#3 - Super Mario 3D World | Wii U | 43 hrs 44 mins | 02.20.2018 | 7.5/10
So this is another game that's been in my backlog for several years now. It was a great game to just pick up and play when the time allowed for it, but I finally decided to sit down and power through the last few worlds (including all of the extra worlds right up to Champion's Road). Overall, a pretty great Mario game with lots of variety in power-ups and levels. One complaint I do have to make though, is that I thought the game played it very safe compared to all the other 3D Mario games such as Galaxy and 64. I just felt kinda disappointed because to me this didn't feel like a full on 3D Mario, and was more like a hybrid of 3D and the 2D side-scrolling Mario games released previously on the system. There was no unifying hub world and I missed revisiting levels for multiple stars like in all the other games. Still though, it was a pretty great experience excluding one thing...Champion's Road. Fuck that level and I hope there's a special place in hell reserved for it. Over 5 hours of my final play time was devoted to that one shitty little level, and it might be the angriest I've ever been playing a video game. Everything about it is designed to take as many lives from you as possible and nothing about it was fun whatsoever. Just useless padding to keep you from finishing the game. Just skip the whole thing and give me a credits scene next time.
12) DOOM II: Hell on Earth(PC, 10 hours)
A lot of fun, I prefer the first game though. This one has too much running through the level looking for the right way.
Currently playing:
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Trails Evolution: Gold Edition
New Super Mario Bros. 2
Bigger Update. Main post is here
#08 – Fallout 4: Nuka World (PS4)
MEDIOCRE – While the setting is really cool and unique the overall game-design is pretty weak. It's basically "Clear all the places and collect a lot of shit along the way". Yeah, yeah I know. All the Fallout 4-haters will now tell me that the whole game is that way. But that's not true. Fallout 4 and the other addons actually have many good quests and characters. Also this one has some really tedious search missions without quest-markers where you have to find 20 computer cores and other shit. I didn't enjoy this one very much and forced my way through. The Raider-feature for the Commonwealth is pretty good though. Instead of settlers you can now home raiders in settlements that extort money from nearby settlements. A nice option if you want to play an evil Mad Max villain character.
#09 – Fallout 4: Far Harbor (PS4)
GREAT – This is how a meaty game addon should be done. An interesting new place, interesting new factions and an interesting story-line with good new characteres. I really enjoyed my trip to Far Harbor and the main quest-line.
#10 – Dragon's Dogma (PS4)
AMAZING – I already beat this game two times on PS3 and I couldn't stop playing it on PS4 either. It's still my favorite open-world-RPG of all time that does so many thing so right. It's simply amazing. The party-system, the battle-system, the non-handholding-game-design (you can actually miss and fail a lot of quests and kill off NPCs for good), the story (it's fantastic dark fantasy if you pay close attention), the world and the monsters. I tried Ranger this time but that simply wasn't as fun as hacking and slashing your way through the enemies with a sword. Then I wanted to try magick but still deliver some punches so I took the Mystic Knight. I kinda regret this in hindsight. I mean he has some cool spells, but it can be a real hassle to set up your magic traps and great canons right and I often got disturbed by the enemies so I went full melee instead. For the next remaster on PS5 I will go full Warrior again with a sorcerer pawn that can infuse my weapons with elements and heal me. I think that's the most fun way to play the game. Those two-handed swords are simply a blast to use and cut through Dragons like butter. Man the hit-feedback in this game is soooo damn good and satisfying. It's totally Devil May Cry x Monster Hunter!
#11 – Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (PS4)
AMAZING – This is one of the finest Addons ever created. It's a total treat for all high-level characters. It can be a pain to get the right equipment and upgrades to stand a chance against the brutal monsters here. But there are a lot of good guides how you can effectivly farm mats, equipment and dragon forging chances. It's still a grind, but mostly a very fun one because the battle system really is THAT good. It's also one of the most atmospheric dungeons ever created with some truly terrifying foes, easily matching Souls-series best areas and boss fights.
10. Little Nightmares + Secrets of the Maw DLC - Xbox One
Completed 2/23/18
Score - 8/10
This ended up being an enjoyable, slightly depressing, puzzle/platformer. Pretty dark game without relying on gore or any real violence. It's definitely influenced by Limbo and Inside (enjoyed both) but I think I liked the art direction of this game more. The movement can be a little spotty and the jumps floaty, but it was still fun. I think overall I played around 5 hours with both the main game and the DLC. It's unique and the art direction definitely makes it a better game.
Is there a consensus on playing different versions of games we've already played? For example I am playing Majora's Mask 3D even though I've already played the original. I was going to count this since there are notable differences. However I'm also planning to get Tropical Freeze on Switch which will be more like a direct port, and I'm not sure if I should count that.
Is there a consensus on playing different versions of games we've already played? For example I am playing Majora's Mask 3D even though I've already played the original. I was going to count this since there are notable differences. However I'm also planning to get Tropical Freeze on Switch which will be more like a direct port, and I'm not sure if I should count that.
One of the greatest 2D platformers ever, and Legends totally does not even compare. The gorgeous visuals are a splendor to behold and the lightning fast platforming brings to mind the better Sonics, where mastering the level and blazing through it is reward in of itself. The Land of the Livid Dead is one of the best platfoming challenges out there.
Is there a consensus on playing different versions of games we've already played? For example I am playing Majora's Mask 3D even though I've already played the original. I was going to count this since there are notable differences. However I'm also planning to get Tropical Freeze on Switch which will be more like a direct port, and I'm not sure if I should count that.
You should count it. Even if you played through the main story of Skyrim twice but with different characters or played through Bayonetta once on normal and once on hard it's still two playthroughs.
it's been a slow start of the year, I'm currently only on 4/52 games finished and I just started two very long games (Assassins Creed Origins and Stardew Valley).
Pretty sure I won't make it this year, but I still like to keep a list just for the sake of it!
beaten in February
#2/52: Celeste (SWITCH) - ★★★★
Lovely game with tight platforming and a surprisingly good story. Sadly the B-sides are a bit out of my league so I called it quits after finishing the main levels.
#3/52 Pyre (PS4) - ★★★★
Platinum'ed it in the end. Somewhere around the 1/3th mark of the game I lost interest but still decided to continue. Glad I did! The game play got really interesting when the CPU picked up it's pace and the stars were introduced. Not a terrible visual novel either! #4/52 FIFA 18 (Xbox One) - ★★★
Got it for 'free' when I bought my Xbox one S during the x-mas sales. Guess I got over FIFA..It really did not click with me.
13. Doki Doki Literature Club [24/02/18 - 27/02/18]
~5 hours. 8/10
I've been hearing for months about how 'different' this game is, but it wasn't until I learned that a friend (who I would never expect to play something like this) was in the middle of a playthrough that it was pushed it to the top of my play list.
It definitely is different! I really enjoyed it. It was constantly surprising, does some interesting things I've never seen before in a game, and is one of those stories that wouldn't work in any other medium. All good stuff.
