Fierce_LiNk Posted December 23, 2016 Posted December 23, 2016 I completed Titanfall 2 on the highest difficulty setting. I found the game really enjoyable and I also managed to nab the platinum! Further thoughts are in the thread. Fully recommended. It's actually a bit nuts about how so many major shooters all arrived at the same time. The DLC for Battlefront has hit and we've just bought Overwatch. I haven't even touched either of those yet and still also want Battlefield 1 and am quite eager to try out Titanfall!
Ganepark32 Posted December 24, 2016 Posted December 24, 2016 Been playing a couple of smaller games on Android recently, interspersed between lengthy play sessions of Steep and the tentative first steps in The Last Guardian. First up, played through Little Inferno, from Tomorrow Corporation. I'm a massive fan of their first title, World of Goo and I'm still in the process of playing through it again but I'd always been interested in playing this. And I found it to be an enjoyable experience but admittedly, falling short of what that first game managed to do. It tries to create a rapport between yourself and several characters but it's too heavy handed in its approach and ultimately, you never care for them and quickly get into a habit of tapping through the letters to burn them. A softer touch may have benefitted the game but the overarching narrative, if you could call it that, is hardly anything to write home about anyway. It was a rather cathartic experience though, there's something relieving about setting fire to a bunch of virtual stuff and getting money for it. Managed to grab most of the combos, some with a little help from the net as they were a bit too obscure to figure out. But I feel I suitably gained all there was to be had from the game. There's not much more to say really, stylistically its good, gameplay is simple but oddly captivating but it doesn't stand up to World of Goo. Also picked up and played through a game called Prune on android as well. Essentially, you've got to grow and cultivate a bonsai tree so that it can bloom, making sure to prune it so that branches don't die/can keep growing and dodging a couple of obstacles that the game throws at you. It's a rather short experience but I found it fun. It doesn't really do anything spectacular, it's presented very simply and the controls are just as simple as that, but it was a fun little game for the short run time. Bought and finished up Monument Valley the other morning as well. This I didn't expect to be as short as it was. I thought there would be a bit more than 10 levels so I came away a bit disappointed in that respect as I'd have liked a bit more to go on. Especially as what was here was great. I quite like that M.C. Escher style of art work so to get a puzzle game based around it was a treat and it's very clever in how it all works. It's never overly complicated, most levels are easily solved in a couple of minutes, but just the whole level warping aspect was done really well. I know there's an expansion of a couple of levels available but I'd love to see what they could do with this kind of thing on a bigger budget for say PC or consoles. But yeah, pleasantly surprised and a very enjoyable title. Finally, I finished up Watch Dogs 2 at the start of the week there. I know a lot of people were burnt on the first one but I really enjoyed it so I was excited to see what they could do with this one. And I have to say that they easily surpassed that game on pretty much every single aspect, creating perhaps one of my favourite games this year. The setting for the game was spot on, San Francisco is a great city to roll around and has plenty of cool nooks and crannies hidden away to find. I felt that Chicago, while an interesting city, wasn't fleshed out enough but here with the second game, they've managed to circle that issue completely and create a really well made location to play in. Even some of the non-missions objectives handily tie into that: taking selfies at specific locations to gain followers, be a taxi driver for high paying clients, go graffiti, they all helped to flesh out the city and make it a far more engaging environment than Chicago in the first game and definitely made it feel at least on par with Rockstar's own GTA titles. Narratively, the story focuses on the hacker group from the first game, Dedsec, and it's attempt to show the world what CToS is and who the people behind the big corporations really are. The antagonist throughout, a yoga-doing-man bun hipster isn't particularly great but captures at least some of the style the game is going after and trying to parody. The main cast of characters, is extremely well done and the bits you'll gleam about them from missions really endears you to their personal attributes and personalities. Marcus Holloway, the main character, is a little cringeworthy in places, though this is a dialogue trend that extends beyond him to much of the game, but is a solid lead and a good bouncing board for the secondary