What games did you complete? 2020 Edition

[Mogster]

29/03/2020 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps

 

The first Ori game ranks as one of my favourites of the generation, so I was really excited to play the sequel. First impressions were positive too, with it looking and sounding just as beautiful, and the combat had clearly had a massive overhaul. However, for some reason I drifted away about half way through the game. As fun as it was, it felt felt a little too similar to the first game, and on top of this I was running into frequent framerate dips and hitches that marred the experience a bit.

 

I went back to the game after a week playing other things though, and fell in love with it all over again. It still wasn't a huge departure from the first game, but there isn't much else out there that combines movement this fluid with looks this good, and the music is absolutely wonderful. I found the bosses to be mostly excellent too, with some of the later ones giving me a little bit of the Dark Souls feels.

 

I had some issues with the game though, aside from the obvious technical ones. The original was a very mechanical game, for all its good looks. Even its most demanding sequences, like the escapes, were all about reading the clear design and responding correctly, and it received some comparisons to Super Meat Boy as a result. The equivalent sequences here seemed more about creating spectacle, which sometimes meant I need to respond to changes in the environment rather than simply react to obstacles in a clear path. This created some awesome moments, but also some rather unfair ones. Luckily the difficulty overall seemed much lower though, so frustration was always short lived.

 

On the whole I loved it, although I'm not sure where the devs could go for a third game in the series. If it materialises though, I hope it receives the level of polish given to the original.

 

Spoiler

January

07/01/2020 - Control (Xbox One)

26/01/2020 - Final Fantasy X (Switch)

February

10/02/2020 - Disco Elysium

22/02/2020 - Frostpunk

March

10/03/2020 - Darksiders: Warmastered Edition

 

[Unofficial Who]

March

 

30/03 Bioshock Infinite:Burial at Sea (PS4) It's DLC but it's almost it's own game, especially Chapter 2 which changes things up entirely becoming a tense stealth game. Chapter 1 is slight, almost a playable intro to the meatier second episode and boy does it have some issues thematically.  The mechanics are sound with different floor surfaces damping or creating sound. It's satisfying as well creeping through without being seen or at least not being seen long enough to lump someone on the back of the head or shoot a sleeping dart between their ribs. In terms of narrative? Well they've messily tried to retcon Daisy Fitzgeralds story into one about sacrifice for the Vox in a way that feels like a heavy handed apology to some (and to others caving in to the left). Which is fine except the game has you killing drug users, workers and the mentally unwell. It's also a game which feels like it loathes Elizabeth and goes to some unnecessary places in the last sequence (one sequence being so gross that my memories had set it as the end of the game even though there's still a bit to go at that point.)

 

This is now included as part of the Bioshock Collection. Would I recommend it? For the twist on previous play mechanics yes. For an interesting return to Rapture yes.

 

But if story is your thing, ymmv. For me it felt grosser than the last time I played through it. (Quite happy to continue discussion on this in the Bioshock thread.)

 

23/03 Bioshock Infinite (PS4)

15/03 Bioshock 2 (PS4)

11/03 The Supper (PC)

08/03 Devil's Kiss (PC)

07/03 Time Gentlemen, Please! (PC)

04/03 Bioshock 2:Minerva's Den (PS4)

01/03 Bioshock (PS4)

 

Previously

 

15. 27/02 Ben There, Dan That : Special Edition (PC) 
14. 21/02 You've to to be Kitten Me! (PS4/Dreams) 
13. 17/02 Art Therapy (PS4/Dreams) 
12. 16/02 Art's Dream (PS4/Dreams) 
11. 12/02 Juanito Arcade Mayhem (PC) 
10. 08/02 Wolfenstein 2:the New Colossus (PC) (plus The Freedom Chronicles DLC) 
9. 03/02 The Outer Worlds (PS4) 
8. 27/01 Quest of Dungeons (PC) 
7. 21/01 Feather (PC)
6. 20/01 Paperbark (PC)
5. 09/01 The Cat and the Coup (PC) 
4. 09/01 1979 Revolution:Black Friday (PC) 
3. 08/01 Wolfenstein:the Old Blood (PC) 
2. 03/01 Wolfenstein:the New Order (PC) 
1. 01/01 Detroit:Become Human (PS4)

 

[Gabe]

29/03/2020 - Operencia - The Stolen Sun (PC)

 

I wasn't intending to finish another grid-based dungeon crawler straight after Ruzar, but as this is due to leave Game Pass soon, that was my motivation to crack on with this quirky RPG.

 

Firstly, this is much, much better than Ruzar, from presentation and polish to structure, plot and a viability of different playstyles. You choose your player character from the arch-typical mage, warrior or ranger and then proceed to do all the things you'd expect in similar RPGs - meet new teammates, explore, fight, repeat. What's odd/interesting is that none of the characters you meet are pure mages, so unless you choose to be one yourself, you will have to do without. That is not as much of a problem as you'd expect, though, because each member's skills cause either physical or elemental damage - so mage spells are (kind-of) covered in a sense.

 

The plot is very throwaway (something about somebody kidnapping the Sun King) and the voice acting is unintentionally amusing, but it's all competent enough. The actual maps you explore are varied and have plenty of secret areas or puzzles to find - though often you need to progress further in the game in order to get a traversal skill to allow you to access them - but are also small enough that you can chunk-up your play sessions into satisfying bits. That variety doesn't extend to the enemies though but, with finite battles on each map that isn't a massive problem.

 

What can be a problem though is that enemies hit hard. With some unlucky RNG rolls you can die to any mob, especially before you meet a dedicated healer - so it is important to use buffs/debuffs in some of the longer battles. And long they are; perhaps because of the decision to not have respawning enemies, it means every encounter becomes a war of attrition due to high resists and generous health pools - there  are no 'press the attack button to win' fights here. Bosses, as you would expect, take this further. There's also a weird situation where if you ambushed a group you'd get the first attack (as normal) but then the enemies would get two attacks in response. I couldn't understand if this was a bug or working as intended in some strange way. It actually made it more penal to go for the ambush, unless you felt confident you could wipe them out first (in normal battles the enemy always seemed to have first strike too, no matter how high a character's initiative stat was).