14. The Beginner's Guide [27/02/18 - 27/02/18]
~2 hours. 5/10 (which is a 'decent' game by my scale)
I loved The Stanley Parable, but didn't get much out of this one, sadly. I found it hard to relate to what was being expressed for the most part, and it really felt like it was trying to appear more meaningful than it actually is. I do appreciate games that push the boundaries, though.
The devs finally added achievements to the PC version with a recent patch and I decided to give it another try. I wasn't a big fan of the game when I first played it but I've enjoyed it more this time. I took my time and tried to find all audio files and read everything which I think makes the game a better experience because you get some more background information on the characters. I still think Tacoma is a better game overall but Gone Home isn't as boring as I remembered it.
16. Moss - PSVR - 2/27 - 4 1/2 hours: Quite possibly my favorite PSVR game. I really loved the puzzles and the soundtrack. Combat was ok, but everything else was great. Hopefully the game does well enough and we get the sequel. 9/10
8. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS4) (Around 9 Hours) (5/5)
I didn't think I'd be giving Uncharted two 5/5's but here we are. Personally I think this was better than 2, combat was improved, visually looked stunning, way better story, Uncharted 3 does it all. Whether it's the old chateau in France or the sweeping desert of Yemen, this game never fails to look beautiful. My favourite part of the game has to be the story, compared to the last two, this story has some actual weight, and the villains are big threats and are more then "these people are evil and want to steal gold," These characters are as grounded as reality as they can be, and Marlowe makes one of the best villains in gaming due to prior interactions with Drake and Sully. The other characters in the game are superb. Cutter is an interesting character who has the same interest in lost treasures as Nate, but is someone that the cast loses trust in after being drugged by Marlowe's men. Salim doesn't have the same fun aura as Tenzin in 2 (Drake being able to mess around with him) but is a much more interesting character. Combat feels way cleaner and gives you more reason to use it more often, starting off with a tavern brawl shows just how confident Naughty Dog was in the new system. Personally I had way more buggy experiences with this game then 1 and 2 combined, but it never brought my enjoyment down one bit.
A stunning end to a stunning trilogy, on to 4 now!
So, this is why I hit picross burn out. Pictopix is super expansive, with 200 puzzles ranging from 5x5 to 40x40, with a number of variants on a few puzzles. My play time is a little inflated, I did puzzles while I waited in FFXIV queues, but, man, well worth the like..$5-6 I paid for it?
An enjoyable little platformer. The writing is funny and on point, there was a couple of times i laughed out loud. The gameplay is solid but nothing too interesting. It's worth playing only because of the DLC gag that permeates every aspect of it, which was enough for me.
And that's probably the last game i'll finish this month. Was not expecting this many at this point as last year was very slim on that front. It's been pretty good though as i've started clearing out my backlog and been finally playing a few games i had been putting aside forever.
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Guess i managed to slip one more under the radar :)
35. Loot Box Quest / 3h30 - completed 28.02.18
A fantastic take on the current game industry wrapped on a solid idle clicker. This game's narrative is mostly derived from the upgrade system and its ever growing insanity. This game goes places. Black Mirror places. It all starts when you sit down to play McGuffin Quest 2, only to find out that the titular character has been hidden in a loot box for the sequel. Which means you need to get a job to be able to buy said loot boxes and maybe develop some bots to farm those same loot boxes. That's the beginning and it just gets weirder the further it goes. The constant discovery is most of the experience so i'll just leave it at that.
Made by Going Loud Studios, DLC Quest's developers, it shares some of their first game's DNA but it also possesses a much darker humor this time around. I guess that makes sense given the current landscape. Highly recommended.
I got this from Humble Monthly March as an Early Unlock and I'm still disappointed. It looked interesting but the graphics are the only thing I enjoyed about this game. The story is ???, what story? The protagonist is bland, the parkour elements can be frustrating because of the camera and the fighting is super boring. It's 28€ on Steam and I can't recommend it, maybe when it's 90% off and you like this kind of game. Just played the first campaign called Overgrowth and I guess that's the main one. There's another one but I don't think I'll ever play it.
#13: Zero Times Dilemma (2-28-2018) | #7/10 | PS4 | ~ 23 Hours
# Overall - 7 | A good game with many QOL improvements to the game. Story weakest in the series. Gameplay - 7.5 | Much easier to navigate. The rooms seemed easier overall, needing less logic to solve. Sound - 6 | Still not a highlight of the series. Its there to support whats happening and that's it. Story/Online - 8 | Overall it was a decent story, tying up lose knots in the series. Enjoyed darker tones. It was a worthy end to the series. Asking Price- 8.67 | Good amount of content (although half of VLR). It didn't end with the same bang though.
Visual novels is a new type of genre for me to play. Having played all three from the Zero Time Escape series it has definitely made me more open and curious of the genre.
Game #35: Abyss Odyssey Started 23 Feb. 2018 - Beaten 23 Feb. 2018
Verdict: Nice idea, almost painful to play at times.
This is one of those games I should have just stopped playing. I wasn't far in at all when I realised I wouldn't have a good time, mostly due to the controls. But I still kept playing, there is something there that just made me wanna finish it. I wanted to like it, I really did, but nope. Can't recommend it.
Game #36: The Binding of Isaac Started 8 Sep. 2017 - Beaten 23 Feb. 2018
Verdict: Handheld Isaac, exactly what I wanted.
This went pretty fast! I have been playing for about 200 hours doing pretty much everything on PC before buying this version so I knew what I was doing. I didn't mark it as "completed" (only beaten) because I absolutely can't stand greed mode. But I have unlocked all characters outside of greed mode, finished all bosses in hard mode and so on with most characters. I feel done for backlog purposes. I will not stop playing complety tho, it's still gonna be that game I pick up sometimes to play one run before going to bed. It's a superb version of the game and I have not touched the PC version since I got this.
Game #37: Shelter 2 Started 9 Mar. 2015 - Completed 26 Feb. 2018
Verdict: One of the prettiest games ever made and it will forever be special to me.
Alright, I give up. Might and Delight is not listening to our cries. I have been hunting collectibles in this game for years. Some of them do not exist. We are a couple of people that have combed the game and the last few collectibles simply can't be in the game. No one can find them. So I'm marking this as completed now. It also deleted all my save files at some point when I wasn't playing it for a while. My perfect family tree where I had lost no cubs at all. All gone. So to mark this as completed I did a hard mode playthrough (lost no cubs!) and then made a new family tree with ten perfect generations now during february. Now I feel done. Farewell Shelter 2, I love you.
Game #38: Tomb Raider: Anniversary Started 23 Feb. 2018 - Completed 26 Feb. 2018
Verdict: A great remake where even QTEs didn't bother me!
I played this on PS2 pretty soon after it came out and I wanna say I loved it then. But I dunno. My memory of it isn't great. I basically remembered the dinosaurs and parts of the end. Some levels felt completely new to me. I had some troubles with glitches in a few areas but a restart cleared them up. When I told a friend I had played it, he went off on a rant about the "horrible controls", but I didn't have any problems. The QTEs being directions instead of ABXY make them very easy and you can concentrate on how cool Lara is in the cutscenes. ;) Otherwise it's basically just Tomb Raider 1, but pretty.