characters to bounce off of. The missions don't have many particularly standout moments like GTA would have but they bring their own spin on things. Sneaking into a space engineering firm and installing a hacked motherboard is a particular highlight as was jumping from satellites to access server farms around the globe. But things tend to follow a similar pattern: go to a location, hack a box, complete a puzzle and then hack something else. There's not really as much variety in what you do which is a bit of a let down but that variety has been lost for giving you freedom in how you approach the missions. Should you choose to, you can go in all guns blazing and shoot up the place but the game gives ample opportunity to have a more hands off, stealthy approach and this is the way I found myself more often than not playing. Hacking electrical boxes or gas mains and rigging them to blow, either yourself or with the help of an RC Car and drone, hacking enemy cellphones and calling the police to arrest them because of evidence you upload to make them look like a terrorist or whatnot, the game comes alive a bit more going the stealth route and it definitely plays off better this way as you'll die more often than not trying to run and gun. The seamless multiplayer works brilliantly, though it does have a habit of turning up at the most inopportune times. But when you're not on your way to a mission, bounty hunts and hacker invasions are a nice diversion. And that's really what the game gives a load of, lots of diversions to keep you engaged outside of the main story. It's a shame it hasn't got the attention it deserves because Watch Dogs 2 outdoes the first game in pretty much every way. It still doesn't when not to take itself too seriously but it's a fantastic game and definitely feels like that Assassin's Creed to Assassin's Creed 2 jump. A brilliant game that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. A little sad that it's done now though. Hopefully, if they go with a 3rd game they take this as the template. Completed January Axiom Verge (Started Dec. 2015) Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition Resogun* (Rookie complete, 3 difficulty settings to go) Super Exploding Zoo Among The Sleep Amplitude Just Cause 3 (Started Dec. 2015) Fallout 4 (Started Nov. 2015) Flower February The Witness (Platinum get) Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Submerged Rainbow Six Siege (Situations Completed) Firewatch Unravel March Hotline Miami SOMA The Fall Murdered: Soul Suspect (Platinumed) Uncharted 2 Remastered April Uncharted 3 Remastered Republique (PS4) Shutshimi Teslagrad Volume (Platinumed) Mirror's Edge (PS3) Blues and Bullets - Episode 1 & 2 (of 5) Octodad: Dadliest Catch May Shadow Complex Remastered Koi (PS4) The Park (PS4) Table Top Racing: World Tour Uncharted 4 June Ratchet and Clank (2016) Invisible Inc. (Beginner difficulty) Child of Eden (PS3) Oxenfree VEV: Viva Ex Vivo Gone Home (PS4) Mirror's Edge Catalyst (Platinum, October) July Far Cry Primal Infamous First Light Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell Type:Rider (PS4) Adr1ft Shadow of the Beast (PS4; Normal Difficulty) Trials of the Blood Dragon Song of the Deep Unmechanical Extended August Hyper Light Drifter The Walking Dead Season 1 (Platinum) Abzu This War of Mine: The Little Ones - 2nd Run: Day 28 (Long term) No Man's Sky (Platinum) Bound September Oceanhorn Batman: A Telltale Series - Episode 1 Datura (PS3) Tales from the Borderlands (Platinum, October) Remember Me (PS3) October Deus Ex Mankind Divided Dear Esther: Landmark Edition Virginia Until Dawn Ghostbusters The Video Game (PS3) November The Deadly Tower of Monsters (Platinum) Goat Simulator (Platinum) Rise of the Tomb Raider Titanfall 2 Small Radios Big Televisions Grow Up Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition Battlefield 1 Beyond Good & Evil HD (PS3) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (PS3) Broforce December Asemblance Catlateral Damage (Platinum) Inside Trine: Enchanted Edition Stories: The Path of Destiny Four Sided Fantasy Little Inferno (Android) Prune Watch Dogs 2 Monument Valley Still working my way through the last bits of World of Goo but most of my time is being taken up by Steep which I'm loving. Also just started The Last Guardian but its early days yet to pass judgment on that. What I will say is that Trico is awesome
Blade Posted December 24, 2016 Posted December 24, 2016 Played and completed Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive) this afternoon. Not much to say apart from its a classic!
drahkon Posted December 26, 2016 Posted December 26, 2016 Wanted to be done with Titanfall 2 (still at the third mission) and Dishonored 2 (not started, yet) by now but one game is taking up all my time that I don't spend with friends and family: Stardew Valley Best game ever...7 hours in, summer has arrived (ingame, of course ) and there is so much to do...Absolutely love it. Really hope a Vita version will be announced soon.