 

It is not a game without quibbles then, and, in truth,  there's no one feature or fight you would feel compelled to wax lyrical about - it's all rather unremarkable really, but that's not an insult. What it does do is nicely present some good old-fashioned dungeon crawling with some challenge and fun along the way and I'm very pleased to have played it.

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

20/02/2020 - Ruzar: The Life Stone (PC)

20/02/2020: Alder's Blood: Prologue (PC)

17/02/2020 - Universal Paperclips (PC)

15/02/2020 - Gris (PC)

21/01/2020 - Gears of War 5 (Xbox One X)

19/01/2020 - Diablo 3 - Reaper of Souls (Xbox One X)

05/01/2020 - Night Call (PC)

02/01/2020 - Remember Me (PC)

 

[Soulstar]

March

 

2. Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

 

Horizon Zero Dawn is quite simply a beautifully made open world action RPG which gave me loose vibes of Fallout 4 and hints of Mass Effect, yet adds it's very own flavours that sets itself apart and feels very rooted as it's own franchise managing to pull something really special off. 

 

Generally this game has a lot of love for it from most who have experienced HZD and I can easily see why, and while not perfect (but what game ever is) it's well worth checking out for many reasons. Firstly the music is amazing and the sound in general has been really well thought out. I absolutely love the sound effects and how they are implemented into the noise of the machines while you fight. You get that rise of darker music, but then the actual battling sounds have this real weight to them and texture of mechanical chaos. There's a thing I love where the sound during the chaotic fighting almost kind of does this silence effect where there a super quick momentary sensation a bit like how when games and films do that temporary ear buzzing tinitus noise after an impact, the sound outside of this dulls. In HZD there isn't any of that but there's a very very subtle thing with the audio almost imploding on itself creating a slight attenuation in the audio. I also like the sound of something revving up or down. Simply put, the sound is massively on point and possibly the best I've heard as far as weighty mechanical sfx go. The music is also great with most importantly, a sense that it has a proper memorable theme to it, rather than just a load of orchestral music. It evokes emotion well and gets stuck in your head after a while, (for those who've played this you know, the one with the female adlibbing ooohhh ohhh ooooh ooooooooooo.) 

 

The story lived up and really sucked me in, and in fact later on when you really start to pick up the pieces of the puzzle as to what's actually going on, It kind of blew me away as to how intricate and fresh it felt. While you spend a lot of time among the primative tribes, there's a lot to learn about the past (our near future) and the whole concept of Zero Dawn. It proper drew me in, especially later on as you learn a lot of information especially if you are listening to and reading all of the logs you come across. It has the whole futuristic AI shtick going on, and while often this is hard to work with in a way that keeps us entertained or refreshed as it's been done to death, I really liked what they do here. 

 

Th graphics are fantastic and so colourfully dynamic. There's a photo-mode there for a good reason and it gives you a lot of flexibility to alter the scene where you are stood to get the perfect shot. The sun cycles and weather changes all really add life and emotion to the world itself. 

 

The gameplay, i.e. one of the most important elements of a game is fresh, or at least for me I was experiencing things that I'd not done in a game until now. The enemies for a start are all robots based around animals and they have been really intricately designed with so many parts and just explode into many bits, however this is also incorporated cleverly into the game play where you are forced to pick spots, find weaknesses and sometimes even shoot off a weapon in order to pick it up and then use it against itself. The weapons are cool, and while there aren't loads, what is there is great to use. The bow feels amazingly fluid to use and once you upgrade things and allow it to slow down while running and sliding or jumping, it just all comes together nicely and slick. One of my favourite weapons is the tripcaster which shoots out like a cross bow, however has two shot phases and a connecting wire between each shot effectively allowing you to shoot a trip wire in place across a huge distance. These allow for trip explosions or electric shock traps. Often it's great to go in quit and set up lots of traps in advance, only to have many of the enemies fall right into them and take loads of damage before the fight even begins. 

 

Somethine else I like about this game is the sense of freedom to be able to jump up mountains and really go where ever you want and being able to neatly fit through small gaps to get past the sort of thing that is always always blocked/clipped in many other games forcing you to work another way around. For example there are many ruins and places with twisted metal and broken concrete creating lots of small places to get through and this rarely posed any problems. 

 

So onto weaknesses. 

 

I read a few bits on occasion in the main HZD thread, and some of it rings true. A weaker element to the game are definitely the fights with the humans by far. They all felt boring and were always much easier in comparison to taking down the robots which often had more strategy to think about. The map can get full of icons and feel like an Assassin's Creed game. You get access to several maps very early on which give you the locations of all the main collectables, and they just take over the map instantly. I know you can remove this, but it also gives me that sense of a chore, knowing I'm inevitably going to end up having to go everywhere to get them all which I did. I'd rather they were either not given out at all, or split up into a series of smaller maps drip feeding the locations so as to not overwhelm the player. In fact I wish games didn't show you things in general in advance, like the outline of the whole map, or the total number of item x's you need before you finish the game, or the ability to read every single upgrade right from the word go. It's something I've grown to dislike over the years and it affects the mystery of progression and can give a good indication of how far you are in the game which can be a bad thing. Not a major thing but just more a personal preference thing. 

 

I felt that there could have been a bit more going on in place on the map rather than samey settlements with people asking for things, particularly off the beaten track as far as side quests go. There was a person who needed help on the side of a road very early in the game, but this sort of thing didn't happen later on. It was a more predictable collection of people all together in a settlement who'd ask you. Fallout was great for doing this right. Like finding a house and ending up in a random encounter with a family who you get talking to who then end up being cannibals, who their neighbour is scared shitless of. They could have done more with the bandits to add story elements to them I think too. 

 

I often found it difficult to scroll through my items to get to the health potions fast enough due to too many things to cycle through while in a panic. I initially didn't like this, but came to the conclusion that this is a toss up between keeping your eye on the ball and being prepared in a way like the Souls games do when having to change the weapons and stances or whatever you do (it's been years since I played) while fighting a boss. 