Game #39: The Cat Lady Started 13 Feb. 2018 - Completed 27 Feb. 2018
Verdict: I almost have no words to describe how amazing this game is.
This is a completely unique game. Making a game about gory murders, mental health issues, suicide and other dark stuff might be easy. Doing it well? Nope, not the least bit easy. But these devs succeeded. It's probably the darkest game I ever played, but the way it's done... it just captures everything about depression and loneliness and everything, still manages to be funny at times and also make you feel some form of... hopefulness? It's a hard game to describe so I'm just gonna recommend it to pretty much everyone. It's something people have to experience for themselves.
Game #40: The Next BIG Thing Started 27 Feb. 2018 - Completed 28 Feb. 2018
Verdict: Hilarious gem that I had heard absolutely nothing about before.
I was almost gonna skip this game. Some long time ago I probably bought the Pendulo Adventure Pack, then I sloooowly played through the Runaway games and forgot about the two others. Recently I stumbled upon Yesterday in my Steam library and it sparked my interest again. But I am a weird person that want to play all games from a dev "in order" even if they are different series. So I either had to throw this away for the time being or play it first. I decided it looked nice and jumped in. And I am so happy I did, because this game is great! I grow fond of the main protag lady pretty much instantly and by the end I liked her even more. The humour was great, the references were nice and the pointy-clicky stuff wasn't too obscure or annoying. It simply worked well. The ending is also quite adorable!
#14: Metal Gear Survive (2-28-2018) | 7/10 | PS4 | ~ 23 Hours
# Overall - 7 | Enjoyable game that is overall fun to play and screw around in. Gameplay - 7.8 | Built off of fantastic mechanics it puts the player in alternative world to have fun in Sound - 8 | Music included in this game definitely bumped it up from a 7 to 8. Also credit song was great! Story/Online - 7.5 | Game has a deeper story than expected and while online is only 1 mode it works well. Asking Price- 7.67 | The game has a good amount of content and some post game stuff, easily worth MSRP.
The game was pretty enjoyable and am looking forward to some of the post game content.
Tekken 7 was something I thought was gonna be an easy 8 by my standards with its level of visual splendor and polish and it's gameplay being highly regarded. However, its content is so bare and its story, despite its presentation with dynamic lead ins to playable story fights and cutscene fights coreographed so well, is so nonsensical and stupid it's mind boggling. The main conflict is spearheaded by a demon mass murdering warmonger and his father who himself is a mass murdering warmonger who treated his demon child (the mother was a demon sent to kill him) like shit and who could possibly care what happens to these fucks? Anything beyond them is goober filler, especially the "narrator" who delivers his boring life story in the most boring, monotone voice you can possibly want.
Game 2: Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition (PS4) | 10+ Hours | 01/22/2018 | 8/10
For better or for worse, it's still Street Fighter V. It has arcade mode now, but arcade mode is arcade mode so it's rote and boring after the first like three playthroughs. The game specific thing is a nice touch to the mode. Speaking of nice touches, with the rebranding the game got some nice touches to the UI and gameplay with a second V trigger. At the end of the day it's Street Fighter V so it's not much of an overhaul to the point where it'll change your mind or anything.
Game 3: Slay the Spire (PS4) | 3+ Hours | 01/23/2018 | 9/10
I tried a few roguelikes here and there and generally didn't find ones that really pulled me. This game managed to buck the trend with a really addicting gameplay loop I've come back to for hours on end. While I list 3 hours since that's the time it took me to get to the end, I've put 23 hours or so since and with new updates that roll out with it still in early access it's something I'll be coming back to it more and more as time goes on. Main problem with this game atm is that actually playing it can be very slow with nice looking, lengthy animations and just general slowness. This can be circumvented with CheatEngine however, and at 5x speed it gives the game a sort of snappiness that'll make you queue up for another run.
Dragon Ball here is a lot like Tekken in that it has masterclass visual design, sound design, crisp gameplay and it's polished to a tee. Where they differ is while Tekken doesn't have too much content, Dragon Ball has a solid amount of content that is unfortunately rather poor; especially when compared to the recent Guilty Gear games. For starters, the tutorial mode is rather barren; while it teaches you most things on a very basic level it even lacks teaching you some of these basic things like being able to tech upwards and being able to preform a Z Change with a level 3 super which are odd omissions. Combo trials are in but they're limited to 10 to each character and a large percentage of them teach very little in the way of actually doing a combo more than just an autocombo. Story mode contain three arcs that total around 6-8 hours of gameplay, but all the arcs tell the same story with minor changes and completion is required to earn characters so it becomes tedious by the end of the first arc. AI doesn't really get any smarter or better for the most part on higher difficulties, they just do more damage when they touch you which makes arcade/story mode more annoying than they need to be. It's definently a great game, just bogged down by some more questionable decisions.
Game 5: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (PS4) | 15 Hours | 02/05/2018 | 8/10
It's pretty cool. I don't really care for the 3v3 decision and having never played the previous games I'm not as affected by the lack of RPG content but I still think it's fun. Having to do arcade mode/online to level yourself up to get memory tokens or whatever to continue through the story is a decision I didn't really care for. The story is fine for what it is, the summon bosses are cool though some can be weird/cheap, it's a fun enough romp. The gameplay is solid and the presentation's good. No Cactuar though so it's a true dissappointment worthy of the trash bin.
Game 6: Under Night In-Birth EXE:Late[st] (PS4) | 10+ Hours | 02/12/2018 | 9/10
As you can see I've played a lot of fighting games the past two months, so it might mean something when I say this is the one I enjoyed the most. As a package it might have the advantage of being a 'super' version of the previously released Under Night In Birth but that doesn't stop it from being a fantastic package. The tutorial is one of the best tutorials you'll find in a game like this. It sections off techniques from beginner to veteran and while beginner teaches you the very basics like changing sides not affecting lifebars, veteran tutorials will teach you things like kara throws and option selects. Combo trials are similarly expansive, beginner trials will teach you basic cancels and chains, intermediate trials usually consist of one pretty good 'real' combo that the game will have you hit from different starters (crouching light, jump in, jump in after air dash), veteran trials will go more off the deep end and be high execution combos to grind on. Trial also has a specifc category that tells you character specific options, from mid range pokes to invincible reversals to moves that deal with projectiles. Outside of all this there's a prologue mode that plays out like a visual novel with lots of lore, and the 'story mode' is just the arcade mode with three rival battles and a fight with the boss with an ending cutscene. The major knock on this is that it was sent out to die releasing close to Monster Hunter, Dragon Ball and Dissidia so the game's online is not as lively as it should be but it's still a great game that shouldn't be overlooked.
Game 7: King of Fighters XIV (PS4) | 3 Hours | 02/14/2018 | 6/10
It's ok. Fun, varied, large cast of characters to choose from. Mediocre graphics and presentation due to the lighting evidently, according to the models ripped from the game that got put up online. Slim pickings for content as story mode is just arcade mode with a chance your chosen characters will have interactions with characters of the random ai team. Ok tutorial and limited trial mode (only five trials per character that get as complicated as a few hits into super into super super). Standard online functionality. Not much to this one.
