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Post by Resident Tsundere on Dec 23, 2015 17:53:48 GMT -5
For 2015 releases (highs):
1. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. I had some misgivings, but I like their take on open-world stealth. I just love building up Mother Base, just like I did in Peace Walker. 2. The Legend of Legacy. I consider this to be a bit of a sleeper hit. Your characters get skills and stat increases (there are no levels to gain) randomly, which can be frustrating but also fun. If you hate the SaGa games, stay far away from TLoL. The game also has some lovely music and adorable characters. 3. Final Fantasy Record Keeper. Mainly for nostalgia. After many updates and tweaks, the game improved a lot since it launched. 4. Mercenaries Saga 2! This is a meat and potatoes strategy RPG, but it's basically the stripped-down essence of its fancier, higher-budget brethren.
Lows:
1. Undead Storm Nightmare: Decent concept, but a flawed execution. It's clearly inspired by top-down, dual-stick shooters, but the 3DS only has one stick. I had hopes for the weapons upgrade system, but they're very expensive, and you have to spend the same currency on them as unlocking new levels! Who thought that was a good idea?
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Post by Garamoth on Dec 24, 2015 8:57:53 GMT -5
HIGH
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain: The best stealth game ever and one of the better open world games too. The ending is certainly wonky, but how can anyone claim this game is not complete when it has: weapon customization, vehicles, town building and both passive multiplayer AND deathmatch multiplayer. Nevermind the dumbass MGS story, which is mostly kept to a minimum here. Anyway, game designers should take lessons from this one. Reflex mode is an elegant way to solve one of stealth games' main problems (i.e. that you're either doing fine or... shit I'm toast, have to reload). The icing on the cake is that it's also a hindrance if you want the highest possible mission score. Performing hold-ups is just great (non-violent) fun too, why aren't the other games implementing this? The devs have been pretty diligent at releasing updates too, but now they seem to be working on shit no one cares about, like micro-achievements and FOB events instead or just sitting at their desk and building a new environment (Alaska DLC!). Maybe it really was Kojima holding it all together! Guess we'll see.
AVERAGE
Bloodborne: That's odd. On the one hand the game is way too damn dark, the environments are cluttered instead of being imaginative, the optional randomly generated dungeons are boring and useless, the multiplayer is broken both on a technical and design standpoint, guns are not as fun as shields and require a tiresome amount of precision and overall Bloodborne is a Souls game with most of the magic, armor, stats and build decisons gutted out. On the other hand, Bloodborne is a Souls game so it's great. How 'bout that, huh?
LOW
The Static Speaks My Name (and every other Itch.io abortion): Ugh, I should stop downloading these 5-10 min. pieces of junk, they're almost always never fun and rarely even original. Gaming sites should probably stop talking about those as well... at the very least I'll stop listening when they try recommending one to me. Those games even ask you to name your price, which I sort of understand, sort of don't. You don't see me putting online and asking money for every school project and work memo I've ever worked on.
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Post by IrishNinja on Dec 24, 2015 21:57:05 GMT -5
i pretty much just played Bloodborne, Hotline Miami 2 & Yakuza 5 this year
so it's been good
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Post by X-pert74 on Dec 24, 2015 22:20:35 GMT -5
HIGH Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain: The best stealth game ever and one of the better open world games too. The ending is certainly wonky, but how can anyone claim this game is not complete when it has: weapon customization, vehicles, town building and both passive multiplayer AND deathmatch multiplayer. Nevermind the dumbass MGS story, which is mostly kept to a minimum here. Anyway, game designers should take lessons from this one. Reflex mode is an elegant way to solve one of stealth games' main problems (i.e. that you're either doing fine or... shit I'm toast, have to reload). The icing on the cake is that it's also a hindrance if you want the highest possible mission score. Performing hold-ups is just great (non-violent) fun too, why aren't the other games implementing this? The devs have been pretty diligent at releasing updates too, but now they seem to be working on shit no one cares about, like micro-achievements and FOB events instead or just sitting at their desk and building a new environment (Alaska DLC!). Maybe it really was Kojima holding it all together! Guess we'll see. Oh my gosh, an Alaskan environment for MGSV would be fucking cool. I want that so much! It would also complement the mostly-green and mostly-sand environments that are already in the game.