 

Another thing is that later on it felt like there were way too many digital readers and audio logs to go through all around the same time. Difficult one as it tries to give you a lot of the added weight of the story of Zero Dawn and the people of the past, however it just slows everything down almost too much if you want to see it all. There's just so much of it. But then it's also the reason I got really invested in the story too so that's a difficult one. 

 

Anyway, I'm going to conclude here as it's quite a long write up, but considering it's a longer game and a fantastic one at that, and that I'm stuck inside with little to do, it was worth it. HZD took me about 95 hours to get through and I played it on hard which can be tough early on until you get to grips with the best strategies to use and level up more. These types of games I generally prefer though when the threats are greater since playing FO4 on Survival. 

 

9/10 for me. 

 

[Edit] - To add to this quickly, I have the complete version which comes with Frozen Wilds as part of it but decided to completely ignore this space and come back to it at a later time to avoid over staying its welcome. The main section of the game is long enough if (like me) you do all side quests and collectibles. I do have those training grounds yet to finish though, and as I'm not far off the platinum if I get a blazing sun in every challenge, I might try and pull it off. 

 

 

 

Jan

 

1. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PS4)

 

First game of the year for me and one I've been chipping away at for the last few weeks or so. Overall it was a really good game and definitely made me think back to SotN I played through all those years ago. Graphically I think it looks pretty good, and while some were disappointed that they never went with the pixel aesthetic, it still has a nice sheen to it and flows really well. I've managed to 100% the map today after finishing it last night at 99.8% and using an image online to see the missing 3 rooms I had left which I'd not managed to spot. There's loads going on in this game as far as levelling and using weapons and shards etc. I mean every single enemy has it's own shard that you can use for some kind of effect/attack and each of those can be levelled in more than one way. It always feels like there's some progress to be made by attacking every enemy each time you walk by as there's something to be gained from doing so in numerous areas whether it be you're character level, gaining a new shard, building the grade, looking for money and item drops or leveling up a familiar. 

 

There's a part of it that doesn't take it self too serious and adds a lot of little quirky moments including many of the gimmicky but interesting items you can get such as the squeaky boots or fighting a chair that gives you the ability to spawn your own chairs and even level them up to spawn new chair types. It's bonkers but kept me entertained for the 37 or so hours I spent on it. My favourite moment was discovering the 8-bit world unexpectedly last night. The music was great and really felt like Castlevania to the point where some of it almost sounded familiar at times. 

 

I did notice the odd slowdown here and there but it wasn't that big of a deal generally and I think the PS4 is known to be much more solid in comparison to the Switch version from what I've been reading. I'd also notice flickering graphics on occasions too but it wasn't much of a deal either. Overall I'd say it was a solid Metroidvania title that captures the essence of Castlevania. The bosses felt quite difficult at the start of the game, but once I'd got to about the third one it became much easier to get through. Generally though I just managed to beat most of them by brute force as I rarely needed to repeat them but the first couple took a bit of getting used to due to being less powered. There are different difficulties here and I played it on normal where as the two above I can imagine would turn it into a situation that would require you to study what's going on a bit more. They do tend to get a bit hectic though and I can imagine the boss rush mode being really tough. I think while there were some interesting enemy types, generally many of the bosses were small typical fights you'd expect with the exception of the first one and last one, and while they each were quite different from one another, I'd like to have seen more epic ones with backgrounds involved and camera movement. The two dragons one I was also probably a bit better as well. 

 

I've been considering trying to aim for the platinum and have about 80% of the trophies so far, map all complete and have fought every demon available but there are so many items that I'm not sure if it's worth attempting to try and get all of that too. 

 

I'm going to give it an 8.5
 

 

[shirubagan]

Spoiler

1. Pokémon Sword – Completed Pokédex (Switch)
Giving myself a point for this as a 'second' completion. After finishing the main story, I went and completed my Pokédex. Don't think I've ever managed that in a Pokémon game before.

 

2. What the Golf?! (Apple Arcade)

Getting time to do anything has been tricky, and getting time away from Pokémon Sword & Shield has been even trickier. This is a bloody brilliant and supremely daft game, based on golf. Sort of. I won't ruin any of the jokes, but there are a lot of them and they're all genuinely funny. Had this on 99% for ages, but finally tracked down that last secret and got 100%.

 

 

3. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (2019) (Switch)

As I  mentioned in the thread, this is an excellent example of game design which hasn't aged at all in 27 years. The graphics and audio are wonderful, the map and dungeons are just tricky enough to have you scratching your head, there are some really fun boss battles and lots of secrets to discover — I've yet to find 27 seashells. I've only scratched the surface of the dungeon designer, but that is also brilliantly executed. I really hope they remaster the Oracle games in this style also. 
Can't wait to buy the re-remaster in 2046/10

 

4. Pokémon Ultra Sun (3DS)

Sweet Jesus, this game has a lot of bloat, which is a shame as it's otherwise really good. Finished the main story in around 35 hours, with another 10 faffing around in Wonder Trades, Festival Plaza and the pointless Poké Pelago. Now I'm in the endgame, it's a lot more fun and I'm looking forward to getting some Ultra Beasts and Legendaries across to Bank/Home/Sword & Shield.
Long, but worth the investmentl/10

 

 

4. Pokémon Shield (Switch)

Same as sword, but with a couple of different gyms.

[keptbybees]

Spoiler

Piczle Colors (Switch) - I've always enjoyed Picross style puzzles and this is a collection of colour based Picross puzzles, a couple of trickier ones by the last few levels but this was fairly straightforward. Iit comes in a triple pack with two line puzzle games which seem much harder to 100%. Nice to play in short bursts or on journeys though.

 

Gears 5 (Xbox One) - I nearly didn't play this as I wasn't that enamoured with Gears 4 but I'm glad I did as this felt like a big improvement on the series to me. There are a few rough edges and some annoying insta-kills,  especially for one boss that I've talked about in the main Gears 5 thread, but overall it is still a great cover shooter and additions worked well. I don't really play much online anymore but this has got me tempted to jump in with some of the extra modes. I imagine it would be an even better experience in co-op but I'm happy to move on to other games now. 