Game 8: Mega Man (PS4) | ~4 Hours | 02/28/2018 | 5/10
I bought both legacy collections and I'll be trying to run through them all. Unfortunately I wanted to like this game much more than I ended up liking it. The platforming is pretty solid, although weird things with Megaman's acceleration and deceleration make him a bit more slippery than I liked. Level design is on the whole alright but then some levels are just real bad and there are some goofy ways the games doles out its difficulty that can make it feel unfair. If we use Ice Man's level as an example, the first half is pretty basic on the verge of being boring (especially if you have powerups) where you can just play pretty freely and facetank some shit knowing there's a big health powerup being poorly guarded. From the mid point you're introduced to the invisible tile platforming that's mostly fair and requires some basic practice/understanding to the living flying platform segment which is largely terrible due do being shot into instadeath pits. The problem here is that with lives/game overs the idea would be you'll play better as you start the level again so when you get to the hard part you'll be more prepared but with this level it just doesn't happen because the first part of the level is barren on the platforming side and then the platforming challenge with being shot instadeath pits just means you'll be playing the same shit over and over. Needless to say, and I didn't really want to do it, I ended up savescumming this part and the Wily gauntlet because I just stopped caring and just wanted to beat it. Hopefully I take to the future installments better than I did to this one.
Cool Metroidvania-ish. The story goes some interesting places and has some interesting ideas though the mood switches were sometimes a little bit glaring. Pixelart is great for all of the game as are the animations. The upgrade system felt pointless for the most part. A lot of the things you can build don't feel like a significant improvement and get deactivated one at a time when you get hit thus losing the small benefits while recharging them can take quite some time. Most annoying were character switches which didn't control that well though one of my favorite boss fight was with a character that was not the main character Robin. Last word goes to the music which is good in almost all places. Will definitly be on my GotY list when the year ends (and I hopefully don'T forget it). 4/5
Remedy is one of my favorite studios so I was pretty excited for Quantum Break that I even thought buying a Xbox One for it. Thankfully it came to PC and I probably would have regreted a console for it. Good things first: It looks nice, the time animations are impressive and I thought doing the decisions which affect story and gameplay as the antagonist was interesting. I can get something out of time travel stories. Here, too, though some things would probably require digging in the collectibles which is something I will never do. And I hate to get down on a game but it feels like I can't do it any other way in this case. The shooting feels janky which is disappointing coming from a studio which made two fantastic and two pretty good third person games with shooting in it. The time abilities are boring. Collectibles for story stuff and upgrade points are hidden in the levels but are only visible with a Batman-ish detective vision and so you walk through the levels always pressing the button for it. The NPCs are incredible annoying and always make some noises for you to find the right way. The series with real actors is pointless. The characters it focuses on are in the game for not even a minute and adds nothing to the overall plot. In the end Quantum Break is a disappointing game by a great studio. 2/5
A first-person exploration game (walking sim if you want to be mean and edgy) in which you explore a house of your family and learn about the stories which led to their death. These vary in quality though almost all have some neat design decisions. The house is very detailed. It is a short but very touching game. 4/5
At the end I was pretty burned out with Yakuza 0 which has more to do with playing 3 other Yakuza games in the last year but also digging deep into the real estate side game. To make it quick: It is another Yakuza game and probably my favorite one. Not that hot on the three battle styles but style, music, characters and story made me forget that pretty much. Start with this one if you want to get into Yakuza. You won't regret it! 4/5
An Ace Attorney with birds. I like the art style and music. Given that this is a game on a much smaller scale than Ace Attorney the cases are pretty short and the cross examination are pretty basic to put it nicely. Wasn't a fan of a fail state when you screw up in the investigations though you can get back where you were fast. The game has three different endings though after I got mine I didn't feel like investing the half and hour to an hour to get the other ones. 3/5
I think one of Telltales first adventure games which shows in the production values. Nevertheless Bone Episode 1 is a neat adventure game. I liked the characters and the dialogue. It doesn't offer much in puzzles and has some bad breaks from the main mechanics though you can skip at least two of the three I thought were bad. 3/5
Game 5: Unravel - PS4 - Completed - ~10 hours
This game looks beautiful and is also quite a lot of fun to play. The art style and music compliment each other well and my only complaint is that the gameplay gets a little samey, using the same mechanics to get past different obstacles. Overall though, very well put together.
Overall rating: 7/10
Game 6: Steamworld Dig 2 - Switch - Completed ~ 15 hours
Excellent sequel that improves on the original in pretty much every way imaginable. That said, if you didn't get on with the first game, you probably won't with this one. In my opinion it's one of the better metroidvania style games to come along in recent years and manages to differentiate itself by way of its setting, art style and characters. Recommended.
Overall Rating: 8/10
Game 7: Inside - PS4 - Completed - ~8 hours
After the disappointment of Limbo, I approached this with a bit of trepidation. I needn't have worried. This is a much better game in every department. The animation, setting and use of physics in puzzles are all awesome. The game is dripping with atmosphere and yet there is no narration or story per se. You fill in the blanks using your imagination. Highly recommended.
Overall Rating: 8/10
Game 8: Metroid Samus Returns - 3DS - Completed ~ 20 hours ish can't be bothered to look.
I'm in two minds about this game. There are elements that I enjoy and elements that I don't. My biggest gripe is that the game is very samey. There isn't much variety in terms of enemies or locations and the way in which upgrades are hidden doesn't really incentivise you to go back and grab them. Enemies take far too many shots to kill until much later in the game, meaning that you have to rely on the counter system which is repetitive. You can tell that this is a rework of a much older game, stretched out to be acceptable length for modern times.
Overall rating: 6/10
Game 9: Hey! Pikmin - 3DS - Completed - > 20 hours not sure how long
More fun than I expected it to be but a little too long for my liking. Could do with being 1 or 2 worlds shorter as it does start to wear thin as you progress through the game. Having said that, the game is fun without being at all challenging - it's probably one of the easier games that I've played in a while but that doesn't detract from the gameplay. The graphics are charming and the 2 screen layout is quite unique. Overall I'd recommend this game for a bit of casual fun on the 3DS.
Overall rating: 7/10
Up Next:
The Last of Us Remastered - PS4
Oxenfree - Switch
Xenoblade Chronicles 3D - 3DS
Ratchet and Clank - PS4
It's actually not a backlog challenge (even tho many people treat it as such). It's "A thread for people that are trying to play 52 games in a year." to quote the OP.
I wish I could speedrun my games and have fun doing it, then I might actually be able to clear my 340 game backlog and 200 game wishlist during my lifetime! :D
It's actually not a backlog challenge (even tho many people treat it as such). It's "A thread for people that are trying to play 52 games in a year." to quote the OP.
I wish I could speedrun my games and have fun doing it, then I might actually be able to clear my 340 game backlog and 200 game wishlist during my lifetime! :D
Honestly i just needed the extra motivation to stick with games until i'm done with them. Otherwise i just stare at my library and play nothing for more than 30 minutes. I've finished more games in these last two months than in the entire last year already and didn't rush any of them.
