite Quantic Dream and interactive drama game yet. Really loved the voice acting and feeling like my choices mattered. The Kara OST was my favorite of the 3.
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Games #1-20
Games #21-40
New post to celebrate hitting my next milestone. Slowed down a lot recently, but pleased that I should confidently hit the target by the end of the year.
41. Sparkle 2 (Vita) - Beaten: 18/05/18 - Time Taken: ~30 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
Christ alive. I spent thirty hours playing Sparkle 2.
It's essentially Zuma with a few extra power ups, and a score by a Danny Elfman wannabe. I've been desperate to play almost anything else on the Vita, but every time I woke the console from sleep it was there crying 'just a few more levels, we're almost finished!'.
42. Crackdown (X360) - Beaten: 31/05/18 - Time Taken: ~15 hours (Ending, 500/500 Agility Orbs)
Me and my brother are quite close, despite having little to nothing in common outside of a shared sense of humour. While I spent the majority of my free time playing games as we grew up, he turned to sport and became football obsessed. There were however, occasions when he would get hooked on certain games outside of Fifa or Pro Evo. Crackdown was one such game. We beat it in co-op together in about 2011 when I was at uni going through a break-up and he was at his own respective uni having a break-down, and ever since that point we've tried, almost with annual regularity to collect all 500 agility orbs.
Every attempt has failed due to one of the following: corrupted save files; stolen console; poor mapping; lack of interest. This year, for reasons beyond either of us, we decided to give it another bash. My brother lives a short distance away from me and my partner, so every couple months we'd get together with the express intention of making progress through Crackdown. I played the cartography role, marking each found orb on an expanded map in Photoshop, and my brother would follow my directions from rooftop to rooftop, taking out gang heads as we went.
Yesterday, after a mammoth 8 hour play session, we hit 500/500 and gasped a massive sigh of relief as a challenge we've been attempting for almost a decade finally drew to close. We've discussed going for the 300/300 hidden orb achievement in the summer, but we'll see!
43. Kitten Squad (PS4) - Beaten: 01/06/18 - Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
Another Luc Bernard joint, though this time developed in co-operation with Peta. Kitten Squad riffs on the format of Binding of Isaac but with infinitely less finesse, asking the player to navigate through single room combat challenges to free orcas and dolphins from Sea World, and sheep from intensive farming.
The message of the game managed to rub me up the wrong way, despite me being a ethical vegetarian who is generally very sensitive to animal rights issues, but even ignoring the premise, the game just isn't that good. Mecho Tales suffered from Turrican style design - that is give the player lots of health as the majority of enemies and projectiles are unavoidable, and here, a couple years prior, Bernard's team were making the exact same mistakes. The dual stick control system feels incredibly imprecise for what should be an analogue, granular input method, and its frustratingly easy to get your character jammed amongst enemies which often leads to unavoidable damage and death. All enemy pathing is assigned as 'head straight for the player character', and just like in the more recent Mecho Tales, collision detection is wonky, with player shots often absorbed by a wall immediately as they're fired if the chunky character design / designer set hot spots have combined awkwardly with the scenery.
Not hugely fun.
44. Unearthing Mars (PSVR) - Beaten: 16/06/18 - Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
One of the real powers of VR in my mind is its ability to elevate a pretty average title into something much stronger purely through its inherent immersion.
Unearthing Mars is a clunky narrative title, that suffers from being an early release on the platform (from a resolution and technical standpoint its WEAK by a small team with a limited budget.
The game is split into 10 vignettes, each lasting between 10-20 minutes. Some are more enjoyable than others, some jump the metaphorical shark quite remarkably. BUT, even with its problems, being *there* made me want to press on.
Worth a play for those with PSVR.
45. Pinball Arcade: Xenon (PS4) - Beaten: 17/06/18 - Time Taken: ~8 hours (All Wizard Goals / Top of Local Leaderboard)
A big driver for my collecting and gaming habits is a foolish 'fear of missing out'. I already owned the first two seasons of The Pinball Arcade on the PS4 as they had received retail releases (at least in Europe), and I'd always enjoyed digital versions of pinball tables, whether they be accurate emulations like The Pinball Arcade, or more outlandish creations like Zen Pinball's output for the last few years.
When I heard that Farsight Studios had lost the license to Williams / Bally pinball tables and that The Pinball Arcade would be gutted of around 75% of its content by the end of June 2018, my brain process zipped from 'that's unfortunate'; to 'I need to buy every table likely to be delisted IMMEDIATELY' in the space of about 15 minutes. As I was selling a stack of games on eBay anyway to finance my ongoing addiction to boutique limited physical releases, I set aside enough money to purchase some PSN credit, too advantage of an eBay coupon code that skimmed some of the price of the digital currency, and then set to work installing the array of tables listed for the chop.
Normally I consider a game beaten when I reach the credits, or unlock all trophies / achievements, but in the case of The Pinball Arcade, I needed a new approach. With such a dizzying amount of content suddenly available to me (having stumped up the dosh for 5 seasons of tables on top of the two retail discs I already owned), I decided I would work more methodically, learning a table at a time. The Pinball Arcade features standard and 'Wizard' goals for every table (essentially amounting to ten goals for each board) as well as local and online leaderboards for each. I decided that I could call a table 'beat' when I achieved all ten goals and topped the local leaderboard.
Choosing Xenon as my first table for no reason other than the fact it was the top of the list when working Z-A, I played a few hours each day this week, until finally topping the leaderboard on Sunday morning. Xenon was a great first table in that it wasn't too complex, yet still offered enough intricacy to need strategy and skill to succeed. Built around 1979, the table oozes a sort of retro sci-fi cool, and whichever table I migrate to next has a lot to live up to given how much I enjoyed this one. My final score places me in the top 2,000 players according to the online leaderboards, though still a staggering 295,000,000 points off the top spot.
46. Pinball Arcade: Fireball (PS4) - Beaten: 19/06/18 - Time Taken: ~4 hours (All Wizard Goals / Top of Local Leaderboard)
Wow, that was a slog. I had a chunk of time this evening and thought it would be a good chance to start learning a new table. Fireball was again chosen largely arbitrarily, though from the table image I could tell it was a simpler 70s style design rather than a flashy, contemporary Stern machine.
Lots has been written about how pinball has a clear lineage to modern videogames, and the trudge I felt playing through this table absolutely put me in mind of a tedious boss battle in an action game. Much of my play time came from learning how best to manipulate little tricks in order to tip the odds in my favour. Where Xenon felt mostly fair, Fireball relies A LOT on chance. There are strategies to help the player, like being able to abuse the 'close flippers' target to allow free, reasonably safe shots on high scoring areas of the table, as well as the ability to store balls in the two multi-ball locks to allow second chances in specific scenarios. However, these only go so far in mitigating the comically large outlanes that combine with the spinning centre piece to make each and every shot and fall a potential danger. One Wizard goal asks you to score 40k with one ball, and even when I had a good grasp of the table this still took the majority of my play time to achieve.
With my reasonably paltry score of 110k, I'm currently sat at 335 on the global leaderboard, so I gather not many persevere with this table!
47. Metropolis: Lux Obscura (Vita) - Beaten: 15/07/18 - Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
A match-3 RPG-lite inspired by Frank Miller's Sin City.
The gameplay itself is less Bejeweled, and more 10000000 / You Must Build a Boat, where an icon can be dragged across its constituent column and row in order to make a match across either axis. At the end of each battle you are offered a selection of upgrades that persist for that particular playthrough that can help in later battles where the odds are stacked against you.
Writing is a bit adolescent (though to be honest this is true of a lot of Frank Miller's later work too!), but I actually quite liked the art style of the game. The nudity can be a bit childish, but they fit the graphic novel / noir context the game, so I gave the weird female figures and accentuated nipples a pass.
Took a decent few hours to see all endings, and was pretty enjoyable throughout.
48. Super Destronaut DX (Vita) - Beaten: 16/07/18 - Time Taken: ~45mins (All Trophies [PSN])
A Space Invaders clone. Not as good as the Decimation X series that used to be on Xbox Live Indie Games, not as good as Space Invaders Extreme, not even as good as the original Space Invaders to be honest.
Super speedy platinum trophy though. The game is published and ported to Vita by Ratalaika Games, a team becoming synonymous with a) vehemently supporting Sony's handheld, and b) deliberately luring punters in with cheap price points and extremely achievable trophy lists..
49. Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit! (Vita) - Beaten: 17/07/18 - Time Taken: ~18 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
I'm a big fan of rhythm games. Bon Appetit! however, is a very average rhythm game.
Note charts feel utterly esoteric even at the highest difficulty, with none of the choreography of the Hatsune Miku games, none of the visceral physicality of the Guitar Hero / Rock Band games, none of the challenging simplicity of the Drum Master games, or the finger gymnastics of the DJ Max series.
Story mode offers a unique narrative for each character that ranges from twee, through heartwarming, to creepy, but even with these distinct pathways, the game feels repetitive due to its limited soundtrack. Certain songs appear to repeat more than others, yet even tracks that you are forced to play five, ten, fifteen or twenty times across the course of a platinum trophy completion remain wholly unmemorable.
There are MUCH better rhythm games on the Vita.
50. Actual Sunlight (Vita) - Beaten: 18/07/18 - Time Taken: ~60mins (All Trophies [PSN])
This is a pretty hard one to respond to and quantify. A narrative game (almost like a micro visual novel?) about depression and suicidal thoughts.
It goes really hard and heavy, features unique, if not always great or consistent writing, and presents its sobering narrative using a mixture of 16-bit style sprites and painfully beautiful stills.
What I appreciate about a title like this is its existence. This is an hour long, deeply personal and challenging game created by, in essence, a single developer. And it had a proper paid release on a digital store front curated by Sony, one of the biggest players in videogames. It almost doesn't matter what I or any other reviewer says about a title like this. The availability of a work of this stature through mainstream channels shows that games are growing up, and I'm excited to see how this young medium continues to progress.
If you can stomach the themes the game tackles, absolutely give it a shot. It won't necessarily make you feel good, but it will certainly make you feel something.
51. North (Vita) - Beaten: 19/07/18 - Time Taken: ~90mins (All Trophies [PSN])
Now this is a weird one. Another narrative game, but this time one that's about asylum, cultural and linguistic barriers, and exploitation.
What was interesting to me outside of the theme itself, was the treatment that game got in being ported (or maybe co-developed) alongside its PS4 sibling. Although ostensibly the same game, the games look nothing alike with the Vita port being stripped of geometry, texture, light sourcing and resolution to the point that the whole experience becomes uncomfortably oppressive. Things are meant to feel alien, but even basic navigation becomes a real chore due to the visual choices / compromises made.
I can't say I enjoyed North, but if nothing else I found the condition of the game's release on the little handheld really interesting.
I don't think the message of the game works that well, at least when played on the Vita, but as with Actual Sunlight, it makes me excited to see creators really trying to push the boundaries of what we understand games to be and be for in 2018.
52. Sonic 3D Blast DX (MD) - Beaten: 22/07/18 - Time Taken: ~4 hours (True Ending, All Collectibles)
What a joy this project has been to follow. Last year, Jon Burton, founder and former lead programmer at Travellers Tales launched a YouTube channel called GameHut where he detailed some of the more impressive tricks employed in TT's 16/32bit output. Burton's passion for this early work was clear, and towards the tail end of 2017, he completed a total overhaul of Sonic 3D Blast that tackled almost all issues and criticisms the game had been met with in the ensuing decades since its initial release.
Playing the product of this work in 2018 is quite astounding. Everything from physics, to graphics, to game progression and replay incentive has been tweaked, and the work genuinely elevates a so so game (though one that I loved at launch purely because gaming as a kid meant making the most of ANY title until you were able to afford a new one some months later), to a great one. Movement in particular has had a massive overhaul, and this, coupled with some genuinely smart camera and playing tracking overhauls makes the game a) feel more like a Sonic title due to increased speed and handling, and b) lets the game's sense of exploration really shine.