 

Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Now Climax (360/Xbox One) - This is a game I have half played through a few times and across different platforms so I finally decided to get to the end of the game when I saw it sitting in my games list. I had a save that was most the way though the first mode so I picked up from that, I haven't done all of the modes but I got to the end of the main story thread. It still plays as well as I remembered but it is a shame that they shortened four of the game modes for this release as the levels in their place aren't the best, if I had known before that they have been part restored on the PC version I'd have gone to that instead. Good pick up and put down game that has a lot more to it than you'd think if you want to complete it 100%.

 

Wandersong (PC) - I absolutely loved this. Yes it is easy to play through and some of the platforming sections are wonky as anything but the story and characters really stand out. Genuinely made me laugh in places and I made sure that I talked to everyone as often as I could to get as much out of it as I could. It has also some of the implements music through out in interesting and different ways. As I said earlier, it isn't really a challenging game and it won't be to everyone's tastes but I thought it was charming and definitely worth a look, especially as it is available on Gamepass now and you won't have to put too much time in to work out if it is for you or not.

 

Sayonara Wild Hearts (Switch) - After my first half hour with the game I was not that impressed and I stopped playing as I found the bike annoying to control. I went back to it and finished the rest in one sitting and loved it, the build up to the end was great and I could finally see what everyone had been raving about. One of the most stylish games I've played, it is wonderful when you are in full flow and I wish I hadn't cared so much about the rankings on my first playthrough. I'd definitely recommend trying to play it all in one sitting first time through. That said I still have some gripes with the game, such as the bike controls, and it feels like getting the gold ranks will be down more to trial and error/routing repetition rather than the rhythm-action game I was expecting.

 

Untitled Goose Game (Xbox One) - This was my second playthrough having already completed it on the Switch last year. Obviously it was a lot shorter to complete but it is still fun seeing the reactions to your antics, definitely going to go back and possibly even have a go at the timed challenges and extra 'to-do' bits which I haven't done before.

 

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Switch) - Another game that I'd played before but it had been long enough that I had forgotten the main story line and most of the cases. I enjoyed it a lot more that I did first time through, not sure if it was down to knowing exactly what I was getting into/less hype but I found its flaws less annoying. Though don't get me wrong, it is still annoying that you have to do it in the exact order that the game wants you too or when you pick an option that should work but doesn't despite the underlying logic. Overall I'm looking forward to playing though the rest of the trilogy, I think I played 2 or 3 cases in the second before and none of the third game, definitely going to have break first so I don't get fatigued from the style.

 

Feb

 

Gris (PC) - I think this definitely suffered from going into this with all of the hype I had eard about it, which meant the first 30 minutes of  fell a bit flat for me and felt like fairly standard platform fare, abeit very beautifully made. I think this was definitely down to going in with having heard so much hype about it. Once it picked up though the pacing becomes much better and the game becomes more into its own. Its an easy game to play through and I liked the narrative but I don't feel a need to go back and get all of the collectables anytime soon.

 

Phoenix Wright: Justice for All (Switch) - I can see why I never finished this game the first time round when I played it, the first introduction case is easliy the worst from the first two games with lots of inconsitencies and jumping logic. The story through the rest of the cases is good enough to make up for the slow start and, as after finishing the first, I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy off. I've heard the second is the weakest game as well so hopefully Trials and Tribulations hits the ground running.

 

Outer Wilds (Xbox One X) - I don't think I could add anything to Pob's brilliant write up on page 3 and to say too much would be to spoil it, I have put some thoughts in the main game theread. I didn't find my self as attached to it as some but it really is unique experience and a game I'm very glad I played to the conclusion. 

 

Feb/March/Time has lost all meaning

 

Old Man's Journey (PC Gamepass) - Played this through after reading someone on this forum's thoughts on it, I could have sworn it was in this thread but I've looked through and can't find it again. Pleasant and short story with some very light puzzling, a nice way to spend 1.5 hours of downtime.

 

Children of Morta (PC/Xbox One) - Really enjoyed playing this through, the ranged characters are by far the best with Linda controlling more like a twin stick shooter. Towards the end you do get a bit overpowered but I liked it enough to get all of the achievements bar the co-op ones after beating the game. Looking forward to the promised DLC that should ramp up the challenge a bit.

 

Pikuniku (Xbox One) - What an odd game, but one I'm glad I played through. Another game where there isn't much challenge but it was a nice game to unwind with at the end of the day and just enjoy the journey. I wasn't a big enough fan to look out all of the extra bits and there are challenges you can't return to post game which is always a bugbear of mine. I'd love to find out what the co-op mode is like but that won't be happening anytime soon!

 

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (PC/Xbox One) - I've already written up my thoughts on this in the main thread, overall I enjoyed it but not as much as the first game.

[Mawdlin]

Dark Souls

 

I set myself the goal of finally finishing this game before the end of March and just made it.

 

As much as I loved so much of it the fact it took me around 8 years tells its own story. Started it on PS3 back in the day and I hit a spike around the end of the Undead Burg. I had every intention to go back but never did.

 

The remaster on Switch gave me new impetus but though I started it on release I got bogged down near the Crystal Caves. It wasn't so much that it was hard, I just got side-tracked by other things and found the Duke's Archive followed by Crystal Caves the dullest part of the game.

 

For me this game has brilliant highs - loved Ornstein and Smough, Sen's Fortress, Anor Londo - but other areas were not as compelling overall as those in Demon's Souls or Bloodborne (the only other Soulsbornes I've played.

 

It is testament to the games hold that when I woke up in the cell the second time I did the first section again and could've happily continued... but there are too many other games I want to spend time with.

 

Still, a wonderful life achievement for me that was harder than any Munro I've ever climbed.

[glb]

January

Injustice 2 (story)

 

February

Don’t Die, Mr Robot

Untitled Goose Game

Titanfall 2 (campaign)

March

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

 

Clearing through my backlog and happened across a copy of Shadow of War. Enjoyed the first game, and for the most part the sequel is a welcome return to that fun gameplay loop.