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Post by Garamoth on Dec 25, 2015 10:03:33 GMT -5
I know right? Why won't these guys take my money? They could even add a Shadow Moses prologue.
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Jan 1, 2016 5:20:34 GMT -5
Over the last two weeks I tried a lot of stuff and saw videos of other stuff, to decide if it was really of my interest or at least to put on my "to play first" list. So I'll save many for 2016 rather than include them within this year, but I played a few enough for a final update.
TOP Hocus – Beautiful minimalist puzzle based on M.C. Escher’s optical illusions. Not difficult but still great and very relaxing to play.
Downwell – Didn’t seem much at first, but after a few plays it becomes addictive. The visuals also feel like a trichromatic Cave Story. Biggest surprise of the end of the year.
HIGH Dark Echo – A truly minimalist game that originated at a Ludum Dare, it combines intuitive “echolocation” based on colored lines with stealth and great sound design.
Soul Gambler - A really interesting and, for once, different Visual Novel. Nice atmosphere, a good number of different story choices, and great comic book visuals very unlike the usual “half-figures over backgrounds”. For the extremely low prices it often gets on Steam, it’s worth a shot.
Toren – Barely here because it’s quite flawed, between bugs, very simple gameplay and short duration, but art direction and narration drew me in, especially because the fantasy world is much darker than it seems at first.
AVERAGE Blues and Bullets: Episode 1 – Too short to get a definite opinion. Crams a lot of things in (noir, alternate history, horror…), and only following episodes may tell if it’ll work or will fail. When they finally release more episodes, that is.
Reveal the Deep – Ghost ship setting, average pixel art, great sound design and documents, interesting but simplistic mechanics. At least it does not overrate itself – it’s presented as short (and it is) and is priced at 99 cents.
Shipwreck – A decent Zelda clone that plays well but is very short and devoid of any little twist in its incredibly generic quest and environments.
Planet of the Eyes – Sort of a cross between Wall-E and Another World in story and visual style, with some niece setpieces, it however proved too short and easy.
LOW Project Root – Looked like a modern Seek and Destroy (which in turn was a top-down variation on the “Strike” series) but quickly sank under the weight of excessively long and repetitive missions, in a word: boring.
The Deer God – I dig the visual style (pixelated 2.5D) and atmosphere a lot, but the actual gameplay is too simplistic, messy and buggy to be enjoyable on the long run.
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Post by X-pert74 on Jan 1, 2016 17:19:01 GMT -5
Now that the year is over, I am going to put together my post. Highs:The Last of Us (PS3) – This is fucking incredible. I'm so glad I finally got to play this. I honestly consider this one of my absolute favorite games ever, alongside Resident Evil 4 and X-COM: UFO Defense. I loved virtually everything about this game, from the combat to the exploration to the stealth to the storyline to the voice acting to the sound design... this is truly a game that must be experienced if you are even remotely into third-person action-horror-kinda games. The only flaw I can recall is that there's a certain enemy type which one-hit kills you as soon as it gets near you, and I found it particularly aggravating to deal with. Beyond that, I love this.
Yakuza (PS2) – Oh my gosh. I first started this game in 2010, playing on an 80GB PS3, which is semi-backwards compatible with PS2 games. Heavy emphasis on the “semi”. PS2 games generally work fine on it in my experience, but holy shit does Yakuza have a lot of problems on it. I eventually just had to switch entirely to playing through the game on a PS2 so I could have a stable experience.
Anyways, Yakuza is a fun game. It kind of feels like a more modern version of River City Ransom in a way (which I'll talk about more a couple entries below from here). You spend a lot of time running around the city, as random assholes stroll up and get offended by your presence, upon which you get thrown into a street fight where you get to fuck their shit up. It's super satisfying, tee hee. The controls could use some polish; I found my lock-on button constantly would fail to lock on to the right enemy, or would sometimes lose track of who I was locking on to for no particular reason, but all things considered, it's a good game that's well worth playing. The English dub is laughably bad, but I've heard its sequels retain the Japanese voice acting with English subtitles, which sounds good to me. I've got Yakuza 2 in my collection, so I should start that up sometime.