Sonic 3D Blast was always a strange game, and a clear outlier from Sonic's other 16bit entries. However, experiencing it in this form has been a real joy, with clever design refinements allowing the things that made it stand out from its siblings to really be showcased. Games often receive player made or fan patches which improve issues present in early cartridge releases like this. It's very possible however, that without the input of the original designers, aspects may be changed that actually water down the original vision.
What's lovely in this case is that as a sanctioned 'Director's Cut', Burton allows Sonic 3D Blast to retain its original quirks and charm, whilst also bringing it up to date to more modern standards. One of the highlights of my gaming year to date.
53. Sonic 4: Episode 1 (X360) - Beaten: 27/07/18 - Time Taken: ~4 hours (All Emeralds)
Hated it on release. Hate it marginally less all these years on. Woof.
Things about Sonic 4 that I dislike: the soundtrack (some of the most grating synth lines of all time); the instrument balance (it's great that you've got that Mega Drive percussion in there, but could we calm it on the faux snare?!); the level design (why are some acts almost 9 minutes long on first play?); the act structure (3 stages and a separate boss stage is too much of any one theme); the level gimmicks (this isn't Mario - I don't need to play through a whole level where every other screen has 55 canons in it); the physics (why am I standing completely upright but at a right angle to a vertical wall?); the reliance on Sonic Adventure style homing attacks (lazy, lazy design which makes certain sections become certain death if you don't perfectly home in on a row of six badniks).
What a game to 'complete' my 52 games challenge with.
54. Midnight Deluxe (Vita) - Beaten: 28/07/18 - Time Taken: ~2 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
A mix between Angry Birds and Desert Golf. Sadly, Midnight Deluxe takes none of the relative precision and wealth of content from the former, and none of the razor sharp mobile design of the latter.
Very finicky in places, with weird difficulty spikes throughout the 60-odd stages you're tasked with beating. Very average.
55. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (PS4) - Beaten: 01/08/18 - Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
The game's physical release is already experiencing deep discounts of 50%+ at some retailers.
A serviceable brawler built around edgey 4chan humour circa 2014/15. There are celebrity parodies that make little to no narrative sense (Justin Bieber, Mel Gibson?) used to construct a vapid narrative. Combat is tedious, the game is frequently glitchy (on places requiring level restarts), and content is thin on the ground. Presentation is a mixed bag.
This game raised almost half a million dollars on Indiegogo and has delivered on almost none of its promises. Promised modes like co-op and versus nowhere to be seen. Unlockable characters totally absent. Customisation non-existent.
I didn't hate the time I spent with Shaq Fu, but my oh my, this is one reboot we really didn't need.
56. Barack Fu: Legend of Dirty Barry (PS4) - Beaten: 02/08/18 - Time Taken: ~2 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
A free mini campaign available to owners of the retail release. More of the same.
The writing is actually a bit better than the main game, and the voice work is a marked improvement as it doesn't have to rely on Shaq's questionable delivery.
Still repetitive, but the two stages here actually present more variety than the main game, with Barack's alt-form a lot more fun to use than either of Shaq's.
57. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames (GBA) - Beaten: 05/08/18 - Time Taken: ~20 hours (All Achievements [RA])
Absolutely, and I'd argue almost indisputably, one of the games of all time.
If nothing else, it sits firm in my own personal top ten: one of the best handheld titles on any platform, and one of the most important handheld titles *period*. It's an anarchic, punk game. It's a genuinely laugh-out-loud funny game. It's a game of startling prescience and foresight able to critique trends of the future, whilst simultaneously drawing from trends of the past.
WarioWare is frequently challenging, always entertaining, and never, ever dull. I beat the game 100% in my early teens, and now, over 15 years on have done it again. I loved it even more this second time through as I was able to view it within the context of gaming as its shifted and undulated.
Startlingly good.
58. Tachyon Project (Vita) - Beaten: 07/08/18- Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
A Geometry Wars knock off that runs terribly on the Vita. A real shame, as GW3 showed how capable the handheld was at running this sort of game when shown a bit of love.
The game has a hackneyed 'hacking' storyline, customisable loadouts, and a few nice additions like a challenge mode, etc. I beat the game on the PS4 last year and fancied something bitesize and arcadey to play on the train - I'd recommend everyone to play the game on the home platform though if possible. It really is a shoddy port.
59. Art Style: Cubello (WiiWare) - Beaten: 10/08/18- Time Taken: ~8 hours (Every stage beaten)
A really great pointer-based matching colours puzzle game. The 'Cubello' refers to a cube in the centre of the play field that is surrounded by other coloured blocks, which you need to clear by making matches of 4 or more like coloured blocks. Depth comes from each 'shot' you take spinning the entire play field in the opposite direction, as well as your well of cube projectiles only being refreshed and topped up when you make a match. Additionally, in not taking a shot, the structure begins to loom closer to the screen - if it reaches the extremities of the play space you'll lose some of your precious shots.
A combination of these simple additions to what is otherwise a sort of 3D Zuma, gives the game a physicality that lots of games of this ilk are missing. Using the Wiimote to 'fire' through small breaks in the cuboid structure can be really satisfying when it makes a successful match and then spins the cubes back towards you opening up further large matches.
Some of the later levels got pretty tough and unfortunately would sometimes begin in a nigh on unbeatable state because of the angle of the structure and the coloured blocks you were given to work with. However, overall, frustration was pretty minimal, and I had a great time working through the 36 stages over the last week or two.
60. Um Jammer Lammy (PS1) - Beaten: 12/08/18- Time Taken: ~4 hours (COOL rating on all Lammy and Parappa tracks)
Um Jammer Lammy pisses all over Parappa. Presentation, content, songs, mechanics: it's just so much better.
The storyline is great, Lammy is a much more layered character than Parappa, and the songs (in both their rock and hip hop versions) are amazing.
Its been over 15 years since I last played Um Jammer Lammy and I'm sad that I've deprived myself of a return to this experience for this long. Go and find a way to play this game if you haven't already. A fantastic experience from start to finish.
Games #61 onwards
Games #21-40
New post to celebrate hitting my next milestone. Slowed down a lot recently, but pleased that I should confidently hit the target by the end of the year.
41. Sparkle 2 (Vita) - Beaten: 18/05/18 - Time Taken: ~30 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
Christ alive. I spent thirty hours playing Sparkle 2.
It's essentially Zuma with a few extra power ups, and a score by a Danny Elfman wannabe. I've been desperate to play almost anything else on the Vita, but every time I woke the console from sleep it was there crying 'just a few more levels, we're almost finished!'.
42. Crackdown (X360) - Beaten: 31/05/18 - Time Taken: ~15 hours (Ending, 500/500 Agility Orbs)
Me and my brother are quite close, despite having little to nothing in common outside of a shared sense of humour. While I spent the majority of my free time playing games as we grew up, he turned to sport and became football obsessed. There were however, occasions when he would get hooked on certain games outside of Fifa or Pro Evo. Crackdown was one such game. We beat it in co-op together in about 2011 when I was at uni going through a break-up and he was at his own respective uni having a break-down, and ever since that point we've tried, almost with annual regularity to collect all 500 agility orbs.
Every attempt has failed due to one of the following: corrupted save files; stolen console; poor mapping; lack of interest. This year, for reasons beyond either of us, we decided to give it another bash. My brother lives a short distance away from me and my partner, so every couple months we'd get together with the express intention of making progress through Crackdown. I played the cartography role, marking each found orb on an expanded map in Photoshop, and my brother would follow my directions from rooftop to rooftop, taking out gang heads as we went.
Yesterday, after a mammoth 8 hour play session, we hit 500/500 and gasped a massive sigh of relief as a challenge we've been attempting for almost a decade finally drew to close. We've discussed going for the 300/300 hidden orb achievement in the summer, but we'll see!
43. Kitten Squad (PS4) - Beaten: 01/06/18 - Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
Another Luc Bernard joint, though this time developed in co-operation with Peta. Kitten Squad riffs on the format of Binding of Isaac but with infinitely less finesse, asking the player to navigate through single room combat challenges to free orcas and dolphins from Sea World, and sheep from intensive farming.
The message of the game managed to rub me up the wrong way, despite me being a ethical vegetarian who is generally very sensitive to animal rights issues, but even ignoring the premise, the game just isn't that good. Mecho Tales suffered from Turrican style design - that is give the player lots of health as the majority of enemies and projectiles are unavoidable, and here, a couple years prior, Bernard's team were making the exact same mistakes. The dual stick control system feels incredibly imprecise for what should be an analogue, granular input method, and its frustratingly easy to get your character jammed amongst enemies which often leads to unavoidable damage and death. All enemy pathing is assigned as 'head straight for the player character', and just like in the more recent Mecho Tales, collision detection is wonky, with player shots often absorbed by a wall immediately as they're fired if the chunky character design / designer set hot spots have combined awkwardly with the scenery.
Not hugely fun.
44. Unearthing Mars (PSVR) - Beaten: 16/06/18 - Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
One of the real powers of VR in my mind is its ability to elevate a pretty average title into something much stronger purely through its inherent immersion.
Unearthing Mars is a clunky narrative title, that suffers from being an early release on the platform (from a resolution and technical standpoint its WEAK by a small team with a limited budget.
The game is split into 10 vignettes, each lasting between 10-20 minutes. Some are more enjoyable than others, some jump the metaphorical shark quite remarkably. BUT, even with its problems, being *there* made me want to press on.
Worth a play for those with PSVR.
45. Pinball Arcade: Xenon (PS4) - Beaten: 17/06/18 - Time Taken: ~8 hours (All Wizard Goals / Top of Local Leaderboard)
A big driver for my collecting and gaming habits is a foolish 'fear of missing out'. I already owned the first two seasons of The Pinball Arcade on the PS4 as they had received retail releases (at least in Europe), and I'd always enjoyed digital versions of pinball tables, whether they be accurate emulations like The Pinball Arcade, or more outlandish creations like Zen Pinball's output for the last few years.
When I heard that Farsight Studios had lost the license to Williams / Bally pinball tables and that The Pinball Arcade would be gutted of around 75% of its content by the end of June 2018, my brain process zipped from 'that's unfortunate'; to 'I need to buy every table likely to be delisted IMMEDIATELY' in the space of about 15 minutes. As I was selling a stack of games on eBay anyway to finance my ongoing addiction to boutique limited physical releases, I set aside enough money to purchase some PSN credit, too advantage of an eBay coupon code that skimmed some of the price of the digital currency, and then set to work installing the array of tables listed for the chop.
Normally I consider a game beaten when I reach the credits, or unlock all trophies / achievements, but in the case of The Pinball Arcade, I needed a new approach. With such a dizzying amount of content suddenly available to me (having stumped up the dosh for 5 seasons of tables on top of the two retail discs I already owned), I decided I would work more methodically, learning a table at a time. The Pinball Arcade features standard and 'Wizard' goals for every table (essentially amounting to ten goals for each board) as well as local and online leaderboards for each. I decided that I could call a table 'beat' when I achieved all ten goals and topped the local leaderboard.
Choosing Xenon as my first table for no reason other than the fact it was the top of the list when working Z-A, I played a few hours each day this week, until finally topping the leaderboard on Sunday morning. Xenon was a great first table in that it wasn't too complex, yet still offered enough intricacy to need strategy and skill to succeed. Built around 1979, the table oozes a sort of retro sci-fi cool, and whichever table I migrate to next has a lot to live up to given how much I enjoyed this one. My final score places me in the top 2,000 players according to the online leaderboards, though still a staggering 295,000,000 points off the top spot.
46. Pinball Arcade: Fireball (PS4) - Beaten: 19/06/18 - Time Taken: ~4 hours (All Wizard Goals / Top of Local Leaderboard)
Wow, that was a slog. I had a chunk of time this evening and thought it would be a good chance to start learning a new table. Fireball was again chosen largely arbitrarily, though from the table image I could tell it was a simpler 70s style design rather than a flashy, contemporary Stern machine.