 

And then it becomes a bit of a trudge. Feels quite aimless in places, with too loose an approach to what to do next. Well, besides hack, slash and dominate. That fun loop, while still moreish, isn’t quite as pleasing.

 

Finished the story, will do the remaining epilogue between playing other games. Good game, but if a third comes to fruition will need a bit more invention to really sparkle.

[DarkCrisis]

1. Resident Evil 7(XB1) 8/10

2. Batman Arkham Asylum(XB1) 7.5/10

3. Halo: CE Anniversary(XB1) 5/10

4. Life is Strange(XB1) 8/10

5. Luigi Mansion 3(Switch) 8/10

6. New Super Lucky’s Tale(Switch) 7/10

7. Catherine: Full Body(PS4) 8.5/10

8. Untitled Goose Game(Switch) 6/10   

9. Sleeping Dogs(PS4) 9/10

10. Doom 2016(PS4) 9/10

11. Peggle 2(PS4) 7/10

12. Spider-Man(PS4) 9/10

 

13. Crash Bandicoot(PS4) - I didn’t think I would complete this game let alone enjoy it like I did, only a couple of levels really frustrated me other than that I liked it and will be playing the sequels at some point 7.5/10

[Sprite Machine]

Previously...

 

AM2R - PC - 2016 (1991)
Ecco The Dolphin - Mega CD - 1992/3
Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 3DS - 2012/14
Mega Man X - SNES - 1993
Super Metroid - SNES - 1994
Donkey Kong Country - SNES - 1994
Chrono Trigger - SNES - 1995
Star Fox 2 - SNES - 2017 (1995)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - SNES - 1995
Xenogears - PS1 - 1998

 

 

Sonic the Hedgehog - Megadrive - 1991

I pretty much play this once a year one way or another, so completing it is more of a pleasure than an achievement. Only took an hour. Oh, but I recorded myself this time. Something for the Youtube channel during these dull days trapped at home.

It's still the most challenging of the Megadrive Sonics, I think. Scrap Brain Zone in particular is relentlessly hazardous, while the Special Stages are almost impossible to 'master' even after all these years. But, yeah, still fun - whee!!

 

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - SNES - 1996

Completed once, 16 hours. I wasn't too sure about this one at first. The pre-rendered isometric graphics that were popular at the time (see also: Sonic 3D) look pretty dated nowadays, and some of the backgrounds are repetitive and plain. But as I played more, it grew on me, and turned out to be a charming little proto-AlphaDream RPG. Less refined, sure, but the pace of the game is swift, the scenarios are brief, it's constantly changing and keeping things interesting with a mixture of locations, storylines and gameplay. Its brevity is welcome in a world of bloated epics, and although it may seem like it's damning with faint praise to say I'm glad it was short, I did genuinely enjoy myself by the end of it. Peach for MVP, obvs.

[gossi the dog]

01/04 - Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F (PS3) - it's Hatsune Miku, so if you've played any of the other games in the series you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Rhythm action at quite often a ridiculously fast tempo played to vocaloid created J-pop. This is very good, incredibly polished and there's some great songs (there's 38 in total which is pretty generous compared to the Persona Dancing series). I completed all the songs on Normal which triggers the end credits. Then I tried Hard and failed miserably. I'd recommend if you like rhythm action. 

 

Previously:

 

01. 01/01 - Persona 4: Dancing All Night (PS4)

02. 03/01 - Sayonara Wild Hearts (PS4)
03. 11/01 - Yakuza 3 (PS4)
04. 11/01 - Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (PS4)
05. 12/01 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan (PS4)
06. 21/01 - Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One)
07. 24/01 - Storm Boy (Xbox One)
08. 10/02 - One Piece World Seeker (Xbox One)
09. 10/03 - GRID (Xbox One)

 

[instasis]

On 20/01/2020 at 12:28, Pelekophoros said:

01/01: Superhot (XBone)

03/01: Old Man's Journey (XBone)

05/01: The Turing Project (XBone)

19/01: Halo: CE Anniversary (XBone)

 

1/4: Quantum Break (XBone)

 

I wanted so much from this but it always felt like it was giving me morsels when I wanted a full three course meal. The end battle against Serene in particular nearly had me smashing the TV in anger, introducing two new instadeath mechanics just for that fight. Ultimately, it wasn't that satisfying to play through but the powers were pretty cool. I have Control on PS4 (unplayed) so I'm hoping that's a bit more fleshed out as it looks similar.

 

So want Alan Wake 2.

[stefcha]

Wolfenstein: The New Order (Xbox One)

 

Or "Lynne, I've pierced my foot on a [difficulty] spiiiike". I'm crap at FPS's, but the wonder of Titanfall 2 left me wanting more, this seemed sort of what'd work. And it was and it did, not as good as Titanfall 2 but then what would be. Dragged on a bit, and sometimes when it got a a bullet sponge arena with many supersoldiers I tended to die, a lot. But great fun overall, over the top and written to fit, knowing it's a videogame and can do what the fuck it wants.

 

What's similar? There's Wolf 2 on gamepass which doesn't seem as well received (even worse on the daft bullet sponge front?), then Youngblood. No Old Blood available. Anything else besides that? I've got Bulletstorm, that might fit the bill. 

[FiveFootNinja]

1 hour ago, stefcha said:

What's similar? There's Wolf 2 on gamepass which doesn't seem as well received (even worse on the daft bullet sponge front?), then Youngblood. No Old Blood available. Anything else besides that? I've got Bulletstorm, that might fit the bill. 

No firsthand experience (as I've only just downloaded it myself last night) but the Metro series is on GP and pretty well received from an FPS point of view.

[instasis]

On 02/04/2020 at 11:11, Pelekophoros said:

01/01: Superhot (XBone)

03/01: Old Man's Journey (XBone)

05/01: The Turing Project (XBone)

19/01: Halo: CE Anniversary (XBone)

1/04: Quantum Break (XBone)

 

2/04: Halo 2 (Xbone)

 

Fucking awful. Never played it before but that was just utter bollocks. Don't get me started on the ending and whatever the fuck that plant was.

[Harrisown]

Wolfenstein 2
What a strange strange game.