Honestly i just needed the extra motivation to stick with games until i'm done with them. Otherwise i just stare at my library and play nothing for more than 30 minutes. I've finished more games in these last two months than in the entire last year already and didn't rush any of them.
Yeah I'm the same. Since I started participating in these (in 2014) I have beat 60+ games per year while before I beat like... 10? I used to just get stuck with some long games, starting over in them or spending time on meaningless sites on the internet instead of playing, but still buying more games. I don't rush games either, often even 100%ing them which sometimes means playing them at least twice before listing them here.
Replays of old games and playing a bunch of short games has me thinking I may actually win this challenge for once. Granted, it's only just about to be February, who knows what the rest of the year may bring.
10. Halo - [10/10] 10ish hours, Feb 11th
Never got around to playing the entirety of Halo 1's campaign until I got an Xbox One for incredibly cheap last month. Decided that it was probably the best way to break in my new system, and I'm glad I did. One of those games I always knew I loved but I forgot just how much I did until I revisited it after years and years. Still one of the best FPS campaigns of all time.
11. Shadow of the Colossus - [9.5/10] 5 hours, Feb 28th
5 years ago I played the PS3 HD remaster. I so desperately wanted to love Shadow of the Colossus, but I absolutely hated playing the game and that alone ruined everything for me. The art, the designs and puzzles of the colossi, the music, everything about it was phenomenal but playing the game was an absolute chore. As it turns out, Bluepoint really screwed up the controls by increasing the game's framerate in that version. Well, they've more than atoned for that with the PS4 remake, because I finally love SotC the way I always wanted to. I just wish this could've been my first experience with the game.
12. Donkey Kong Land 3 - [8.5/10] 2 hours 3 minutes, March 1st
61% completion. DKC3 is my least favorite of the original trilogy, but I think DKL3 may be my favorite of this trilogy. This series is strangely forgotten and I'm not sure why, I had a really good time with it. Sure, they're not as good as the SNES games, but they're very solid and fun platformers in their own right. The levels in this game are a lot less gimmicky than DKC3's, which is great - annoying things like reversed control gimmicks are gone and replaced with just straight up well-designed levels.
19. Half-Life 2: Episode Two - 4.5 hours
10 years later, it's still a great game. But ending game like this and never making next episode is really shitty, i'll never understand why Valve thought that it's acceptable to abandon franchise and fans like this.
1. Baldur's Gate 2 - 40 hours. ★★★☆ Must admit the story let me down, I was promised the best RPG of all time. Gameplay was fun, but not as fancy as modern RPGs. Couldn't bring myself to finish Throne of Baal.
2. Monster Hunter World - 100 hours. ★★★★ Surprised of how much I enjoyed it. Great gameplay loop, fun both offline and online. Stopped myself after getting the credits to play other games.
3. Agents of Mayhem - 30 hours. ★★☆☆ As a big fan of Saints Row, disappointed with this game's the direction. Started to get into it around 5 hours mark. Very repetitive. Did not have much to offer in term of contents. It's a shame because some agents are genuinely fun and likable.
1. Baldur's Gate 2 - 40 hours. ★★★☆ Must admit the story let me down, I was promised the best RPG of all time. Gameplay was fun, but not as fancy as modern RPGs. Couldn't bring myself to finish Throne of Baal.
2. Monster Hunter World - 100 hours. ★★★★ Surprised of how much I enjoyed it. Great gameplay loop, fun both offline and online. Stopped myself after getting the credits to play other games.
3. Agents of Mayhem - 30 hours. ★★☆☆ As a big fan of Saints Row, disappointed with this game's the direction. Started to get into it around 5 hours mark. Very repetitive. Did not have much to offer in term of contents. It's a shame because some agents are genuinely fun and likable.
Was Baldur's Gate 2 your first Infinity Engine game? I've been itching to revisit it one day, but have been pushing it off because of how long it takes to play through. Done the shorter ones like Icewind Dale (wish I really recommend if you enjoy the combat in BG2) and BG1 numerous times, but not BG2. 40 hours is a really short play time I guess I'm saying, that's a bit encouraging for me, given the fastest "rushed" playtime is over 50 on howlongtobeat, and average is more like 70, with adding in side quests taking it to 90 (and this is without the expansion). I was having memories of it being 100+ for me, but I guess maybe it depends on how straight you go through it and what difficulty.
#12 - Transformers: Devastation (PS4)
GOOD - The battles in this game are great. It's mainly Bayonetta with a heavy use of "witch-time". The music is awesome, reminded me a lot of Metal Gear Rising. The camera can be a problem at times when too much is going on or in bigger boss fights. Also there simply isn't much content. The campaign is like four hours long and even within that small timespan it recycles a lot of content like stages and boss fights.
Was Baldur's Gate 2 your first Infinity Engine game? I've been itching to revisit it one day, but have been pushing it off because of how long it takes to play through. Done the shorter ones like Icewind Dale (wish I really recommend if you enjoy the combat in BG2) and BG1 numerous times, but not BG2. 40 hours is a really short play time I guess I'm saying, that's a bit encouraging for me, given the fastest "rushed" playtime is over 50 on howlongtobeat, and average is more like 70, with adding in side quests taking it to 90 (and this is without the expansion). I was having memories of it being 100+ for me, but I guess maybe it depends on how straight you go through it and what difficulty.
It was my first time playing the game.
You can replay on Story mode, it shouldn't take long to get through the game that way.
I did not do a lot of side quests or exploring in BG2, I put it on Normal but moved it down a notch on some boss fights if I died too many times.
I started to rush it around Underdark city area to see the ending so I sort of refer to the guide.
Ok I'm gonna give it a go. Games I finished since the last holidays:
1- Wipeout Omega Collection.
Great game. We specially enjoyed Wipeout 2048 of the 3.
2- Farpoint
One of the best games on PSVR. Maybe not an A, but a solid B. We need more games like this.
3. NioH.
I loooooved this game. An A for me, top 3 of last year. Purchased the season pass so I can revisit it in the future.
4. South Park: The Stick of Truth.
Bought the Fractured But Whole because this one was included, 2 for 1 was too good to miss, but I didn't have great expectations for it. God I was wrong. It captures the show perfectly. Can't wait to play TFBW
5. Uncharted The Lost Legacy
This was a bit of a letdown. Worst game in the series imo The open world part in the middle killed the flow of the game for me, had to force myself to get back. I'm glad I did though because the ending is fantastic
6. Undertale
Another disappointment. I guess it was too overhyped and I went in with too much expectations. Not a bad game at all, but not as good as Inside for example. ymmv
7.What Remains of Edith Finch
This is a game that when I was playing it I thought it was a bit too much (without going into spoilers) but had amazing pieces on it. I think that as the time passes I'l just remember the good things about it. Totally worth playing in any case.
8.Battlefront 2.
God the campaign was bad. I still enjoy the mp though, as a fun game to play with friends.
9.Shadow of the Colossus.