Lots has been written about how pinball has a clear lineage to modern videogames, and the trudge I felt playing through this table absolutely put me in mind of a tedious boss battle in an action game. Much of my play time came from learning how best to manipulate little tricks in order to tip the odds in my favour. Where Xenon felt mostly fair, Fireball relies A LOT on chance. There are strategies to help the player, like being able to abuse the 'close flippers' target to allow free, reasonably safe shots on high scoring areas of the table, as well as the ability to store balls in the two multi-ball locks to allow second chances in specific scenarios. However, these only go so far in mitigating the comically large outlanes that combine with the spinning centre piece to make each and every shot and fall a potential danger. One Wizard goal asks you to score 40k with one ball, and even when I had a good grasp of the table this still took the majority of my play time to achieve.
With my reasonably paltry score of 110k, I'm currently sat at 335 on the global leaderboard, so I gather not many persevere with this table!
47. Metropolis: Lux Obscura (Vita) - Beaten: 15/07/18 - Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
A match-3 RPG-lite inspired by Frank Miller's Sin City.
The gameplay itself is less Bejeweled, and more 10000000 / You Must Build a Boat, where an icon can be dragged across its constituent column and row in order to make a match across either axis. At the end of each battle you are offered a selection of upgrades that persist for that particular playthrough that can help in later battles where the odds are stacked against you.
Writing is a bit adolescent (though to be honest this is true of a lot of Frank Miller's later work too!), but I actually quite liked the art style of the game. The nudity can be a bit childish, but they fit the graphic novel / noir context the game, so I gave the weird female figures and accentuated nipples a pass.
Took a decent few hours to see all endings, and was pretty enjoyable throughout.
48. Super Destronaut DX (Vita) - Beaten: 16/07/18 - Time Taken: ~45mins (All Trophies [PSN])
A Space Invaders clone. Not as good as the Decimation X series that used to be on Xbox Live Indie Games, not as good as Space Invaders Extreme, not even as good as the original Space Invaders to be honest.
Super speedy platinum trophy though. The game is published and ported to Vita by Ratalaika Games, a team becoming synonymous with a) vehemently supporting Sony's handheld, and b) deliberately luring punters in with cheap price points and extremely achievable trophy lists..
49. Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit! (Vita) - Beaten: 17/07/18 - Time Taken: ~18 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
I'm a big fan of rhythm games. Bon Appetit! however, is a very average rhythm game.
Note charts feel utterly esoteric even at the highest difficulty, with none of the choreography of the Hatsune Miku games, none of the visceral physicality of the Guitar Hero / Rock Band games, none of the challenging simplicity of the Drum Master games, or the finger gymnastics of the DJ Max series.
Story mode offers a unique narrative for each character that ranges from twee, through heartwarming, to creepy, but even with these distinct pathways, the game feels repetitive due to its limited soundtrack. Certain songs appear to repeat more than others, yet even tracks that you are forced to play five, ten, fifteen or twenty times across the course of a platinum trophy completion remain wholly unmemorable.
There are MUCH better rhythm games on the Vita.
50. Actual Sunlight (Vita) - Beaten: 18/07/18 - Time Taken: ~60mins (All Trophies [PSN])
This is a pretty hard one to respond to and quantify. A narrative game (almost like a micro visual novel?) about depression and suicidal thoughts.
It goes really hard and heavy, features unique, if not always great or consistent writing, and presents its sobering narrative using a mixture of 16-bit style sprites and painfully beautiful stills.
What I appreciate about a title like this is its existence. This is an hour long, deeply personal and challenging game created by, in essence, a single developer. And it had a proper paid release on a digital store front curated by Sony, one of the biggest players in videogames. It almost doesn't matter what I or any other reviewer says about a title like this. The availability of a work of this stature through mainstream channels shows that games are growing up, and I'm excited to see how this young medium continues to progress.
If you can stomach the themes the game tackles, absolutely give it a shot. It won't necessarily make you feel good, but it will certainly make you feel something.
51. North (Vita) - Beaten: 19/07/18 - Time Taken: ~90mins (All Trophies [PSN])
Now this is a weird one. Another narrative game, but this time one that's about asylum, cultural and linguistic barriers, and exploitation.
What was interesting to me outside of the theme itself, was the treatment that game got in being ported (or maybe co-developed) alongside its PS4 sibling. Although ostensibly the same game, the games look nothing alike with the Vita port being stripped of geometry, texture, light sourcing and resolution to the point that the whole experience becomes uncomfortably oppressive. Things are meant to feel alien, but even basic navigation becomes a real chore due to the visual choices / compromises made.
I can't say I enjoyed North, but if nothing else I found the condition of the game's release on the little handheld really interesting.
I don't think the message of the game works that well, at least when played on the Vita, but as with Actual Sunlight, it makes me excited to see creators really trying to push the boundaries of what we understand games to be and be for in 2018.
52. Sonic 3D Blast DX (MD) - Beaten: 22/07/18 - Time Taken: ~4 hours (True Ending, All Collectibles)
What a joy this project has been to follow. Last year, Jon Burton, founder and former lead programmer at Travellers Tales launched a YouTube channel called GameHut where he detailed some of the more impressive tricks employed in TT's 16/32bit output. Burton's passion for this early work was clear, and towards the tail end of 2017, he completed a total overhaul of Sonic 3D Blast that tackled almost all issues and criticisms the game had been met with in the ensuing decades since its initial release.
Playing the product of this work in 2018 is quite astounding. Everything from physics, to graphics, to game progression and replay incentive has been tweaked, and the work genuinely elevates a so so game (though one that I loved at launch purely because gaming as a kid meant making the most of ANY title until you were able to afford a new one some months later), to a great one. Movement in particular has had a massive overhaul, and this, coupled with some genuinely smart camera and playing tracking overhauls makes the game a) feel more like a Sonic title due to increased speed and handling, and b) lets the game's sense of exploration really shine.
Sonic 3D Blast was always a strange game, and a clear outlier from Sonic's other 16bit entries. However, experiencing it in this form has been a real joy, with clever design refinements allowing the things that made it stand out from its siblings to really be showcased. Games often receive player made or fan patches which improve issues present in early cartridge releases like this. It's very possible however, that without the input of the original designers, aspects may be changed that actually water down the original vision.
What's lovely in this case is that as a sanctioned 'Director's Cut', Burton allows Sonic 3D Blast to retain its original quirks and charm, whilst also bringing it up to date to more modern standards. One of the highlights of my gaming year to date.
53. Sonic 4: Episode 1 (X360) - Beaten: 27/07/18 - Time Taken: ~4 hours (All Emeralds)
Hated it on release. Hate it marginally less all these years on. Woof.
Things about Sonic 4 that I dislike: the soundtrack (some of the most grating synth lines of all time); the instrument balance (it's great that you've got that Mega Drive percussion in there, but could we calm it on the faux snare?!); the level design (why are some acts almost 9 minutes long on first play?); the act structure (3 stages and a separate boss stage is too much of any one theme); the level gimmicks (this isn't Mario - I don't need to play through a whole level where every other screen has 55 canons in it); the physics (why am I standing completely upright but at a right angle to a vertical wall?); the reliance on Sonic Adventure style homing attacks (lazy, lazy design which makes certain sections become certain death if you don't perfectly home in on a row of six badniks).
What a game to 'complete' my 52 games challenge with.
54. Midnight Deluxe (Vita) - Beaten: 28/07/18 - Time Taken: ~2 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
A mix between Angry Birds and Desert Golf. Sadly, Midnight Deluxe takes none of the relative precision and wealth of content from the former, and none of the razor sharp mobile design of the latter.
Very finicky in places, with weird difficulty spikes throughout the 60-odd stages you're tasked with beating. Very average.
55. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn (PS4) - Beaten: 01/08/18 - Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
The game's physical release is already experiencing deep discounts of 50%+ at some retailers.
A serviceable brawler built around edgey 4chan humour circa 2014/15. There are celebrity parodies that make little to no narrative sense (Justin Bieber, Mel Gibson?) used to construct a vapid narrative. Combat is tedious, the game is frequently glitchy (on places requiring level restarts), and content is thin on the ground. Presentation is a mixed bag.
This game raised almost half a million dollars on Indiegogo and has delivered on almost none of its promises. Promised modes like co-op and versus nowhere to be seen. Unlockable characters totally absent. Customisation non-existent.
I didn't hate the time I spent with Shaq Fu, but my oh my, this is one reboot we really didn't need.
56. Barack Fu: Legend of Dirty Barry (PS4) - Beaten: 02/08/18 - Time Taken: ~2 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
A free mini campaign available to owners of the retail release. More of the same.
The writing is actually a bit better than the main game, and the voice work is a marked improvement as it doesn't have to rely on Shaq's questionable delivery.
Still repetitive, but the two stages here actually present more variety than the main game, with Barack's alt-form a lot more fun to use than either of Shaq's.
57. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames (GBA) - Beaten: 05/08/18 - Time Taken: ~20 hours (All Achievements [RA])
Absolutely, and I'd argue almost indisputably, one of the games of all time.
If nothing else, it sits firm in my own personal top ten: one of the best handheld titles on any platform, and one of the most important handheld titles *period*. It's an anarchic, punk game. It's a genuinely laugh-out-loud funny game. It's a game of startling prescience and foresight able to critique trends of the future, whilst simultaneously drawing from trends of the past.
WarioWare is frequently challenging, always entertaining, and never, ever dull. I beat the game 100% in my early teens, and now, over 15 years on have done it again. I loved it even more this second time through as I was able to view it within the context of gaming as its shifted and undulated.
Startlingly good.
58. Tachyon Project (Vita) - Beaten: 07/08/18- Time Taken: ~3 hours (All Trophies [PSN])
A Geometry Wars knock off that runs terribly on the Vita. A real shame, as GW3 showed how capable the handheld was at running this sort of game when shown a bit of love.
The game has a hackneyed 'hacking' storyline, customisable loadouts, and a few nice additions like a challenge mode, etc. I beat the game on the PS4 last year and fancied something bitesize and arcadey to play on the train - I'd recommend everyone to play the game on the home platform though if possible. It really is a shoddy port.
59. Art Style: Cubello (WiiWare) - Beaten: 10/08/18- Time Taken: ~8 hours (Every stage beaten)
A really great pointer-based matching colours puzzle game. The 'Cubello' refers to a cube in the centre of the play field that is surrounded by other coloured blocks, which you need to clear by making matches of 4 or more like coloured blocks. Depth comes from each 'shot' you take spinning the entire play field in the opposite direction, as well as your well of cube projectiles only being refreshed and topped up when you make a match. Additionally, in not taking a shot, the structure begins to loom closer to the screen - if it reaches the extremities of the play space you'll lose some of your precious shots.
A combination of these simple additions to what is otherwise a sort of 3D Zuma, gives the game a physicality that lots of games of this ilk are missing. Using the Wiimote to 'fire' through small breaks in the cuboid structure can be really satisfying when it makes a successful match and then spins the cubes back towards you opening up further large matches.
Some of the later levels got pretty tough and unfortunately would sometimes begin in a nigh on unbeatable state because of the angle of the structure and the coloured blocks you were given to work with. However, overall, frustration was pretty minimal, and I had a great time working through the 36 stages over the last week or two.
60. Um Jammer Lammy (PS1) - Beaten: 12/08/18- Time Taken: ~4 hours (COOL rating on all Lammy and Parappa tracks)
Um Jammer Lammy pisses all over Parappa. Presentation, content, songs, mechanics: it's just so much better.
The storyline is great, Lammy is a much more layered character than Parappa, and the songs (in both their rock and hip hop versions) are amazing.
Its been over 15 years since I last played Um Jammer Lammy and I'm sad that I've deprived myself of a return to this experience for this long. Go and find a way to play this game if you haven't already. A fantastic experience from start to finish.
Games #61 onwards
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Thanks! Though that doesn't mean I'm done here, curious to see how much i can finish before end of the year, finished 62 games in 2017 and i'll probably easily pass this number in this year.
Yeah same for me. At 85 now and aiming for 100. Probably could have beaten over 200 games this year but I realised I wanna focus on much longer games now.
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#36: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PC) | 7.8h | May 18 | ★★★
Can't say that I enjoyed it as much as The New Order. Especially the first half of the game was rather boring and the other characters didn't really make me care about them. The graphics were ok but I think TNO looks somewhat better and I experienced graphic bugs. Gameplay was fun, though.