Bad level design, mediocre shooting, reasonably fun.

Great characters and events (not actual story)

Absolutely crazy.

6/10

 

[stefcha]

12 hours ago, Harrisown said:

Wolfenstein 2
What a strange strange game.

Bad level design, mediocre shooting, reasonably fun.

Great characters and events (not actual story)

Absolutely crazy.

6/10

 

How does it compare to the game it's a sequel to, similar enough or not worth sullying the memory?

[Harrisown]

10 minutes ago, stefcha said:

 

How does it compare to the game it's a sequel to, similar enough or not worth sullying the memory?

Strangely I would recommend wolfie 2 but don’t expect much from the gameplay. Just pay as little as possible for it. The other games were better as games. The events and craziness in this game are on a level with Saints Row?

i feel like 40% of it was cut scenes , it seemed really short.

[Talvalin]

One good thing about using an achievement tracking site such as TrueAchievements? Providing I complete games online, I can determine completion date by searching for the final achievement. Sounds stupid/obvious perhaps, but it means that in theory I can backtrack and determine completion dates for games historically. If I can bothered that is, but I guess being confined to home and out of work right now means I have a lot of time on my hands. Anyway, for now let's just stick to 2020.

 

17/03: Prey (Xbox One)

Like quite a few other people, I played the demo and enjoyed it so much that I bought the full game on day one. However, being a complete muppet, I then failed to actually play the game for three years. At least I can say that I supported the developer by buying the game at full price - I picked up the DLC last month too, although I seem to be getting side-tracked.

 

It's only been a month or so, but I can't actually remember what prompted me to start playing this game out of the multitude of unplayed games. However, what I can say is that this was an incredibly immersive and extremely enjoyable game. Can we call it an open-world if certain areas are locked away at the start? It feels like one, despite the loading screens, and perhaps one day it'll be possible to make a game like this that has no loading screens at all between areas to reduce the feeling of immersion.  

 

The world building was incredible, and for once I really enjoyed trying to find all the collectibles to fill in the gaps about the world and how all the various crew reacted to the Talos I incident in their own ways. We all like to think of ourselves as knowledgeable and smart about alien invasions, zombie apocalypses and the like, but we'd probably react in the same way as many of the poor dead crew who ignored warning messages, waited for help that never came, tried unsuccessfully to find a hiding place or suffered the myriad of (mostly) unfortunate situations that the game presents you with.

 

Choice is present throughout the game, from how you approach exploration (hack this door, build a bridge with the GLOO gun, move objects out of the way to reveal a maintenance hatch, mimic a cup and roll into a gap in a barricade etc) to how you approach combat (evade or attack head-on, set up traps with recycler charges and Typhon lures, use guns or GLOO them in place and then batter the fuck out of them with the wrench) and then how you approach the NPCs. You can help the survivors, ignore them or kill them. The game lets you choose what you want to do, and doesn't judge you for your actions. Mostly, and not until the end of the game anyway.

Spoiler

You do get judged quite harshly if you follow December's plan and flee Talos I using Alex's escape pod, and possibly the same if you decide to escape with Dahl although I haven't made it to that ending yet.

 

In hindsight, I suspect I lessened the experience by reading about the game's achievements (one of the downsides to achievement tracking), specifically that there were separate achievements relating to how you use the game's Neuromods (specifically, ones for playing with Human only powers, Typhon only powers, Human and Typhon powers, and then for the hardcore, no neuromods at all).  I went Human only for the playthrough which was still incredibly fun, but going with a mix of Human and Typhon was probably the most fun way to play the game. I also learned about achievements for your choices with respect to NPCs, but I tend to save NPCs if I can with these types of games and then go back and do a total dickhead playthrough later (with that said I did the complete opposite for my first playthrough of Dishonored, but more on that later). 

 

All in all, I'm looking forward to playing the game again (this time it'll be Typhon powers only, and then at some point I'll go for the No Needles playthrough, but I suspect I'll be doing that one on Easy), as well as going through the Mooncrash DLC. I'm sad that the game didn't do well enough for a sequel to be greenlit, but there's an Easter Egg in DOOM Eternal related to a Prey sequel so there is still hope yet!

 

 

Previously completed in 2020:

Spoiler

15/02: Dark Souls (Xbox 360 via BC)

 

[RubberJohnny]

Grandia 3 - I opened the year completing Grandia 2 and saying it was "thoroughly mediocre", so why did I pick up the sequel? Well, I didn't know it existed until I saw this footage, which I thought looked pretty gorgeous.

 

 

And it does look pretty gorgeous, in that end-of-PS2-life way, with every location looking to be maximised for visual impact, even if character models are more simple. Fortunately, it also fixes the problems I had with the second too. 

 

In many ways this is a conservative sequel, but the additions - aerial combos, spell fusion and a streamlined summon system are smart and all add more depth to the games battles, without giving you more complexity to manage.

 

I completed it in 30 hours, and it doesn't outstay it's welcome - although I think that's not due to choice, there's a fair few detailed areas on the world map and in cutscenes that aren't in the game, and the second disc in particular features a lot of jumping between disparate locations by portal even though you have a plane.

 

Looking online there's barely any discussion of this game, in 2006 or the years since, and what is there is rather negative, particularly regarding the story, which is very stock and barebones. But overall I enjoyed this one!

 

And mention must be made of the cheesy OP, which is possibly the most mid-00s thing imaginable:

 

 

I'll probably have to play the first now.

[glb]

On 02/04/2020 at 14:49, stefcha said:

What's similar? There's Wolf 2 on gamepass which doesn't seem as well received (even worse on the daft bullet sponge front?), then Youngblood. No Old Blood available. Anything else besides that? I've got Bulletstorm, that might fit the bill. 

 

Bulletstorm is an absolute joy. OTT but totally self-aware, and most comparable with Titanfall 2 in terms of audacity and creativity. Might give it a third play as it goes...

.......
 