Wolfenstein: The New Order (Steam) – This is such a good game. It had a surprisingly good story going for it. The setting of an alternate-universe 1960s-era world in which the Nazis won World War II and rule everything with anachronistically advanced technology, seems like an absurd premise initially, but it's very sobering to experience firsthand. The character interaction felt very natural, and I really felt for each member of the resistance that I fought for. At the same time, this game successfully features moments of over-the-top shooter silliness, like blowing the shit out of astronaut Nazis with dual-wielded shotguns, hee hee. It's not every day you see a modern FPS with a great single-player campaign. If you like that, play this!!
River City Ransom (NES) – I'd been aware of this game's existence for years, and was always curious about it. It's not every day that you hear of a beat-em-up with RPG leveling elements, after all. I never had it as a kid, but I got myself a copy, and ended up really enjoying it! It's not a perfect game; it starts out very difficult, until you gather certain items and level up certain stats to the point where it becomes a cakewalk, but it's a charming, fun game to screw around in and beat the shit out of bad guys in. I've gotta play this with a friend someday.
The Stanley Parable (Steam) – Okay... I know I just said I don't like games where you walk forward as a narrator gives story exposition... but this is an amazing game. The Stanley Parable is one of the funniest games I have ever played. It is an excellent subversion of game design, and the acting performance of the narrator really makes this.
Super Mario Bros. (Game & Watch) – I really am very fond of Nintendo's Game & Watch series of handheld machines. I don't own any actual classic Game & Watch games, but I have several of the Game & Watch Gallery series for Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, as well as a couple mini-keychains that have Game & Watch games in them. One of them is... Super Mario Bros.! For an LCD game, this does a remarkable job of translating Super Mario Bros.-type gameplay. It's a fun little diversion if you enjoy arcadey score-based games.
Shadowrun (Super Famicom) – Now this was an interesting game. A Super NES exclusive title (I played the Japanese version, which is still entirely in English with Japanese subtitles), and one of the few Western RPGs developed specifically for console... Shadowrun is an interesting game. Its combat sucks, lol, but everything else about it ranges from interesting to really incredible. This is one of the best-written games I can think of on the system; lots of memorable, amusing dialogue that really makes the world feel alive. It feels a little bit like a more linear Fallout at times, which is remarkable since this came out four years before Fallout did. It's not without its flaws, but if you're up for a unique experience for your Super NES, definitely give this a go.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (Steam) – This game is incredible. I liked JRPGs as a kid, but as I grew older, I found I started to have less and less tolerance for them. I never outright hated them, but I got kind of tired of the genre, and started playing more Western RPGs instead, such as Fallout or Mass Effect. Well... I decided to give Trails in the Sky a go, and I love this. I think I like JRPGs again. There is so much going on in this game's story, and the cast of characters is full of charm. I'm especially fond of the main character in this game, Estelle Bright. To be honest, I found her kind of annoying for the first couple hours of my playthrough, but as time went on, she grew on me, and now I think she's awesome. Her character development... and really the development of practically every character in this game, is remarkable. Also the music is incredible too. I now consider this series to be one of my all-time favorites; Trails in the Sky FC and SC would easily be top-ten games for me, especially if you look at the two as two parts of one larger experience... which they kind of are.