#36: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PC) | 7.8h | May 18 | ★★★
Can't say that I enjoyed it as much as The New Order. Especially the first half of the game was rather boring and the other characters didn't really make me care about them. The graphics were ok but I think TNO looks somewhat better and I experienced graphic bugs. Gameplay was fun, though.
Link to Main Post
Game 15. Firewatch ★★★★ 3 Hours (Feb 18th to Feb 20th) - PC
Narrative was really good. Honestly it really showed how isolation can really effect people. It was honestly incredibly wonderful and can't wait to play the next thing from the developer.
Game 16. Super Mario Bros 2 ★★★ 3 Hours (Mar 3rd to Mar 10th) - SNES
Did not enjoy this as much as the first one. More detail, multiple characters and actual boss battles. That said the game felt...almost unfinished. I still enjoyed it for the most part.
Game 17. Batman Arkham Knight ★★★ 30 Hours (Feb 27th to Mar 19th) - PS4
Felt GTA but everyone everywhere is a bad guy and out to kill you. I know some people didn't like the vehicle sessions much but I quite enjoyed it. Knocked it down a peg because of a "intentional" glitch. If you complete all but 2 of the big sidequest chains before you beat the main game, you CANNOT finish the game without 100% it... which is absolutely bull shit. I had to watch the games ending on youtube because of it.
Game 18. Ratchet & Clank ★★★★ 11 Hours (Mar 19th to Mar 26th) - PS4
Really enjoyed this. It was kind of shallow story was but gameplay was solid and fun. Using all the weapons was super exciting and interesting. And overall it was just....really really enjoyable to play.
Game 19. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ★★★ 35 Hours (Mar 26th to May 8th) - PC
I thought nostalgia would of made this better but man...even with mods and the like I just had a hard time enjoying it. Tried exploring and stuff but I just...didn't enjoy it. I then mainlined some main quests and the writing somehow got worse. I don't understand why cause I know it is a good game just, couldn't really enjoy it.
Game 15. Firewatch ★★★★ 3 Hours (Feb 18th to Feb 20th) - PC
Narrative was really good. Honestly it really showed how isolation can really effect people. It was honestly incredibly wonderful and can't wait to play the next thing from the developer.
Game 16. Super Mario Bros 2 ★★★ 3 Hours (Mar 3rd to Mar 10th) - SNES
Did not enjoy this as much as the first one. More detail, multiple characters and actual boss battles. That said the game felt...almost unfinished. I still enjoyed it for the most part.
Game 17. Batman Arkham Knight ★★★ 30 Hours (Feb 27th to Mar 19th) - PS4
Felt GTA but everyone everywhere is a bad guy and out to kill you. I know some people didn't like the vehicle sessions much but I quite enjoyed it. Knocked it down a peg because of a "intentional" glitch. If you complete all but 2 of the big sidequest chains before you beat the main game, you CANNOT finish the game without 100% it... which is absolutely bull shit. I had to watch the games ending on youtube because of it.
Game 18. Ratchet & Clank ★★★★ 11 Hours (Mar 19th to Mar 26th) - PS4
Really enjoyed this. It was kind of shallow story was but gameplay was solid and fun. Using all the weapons was super exciting and interesting. And overall it was just....really really enjoyable to play.
Game 19. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ★★★ 35 Hours (Mar 26th to May 8th) - PC
I thought nostalgia would of made this better but man...even with mods and the like I just had a hard time enjoying it. Tried exploring and stuff but I just...didn't enjoy it. I then mainlined some main quests and the writing somehow got worse. I don't understand why cause I know it is a good game just, couldn't really enjoy it.
Congrats!
Almost there!
I've been taking a break from this thread but it's nice to see some people already reaching their goals :)
Main post
Edit: Moved old impressions to this post so the main post looks cleaner
JANUARY 2018
1. Titanfall 2 (PS4) - 4/4 (Finished Jan 03, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Regular Difficulty | 80% Trophies | <2 hr Multiplayer
Tried to play a little bit of multiplayer but the player base was small and everyone left was really good. Kind of makes me sad I didn't pick it up immediately when it came out because I love fast movement and giant robots. Story mode kept introducing new gameplay mechanics and got rid of them when their novelty was up. I usually don't play FPS games anymore (used to be really into CS: CZ) but this opened up my eyes to the potential the genre could have again. I love this game so much that I don't have much to say about it? Might come back and try to get that deceptively difficult chapter 1 trial run and win a multiplayer match for those last trophies.
2. LIMBO (PS4) - 1/4 (Finished Jan 04, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 90% Trophies | Bonus Level
Limbo does not hold up. I know it's a beloved game, and I'm sure it has historical importance and was a rare atmospheric indie game unlike anything else, but I just feel there have been many games since it that have interestingly vague narratives but also good gameplay. This was a slog for me even though it was a short game, one of the slowest characters ever with the smallest body. Cool ending though. Platforming was not fun or rewarding. Would not recommend. But I'm looking forward to starting Inside! Will not "finish the game in one sitting with 5 or less deaths."
3. Ronin (PS4) - 2/4 (Finished Jan 04, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 57% Trophies | Sad Ending
I enjoyed it at first, the jumping mechanic took a while to get used to and the turn based combat took even longer to get used to since you can only jump and attack, no precise movements - which got really annoying when trying to get into windows. The last level is terribly designed with no indication that a new gameplay mechanic was introduced that affects the ending. By the end I just wanted it to be over so I didn't even bother with NG+. It was cool that there was a comic included with the game. Absolutely will not play through the game again and get the happy ending.
4. Transistor (PS4) - 3/4 (Finished Jan 06, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 100% Trophies | Recursion (NG+) | All Trials Complete
Finished then Recursed (NG+) once, 100% trophies. For some reason, I kept picking up the game then putting it back down. It was just so stressful and I kept trying to play it like an action and doing all the trials as they came. Came back this time and didn't realize I was in the last part of the game so I dropped the trials and beat the last boss. Jumped straight back into the NG+ and played it all in one sitting. Much easier the second time and I could take in the story and music. Wonderful game, but the gameplay didn't click with me, and that saddens me because that's a rare problem for me. But i still got the platinum!
5. Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4) - 3/4 (Finished Jan 07, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 100% Trophies (Cumulative including DLC packs)
Wanted a refresh of this game before jumping into GR2. I like this game a lot but there were so many times I cussed at this game but now I can't remember the specific moments of why. Gravity shifting and exploration is as fun as I remember, and I used the gravity slide technique way more than remember when I first played it on Vita. Raven is best waifu. Final chapters held me at the edge of my seat, it was so fun. But the last couple cutscenes got skipped for me, either because I was double tapping finisher, or it was glitched. Cutscene skips should be button holds! Also the sky got kind of gross to look at after a while since it was yellow/green.
FEBRUARY 2018
6. Gravity Rush 2 (PS4) - 4/4 (Finished Feb 03, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Medium Difficulty | 100% Trophies | 6000+ Dusty Coins
BLUE SKIES! It was so refreshing to not have a more natural sky that GR1 felt muddy and gross. This game went places I was not expecting, and I now completely understand why people say this game is GR3 and GR4 as well. The game is more of the first but better and much, much longer (I think I was at 60 hr?). I absolutely loved how cool every single rival character is. The new variety in combat was nice but ultimately not groundbreaking. Exploration is still a blast. There were still trials that made me momentarily hate the game, stealth especially continues to be terrible. Playing with the online features while so many people are trying to catch the final days of the server kind of feels like how the game was always intended to be played and I'm glad the server shut down got delayed. I can only hope this series will be allowed to continue but I would also be okay with it ending here.
7. Battle Chef Brigade (Switch) - 3/4 (Finished Feb 11, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Normal Difficulty | 2:21:21
Very fun puzzle/beat 'em up hybrid! I enjoyed my time with it, but the story didn't necessarily hook me - it wasn't bad, just not very memorable. The characters are very charming though! There is a fair amount of challenge and new mechanics as the game goes on but I felt completely confident and was blazing through the last third of the game. Cutting board is OP. Pretty surprised by the play time because I felt I had played longer. Would recommend if your schedule is free but it's not a priority.
08. Monument Valley II (iOS) - 3/4 (Finished Feb 14, 2018)
Completed Main Story
Another game I left unfinished for a long time for no discernible reason. I really enjoyed how it felt like every level introduced new mechanics built on your knowledge of having played the first game. It always felt fresh - there were even new puzzle elements introduced in the last couple of levels - and it had some nice narrative callbacks to the first game too. Just a pleasant experience overall but doesn't feel as groundbreaking as the original.
09. Florence (iOS) - 4/4 (Finished Feb 14, 2018)
Completed Main Story
The real reason I finished up MVII was so that I could move on to Florence. I know it's not the same developers but the same lead designer. I was not disappointed. It may be argued that this is more of an "interactive graphic novel/motion comic" but I think works like this are important in the conversation of telling narratives that take advantage of an interactive medium aka games. I honestly don't want to spoil the gameplay mechanics but this game does a great job of putting you in the shoes of the main character and was amazing in its execution of having you experience what it's like falling in love.
10. Picross e8 (3DS) - 4/4 (Finished Feb 20, 2018)
Completed All Picross, Mega Picross, and Micross Puzzles
I love Picross. This iteration seems to have much more substantial new content compared to both e7 and Picross S. I don't use hints anymore so this game took me a while longer to finish than the earlier games used to. Not much to say here, it's a great time filler and mentally gratifying to finish puzzles.
MARCH 2018
a.k.a guess who got a PSVR
11. Mighty Switch Force 2 (3DS) - 4/4 (Finished Mar 09, 2018)
Completed All Puzzles
Didn't get all the babies or get par completion times for everything, which is honestly where a lot of the replay is. This game has been sitting on my 3DS for too long and I'm so happy to have finally beat it. It has all of the great gameplay of the original while adding new pipe based water puzzles. Music and sound design are top notch and key art is really cute, can't recommend this enough.
12. Might Switch Force Hose It Down (iOS) - 2/4 (Finished Mar 10, 2018)
Completed All Main Puzzles | Completed All EX Puzzles
Once again, wasn't going for par completion times with this game, was just in a huge Switch Force mood. This game is weird, it takes assets from Mighty Switch Force 2 and is all puzzles based entirely around the tube segments. Pretty easy game, beat it very fast. DLC for $1 extended its life a bit but not by much. Easily skipable entry.
13. Deus Ex GO (iOS) - 4/4 (Finished Mar 10, 2018)
Completed All Puzzles
I love the GO series of games! This one felt somewhat different in that there was much more stealth and running from enemies, whereas I felt in Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO allowed you to kill a majority of the enemies you encounter. Changed from the grid format of previous entries to a hex format. New puzzle components constantly introduced throughout the game, very engaging. I did not put in the time to do the most efficient solutions to all of the puzzles.
14. Night In the Woods (Switch) - 3/4 (Finished Mar 11, 2018)
Completed Main Story, Longest Night, and Lost Constellation
I loved this game. Coming from a small town where economic anxiety is ever present, the themes of this game hit home really hard. I kind of don't want to spoil the narratives so I'll just talk about gameplay stuff. My only gripes with the game are that you can't fast travel because a lot of this game is spent wandering around - which is fine - but I feel there are segments I don't need to revisit as much. It would also have been nice to have a chapter select and/or New Game+ to fill out your journal completely. I played through all of Bea's hangouts since it made more sense narratively to me and then I watched the Gregg segments. I want to revisit them one day since his segments have way more minigames in them.
15. Statik: Institute of Retention (PSVR) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 16, 2018)
Completed Main Story + Secret Ending | 100% Trophies
I loved this game. It felt very influenced by Portal and was very eerie. Having you use a controller and having the in-game representation be your hands trapped in a box was pretty clever. Each puzzle was unique and was fun to figure out and became more obtuse and difficult over time. The secret ending stuff would have been really cool on forums when the game first came out too. The normal ending really threw me for a loop, that was awesome. I'm not sure it necessitates VR, but VR definitely helps with the immersion.