January

Injustice 2 (story)

 

February

Don’t Die, Mr Robot

Untitled Goose Game

Titanfall 2 (campaign)

March

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

 

April

Rogue Aces

 

Picking through some PS+ games, found this little retro flying shooter... it’s bloomin’ aces! Takes a few goes to warm-up and isn’t particularly deep but for a few hours distraction it’s a lovingly made, well-realised throwback.

 

Burly Men At Sea

 

Another PS+ download; a brief fable but nicely told thanks to a quirky art style. Had three play-throughs in an hour, the different branches are fun to explore.

 

COD: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered

 

Played it for review; just a really fun campaign (with not-so-fun themes)

 

A worthwhile follow-up to the previous MW, the story now feels somewhat darker given the global shift in politics since the original release.

 

Inched through it on Hardened, which feels the right level for getting more out of the game. Dipping back to get the intel pick-ups on a lower difficulty feels strangely relaxing!

 

In terms of levels, the favelas are brilliantly claustrophobic, with relentless action. The other standouts for me are the oil rig raid and taking back Whiskey Hotel.

 

Fun trip down memory lane.

[Talvalin]

On 02/04/2020 at 22:49, stefcha said:

 Anything else besides that? I've got Bulletstorm, that might fit the bill. 

 

10 hours ago, glb said:

Bulletstorm is an absolute joy. OTT but totally self-aware, and most comparable with Titanfall 2 in terms of audacity and creativity. Might give it a third play as it goes...

.......

 

Just to second this recommendation.

 

Bulletstorm is probably the most purely fun FPS I've played in years and eminently replayable. The weapons are all brilliant (although I never quite got the hang of the cannonball weapon) and the story is strangely affecting, digging into the morality of the main character's list for revenge and what he's willing to do to get it (they even managed to cram a half-decent justification for the skillshot system into the story. Well I liked it anyway).

 

Also, shooting people in the nuts never gets old.

[instasis]

22 hours ago, Pelekophoros said:

01/01: Superhot (XBone)

03/01: Old Man's Journey (XBone)

05/01: The Turing Project (XBone)

19/01: Halo: CE Anniversary (XBone)

1/04: Quantum Break (XBone)

2/04: Halo 2 (Xbone)

 

4/04: Call Of Duty MW (2019) (XBone)

 

A very CoD CoD. Enjoyed it. Shot many men and often felt a bit bad about it. Very morally ambiguous. Pew pew. 

[Talvalin]

28/03: Dishonored Definitive Edition (Xbox One)

Buying and not playing/finishing Arkane Studios games seems to be a habit that I've developed. I bought Dishonored when it was on sale (Christmas 2016 maybe), played it from January to February 2017 and then abruptly stopped after completely the Royal Physician level. Let's not talk about the fact that I also bought Dishonored 2 around the same time and haven't even started that game, but I seem to be on an Arkane Studios roll, so perhaps I'll give that a go shortly (not next though, as that was The Force Unleashed which is up for discussion after this).

Judging from Prey and Dishonored, Arkane Studios has a knack for interesting alternate world building. Prey was built on an alternate future history where the Cold War ended early as the two countries briefly united to research the alien Typhon. Dishonored meanwhile goes for a fantasy steampunk feel to its world, set in an industrial island empire fueled by oil harvested from tentacled whales and in turmoil due to a plague and the recent assassination of its Empress. Oh, and there's a god-like being called the Outsider who bestows magical gifts on those he considers interesting, like the disgraced Royal Protector who was framed for the murder of the Empress. That being you, one Corvo Attano.

As with Prey, you can choose to receive and upgrade a number of powers, but in keeping with the fantasy setting Dishonored's powers are supernatural in nature and include teleportation, freezing time, possession (of both animals and NPCs) amongst others. There are also a variety of paths through each level, and there is always a non-lethal way of removing each target, providing you do the necessary exploration and talk to the right NPCs.

 

Unlike Prey however, the number of NPCs that you kill has an effect on the world, namely the level of Chaos, and having a high Chaos level will lead to greater numbers of the zombie-like Weepers and plague rats. In theory you could set up traps with the Weepers (I just grenaded the fuck out of them), or simply witness plague rats attacking guards at random which can serve as a useful distraction when sneaking around. Furthermore, the game does judge you for your actions, and your encounters with the Outsider at his shrines and in the final cut-scene change as a result of how you play the game. I finished the game in High Chaos, but saved Emily and this final monologue from the Outsider was my reward:

Quote

What will history tell us? That the daughter of a murdered empress ascended the throne up a mountain of corpses, carried by an assassin named Corvo? No, they'll say that little Emily Kaldwin the First came to power in an age of terror and corruption, and that she did her best in a world that is not kind to little girls, or Empresses

 

Whilst that is a fairly damning indictment of going on a rage-fueled Kill Bill style revenge spree, what made me feel genuinely bad was how the future child Empress Emily reacted when I rescued her at the end of the game.

Quote

The others are all dead aren't they? That's all right. I was going to have them executed anyway. I'm going to be Empress!

 

Since I finished the game with a High Chaos level, I'm basically murdering everyone in sight with the two Daud DLC packs (The Knife of Dunwall and The Witches of Brigmore) before I give the Dunwall City Trials DLC a go. I've heard that the trials are incredibly difficult, so I'm saving them for last just to reduce the risk of them souring my opinion of the game.

Once I've finished the DLC, I'm debating on whether I should go back to attempt a ghost run with no kills and no powers other than Blink, or whether to plow on to Dishonored 2. I like the fact that Arkane don't tie any of their achievements to difficulty level, although I have no idea if it's possible to change once the game is started. Playing on Easy might make things too boring, but I imagine for a ghost run there will be a fairly large amount of save scumming. I know that Prey imposed some restrictions about this with respect to the new traumas added after the game was released, but that's something I can always check later. Anyway, some commentary on The Force Unleashed is up next.

 

Previously completed in 2020:

Spoiler

15/02: Dark Souls (Xbox 360 via BC)
17/03: Prey (Xbox One)

 

[Gabe]

02/04/2020 - Mother Russia Bleeds (PC)

 

Man, were side-scrolling beat-em-ups always so bad? I used to love Double Dragon, POW, Renegade etc but I've tried a few over the past year and they've all been uniformly terrible in largely the same ways - dodgy hitboxes, stiff movement and off-screen attacks where the enemies is outside of the scrolling range. It's all the same again here, where a traveller family seeks revenge on the Russian state because of some things that happened blah, blah, blah. I mean, nobody plays these for the story, right?