Gone Home (Steam) – I've heard a lot of controversy surrounding this game, for various reasons. I agree that the base price of $20 for a two-hour game with little replay value is ridiculous. If you can get this on sale though, I highly recommend it. Structurally it feels kind of like a Bioshock or Resident Evil game without combat or survival mechanics; just exploration and note-reading and some occasional puzzle solving. I really loved this game's story; enough so that I had a great time, despite not usually liking adventure games that have no focus on combat whatsoever. This is a great game to pick up at a discount.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PS3, via Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) – Prior to this, I hadn't played a Metal Gear game since beating Metal Gear Solid 4 in 2009. It was nice to finally revisit this series. Anyways, the boss fights in Peace Walker are mostly not good; they have way too much health and are repetitive to face. I also don't like the grinding one has to do in order to develop powerful-enough technology and weaponry to have a fair time against certain boss encounters in the game. Also the QTEs are frustrating, and their presence is jarring, considering no other game in the main series before or since has featured them in any way. Overall though, the gameplay is pretty fun. I like the MGS4-style Shooter control setup, and think Kojima Productions did a good job of making a large comprehensive game on what's clearly a much smaller budget/weaker platform than they're used to working with.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Steam) – Goddamn, this story is some fucked-up shit. Gameplay is fucking awesome though; it kept me engaged for about five hours, when the actual required content of the story is much less than that. Then there's all the side content you unlock after beating the main story. I've put over 30 hours into this game as of this writing, and can see myself going back for more, so that I can potentially unlock every achievement and get 100% completion. So much fun.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Steam) – Great gameplay and a mostly great story, though it feels kind of lacking when all is said and done. How much of that is intentional, and how much isn't, we'll perhaps never know. Overall, it's fucking cool though, and it has by far the best gameplay the series has ever seen. This is simultaneously my favorite Metal Gear game from a gameplay perspective, as well as my favorite sandbox game. The genre-melding here works wonderfully.
The Guardian Legend (NES) – This is somewhat like Blaster Master in that it mixes two genres pretty evenly. Also somewhat like Blaster Master in that it is super cool. I've had this for about five years now, but didn't seriously start playing it until this year. Glad I did, because it's super fun.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC (Steam) – I'm so glad this could come out in English. Love this game. Somewhat buggy but understandable to some extent, considering the major programming difficulties updating a decade-old game for release on modern computers. I'm invested in this series now, and intend to play all future releases in it for sure.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition (Steam) – At long last, I have beaten this classic. There are annoying technical issue in this version, which result in framerate drops. Why am I seeing framerate drops in a game from 1994?! That is just bizarre. Aside from that, it was cool to see just how much of this game's design would later feature in more modern games, ranging from Bioshock to Dead Space and the like. Even with the control enhancements in this version, I can't say this will easily appeal to everyone, but if you're interested, I recommend it. Averages:The Expendabros ( Steam) – Well, I technically beat this game like, within an hour or two of midnight between 2014 and 2015, but it wasn't included in last year's list, so I'll just place it here This was a decent little run-and-gun shooter. It's free, so that's nice, but I'm not sure I'm interested in playing the full game of Broforce. I prefer stuff like Contra or Metal Slug over this game's approach to run-and-gun shooting. Super Mario Bros. 2 ( NES) – I've had this since I was a kid, but only got around to seriously playing through this early this year. It's okay, but still one of my least favorite Mario games. I know all about the story of how this was originally Doki Doki Panic, and why Nintendo decided to turn it into a Mario game for non-Japanese audiences. Honestly, the ways in that it differs from all the other main Mario games make it less engaging for me. I like standard Mario gameplay. I like jumping on enemies to kill them, and running my way through generally linear stages to try and make it to the exit. Super Mario Bros. 2 however, doesn't have that, so I can't like it in the same way. Dear Esther ( Steam) – Ehh... I have no idea what happened in this game. It was pretty, at least. I'm not really one for games that are all about walking forward while you listen to a narrator give story exposition. Clarity (prototype) ( PC download) – This was an entry in the Jam for Leelah held towards the beginning of the year in memory of Leelah Alcorn, a transgender girl who sadly committed suicide in December 2014. This actually seemed pretty decent; it needed work of course, but it seems like there is promise for a good sidescrolling action/platformer/RPG to be made from this. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge ( Game Boy) – I'd played some Mega Man games for handheld systems before this, like Mega Man Xtreme 1 & 2, and the first Mega Man Zero. This was my first time playing an original series Mega Man game for the Game Boy though. It's... okay. Yeah. Like a lot of older Game Boy games, it's remarkably short in length, but it's fun enough. Duke Nukem 3D: Duke: Nuclear Winter ( Steam) – I played through this while I was sick with pneumonia during the summer. It wasn't amazing, but at least it helped to kind of distract me from feeling like shit. The level design here is not as good as in the main game or in Duke It Out in D.C., but it's not horrible. If you have the Megaton Edition, it's worth a try. Dead Space 2 ( Steam) – I liked this more than the first Dead Space somewhat; the fact Isaac is an actual character with dialogue this time around I think helped. I still don't think it's an incredible game necessarily, but it's definitely fun and worth playing if you like Resident Evil 4-esque action-horror gameplay and want a challenge. The Powerpuff Girls: Defenders of Townsville ( Steam) – This is incredibly short (I beat it 100% in 2.6 hours according to Steam), but it's decent enough. It feels like a flash or mobile game, but the core gameplay, which is a mix of Metroidvania and shmup is fun enough. I'm not a huge fan of either of those genres, but this is at least competently done, and I'm a huge Powerpuff Girls fan so that helped endear this game a little more to me. It's a shame this got pulled from sale... especially so since it's a digital-only game, so the only way to obtain this now is through less-than-legal means. Gunstar Super Heroes ( Game Boy Advance) – This is kind of like a semi-remake of the original Gunstar Heroes for the Genesis, although it's officially a sequel as its story takes place after the events of the first. It also features some new/different combat mechanics and stages, but largely follows the formula and themes of its predecessor. Ending is kinda anticlimactic, but I'm still happy I finally beat this. I first started playing this in high school, haha, so it's nice to finally clear it from my backlog. Lows:Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X (Xbox) – The Xbox controller really sucks for Tony Hawk games. They don't feel right with an analog stick, and the d-pad on the controller is bad. Not as bad as the 360's d-pad, but nowhere near suitable for Tony Hawk-style gameplay. I also dislike how the in-game soundtrack is out of order. The Playstation and PC versions of THPS2 have the soundtrack in a specific order; you always start with Papa Roach, then you go into Public Enemy+Anthrax, then Rage Against The Machine, etc. But here, the game's soundtrack was just dumped into alphabetical order by band name, which throws off the flow of one song going into the next. When I make mix playlists, I spend a long time trying to figure out exactly what order I want each song to play in. I've felt like the first two Tony Hawk games have a really nice order for which song plays when in their playlists, and the Xbox version ditches that. Also also, the exclusive bonus levels in this version are mostly unremarkable. It's cool to have all the levels from the first THPS unlockable though.
Duke Nukem (Steam) – Duke Nukem is most well-known for starring in one of the best FPSes ever (Duke Nukem 3D) and one of the worst FPSes ever (Duke Nukem Forever). However, he got his start as a 2D action-platformer hero, in a shareware release by Apogee back in 1991. This is an okay attempt at the genre, but it falls flat in certain areas. The worst aspect of the game by far is that you're zoomed up too close to the action, so you can't see very far to the left or right of Duke, which makes it easy to accidentally walk into enemies or off ledges if you're not stopping and starting. When every stage is a maze that potentially has really high platforms that would be inconvenient to fall from, it makes the game take awhile to play through. There's also no soundtrack of any kind, though I don't think I can fault the developers for that, considering what they had to work with. I found this interesting to play as a historical curiosity, but it's not something I plan to revisit.
Fight Like a Girl (PC download) – This was another entry in the Jam for Leelah. It is... lacking. It seems more like a proof of concept than an actual fully-realized game. It's a beat-em-up, that features minimal animation, one enemy type, and lasts for about 45 seconds.
Sakura Clicker (Steam) – this game is boring. You just click on hot anime girls to make them squeal and moan until they burst into coins. It's not surprising you can play this with just one hand.