16. SUPERHOT VR (PSVR) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 28% Trophies
If VR really is a trend and it somehow ends tomorrow, I would at least have SUPERHOT VR and be able to play it forever. It's the perfect game to make you feel like a badass in VR, no weird movement, no nausea, minimal and fairly natural controls, amazing game feel and feedback loop. I was totally working up a sweat playing this game, I couldn't believe it. Playing the original SUPERHOT is going to be weird after having played the VR version. This will be the VR game I will use to sell people on the concept of VR for the foreseeable future and I'll be replaying this throughout the year.
17. Moss (PSVR) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 56% Trophies
I want to protect Quill with my life! This game is adorable and gorgeous to look at. This is the first VR game I've played that has you looking into what is essentially a diorama and controlling a character in third person. Its also the first with a substantial narrative. Outside of VR, this would be a generic third person adventure game (with a lot of charm) - but in VR, the world feels more grand and you're rewarded for letting your eyes explore. I cannot wait until they put out a sequel for this game.
18. BOUND (PS4/PSVR) - 3/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 1% Trophies?!
For a game that had PSVR slapped onto it after the fact, the game is breathtaking to look at. The game achieves this feeling of the world being living and breathing despite everything being made of sharp shapes. It also does this cool thing where the environment shifts to allow the camera to see the character. I feel I'm a bit dumb for not being able to piece together the story but it was interesting nonetheless. I had to finish the game outside of VR because the camera was making me dizzy by the end. Also it's built around speedrunning? I'll probably never touch that aspect of the game.
19. Assassin's Creed Origins (PS4) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Normal Difficulty | Some Discovery Tour | 64% Trophies
Been a long time Assassin's Creed fan, played all the main titles but was getting pretty burned out so I'm glad they took their time with this. No more excessive treasure chests, no more companion apps, or other account linking. Combat was interesting at first because I couldn't just kill everyone, I ended up pretty over leveled early in the game and stayed that way until the end because I was doing all of the side quests. Stealth is still lacking but I've grown accustomed to that by now, big map but there's plenty of unused space but it's still fairly fun to explore - I'm perfectly okay with open worlds that aren't overloaded with repeated content. I hope they skip this year to do this again.
20. Assassin's Creed Black Flag: Freedom Cry (PS4) - 1/4 (Completed Mar 31, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 21% Trophies
So to be honest, I mostly played through this because it was short and it was just sitting on my hard drive and I wanted to get it out of the way so I could delete it. I remember hearing a lot of good things about this when it first came out, but I don't get the praise at all. Granted, my experience was extremely tainted by it crashing it ~4x in my 4-5 hours of playing it. I loved Black Flag and this does recapture that gameplay very well, it might just be that that gameplay has not aged well, especially compared to Origins.
APRIL 2018
21. Accounting+ (PSVR) - 3/4 (Completed Apr 15, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 100% Trophies
There's actually very little gameplay in this game. I spent a lot of time standing around listening to characters do their thing followed by doing a small simple action. I'd also watched a lot of the original version before because it made the rounds on YouTube due to its association with Justin Roiland. The new content isn't that plentiful, but one bit truly disturbed me and that alone made my rating a bit higher than I would have up to that point. I also love that there's (seemingly?) an ARG that fans are invested in. It's cheap and short so if you hadn't had all the content spoiled to you, check it out.
22. Assassin's Creed Origins: The Hidden Ones (PS4) - 3/4 (Completed Apr 18, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Normal Difficulty | 83% Trophies
Wanted to get through as much ACO as I could before God of War came out. I think that was a bad idea because I may be a bit burned out on AC for now. I was hardly paying attention to the side quest dialogue most of the time and the gameplay is just as solid as ever. I was pretty surprised by how big of an area the DLC was, it was totally worth the asking price to me. The story was also interesting since it introduces the reasoning behind one of the tenets of the Creed, makes me wonder how they'll handle the other two.
23. Never Stop Sneakin' (Switch) - 2/4 (Completed Apr 28, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Collected All Weapons and Agents
I hate that I keep seeing cool looking games only for them to be rogue-likes. The idea of a game that emulates the look of MGS1 is awesome, it's and aesthetic that isn't revisited often, but that's most of what this game has to offer because the gameplay just isn't there. It was interesting at first: the only controls you have to worry about is movement, everything else is automatic. Progress was feeling good for maybe the first two hours, but after a while you start to see how little content is actually in the game. I had to put it down for a while because it was so repetitive. New abilities are unlocked as you play but they're still randomly found, so there aren't new mechanics that change how you play introduced beyond maybe the stealth camo. There's only a handful of bosses and you stop seeing new ones after a few runs. There's random cutscenes but nothing ever builds up to them or comes out of them, there isn't even anything different about your last run, there's no final boss. There's just nothing to push you on to finish the story because you're just doing the same things for hours. In my opinion, rogue-likes live or die by the amount of content they have to offer. If there were ever an expansion to this game or a sequel with much, much, much more content, I would not be opposed to checking it out, but I cannot recommend this game.
24. God of War (2018) (PS4) - 4/4 (Completed Apr 29, 2018)
Completed Main Story | "Give Me A Balanced Experience" Difficulty | 57% Trophies
There seems to be a lot of cynicism around this game and how games need to have fun gameplay at every second and that this game sacrifices too much to present a stronger, more grounded narrative, etc. I guess addressing that is for another thread at another time, but I quite enjoyed this game. I love Norse mythology and was impressed by how much effort went into supplementary materials to read about said mythology along with how the story kept me coming back for more. The combat is perfectly difficult even on normal, and the haptic feedback of throwing and retrieving the ax really sold me on the game early on. I feel like I'm stepping on eggshells when talking about this game because there seem to be such polarizing opinions of it, but I don't think this game is perfect, nor do I think its innovative in any way, but I find it really well executed in every way it's promised.
MAY 2018
a.k.a The month of ridiculously long DLC titles that don't have logos for me to work with.
25. SUPERHOT (PS4) - 4/4 (Completed May 3, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 22% Trophies
It was really weird coming into this after having player SUPER VR first and having to be more spatially aware and unable to duck. The body swap mechanic near the end was a really cool mechanic I would have liked to see in the VR version too. Story is much more fleshed out and was pretty interesting. I can't wait to check out SuperHOT Mind Control Delete when it comes out as a full release
26. Shadow Warrior (2013) (PS4) - 3/4 (Completed May 3, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Normal Difficulty | 61% Trophies
I kept hearing about how fun this game was and I was not disappointed. It's pretty interesting to play an FPS that isn't a cover shooter and I was initially worried Lo Wang would be a terrible Asian stereotype but his dialogue became really fun - loyal and scrappy, I enjoyed him a lot. I take a small break about halfway in the game because it does feel somewhat repetitive and the difficulty kind of waned after a while, but I'm still very much looking forward to playing Shadow Warrior 2 in the future.
27. Gravity Rush 2 -- Another Story: The Ark of Time -Raven's Choice- (PS4) - 2/4 (Completed May 5, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Medium Difficulty | 53% Trophies
Raven plays cool, sure wish I could play as her more. A good chunk of this DLC has you playing as her younger counterpart, Sachya, as a little girl running from monsters in a maze. I wish there was a bit of an open world section for me to explore but everything with Raven is just the normal game world as you go from objective to objective. There's no challenges with the new moveset, and there's no chapter select either so 100%-ing it takes a bit more conscious effort with saving. The plot fills in a bit from one of the climaxes of the main game so I still appreciate that they put in the effort for this. One of those I hate it because I love it so much situations.
28. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus -- The Freedom Chronicles: The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe (PS4) - 3/4 (Completed May 7, 2018)
Completed Main Story | "Bring 'em on!" Difficulty | 25% Trophies
The conceit of this story is really fun, probably my favorite of the bunch - former KKK turned Nazi general is obsessed with what he perceives as superior athletic abilities in black athletes. The main character lashes out during a rigged game, pisses off general, gets taken in, and breaks out. The gameplay is probably the most fun of the bunch too since it's more battle centric and you constantly regenerate health. Short and simple DLC, I enjoyed exploring the insecurities of the main villain through the collectible texts too.
29. DJ Max Respect (PS4) - 4/4 (Completed May 9. 2018)
Completed All 4B Tracks Up To Level 8 | 23% Trophies | 33:12:44
I love this game! I played DJ Max on and off on the PSP, but this was my first full attempt at getting good at the game and completing every song, but boy am I still terrible at this. Played through a few tracks on 5B, 6B, and 8B but I'm retiring from this for a while, I'm happy with what I've got out of this. Even having played only up to level 8 difficulty on 4B, there's only 2-3 songs I can't beat in any way, and I got a lot of time out of the game so the value proposition is amazing. Played through all the currently released DLC in NA too.
30. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus -- The Freedom Chronicles: The Diaries of Agent Silent Death (PS4) - 2/4 (Completed May 9, 2018)
Completed Main Story | "Bring 'em on!" Difficulty | 25% Trophies
Sadly the most forgettable of the bunch. Maybe it's just because I'm bad at FPS games, but I swear this DLC is designed to be more stealth focused since you're an assassin going through a hit list. For the first time in my experience with the new Wolfenstein games, I've avoided entire confrontations, but that also meant I had less ability to explore areas after wiping out enemies, so I don't have nearly as many collectibles and don't have as strong of a grasp on the main villain.
31. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) - 3/4 (Completed May 14, 2018)
Completed Normal Mode Main Story
I'm glad I finally got around to this, it's a lot like how I played Super Metroid for the first time last year - it's cool to see the origins of so many tropes and gameplay mechanics through such an influential game. But I'm not nearly as impressed with this game because the dungeon design felt a bit lacking to me and the story beats have been done better in later Zelda games. The music is fantastic though and I understand the nostalgia now. The world is small but feels big because each area is impressively dense with activities and collectibles. There's a lot more to say about this game in comparison to other 3D Zelda games, but I'll cut it off here.
32. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus -- The Freedom Chronicles: The Deeds Captain Wilkins (PS4) - 2/4 (Completed May 16, 2018)
Completed Main Story | "Bring 'em on!" Difficulty | 25% Trophies
This is the only part of the set of DLC that I didn't finish in one sitting. It's not quite designed around stealth or combat, and just as is in the main campaign, I don't quite get the point of the booster stilts. I fell into this rhythm of doing as much stealth as possible then running to kill the commanders if I got caught because I could never do straight up combat very well and you don't regen health. The story on this one was somewhat fun though with its handful of plot twists. Ultimately, I can't recommend the Freedom Chronicles unless you really enjoy the Wolfenstein games and want more of the gameplay, otherwise they don't really add much to the narrative or have interesting political commentary.
Edit: Moved old impressions to this post so the main post looks cleaner
JANUARY 2018
1. Titanfall 2 (PS4) - 4/4 (Finished Jan 03, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Regular Difficulty | 80% Trophies | <2 hr Multiplayer
Tried to play a little bit of multiplayer but the player base was small and everyone left was really good. Kind of makes me sad I didn't pick it up immediately when it came out because I love fast movement and giant robots. Story mode kept introducing new gameplay mechanics and got rid of them when their novelty was up. I usually don't play FPS games anymore (used to be really into CS: CZ) but this opened up my eyes to the potential the genre could have again. I love this game so much that I don't have much to say about it? Might come back and try to get that deceptively difficult chapter 1 trial run and win a multiplayer match for those last trophies.
2. LIMBO (PS4) - 1/4 (Finished Jan 04, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 90% Trophies | Bonus Level
Limbo does not hold up. I know it's a beloved game, and I'm sure it has historical importance and was a rare atmospheric indie game unlike anything else, but I just feel there have been many games since it that have interestingly vague narratives but also good gameplay. This was a slog for me even though it was a short game, one of the slowest characters ever with the smallest body. Cool ending though. Platforming was not fun or rewarding. Would not recommend. But I'm looking forward to starting Inside! Will not "finish the game in one sitting with 5 or less deaths."
3. Ronin (PS4) - 2/4 (Finished Jan 04, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 57% Trophies | Sad Ending
I enjoyed it at first, the jumping mechanic took a while to get used to and the turn based combat took even longer to get used to since you can only jump and attack, no precise movements - which got really annoying when trying to get into windows. The last level is terribly designed with no indication that a new gameplay mechanic was introduced that affects the ending. By the end I just wanted it to be over so I didn't even bother with NG+. It was cool that there was a comic included with the game. Absolutely will not play through the game again and get the happy ending.