I didn't play the original unfortunatelly, so I was not as blown away as I would have been if I had. Some of the controls were a bit janky. Loved the ending though. I'm playing through TLG atm and enjoying it even more
10. Towerfall Ascension: The Dark World.
3 of us played the co-op campaign an was a blast. Great game made even better
Games I'm going through right now:
1. Rez VR
2. Telltale's TWD Season 3
3. Telltale's Minecraft
4. Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy (I got fed up with Telltale's formula midway through, but I'll finish them at some point)
5. Batman VR
6. RE7. Not a Hero DLC (VR) (VR games I play once a month)
7. AC Origins (playing with a friend)
8. Persona 5 (will go back on holidays)
9. Wolfenstein 2 (playing with another friend)
10.Dishonored (liked it quite a bit, will go back on a rainy sunday)
11.Alien Isolation (playing with yet another friend)
12. The Last Guardian (just finished SotC so I'll give this game some time)
13. Kingdom Come:Deliverance (main game atm)
Games I plan on playing this 2018:
1. Raw Data VR
2. South Park The Fractured But Whole
3. The Lost Bear VR
4. The Evil Within 2
5. Hellblade
6. Rime
Games I plan on buying (and playing :P) this 2018:
1. A Way Out
2. Dark Souls Remaster
3. God of War
4. Detroit: Become Human
5. Spiderman
7. Far Cry 5
8. Ni No Kuni 2 (if the story is good)
9. RDR2
10. Days Gone
11. Metro: Exodus
12. Moss
#16 Prince of Persia (PC) | 8.9h | March 02 | ★★★½
Considering this is a 2008 game, it aged very well. The graphics still look good thanks to cel-shading and the gameplay is fun. Combat can become repetetive after a while but the parkour parts were really enjoyable and the camera did its job most of the time. The story is entertaining but your character tries too hard to be funny at times. Though I still don't know if he's a prince or not.
11. Shadow of the Colossus - PS4
Completed 3/1/18
Score - 10/10
Still absolutely love this game. Everything about it takes you to extreme highs and lows. Not many games can make you feel so many emotions over the course of the game. I remember it originally taking me 8-10 hours back in the PS2 days but this playthrough only lasted about 4 1/2. The only gripe I found was fighting the controls and camera on the final Colossi. Still one of my favorite games of all time and I am sure I will replay it again soon.
Did they put a soundtrack out for this anywhere? I can't find much music related to it on Apple Music and would love to put it on over work.
February Update Game 3 - Little Adventure on the Prairie ☆☆☆☆☆
Positives: It counts as a finished game for the 52 games objective. Negatives: terrible platformer, terrible combat, terrible hit detection, one particular has a big difficulty spike which makes it a terrible game for a young kid to play despite the appearence of the game. Another positive: it's short!
I completed this in 2016 but found it exhausting and didn't even attempt it in 2017.
I'm on pace to unintentionally complete it in 2018, but i find it very unlikely that I'll keep up this pace once summer rolls around.
Anyway, here's where I'm at:
Currently playing: Battlechasers: Nightwar
Previously Completed in 2018:
1) Overcooked (PS4) - Finally finished this up after periodically playing with friends for the better part of last year
2) Doki Doki Literature Club (PC) - Was pretty underwhelmed given the hype behind this from this website
3) Yakuza 0 (PS4) - My first Yakuza game and I really enjoyed it, and was very pleasantly surprised by the story. I thought Maijima was cooler before he turned into ZANY GUY
4) Monster Hunter World (PS4) - Enjoyed playing with a friend, but found it very repetitive and was glad it was over when I beat it
5) Shadow of the Colossus (PS4) - An all time classic with amazing graphics. Loved it as much as the original; if not more.
6) SUPERHOT VR (PC) - Incredible experience and the first game I've completed on my new Rift
9) Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4) - The Frozen Wilds - Took me a while to re-learn how to play the game after not playing since the game launched a year ago, but I really enjoyed it once I got back into the swing of things again
10) Sundered (PS4) - Another game I started last year, but randomly started playing one day and it just clicked. Really cool art style and I thought moving around the environment was really smooth and fun. Liked this more than I thought I would.
1. Human: Fall Flat - 6 hours. FINISHED.
2. The Evil Within 2 - 14 hours. FINISHED.
3. Super Mario Odyssey - 25 hours. FINISHED.
4. Contradiction: Spot the Liar! - 7 hours. FINISHED.
5. Little Nightmares - 3 hours. FINISHED.
6. Nioh - 15 hours. DISCONTINUED.
7. Don't Starve Together - ~80 hours. FINISHED
8. Celeste - 10 hours. FINISHED.
9. Monster Hunter: World - FINISHED.
10. Subnautica - IN PROGRESS.
11. Contra: Hard Corps - IN PROGRESS.
12. Botanicula - 3 hours. FINISHED.
13. Home - 1 hour. FINISHED. This is a small horror game that attempts to be super creepy and ominous, and mostly gets that right. While there's nothing in here that's a jump scare moment, the sense of dread from this small pixelly adventure was certainly notable. It was an hour that I don't regret spending with it, and I appreciated that the pacing was tight and it didn't overstay its welcome.
14. Monster Loves You! - 1 hour. FINISHED. Not a lot to say about this. It was a game focused on making choices to increase your stats so you can progress further in the game, with some cute little stories to go through in the process. A cool little text adventure style game, but I'm probably not returning to it to find all of the endings.
15. Yakuza Kiwami - 2 hours. IN PROGRESS. After playing Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 3, I had a good idea of what to expect here. The game feels totally fine, and the story is fun. It's sweet to see how the series started, though I can tell where it came from a PS2 game in certain places. I think that's part of its charm. Overall, a cool game, and I look forward to playing through it.
Next up:
Yakuza Kiwami
Steamworld Dig 2
Kirby Star Allies
Fine fine... so yeah, I don't see any other game this year surpassing this as my prsonal game of the year, mainly because I don't see any other game hooking me like this did. I never repay games or play NG+ modes or go back to finish sidequests when I finish games, and yet I found myself double my game time (actually more, I "finished" the game around 90 hours in and since then played 100 more) with this. Amazing gameplay, gorgeous graphics (even if the frame rate isnt very stable), just super addicting game play loop of getting new weapons and gear, changing to a new weapon which is basically like changing classes in most games, Capcom made a fantastic game here, and maybe because this was my first ever Monster Hunter game, I liked it more than most (much like Persona 5 last year). Again, I don't see any other game this year being my GOTY.
Game #36 - Monster Slayers
Time: 20 hours
Writting my thoughts 20 hours in but not only will I play more but I also could have written this 2 hours in as the gameplay loop is always the same. A deckbuilding rogue-like that has you running various dungeons to level up and gear your hero, while you build your deck with various card drops and upgrades. Tons of classes to use, all with very different decks and abilities, cute graphics, great gameplay, just a fantastic rogue like that has the "just one more run" aspect down perfectly. Also, it's pretty much the same game as Slay the Spire, which got so much attention recently, and yet this has been around for awhile. It also made me realise while I love card games, it has to be games (or modes) like this where you build your deck as you play and everything resets, I can't do the whole card collecting and deck building outside the game anymore.
1. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch) 100 hours
Never played the first one so wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. Despite some of the hate it got, I really loved this game. Some quests got tedious in the end, but getting new rare blades was fun and the story was...there.