Crysis 2 (Steam) – I swear like every other fucking chapter has you either get knocked out, or beaten to near-death, or otherwise captured or incapacitated. The tension is kind of lost when this becomes a regular occurrence. Aside from that, the gameplay is okay. The level/chapter design is mostly not remarkable. I dislike the huge emphasis on a story that doesn't do a good job of getting you to care about the world or characters; characters frequently get introduced and then just kind of fade out of the story near the end with no real resolution to their character arcs. Stealth can be pretty fun, and the armor essentially lets you play the game like Doom (with no cover) for short periods of time, before you need to return to cover again. However you are very underpowered in the early game, and don't have a lot of viable options while you're getting the hang of the game. As you level up your abilities, you become more capable in each skill, and the game starts to become more engaging to play. Overall, there are some neat ideas, but they're unfortunately attached to a fairly by-the-numbers modern military/sci-fi FPS. I've heard the first Crysis has much more open areas to explore, with more options for tackling each situation. I should give it a try.
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Post by Sac (a.k.a Icaras) on Jan 1, 2016 17:33:02 GMT -5
Back in the early ninties, Duke Nukem was an awesome game...because for most of us that were kids with PCs, it and the other various shareware games (Mostly Apogee and Epic MegaGames) were all we had. (I don't even mean a money issues, nobody really made games like that for PC...at least, none that were commonly sold)
But looking back at the game today....yeah, it really does sucl. Duke Nukem 2 is an improvement, not enough to be a game you'd continually revisit but it has a damn good soundtrack.
Plus if you're a fan of Duke 3D it's worth playing as it takes plce directly before Duke 3D (The ship you see crashing at the start of Duke 3D is the ship Duke was using to retutn to earth at the end of Duke Nukem 2).
Also, i'm not sure if this is still the case, but the version of Duke 2 I got from GoG had his original sprite sans badly edited on sunglasses, which I saw the Steam release did have (and it looks crap).
...Hmmm....now that I've written this post, it reminds me that it was time I picked up the 3D Realms Anthonlogy.
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Post by Weasel on Jan 1, 2016 18:56:56 GMT -5
Well, I have to do a lot of cross-referencing with a list of what actually got released last year instead of just "I learned it existed last year"...but here's a vague list, I guess. If I've not put a game in this list, I just didn't play it. Mind-Blowingly Awesome- Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - You can read my full thoughts about this stand-alone expansion/semi-prequel in the official HG101 article, but to sum it up, this is more solid FPS action, more intense and disturbing encounters with the SS, and a pretty reasonable amount of content for a $20 game.
- Super Mario Maker - Just the ability to play Mario levels by Tom Hall is pretty great, but there's also the intuitive level editor that's still full of neat secrets and awesome tricks, and just a whole lot of Nintendo being their silly selves, which I can never get enough of.
- MGSV: The Phantom Pain - It has some headaches, some frustrating portions, but I'm glad I played this one. It's smooth as hell and I'm upset that we won't get any more of it.
- Mad Max - This game got unfairly overshadowed in the wake of MGS5 releasing at the same time. Driving, shooting, fist-fighting, and scrounging; this game is basically exactly what I was looking for by the end of the year.
- BroForce - It'd been in Early Access for ages, but the game's final release was this year, and it came with a huge boost to playability and presentation. It's fast, furious arcade action, and if there's ever a moment when something isn't exploding, you're probably playing it wrong.
- Yakuza 5 - I've been waiting for THREE YEARS for this damn game to come out in English, and you know what? It's been worth it. Fighting thugs, driving taxis, fighting thugs, dancing to J-Pop songs, fighting thugs, playing baseball...why the hell does anybody care about Shenmue 3 when these games exist and are better than Shenmue 1 and 2 ever were? Yu Suzuki has some massive, massive shoes to fill.
It Was Pretty Good- Grim Fandango Remastered - I bought my Vita specifically for this game; I'm stuck in the same place that I was when I used to own the PC version, though. The Vita has some strange lag on this game in some places, and I can't figure out why it wouldn't run smoothly, but the new controls are a vast improvement.
- Resident Evil 5 Gold (PC) - Yes, I admit, I actually like RE5. Re-buying the Gold edition was a good choice for me, especially with how cheap it was. It's a solid action game and I'm glad Capcom finally got around to giving it to the PC userbase.
- Grand Theft Auto 5 (PC) - It took them forever to get this thing out. It's certainly better than 4 was, and while I'm not a fan of the online mode, I just really needed a new open-world to get lost in. The redefined Los Santos was perfect for that, and the ability to play almost the entire game in first-person was pretty great for that experience. Maybe someday I should actually finish it.