4. Transistor (PS4) - 3/4 (Finished Jan 06, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 100% Trophies | Recursion (NG+) | All Trials Complete
Finished then Recursed (NG+) once, 100% trophies. For some reason, I kept picking up the game then putting it back down. It was just so stressful and I kept trying to play it like an action and doing all the trials as they came. Came back this time and didn't realize I was in the last part of the game so I dropped the trials and beat the last boss. Jumped straight back into the NG+ and played it all in one sitting. Much easier the second time and I could take in the story and music. Wonderful game, but the gameplay didn't click with me, and that saddens me because that's a rare problem for me. But i still got the platinum!
5. Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4) - 3/4 (Finished Jan 07, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 100% Trophies (Cumulative including DLC packs)
Wanted a refresh of this game before jumping into GR2. I like this game a lot but there were so many times I cussed at this game but now I can't remember the specific moments of why. Gravity shifting and exploration is as fun as I remember, and I used the gravity slide technique way more than remember when I first played it on Vita. Raven is best waifu. Final chapters held me at the edge of my seat, it was so fun. But the last couple cutscenes got skipped for me, either because I was double tapping finisher, or it was glitched. Cutscene skips should be button holds! Also the sky got kind of gross to look at after a while since it was yellow/green.
FEBRUARY 2018
6. Gravity Rush 2 (PS4) - 4/4 (Finished Feb 03, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Medium Difficulty | 100% Trophies | 6000+ Dusty Coins
BLUE SKIES! It was so refreshing to not have a more natural sky that GR1 felt muddy and gross. This game went places I was not expecting, and I now completely understand why people say this game is GR3 and GR4 as well. The game is more of the first but better and much, much longer (I think I was at 60 hr?). I absolutely loved how cool every single rival character is. The new variety in combat was nice but ultimately not groundbreaking. Exploration is still a blast. There were still trials that made me momentarily hate the game, stealth especially continues to be terrible. Playing with the online features while so many people are trying to catch the final days of the server kind of feels like how the game was always intended to be played and I'm glad the server shut down got delayed. I can only hope this series will be allowed to continue but I would also be okay with it ending here.
7. Battle Chef Brigade (Switch) - 3/4 (Finished Feb 11, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Normal Difficulty | 2:21:21
Very fun puzzle/beat 'em up hybrid! I enjoyed my time with it, but the story didn't necessarily hook me - it wasn't bad, just not very memorable. The characters are very charming though! There is a fair amount of challenge and new mechanics as the game goes on but I felt completely confident and was blazing through the last third of the game. Cutting board is OP. Pretty surprised by the play time because I felt I had played longer. Would recommend if your schedule is free but it's not a priority.
08. Monument Valley II (iOS) - 3/4 (Finished Feb 14, 2018)
Completed Main Story
Another game I left unfinished for a long time for no discernible reason. I really enjoyed how it felt like every level introduced new mechanics built on your knowledge of having played the first game. It always felt fresh - there were even new puzzle elements introduced in the last couple of levels - and it had some nice narrative callbacks to the first game too. Just a pleasant experience overall but doesn't feel as groundbreaking as the original.
09. Florence (iOS) - 4/4 (Finished Feb 14, 2018)
Completed Main Story
The real reason I finished up MVII was so that I could move on to Florence. I know it's not the same developers but the same lead designer. I was not disappointed. It may be argued that this is more of an "interactive graphic novel/motion comic" but I think works like this are important in the conversation of telling narratives that take advantage of an interactive medium aka games. I honestly don't want to spoil the gameplay mechanics but this game does a great job of putting you in the shoes of the main character and was amazing in its execution of having you experience what it's like falling in love.
10. Picross e8 (3DS) - 4/4 (Finished Feb 20, 2018)
Completed All Picross, Mega Picross, and Micross Puzzles
I love Picross. This iteration seems to have much more substantial new content compared to both e7 and Picross S. I don't use hints anymore so this game took me a while longer to finish than the earlier games used to. Not much to say here, it's a great time filler and mentally gratifying to finish puzzles.
MARCH 2018
a.k.a guess who got a PSVR
11. Mighty Switch Force 2 (3DS) - 4/4 (Finished Mar 09, 2018)
Completed All Puzzles
Didn't get all the babies or get par completion times for everything, which is honestly where a lot of the replay is. This game has been sitting on my 3DS for too long and I'm so happy to have finally beat it. It has all of the great gameplay of the original while adding new pipe based water puzzles. Music and sound design are top notch and key art is really cute, can't recommend this enough.
12. Might Switch Force Hose It Down (iOS) - 2/4 (Finished Mar 10, 2018)
Completed All Main Puzzles | Completed All EX Puzzles
Once again, wasn't going for par completion times with this game, was just in a huge Switch Force mood. This game is weird, it takes assets from Mighty Switch Force 2 and is all puzzles based entirely around the tube segments. Pretty easy game, beat it very fast. DLC for $1 extended its life a bit but not by much. Easily skipable entry.
13. Deus Ex GO (iOS) - 4/4 (Finished Mar 10, 2018)
Completed All Puzzles
I love the GO series of games! This one felt somewhat different in that there was much more stealth and running from enemies, whereas I felt in Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO allowed you to kill a majority of the enemies you encounter. Changed from the grid format of previous entries to a hex format. New puzzle components constantly introduced throughout the game, very engaging. I did not put in the time to do the most efficient solutions to all of the puzzles.
14. Night In the Woods (Switch) - 3/4 (Finished Mar 11, 2018)
Completed Main Story, Longest Night, and Lost Constellation
I loved this game. Coming from a small town where economic anxiety is ever present, the themes of this game hit home really hard. I kind of don't want to spoil the narratives so I'll just talk about gameplay stuff. My only gripes with the game are that you can't fast travel because a lot of this game is spent wandering around - which is fine - but I feel there are segments I don't need to revisit as much. It would also have been nice to have a chapter select and/or New Game+ to fill out your journal completely. I played through all of Bea's hangouts since it made more sense narratively to me and then I watched the Gregg segments. I want to revisit them one day since his segments have way more minigames in them.
15. Statik: Institute of Retention (PSVR) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 16, 2018)
Completed Main Story + Secret Ending | 100% Trophies
I loved this game. It felt very influenced by Portal and was very eerie. Having you use a controller and having the in-game representation be your hands trapped in a box was pretty clever. Each puzzle was unique and was fun to figure out and became more obtuse and difficult over time. The secret ending stuff would have been really cool on forums when the game first came out too. The normal ending really threw me for a loop, that was awesome. I'm not sure it necessitates VR, but VR definitely helps with the immersion.
16. SUPERHOT VR (PSVR) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 28% Trophies
If VR really is a trend and it somehow ends tomorrow, I would at least have SUPERHOT VR and be able to play it forever. It's the perfect game to make you feel like a badass in VR, no weird movement, no nausea, minimal and fairly natural controls, amazing game feel and feedback loop. I was totally working up a sweat playing this game, I couldn't believe it. Playing the original SUPERHOT is going to be weird after having played the VR version. This will be the VR game I will use to sell people on the concept of VR for the foreseeable future and I'll be replaying this throughout the year.
17. Moss (PSVR) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 56% Trophies
I want to protect Quill with my life! This game is adorable and gorgeous to look at. This is the first VR game I've played that has you looking into what is essentially a diorama and controlling a character in third person. Its also the first with a substantial narrative. Outside of VR, this would be a generic third person adventure game (with a lot of charm) - but in VR, the world feels more grand and you're rewarded for letting your eyes explore. I cannot wait until they put out a sequel for this game.
18. BOUND (PS4/PSVR) - 3/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 1% Trophies?!
For a game that had PSVR slapped onto it after the fact, the game is breathtaking to look at. The game achieves this feeling of the world being living and breathing despite everything being made of sharp shapes. It also does this cool thing where the environment shifts to allow the camera to see the character. I feel I'm a bit dumb for not being able to piece together the story but it was interesting nonetheless. I had to finish the game outside of VR because the camera was making me dizzy by the end. Also it's built around speedrunning? I'll probably never touch that aspect of the game.
19. Assassin's Creed Origins (PS4) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Normal Difficulty | Some Discovery Tour | 64% Trophies
Been a long time Assassin's Creed fan, played all the main titles but was getting pretty burned out so I'm glad they took their time with this. No more excessive treasure chests, no more companion apps, or other account linking. Combat was interesting at first because I couldn't just kill everyone, I ended up pretty over leveled early in the game and stayed that way until the end because I was doing all of the side quests. Stealth is still lacking but I've grown accustomed to that by now, big map but there's plenty of unused space but it's still fairly fun to explore - I'm perfectly okay with open worlds that aren't overloaded with repeated content. I hope they skip this year to do this again.
20. Assassin's Creed Black Flag: Freedom Cry (PS4) - 1/4 (Completed Mar 31, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 21% Trophies
So to be honest, I mostly played through this because it was short and it was just sitting on my hard drive and I wanted to get it out of the way so I could delete it. I remember hearing a lot of good things about this when it first came out, but I don't get the praise at all. Granted, my experience was extremely tainted by it crashing it ~4x in my 4-5 hours of playing it. I loved Black Flag and this does recapture that gameplay very well, it might just be that that gameplay has not aged well, especially compared to Origins.
APRIL 2018
21. Accounting+ (PSVR) - 3/4 (Completed Apr 15, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 100% Trophies
There's actually very little gameplay in this game. I spent a lot of time standing around listening to characters do their thing followed by doing a small simple action. I'd also watched a lot of the original version before because it made the rounds on YouTube due to its association with Justin Roiland. The new content isn't that plentiful, but one bit truly disturbed me and that alone made my rating a bit higher than I would have up to that point. I also love that there's (seemingly?) an ARG that fans are invested in. It's cheap and short so if you hadn't had all the content spoiled to you, check it out.
22. Assassin's Creed Origins: The Hidden Ones (PS4) - 3/4 (Completed Apr 18, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Normal Difficulty | 83% Trophies
Wanted to get through as much ACO as I could before God of War came out. I think that was a bad idea because I may be a bit burned out on AC for now. I was hardly paying attention to the side quest dialogue most of the time and the gameplay is just as solid as ever. I was pretty surprised by how big of an area the DLC was, it was totally worth the asking price to me. The story was also interesting since it introduces the reasoning behind one of the tenets of the Creed, makes me wonder how they'll handle the other two.
23. Never Stop Sneakin' (Switch) - 2/4 (Completed Apr 28, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Collected All Weapons and Agents
I hate that I keep seeing cool looking games only for them to be rogue-likes. The idea of a game that emulates the look of MGS1 is awesome, it's and aesthetic that isn't revisited often, but that's most of what this game has to offer because the gameplay just isn't there. It was interesting at first: the only controls you have to worry about is movement, everything else is automatic. Progress was feeling good for maybe the first two hours, but after a while you start to see how little content is actually in the game. I had to put it down for a while because it was so repetitive. New abilities are unlocked as you play but they're still randomly found, so there aren't new mechanics that change how you play introduced beyond maybe the stealth camo. There's only a handful of bosses and you stop seeing new ones after a few runs. There's random cutscenes but nothing ever builds up to them or comes out of them, there isn't even anything different about your last run, there's no final boss. There's just nothing to push you on to finish the story because you're just doing the same things for hours. In my opinion, rogue-likes live or die by the amount of content they have to offer. If there were ever an expansion to this game or a sequel with much, much, much more content, I would not be opposed to checking it out, but I cannot recommend this game.