 

The fighting itself is graphic - lots of blood, exploding heads, some dismemberment - but unlike many of its peers, there's no mild-RPG mechanic to enhance your moveset - what you start with is what you get (and it's not a lot).

 

It's 4-player (either with real people or you can use bots, which is a decent touch) but at the maximum you get thrown a stupid amount of enemies at you which can become very frustrating in one particular boss fight because everything becomes a big old blob of pixel art and you lose yourself amongst the crowd - not easy when you have a very short window to traverse the screen and perform a specific action, but keep getting knocked-down by a stupid dog.

 

Anyway, I played it, I finished it, I didn't particularly enjoy it.

 

Bleed on, Mother Russia.

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

29/03/2020 - Operencia - The Stolen Sun (PC)

20/02/2020 - Ruzar: The Life Stone (PC)

20/02/2020 - Alder's Blood: Prologue (PC)

17/02/2020 - Universal Paperclips (PC)

15/02/2020 - Gris (PC)

21/01/2020 - Gears of War 5 (Xbox One X)

19/01/2020 - Diablo 3 - Reaper of Souls (Xbox One X)

05/01/2020 - Night Call (PC)

02/01/2020 - Remember Me (PC)

 

[DarkCrisis]

1. Resident Evil 7(XB1) 8/10

2. Batman Arkham Asylum(XB1) 7.5/10

3. Halo: CE Anniversary(XB1) 5/10

4. Life is Strange(XB1) 8/10

5. Luigi Mansion 3(Switch) 8/10

6. New Super Lucky’s Tale(Switch) 7/10

7. Catherine: Full Body(PS4) 8.5/10

8. Untitled Goose Game(Switch) 6/10   

9. Sleeping Dogs(PS4) 9/10

10. Doom 2016(PS4) 9/10

11. Peggle 2(PS4) 7/10

12. Spider-Man(PS4) 9/10

13. Crash Bandicoot(PS4) 7.5/10
 

14. Resident Evil 3 Remake(PS4) - After playing RE2Remake late last year I have been looking forward to this game for a while and it didn’t disappoint, it felt like a third story as part of RE2 to go along Claire and Leon’s stories. The game play felt more action packed this time around which was mostly down to the encounters with Nemesis, all in all I really enjoyed my first play though and have immediately started it again on hardcore with my only negatives being it was to short(7 hrs on my first play through) and a little less polished than RE2.  8/10

[moosegrinder]

On 23/01/2020 at 22:44, moosegrinder said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

6th Jan 2020

 

Rage 2 - I have no idea why I invested so much time in this. It's not awful, it's just spectacularly mediocre. The distribution of activities and missions across the map is terrible with massive chunks being unexplored as there was no reason to go there. I finished the game 3 guns and 2 abilities short, which didn't make a blind bit of difference to the outcome of anything. 

 

Took me about 39 hours. I really should have stopped much sooner.

 

11th Jan 2020

 

Darksiders III - 80% of this game is really good, 20% is amateur hour garbage. I love the whole aesthetic and 'lore' and whatever and it makes me want to go back to the first two. The difficulty is all over the place, the combat is much better since they put the old combat system in (but I keep trying to bloody dodge cancel) and the loading times are terrible but overall I enjoyed it. I wish there was a map and some kind of recap of where you need to go next because the skull on the compass that points you in a direction now mainly useless.

 

Still, looking forward to Genesis next month.

 

22nd Jan 2020 - Picross E6. Picross, innit. 5/5. Now the question is do I go for E7, Sanrio or one of the Switch 'non-canon' ones as I've done S1, 2 and 3?

 

Sometime in March 2020 - Picross E7. Have a guess. Took about 38 hours, only one puzzle wasn't medalled and needed hints on. Fuck you, Pinocchio.

[Talvalin]

I went back and read this thread from the start (well, I skim-read it) and now I want to buy Bloodstained: RotN, Darksiders: Genesis and Fallen Order. Fuck's sake. I'm trying to clear my backlog, not add new games to it! 

[Vorgot]

Witcher 3 - PS4

 

Amy journey finally comes to it's first end. And what a journey. Amazing game with a few niggles and glitches but they are peanuts compared what the devs pulled off with this. The biggest star is the world itself, with so many great little side stories, dramas being played out and comedy moments all over the place, often not signposted. The game is by far at its best when you are doing secondary quests, contracts, or just tootling around finding stuff. When you are forced to main quest stuff it feels stilted and scripted, while the rest of it feels organic and full of life. And the multiple endings to the multiple strands add a real level of impact to any decisions you made. I found myself getting annoyed a few times towards the end, but then I realised I was griping about maybe an hour of playtime out of well over 100, so I really have nothing to gripe about. And I've still got the expansions to come!

 

Previously : 

1. Sword Art Online Fatal Bullet

2. Resident Evil 2 Remake

3. Donut County

4. Assemble With Care

5. Persona Q2

[FiveFootNinja]

On 28/03/2020 at 20:34, FiveFootNinja said:

1. Jedi: Fallen Order (XB1) - 10/10

2. Untitled Goose Game (XB1) - 8/10

3. Gorogoa (iPad) - 9/10

4. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (XB1) - 8/10

5. Abzû (PS4) - 6/10

6. Braid (XB1/360) - 10/10

7. A Plague Tale: Innocence (XB1) - 8/10

8. Quantum Break (XB1) - 6/10

9. Oxenfree (Mac OS) - 7/10

 

10. Monument Valley 2 (iPad) - Delightful and cleverly designed little puzzler with an absolutely lovely aesthetic and excellent sound design/score. Challenge rating is about zero to be honest, but I ran through it in a single sitting because I wanted a change of pace and to chill out. Pulled on some of my Journey strings. Wish it was a bit harder. - 7/10

 

FYI... it's currently free on the App Store for a limited time if you want to try it.