2. Life is Strange: Before the Storm (PS4) 10 hours
Not sure how I feel about this one. Gives good back story to Chloe, and makes you really feel for Rachel, but it felt rushed.
3. Four Sided Fantasy (PC) 3 hours
Interesting puzzle game, way too easy.
4. Digimon Cyber Slueth: Hacker's Memory (PS4) 50 hours
Not as fun as the first one for the sole reason that everything was rehashed, the environments, the Digimon, everything. Pretty disappointed, though still enjoyed collecting Digimon
5. Monument Valley 2 (Android) 2 hours
Didn't understand the story, easier than the first too, but still great visually
6. Celeste (Switch) 8 hours
Felt like playing Meat Boy again. Great game, fun characters, and I'm really glad it was on the Switch
7. Shadow of the Colossus (PS4) 4.5 hours
Improved the orginial in every way, 10/10.
8. The Room (PC) 2 hours
I did not find the puzzles very intuitive, kinda annoyed me at points. I didn't get what the narrative was supposed to be either.
9. Rime (PS4) 4 hours
Looked nice, I liked the style of it, but I was disappointed with how short it was. Glad I got it for free from PS+
10. The Darkness 2 (PC) 6 hours
I still really like The Darkness 2. It is fun to play, and has interesting lore. I would really like a Darkness 3
Game 5 - The Evil Within 2 (PS4) - 23 hours, 24 minutes - 3.5/5
Finally got to this one after letting it sit unplayed even though I grabbed it at launch. What a pleasant surprise tbh. I had expected the worst with the shift to a bit more of an open world format among other things. I played through on Nightmare difficulty after reading that it more or less plays like Survival (or even easier than that) from the original TEW.
The combat absolutely took some getting used to. Early in the aiming felt horrible and I felt like enemies were walking through would be headshots. The clunkiness remained even near the end but things became more manageable with other weapons in my arsenal and the abuse of stealth. Speaking of stealth, I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on how railroaded it feels in terms of being "stealth these encounters or use all your ammo/die". Stealth was definitely a great route to take in TEW1 but I feel like unless you were playing on the harder difficulties or restricting yourself with upgrades or other self imposed challenges you could get by without. That really didn't feel like the case here with certain enemies (especially the flamethrower ones). Maybe it was because I explored anything/everything during my first run. During the last boss I had thought I ran out of ammo completely but I thankfully had the machine gun left which had just enough (it genuinely hit 0 as the boss ended) to finish things off.
Otherwise this was very solid. I did kind of miss the extremely varied locations of the original (not to say there isn't variety here but Union as a whole isn't particularly inspiring) but the open world gameplay loop wasn't as tragic as I had anticipated. The enemy design took a bit of dip for me also but I feel like it's still pretty great overall. TEW → TEW2 gives me Alien → Aliens vibes at times in that they're both good at one they do but they approach things really differently.
Either way, I'm glad to have finally played this. It's too bad it flopped pretty badly (I think?) since I'd love to have seen more DLC for this one or a TEW3 someday.
Game 6 - Unravel (PS4) - ~8 hours - 2.5/5
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did in the end but the physics and level design got in the way. This felt really similar to LittleBigPlanet at times in that this is really adorable but the gameplay itself feels like a disaster. A game with such a heavy focus on puzzle platforming should not feel this bad when navigating around (jumping, grappling/swinging, etc).
I can definitely see room for improvement, still. I'll keep an eye out for the sequel if it''s still coming.
Game 7 - Life is Strange: Before the Storm (PS4) - ~9 hours - 4/5
Did a replay of this with a friend. I'm still a fan of it and may prefer it to Life is Strange overall. I'll have a better idea after replaying Life is Strange soonish. I'm happy to have the original VA back for Chloe in the bonus ep but it is kinda sad/i feel bad for the new one because I loved her work in the other eps.
This was so much better than it had any right being.
Game 8 - Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) - ~8 hours - 3/5
Marking this as finished as I don't see myself going back for 100% completion ever. I was very excited to play my first 3D Mario since Galaxy and am glad I did but I don't think it was for me. The format of the game with the massive amount of moons/content feels overwhelming and I know you don't need all of it to proceed but sometimes less is more? I would've gladly taken less overall content if it meant everything was really tightly designed. It didn't help that I wasn't a fan of a decent chunk of the kingdoms. The bosses got to be a bit of a bummer also since they popped up so frequently and sometimes repeated.
Even still this is a Mario game so the platforming is sublime when you can get around to it. It just wasn't completely in my lane in regards to what I enjoy, I suppose.
I have only played the PS2 game but iirc you can choose to go from colossus to colossus (skipping collectibles) and that can't take many hours. 4-5 sounds about right.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (PC)
Started 1/02/2018 - Completed 11/02/2018
Playtime: 40 hours
Score:★★★☆☆
Second time playing this game but I have to admit I would have dropped it if it didn't have turbo mode which made a huge difference. I only focused on the main game that's why I was able to finish so quickly and this time I promised myself to pay attention to the plot and there still some parts that I don't get lol, maybe it's because English is not my native language and this game uses a lot "hard" words. The game itself is great, music is awesome and I really like the gambit system but I just can't get into MMOs type of games that are single player and maybe that hindered my enjoyment of the game.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (PC)
Started 14/02/2018 - Completed 1/03/2018
Playtime: 90 hours
Score:★★★★☆
That's right, 90 hours. This game consumed these last two weeks and I dont regret it. My Kiseki experience comes from the PC versions only so I had to wait to get the two CS games ported over to PC but man it was worth the wait. I absolutely love the soundtrack of this game so kuddos again Falcom. The battle system is mostly the same but there are some tweaks to the quartz system like unlocking quartz level (kinda like the Sky games) that makes it that you are not overpowered from the start (somewhat) and also magic is faaaar more useful in comparison to the first game so that's a plus. Can't talk much about the plot because that would be a huge spoiler, thank you XSeed and Durante for porting this game!
I've been doing good keeping up with the challenge -- not so good on keeping up with my write-ups!
Finally, here's the rest of what was January!
Game #3 The Stanley Parable - (PC/Steam) - 60% Achievement Completion - 4 hours played (Jan 6th to Jan 7th) - Grade: 84/100
I guess the best way to describe The Stanley Parable is: "a walking simulator" that lampoons the concept of linear narrative games. The voice acting was great and the writing was really funny. I loved seeing all the little ways you could get the game to deviate from its script. That said, I guess I was expecting a little bit more from it. While it was amusing, it didn't really come across to me that it had anything particularly poignant to say. I had the impression going into it that was more what it was about. I still enjoyed it though. I went through to find most of the endings except for the ridiculously tedious ones.
Pros: Funny writing and great voice acting. Cons: Nothing seemingly important to say.
Game #4 The Beginner's Guide - (PC/Steam) - Achievements N/A - 1 hour, 29 minutes played (Jan 7th) - Grade: 68/100
This is a hard one to talk about without spoiling it. In a broad overview, this is a game that seeks to explore the mind of a game developer by traveling chronologically through and sequentially experiencing his games. It's by one of the guys that did The Stanley Parable. There's a narrator providing constant narration as you explore the games. Once you finish playing through one of the games you move onto the next one.