24. God of War (2018) (PS4) - 4/4 (Completed Apr 29, 2018)
Completed Main Story | "Give Me A Balanced Experience" Difficulty | 57% Trophies
There seems to be a lot of cynicism around this game and how games need to have fun gameplay at every second and that this game sacrifices too much to present a stronger, more grounded narrative, etc. I guess addressing that is for another thread at another time, but I quite enjoyed this game. I love Norse mythology and was impressed by how much effort went into supplementary materials to read about said mythology along with how the story kept me coming back for more. The combat is perfectly difficult even on normal, and the haptic feedback of throwing and retrieving the ax really sold me on the game early on. I feel like I'm stepping on eggshells when talking about this game because there seem to be such polarizing opinions of it, but I don't think this game is perfect, nor do I think its innovative in any way, but I find it really well executed in every way it's promised.
MAY 2018
a.k.a The month of ridiculously long DLC titles that don't have logos for me to work with.
25. SUPERHOT (PS4) - 4/4 (Completed May 3, 2018)
Completed Main Story | 22% Trophies
It was really weird coming into this after having player SUPER VR first and having to be more spatially aware and unable to duck. The body swap mechanic near the end was a really cool mechanic I would have liked to see in the VR version too. Story is much more fleshed out and was pretty interesting. I can't wait to check out SuperHOT Mind Control Delete when it comes out as a full release
26. Shadow Warrior (2013) (PS4) - 3/4 (Completed May 3, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Normal Difficulty | 61% Trophies
I kept hearing about how fun this game was and I was not disappointed. It's pretty interesting to play an FPS that isn't a cover shooter and I was initially worried Lo Wang would be a terrible Asian stereotype but his dialogue became really fun - loyal and scrappy, I enjoyed him a lot. I take a small break about halfway in the game because it does feel somewhat repetitive and the difficulty kind of waned after a while, but I'm still very much looking forward to playing Shadow Warrior 2 in the future.
27. Gravity Rush 2 -- Another Story: The Ark of Time -Raven's Choice- (PS4) - 2/4 (Completed May 5, 2018)
Completed Main Story | Medium Difficulty | 53% Trophies
Raven plays cool, sure wish I could play as her more. A good chunk of this DLC has you playing as her younger counterpart, Sachya, as a little girl running from monsters in a maze. I wish there was a bit of an open world section for me to explore but everything with Raven is just the normal game world as you go from objective to objective. There's no challenges with the new moveset, and there's no chapter select either so 100%-ing it takes a bit more conscious effort with saving. The plot fills in a bit from one of the climaxes of the main game so I still appreciate that they put in the effort for this. One of those I hate it because I love it so much situations.
28. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus -- The Freedom Chronicles: The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe (PS4) - 3/4 (Completed May 7, 2018)
Completed Main Story | "Bring 'em on!" Difficulty | 25% Trophies
The conceit of this story is really fun, probably my favorite of the bunch - former KKK turned Nazi general is obsessed with what he perceives as superior athletic abilities in black athletes. The main character lashes out during a rigged game, pisses off general, gets taken in, and breaks out. The gameplay is probably the most fun of the bunch too since it's more battle centric and you constantly regenerate health. Short and simple DLC, I enjoyed exploring the insecurities of the main villain through the collectible texts too.
29. DJ Max Respect (PS4) - 4/4 (Completed May 9. 2018)
Completed All 4B Tracks Up To Level 8 | 23% Trophies | 33:12:44
I love this game! I played DJ Max on and off on the PSP, but this was my first full attempt at getting good at the game and completing every song, but boy am I still terrible at this. Played through a few tracks on 5B, 6B, and 8B but I'm retiring from this for a while, I'm happy with what I've got out of this. Even having played only up to level 8 difficulty on 4B, there's only 2-3 songs I can't beat in any way, and I got a lot of time out of the game so the value proposition is amazing. Played through all the currently released DLC in NA too.
30. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus -- The Freedom Chronicles: The Diaries of Agent Silent Death (PS4) - 2/4 (Completed May 9, 2018)
Completed Main Story | "Bring 'em on!" Difficulty | 25% Trophies
Sadly the most forgettable of the bunch. Maybe it's just because I'm bad at FPS games, but I swear this DLC is designed to be more stealth focused since you're an assassin going through a hit list. For the first time in my experience with the new Wolfenstein games, I've avoided entire confrontations, but that also meant I had less ability to explore areas after wiping out enemies, so I don't have nearly as many collectibles and don't have as strong of a grasp on the main villain.
31. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) - 3/4 (Completed May 14, 2018)
Completed Normal Mode Main Story
I'm glad I finally got around to this, it's a lot like how I played Super Metroid for the first time last year - it's cool to see the origins of so many tropes and gameplay mechanics through such an influential game. But I'm not nearly as impressed with this game because the dungeon design felt a bit lacking to me and the story beats have been done better in later Zelda games. The music is fantastic though and I understand the nostalgia now. The world is small but feels big because each area is impressively dense with activities and collectibles. There's a lot more to say about this game in comparison to other 3D Zelda games, but I'll cut it off here.
32. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus -- The Freedom Chronicles: The Deeds Captain Wilkins (PS4) - 2/4 (Completed May 16, 2018)
Completed Main Story | "Bring 'em on!" Difficulty | 25% Trophies
This is the only part of the set of DLC that I didn't finish in one sitting. It's not quite designed around stealth or combat, and just as is in the main campaign, I don't quite get the point of the booster stilts. I fell into this rhythm of doing as much stealth as possible then running to kill the commanders if I got caught because I could never do straight up combat very well and you don't regen health. The story on this one was somewhat fun though with its handful of plot twists. Ultimately, I can't recommend the Freedom Chronicles unless you really enjoy the Wolfenstein games and want more of the gameplay, otherwise they don't really add much to the narrative or have interesting political commentary.
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Ive been slacking off in my playtime these past months but i will continue to clear games during my pass time
Game #48 - Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Time: 100+ hours
What a fantastic jrpg marred by one horrible decision by Monolith to fill the game with the most cringe worthy, unnecessary fan service since the Dead or Alive series. Its impossible to sidestep the fanservice issue, which actively ruins a lot of the dramatic moments, especially because the characters (case in point, Pyra) are actually quite good. If you can see beyond that, what you will find is one of the best jrpgs ever, with a ton of content, an awesome battle system that feels like youre playing some sort of crazy rhythmn game, tons of quests and locations, great story, great characters, just pretty much everything about it is top tier, if not once again, for those silly silly fanservice-y designs. It's really a shame as it actually brings the game down from all time classic in my opinion. Still, one of my favorite games in years, and between this and Zelda my Switch purchase is completely justified. Highly recomended even with the fan service problem.
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#29 Sly 2: Band of Thieves 4 PS3 - May 22nd - 11 hours
I liked Sly 1, didn't think it was great but it was decent. The sequel however is just plain bad. It starts off okay but once you realise you've seen the best the game has to offer in the first level, it goes to shit. Here's a list of things I didn't like about Sly 2. Every level has the same set of repetitive missions, nearly every mission has an insta fail state, the only difference between the levels is seeing how shitty the mini games will be in this one. Making you play a 3rd of the game as Bentley should be illegal.
The game CONSTANTLY interrupts you with unstoppable dialogue cutscenes the game is FAR too long with each level lasting at least 90 mins, for some reason the cutscene volume is like 200% louder than the in game, the hubs are hard to navigate and there is often only one path to the highest areas, you have to backtrack to the safe house after every mission, the levels aren't designed to be navigated with Bentley or Murray and it's a pain in the arse doing so, and the game crashed multiple times.
The only good points I could give it is some Sly levels feel like the first game and the presentation is still pretty good. Rarely does a game rub me in all the wrong ways like Sly 2 lmao
I liked Sly 1, didn't think it was great but it was decent. The sequel however is just plain bad. It starts off okay but once you realise you've seen the best the game has to offer in the first level, it goes to shit. Here's a list of things I didn't like about Sly 2. Every level has the same set of repetitive missions, nearly every mission has an insta fail state, the only difference between the levels is seeing how shitty the mini games will be in this one. Making you play a 3rd of the game as Bentley should be illegal.
The game CONSTANTLY interrupts you with unstoppable dialogue cutscenes the game is FAR too long with each level lasting at least 90 mins, for some reason the cutscene volume is like 200% louder than the in game, the hubs are hard to navigate and there is often only one path to the highest areas, you have to backtrack to the safe house after every mission, the levels aren't designed to be navigated with Bentley or Murray and it's a pain in the arse doing so, and the game crashed multiple times.
The only good points I could give it is some Sly levels feel like the first game and the presentation is still pretty good. Rarely does a game rub me in all the wrong ways like Sly 2 lmao
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Game 18 Conker Live and Reloaded
XBox, played via XBox One BC
I have owned this forever but somehow never played through it until now. It upscales really nice, and is fun but in general I prefer the n64 version.
Game 19 Super Robot Wars V
PS Vita
Love the SRW games and finally got around to this one for Vita. So good. Some of my favorite Mobile Suits in, Evas, Cross Ange, Yamato, lots of great shit. So good.
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53. Sam & Max 205: What's New Beelzebub? - 3 hours
That was wild, not as amazing as previous episode but still great finale. Some nice plot twist and hilarious jokes, though Telltale misstep with puzzles again, pixel hunt and tedious backtracking was not very good in second half of this episode. Overall, whole second season was very good outside episode 2, i definitely recommend to play it (and first season too if you still for some reasons didn't played it yet) to everyone who enjoy good comedy stories.
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53. Sam & Max 205: What's New Beelzebub? - 3 hours
That was wild, not as amazing as previous episode but still great finale. Some nice plot twist and hilarious jokes, though Telltale misstep with puzzles again, pixel hunt and tedious backtracking was not very good in second half of this episode. Overall, whole second season was very good outside episode 2, i definitely recommend to play it (and first season too if you still for some reasons didn't played it yet) to everyone who enjoy good comedy stories.
Thanks! Though i PM'ed Wozzer 3 days ago and so far haven't received answer from him, not sure why my list still not in half of fame, so maybe i'm not officially done yet.
05 | Expeditions: Viking | PC
Time: 30 hours
Score: 7/10
Viking is the successor to the sleeper hit Conquistador but takes the series in an altogether different direction, not only from tropical South America to the frosty beaches of Denmark and Scotland but also away from a more strategically minded RPG to a classic CRPG. Part of this move is a success, as the writing and choice & consequence in the game are a significant improvement. But on the other side the strategical elements related to managing your hird, feeding them and keeping them content, have been reduced from essential to very easy. Which makes them more of a chore than something challenging to manage. But luckily the combat is solid, if a little easy, and the setting is well realized. You also have multiple options to go about your playthrough, from playing a diplomatic and (relatively) peaceful thegn out to secure political allies, to being a badass viking raiding coastal towns and churches for plunder.
Main post.
My list...
-
January
-
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Dishonored®: Death of the Outsider
Battlefront 2
Cuphead
Uncharted 1: Drake's Fortune
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2nd playthrough)
Dark Souls 3 + DLC 1 / DLC 2
The Order 1886
-
February
-
God of War 3 Remastered
Call of Duty WW2 - PS4
The Last of Us™ Remastered + DLC
The Evil Within 2
-
March
-
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
God of War: Chains of Olympus
A Way Out
>observer_
-
April
-
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Bloodborne + The Old Hunters
God of War 2018 - BOI
-
May
-
Ratchet & Clank™
Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition
Beyond: Two Souls
Until Dawn
Batman: The Enemy Within
Heavy Rain
Crash Bandicoot- Remastered (7th playthrough)
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Remastered (7th playthrough)
Crash Bandicoot: Warped - Remastered
Detroit: Become Human
-
and the list goes on.............
-
January
-
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Dishonored®: Death of the Outsider
Battlefront 2
Cuphead
Uncharted 1: Drake's Fortune
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2nd playthrough)
Dark Souls 3 + DLC 1 / DLC 2
The Order 1886
-
February
-
God of War 3 Remastered
Call of Duty WW2 - PS4
The Last of Us™ Remastered + DLC
The Evil Within 2
-
March
-
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
God of War: Chains of Olympus
A Way Out
>observer_
-
April
-
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Bloodborne + The Old Hunters
God of War 2018 - BOI
-
May
-
Ratchet & Clank™
Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition
Beyond: Two Souls
Until Dawn
Batman: The Enemy Within
Heavy Rain
Crash Bandicoot- Remastered (7th playthrough)
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Remastered (7th playthrough)
Crash Bandicoot: Warped - Remastered
Detroit: Become Human
-
and the list goes on.............