- Audiosurf 2 - More refined sequel to my favorite "play with your own music" game. Throw on some Juno Reactor and have a great ride.
- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (Redux) - An already beautiful game became more beautiful with this game's transition to Unreal Engine 4. With that transition came some very important fixes to the save system, as well as making certain parts a bit less frustrating. So, thanks to The Astronauts for putting this one out.
- Shadow Complex Remastered - Hey, one less reason to be tied to my XBox 360.
It's Alright But I'll Play It Later (i.e. never)- Whoa Dave - This one was a freebie at some point on PS+, so I had it on my Vita. It's a reasonably alright take on arcade Mario Bros., but it's a little unforgiving. I really didn't like the art style; retro graphics have a better effect if they can decide what resolution they want to be. Props for the Atari Games-esque "Whoaaaa, Dave!" synthesized voice, though.
- Nintendo Badge Arcade - I can't think of much wrong with this game's presentation and handling. It's just hard to stay interested when the reward is basically just home screen icons. Still, kudos to Nintendo for at least managing to make it fun, in the short bursts that I'm able to play it.
No Sir, I Don't Like It </Mr.Horse>- Pokémon Picross - I'm a big fan of Picross games, especially Nintendo/Jupiter's takes on the formula, so the idea of a new Picross title was already welcomed. I didn't think the free-to-play aspects would be so bad early on, until I slammed into a brick wall and was unable to progress without paying more money for Picrites than it'd cost to buy a brand new game. That, plus the energy stuff - don't bother!
- Adventures of Pip - I wanted to love the concept of this game; the journey of a single red pixel as he grows in complexity to rescue a princess. But what I wound up getting wasn't really the imaginative game I expected; it's pretty much just a bog-standard platformer with a graphical gimmick. Basically, go download the awesome OST album for free instead, and forget the game itself exists.
- Fallout Shelter - Lazy Game Reviews described this sort of game pretty aptly his video review: "pop the zits" to earn resources, use resources to expand the Vault so that there are more zits to pop up. When the best way to progress in your game is to not play the game, why is it a game to begin with?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2016 1:31:34 GMT -5
The Good:
-MGSV: The Phantom Pain - It's not perfect (some mechanics are a bit wonky, later levels are hardcore repeats, the story is IMHO both bare-bones and poorly written), but the intensity and chaos of the games nonscripted moments and operational flexibility is worth the price of admission. Quiet, loud, gentle, lethal, sniping, up close and personal, overkill, taking out a tank squadron with a spoon...Anything is possible, and pulling off a cunning tactic makes you feel like a million bucks.
-Super Metroid - Some games age like fine wine, and this is one of them---beautiful and labyrinthine levels that are atmospheric enough to cause apprehension but sprawling enough to make you want to gussy up and forge on despite your fear, minimalist storytelling, haunting and moody music, gameplay that defined a genre and still holds up today, dreamlike sci-fi artwork that sets the game's mood excellently, and it's good food for speedrunners as well.
-XCOM: UFO Defense - Final Fantasy Tactics, with less magic and more terror (and grief when you lose your finest soldiers). And with OpenXCOM finally at v1.0, the world will be able to play it forever.
-Door Kickers - A real-time-with-pause strategy title that should feel comfortable to XCOM fans for its small-unit tactics and comfortable to SWAT/Police Quest/Rainbow Six fans for its special-ops premise and emphasis on planning manuevers and assaults. Features multiple campaigns, a host of standalone missions, a random mission generator, a level editor, and Steam Workshop support for an infinite gaggle of content and replay value. Speaking of which...
-Rainbow Six 3 - All of the challenge and intensity of the earlier games, but friendlier with modern hardware and MUCH easier to get the hang of without any loss of depth.
-Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Tactical open-world conspiracy pirate-ninja parkour action. Need I say more?
-Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky First/Second Chapter - Oldschool JRPG goodness with really, really good writing.
-Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall: Director's Cut - Oldschool isometric RPG goodness with newschool accessibility.