The games are set up like experimental student games. They're all fairly similar in terms of their limited gameplay. They're mainly variations on "walking simulators" with maybe some minor environmental interaction. The gameplay is not really the point though. It's more of a framework through which the story is told. While I remained intrigued by the story, by the end it came across as sort of pretentious and left me with a kind of "bleh..." feeling. Despite mulling it over, I don't know how to more clearly explain my issues with it without spoiling it. So I'll just leave it at that. (Unless you want to read the spoiler section below!)
So after going through all this guy's experimental games, you find out there really wasn't any meaning or greater overarching theme or idea behind all these games that the narrator and the player was trying to discover. Basically the narrator is taken to task for having such an empty life that he's trying to find meaning in someone else's games. As the narrator is kind of a proxy for the player it feels sort of insulting. It's played straight and not for laughs like The Stanley Parable. It's not like I as a player came here looking for meaning or anything. That was the premise for the game I found out after starting it up. It comes across as, "I'm going to sell you on this premise and get you to play through my game then passive aggressively chide you for thinking I was going to pay this off somehow." It just felt sort of obnoxious.
You could also take this as a response to critical reception of The Stanley Parable. My general perception of that game before playing it was that there was something more profound the game was trying to say about the nature of linear interactive games, where I took it for more of a general goof after finally playing it (see above review). Maybe that's what this game was supposed to be saying? Maybe if the ending felt more directed at critics of the previous game rather than the player of this game it wouldn't have rubbed me the wrong way so much.
Pros: Interesting framework for an intriguing narrative. Cons: Pretentious ending spoils the experience at the finale.
Game #5 The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom - (Xbox 360) - 145/200 Achievement Completion - 8 hours, 23 minutes played (Jan 9th to Jan 11th) - Grade: 87/100
This was a charming little puzzle/platformer wrapped up in the film aesthetic of the early silent film era. The gameplay mainly revolves around using the titular character to create clones of himself to interact with. For example, you may have a seesaw and you'd create a clone jumping up and down on the opposite side to bounce you into the air. There are five "worlds" with ten stages each. Each world fundamentally changes your cloning ability in some way so you're forced to change your approach in how you solve the puzzles. There are also a number of bonus challenge stages where you can challenge yourself against the clock or to complete the puzzle with as few clones as possible.
I thought it was pretty fun and the game's aesthetic gave it an interesting vibe. The challenge of the puzzles felt about right and I only had to refer to a guide once. However, some of the puzzles felt a little less elegant and came across more as brute force efforts where some others seemed to require some real delicate timing. Overall, I found them enjoyable though and the length felt just about perfect.
Pros: Charming aesthetic and enjoyable puzzle mechanics. Puzzle challenge was just about right. Cons: Some puzzles seemed too dependent on timing or brute force efforts.
Game #6 DOOM II - (Xbox 360) - 180/200 Achievement Completion - 17 hours, 41 minutes played [partial] (Jan 11th - Jan 18th) - Grade: 88/100
I played through DOOM 3 last year as I wanted to tackle the one DOOM game I hadn't played before I tackled the new DOOM. Included with the BFG Edition was the XBLA ports of the original DOOM and DOOM II. I decided to play through them again as I'd only played the first episode of the original DOOM and couldn't remember if I'd ever played through the entirety of DOOM II. So I played through the original DOOM last year and made it through a decent portion of DOOM II. I finished the rest of it here in January.
The game still holds up and is a lot of fun. I actually had more fun with it than DOOM 3 to be honest. While the graphics are obviously dated they still maintain some appeal in that Minecraft kind of way. Gameplay is tight and fast and always keeps you on the edge of your seat. The lack of vertical aiming enhanced the "run & gun" feeling of the game. I loved exploring the labyrinthian levels and made sure to seek out every nook and cranny and secret rather than just blasting through as quick as I could. I found it interesting that despite the lack of detailed graphics, they made each level feel unique and its own through the overall design and layout of the levels. If nothing else, I feel these original games serve as a good teaching piece as to how to achieve a unique feel in level design through layout rather than just aesthetics.
Pros: Fast paced shooting mechanics. Intricate level designs. Cons: Not much added over the original DOOM. Lack of aesthetic variety.
Game #7 Metroid: Zero Mission - (GBA/Game Boy Player) - Normal Difficulty/100% Item Completion - 19 hours, 11 minutes played (Jan 18th - Feb 5th) - Grade: 93/100
I surprisingly don't really see many people talking about this game, but I think this is a pretty awesome remake of the original Metroid. More than just a graphical update, while it maintains a similar map layout to the original game, included are completely new areas along with new powers and game mechanics. For all of those people clamoring for a true sequel to Super Metroid, this is really it. (Well, prequel I guess... )
In addition, you get updated versions of all those classic melodies from the original Metroid. There are new bosses too. The gameplay is really refined over the original game with none of its jank. No more having to drop bombs to kill low enemies because Samus can't crouch. No more getting damaged between room transitions. This truly was a joy to play. If you've played a 2D Metroid then you know what you're getting here so I won't carry on.
The only downside is some of the hidden items are a real beast to obtain and require some meticulous knowledge and control of the game's mechanics. Also, the final area is really cool in concept, but kind of annoying in execution.
Pros: Vastly improved remake of the original game. Lots of new elements. Great graphics and music. Cons: Some hidden items are aggravating to obtain. Final area is cool in concept, but annoying in execution.
Game #8 Back to Bed - (PC/Steam) - 95% Achievement Completion - 4 hours, 39 minutes played (Jan 31st to Feb 1st) - Grade: 82/100
Back to Bed is a puzzle game where you're trying to guide a sleepwalker back to his bed. I saw another member here mention it in last year's 52 Games thread and I decided to check it out. This was a real quick game to play through and it was a while back so I actually had to go watch some YouTube vids to refresh my memory on the game.
You view the game from a "3/4 isometric" perspective while the artistic design of the game is reminiscent of a Salvador Dali painting. You play as a little dog moving stuff around in the environment to help guide the man back to his bed. The sleepwalker will rotate clockwise every time he hits an obstacle so you must carefully plan a path that guides the man away from "enemies" and the map edge to get him safely to his destination. Yes, there are sometimes "enemies" that will wake the man up, but you can fairly easily guide them out of the way or off the map.
The game is pretty simple mechanically and there's not a lot of variety to the gameplay. There is a nightmare mode available after the normal mode. The main difference is here you have to pick up a number of keys to unlock the door to the bed destination. This means you have to create much more specific paths. While this does ramp the difficulty up a notch, it doesn't change the overall dynamic of the game appreciably. The maps are otherwise the same though. I guess I was expecting them to at least look visually darker or more menacing.
The game was alright. In terms of challenge, I don't recall having to refer to any guides to complete any of the maps in normal or nightmare mode. It was fun enough for the time I put into it, but as mentioned, I pretty quickly forgot about it.
Pros: Original concept. Inspired Salvador Dali art style. Easy to pick up. Balanced puzzle challenge. Cons: Lack of gameplay variety. Enemies are too easily made irrelevant. Not a lot to the Nightmare Mode.