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This year...with a lot of luck...I might just manage!
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (3DS): Probably the best Ace Attorney game of the trilogy - amazing characters and great plot in every single case. Ending was great, and fantastic world building to tie it all together. 4/5
- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (PS4): Weird game...started out strong - but had a massive dip into horrible-territory. Bad level design, bad enemy placement, bad cutscenes and dialogue...bad everything. Then, it picked up to the amazing quality of the last game - but it was too late and it already ended...so much wasted potential. But when the game excelled - it was beautiful. Amazing. Unbalanced difficulty left a bitter taste in my mouth sometimes. Stunning visual effects but the whole plot sucked and no progress was made. 2/5
- What Remains of Edith Finch (PC): Fantastic game. Amazing and very touching stories and VA, phenomenal visual design, world building and atmosphere. Very unique gameplay mechanics that integrate very well with the storytelling, and great OST. Didn't have a full impact on me though... 4/5
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (3DS): Good game. Great gameplay mechanics and characters, good cases (especially the last one), but it had some rough areas. 3/5
- Dark Souls III (PS4): Amazing game, one of the best in the Souls series. Probably the most beautiful game I've ever seen, the visual design is just astounding..phenomenal atmosphere. Level design is great too, and the story and lore were fine but a step down from Dark Souls 2. The new gameplay mechanics are very good and made every weapon feel awesome...but the enemy design wasn't all that great and the difficulty management was pretty bad and counted on pure damage instead of other factors. OST wasn't that memorable apart from a few tracks. 5/5
- Ashes of Ariandel (PS4): A disappointing DLC. The lore was very good, the visual design was amazing (again), the atmosphere too. Had the best boss in the entire trilogy so far. But...shit enemy placement and some bad level design, way too short and the other boss was so bad. I didn't even know it ended when I was done with it. 3/5
- The Ringed City (PS4): One of the best DLCs I've ever played...had it all - characters, atmosphere...the lore and story were phenomenal and the bosses too (except one of them), the ending was fantastic and it was filled with content. 5/5
- The Order: 1886 (PS4): Good game. Amazing visuals and atmosphere, great setting, gunplay, story, voice acting and huge potential. The ending was a bit meh and the game was too short, but so fun. 3/5
- Shadow of the Colossus Remake (PS4): My only complaint about the remake would be how it kinda lost the dreamlike, bloom-filled atmosphere of the original...but it replaced it with some new atmosphere of it's own, which was great! Aside from that - still a masterpiece and a fantastic remake which honours almost every aspect of the original...probably the best sense of scale ever, amazing lore/story and the boss battles, epicness, OST...it all falls into place perfectly, one of the best games I've ever played. 5/5
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PC): Still an amazing masterpiece. Incredible world, great writing and memorable and fun characters and missions. Some hard and weird design choices and certain missions puts it a bit down. 5/5
- Gravity Rush 2 (PS4): Such a fun game. Fantastic world, great writing, characters and really fun little stories. Was frustrating at times with bad design choices like fighting enemies on platforms and stealth sections, but it was a really good ride. The ending was amazing and left a good impression overall. 3/5
- The Ark of Time - Raven's Choice (PS4): Fun DLC, love Raven. Fights were really cool. Not sure about the story though, and it was really short. 3/5
- A Way Out (PC): Very fun game, amazing and sad ending, very good directing and fine characters. Some really original concepts but also really dumb and shallow stuff and janky game mechanics. 3/5
- Observer (PC): Amazing game. Astounding visual design and atmosphere. Lore, story and writing are top notch. The monster was a bit unnecessary and a letdown and overall the game relied on some tropes, but it's just too good...a must for any cyberpunk fan. 5/5
- Yakuza (PS2): Full of charm. Lovely game. The camera was pretty bad and the plot rather cheesy, but it was certainly an enjoyable game! Very fun. 3/5
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC): Really poor and samey level design for the most part...fun mechanics and characters but the plot sucked and not a good game overall. 2/5
- God of War (PS4): Probably the best combat to ever grace a western video game, and one of the best ever. Amazing setting, conceived brilliantly with fantastic level design, and excellent writing and VA. The story had some issues and most of the boss fights weren't all that. 4/5
- Yakuza 2 (PS2): Improved on many aspect of the first - especially the plot which was really good (although ridiculous someitmes), but also the missions and combat system. 3/5
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction Co-op (PC): Fun little campaign nothing special. Not good mechanics and level design, encouraging action and not stealth. 2/5
- Beyond: Two Souls (PS4): All in all, good game. Had some great stuff and some bad stuff, felt rushed at times. I liked with the main character and her connection with Aiden, was pretty emotional at times. 3/5
- SOMA (PC): Incredible story, lore, concepts and themes, world design felt so believable and great writing for the characters. Amazing atmosphere at parts. 5/5
- Drakengard (PS2): Certainly a unique and amazing experience. Hard as hell, with a lot of shitty stuff maybe down to translation and done on purpose, but still, so great. The plot and implications of the game are what carries it. 4/5
- Nier (PS3): Incredible, magical, perfect game. Amazing writing, voice acting and plot. One of the best OSTs I've ever heard if not the best...what an insane masterpiece. One of my favorite games of all time and I'm at a loss for word on how brilliant it is. 5/5
- Detroit: Become Human (PS4): Great game, best from Cage. Amazing atmosphere in parts, really emotional moments and cool characters and choices with a lot of impact. Some stuff towards the ending make it lose a bit of the magic that was prevalent for most of it's duration. 4/5
- Thumper (PS4): Insane game. Amazing atmosphere and OST, really cool gameplay - satisfying and hard. 4/5
- Layers of Fear (PC): Good game. Atmospheric with really nice gameplay gimmicks and scary stuff. Story is good and the way it's being told was great as well with hidden, almost organic, choices and consequences. It was very short and I wasn't a big fan of the ending puzzle, plus some of the tropes and jumpscares were a bit too much. 3/5
- Event[0] (PC): Very cool little game, loved the plot, themes and premise (Although maybe a bit too ambitious, and the AI didn't always work as intended). Great OST and Atmosphere. 3/5
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III (PS4): Finished the game on Realistic difficulty with friends, some stage designs were just horrible and it featured a lot of game breaking bugs, and enemies that spawn right near you in a really awkward way. The plot had cool themes but executed poorly. 2/5
- Yakuza 3 (PS3): Cutscenes are fantastic, awesome leap from the previous games in terms of world design, camera and combat. I wasn't a big fan of some of the twists and some parts could feel a bit stale, but it was a charming game. 3/5
- Get Even (PC): Some really cool concepts, great plot and voice acting, but it often felt like the game was too ambitious and excecuted a lot of stuff poorly, plus a few technical problems such as low FPS and crashes. 3/5
- Hollow Knight (PC): Incredible. Amazing atmosphere and OST, addictive and very responsive gameplay, wonderful story and lore, and great game design. This game is everything. 5/5
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC): Amazing level design, the hub is one of the best - heaven for immersive sims lovers. Really great side missions, and the story was good but sadly took a dive at the end, felt like the game was missing important content and it wasn't satisfying at all compared to its potential. Loading times were really bad but the gameplay was great. 4/5
- Drakengard 3 (PS3): Amazing experience...great characters and voice acting, lovely OST and memorable story. Keeps the experimental (and repetitive) stuff from Drakengard 1 but with a bit more polish, and this time with a lot of 4th wall breaking (and the game as a whole is very self aware), which creates such a unique expereince. 4/5
- Yakuza 4 (PS3): Fantastic game. Amazing characters, great gameplay, very good cutscenes, story and direction (except one small gripe I have with it). 4/5
- Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4): Amazing game. Really fun gameplay (traversal and combat), great writing, cutscene direction and voice acting, amazing boss fights, graphics and OST - but pretty bad side content. 4/5
- Little Nightmares (PC): Amazing atmosphere, themes, visual design, audio. Gameplay was a bit clunky at times, but damn, what an experience! 4/5
- The Monster Inside (PC): Cute, fun little concept, great soundtrack. Not a huge fan of the story. 2/5
- A Normal Lost Phone (PC): A powerful game, mostly well written and with awesome OST. Some of the puzzles can be a little obscure. 3/5
- Inside (PC): What an experience...amazing concepts and themes. I wasn't a huge fan of some of the visual style and gameplay but damn, the game hit me hard. 4/5
- Please, Don't Touch Anything (PC): Cute little puzzle game, pretty obtuse but mysterious and cool OST. 2/5
- Persona 5 (PS4): Amazing game...first of all gotta hand it to the OST and the UI, some of the best ever.
The gameplay was pretty fun, very addictive game and lovely characters with lots of charm, and great story.
Some stuff were bad and could've been cut, and the game did feel too long at times, but the perfect ending made up for everything. 4/5 - Celeste (PS4): Amazing visuals and sound, such a cute and charming game, especially the characters.
Some of the stage designs weren't all that, and the controls were very problematic at times. 3/5 - Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4): Wow. From a pure technical perspective, this is probably the most impressive game I've ever played. The sheer size of the world, the fact every object is accounted for, animations for everything, crazy big FOV and draw distance...I can go on and on. Other than that, R* created one of the best, if not the best, of their characters in Arthur Morgan (and expanded existing ones like Dutch and John Marston). The visual aspect of the gunplay was very satisfying. The audio design and OST were amazing. 5/5
- Deltarune Chapter 1 (PC): What and incredible experience. Toby Fox does it again..can't wait for the full game. 5/5
- The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories (PC): Wow. This game was so powerful, so original, so amazing. The puzzle design and gameplay were brilliant, the story and themes were brilliant, the visuals and OST were brilliant...everything was brilliant. 5/5
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OP
OP
Absolutely you can. The '52' is just the minimum to complete the challenge. There's always going to be an elite few that far exceed it :P
32. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest - 24/05/2018
Was this game always this hard? I remember hating the limited saves but I don't remember dying this much. I had to grind for coins at one point just to avoid getting a game over.
Oh well. DKC2 is basically perfect and is up there with Yoshi's Island as the best platformer of all time.
Was this game always this hard? I remember hating the limited saves but I don't remember dying this much. I had to grind for coins at one point just to avoid getting a game over.
Oh well. DKC2 is basically perfect and is up there with Yoshi's Island as the best platformer of all time.
Original post
52. Ristar (Mega Drive)
53. CHASE: Cold Case Investigations
This is a short and simple Visual Novel where you follow 2 police detectives investigating an old incident as instructed by an unknown party. I would've liked this game a lot more if the localization had more effort put into it, because as is, it felt like a cleaned up translation of the original JP text which made the dialog and character interactions dull and flat.
52. Ristar (Mega Drive)
Neat 2D Action Adventure game. Later stages got tough but I enjoyed it overall. Great music and visuals too, and a testament to the great visual presentation a Mega Drive can deliver.
53. CHASE: Cold Case Investigations
This is a short and simple Visual Novel where you follow 2 police detectives investigating an old incident as instructed by an unknown party. I would've liked this game a lot more if the localization had more effort put into it, because as is, it felt like a cleaned up translation of the original JP text which made the dialog and character interactions dull and flat.
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OG Post
15. Detroit: Become Human
PS4 Pro | Time Played: 15 Hours | 9/10
I was looking forward to this for some time, as Quantic Dream was a crucial part of me into the PlayStation brand. Detroit is another solid adventure filled with impactful stories about equality and the pace technology has grown in society. There is something substantial about the player choice of prior game, Quantic doubled down here - making playthroughs varied and expansive. It also looks beautiful on the PS4 Pro! Another solid game from the now iconic Sony developer.
15. Detroit: Become Human
PS4 Pro | Time Played: 15 Hours | 9/10
I was looking forward to this for some time, as Quantic Dream was a crucial part of me into the PlayStation brand. Detroit is another solid adventure filled with impactful stories about equality and the pace technology has grown in society. There is something substantial about the player choice of prior game, Quantic doubled down here - making playthroughs varied and expansive. It also looks beautiful on the PS4 Pro! Another solid game from the now iconic Sony developer.