-Call of Duty: Black Ops II - It may be gaming's equivalent of a Big Mac, but it is a VERY BIG Mac, only outbiggened when Black Ops 3 came out.
-DooM - The game that keeps on giving, 26 years later!
-Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U - So much smashing, so little time. This iteration of the franchise has something for everyone.
-Bayonetta 1/2 - These games are just plain helluva trips. I'm bad at these games but still having a blast.
-The Metroid Prime Trilogy - I never get tired of the Scan Visor. Best worldbuilding plot device EVER.
The Almost-As-Good:
-Splatoon - I love it and all, and the core gameplay is very tight and solid, but I started getting bored with it after a while due to it eventually feeling like it was always more of the same, even with new maps and gamemodes being added. For some this may be a boon, so don't let me discourage you from trying.
-Xenoblade Chronicles X - This would go in the "good" category except it has a steeper learning curve (and much more poorly-explained game mechanics, necessitating some research and asking for help on the web) than the original Xenoblade and this sometimes makes it much more frustrating. Also, the story isn't as good and the ending just poses more questions than answers, like it's setting up for a sequel. Still worth it for the scenery and giant mechs, though---it's been too long since the West has gotten a good mech game.
-Alpha Protocol - A really intriguing modern-day answer to Deus Ex's brand of FPSRPG, marred by bugs, some control issues, and a general sense that they didn't quite have enough time to fully polish everything. Still interesting, though.
-Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong - Fixes some problems that SRR and Dragonfall had, but introduces new ones.
-Way of the Samurai 4 - A very fun sandbox game, but has a rough learning curve and you will get smushed repeatedly the first few times you try to play the game. It trades the aimless mass-murdering shenanigans of games like GTA and Saints Row for a labyrinthine plot with MANY endings and minigames. If you liked Fallout New Vegas you'll love this, but if you prefer GTA or Saints Row you might not like it.
-Broforce - Due to the nature of the game it can be either entertainingly breezy or infuriatingly difficult. It's a pretty solid and entertainingly chaotic run-and-gun nonetheless, though (and I haven't even had a chance to play it in multiplayer yet).
-Elder Scrolls: Morrowind - The graphics haven't aged so well, the combat has aged even worse, but the sheer size and alienness of the world make this a game for the ages.
The Bad (though not fatally so):
-Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - Tryhard difficulty and a somewhat fanfiction-y plot wind up making this feel like an overbudgeted attempt at aping what made the original so good. Some may like it nonetheless, though. I was going to put it one tier above here just for the soundtrack, but then I remembered how long it's taking Dennaton Games to get the level editor out the door. Unacceptable.
-Killing Floor 2 - Showed initial promise, but the sluggish progress on content and bugfixes relative to additions like the microtransactions is disconcerting. At least it's still better than Payday 2 is right now.
-Cradle - Beautiful scenery, intriguing plot and premise, not-very-good gameplay coupled with a somewhat limited save system. Interesting as an objet d'art, lacking as a game, will be up some people's alleys and not at all down other people's---I'm in both camps.
The Fugly:
-Payday 2 - The programmers and other grunts at Overkill Software, I forgive you---you were only ever just doing what you were supposed to. But to the management and PR people, I hope you rot---not that you leaving the team would fix anything, as Simon Viklund and the voice actor for Wolf are gone anyway. Nothing's the same now.
-Overgrowth - I'm still waiting for a beta, Wolfire Games. You're terrible businessmen and you're taking too much advice from your diehard fans.
-Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - Not the game itself (which is pretty great, even more so with bug patches and mods), but the paid mods fiasco. Bethesda seems to have pissed off for the moment and the modding community back stronger and more coherent and ever, though, so thank God.
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Post by X-pert74 on Jan 12, 2016 1:44:19 GMT -5
I really loved Alpha Protocol so much. I've yet to play a Deus Ex game though. I've been thinking of catching up on that series, so that I'm ready for Mankind Divided's release later this year.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2016 1:55:43 GMT -5
Oh yeah, also -
THE GOOD:
-Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - It's like everything I like about Dark Souls (huge monsters, a weighty combat system) with more reasonable but still difficult difficulty!
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