Blade Posted December 26, 2016 Posted December 26, 2016 Wanted to be done with Titanfall 2 (still at the third mission) and Dishonored 2 (not started, yet) by now but one game is taking up all my time that I don't spend with friends and family: Stardew Valley Best game ever...7 hours in, summer has arrived (ingame, of course ) and there is so much to do...Absolutely love it. Really hope a Vita version will be announced soon. I was looking at downloading it. Is it a Harvest Moon clone?
drahkon Posted December 27, 2016 Posted December 27, 2016 (edited) I was looking at downloading it. Is it a Harvest Moon clone? To be honest, I've never played a Harvest Moon game for longer than 30 minutes. From what I've read in impressions Stardew Valley is basically Harvest Moon but with more stuff to do. Edit: Spent some time with Titanfall 2. Oh my god, Effect and Cause...easily one of the best levels/missions I have ever played. Edited December 27, 2016 by drahkon
killthenet Posted December 27, 2016 Posted December 27, 2016 Completed Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time last night on the NES classic. It's amazing how much it plays with the form and innovates, 2D Mario really hasn't progressed much in almost 30 years. The levels start out feeling a little short but their increased complexity as things go on make the levels feel much longer and the for the most part its through brilliant and challenging game design. The final world is where things start to feel a little cheap and irritating but it never matches Mario Bros. 2 for annoying game design. There are the odd frame rate drops and the weird inverted ghosting on the right side of the screen can get annoying at times but for the most part it's Mario at it's best with countless game changing innovations. One thing to mention though is that this game must have been nigh on impossible when it came out, the game took me about 5 hours to finish with save points but I tended to play through a world per session. I can't imagine how tough the game would have been when you had to play through the entire thing in one sitting, or just leave your console on for hours until you were ready to play some more, thank god for technical innovation.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 27, 2016 Posted December 27, 2016 (edited) One thing to mention though is that this game must have been nigh on impossible when it came out, the game took me about 5 hours to finish with save points but I tended to play through a world per session. I can't imagine how tough the game would have been when you had to play through the entire thing in one sitting, or just leave your console on for hours until you were ready to play some more, thank god for technical innovation. We simply got good. I honestly think that growing up in the NES era really helped create the gamer I am today. You were pushed and challenged with games back then and you learnt patience and how best to tackle situations. Most games these days are an absolute pushover. Finishedamd platinumed The Little Acre (PS4) the other day. The game got some good write ups so I decided to give to a try. The game is a point and click adventure. The animations of the characters are fantastic. At times I felt like I was watching something like Dragons Lair or Space Ace. The style kinda reminded me of those games. While the game was good, it was pretty short, even by point and click standards. The puzzles were pretty simplistic, as well. There weren't many options or variations for the solutions and you're first guess is usually right. Up next is Watch Dogs 2 (PS4). I finished and platinumed this today. I wasn't a fan of the first game. I found it to be very bland and boring, both in characters and the world I was in. This game fixes both of these problems and is a MUCH better game. Playing around in San Fransico was an absolute joy. I loved that the whole of the areas are open from pretty much the get go. The various skills that you acquire in the game make it a right laugh to mess people around with. I was calling the cops on random people, one of which was a guy dressed as a doughnut. It was hilarious to see the police pull up chase him down. Also, being able to take control of people's cars made for some massive LOL moments. Trophy wise the game is pretty easy, especially when compared to other open world games. I knocked the multiplayer ones out straight away and there was only 25 collectibles to nab. If anyone else didn't care for the original game I highly recommend you give this one a go. It's a far better game and experience. Edited December 27, 2016 by Hero-of-Time
drahkon Posted December 27, 2016 Posted December 27, 2016 (edited) Just chiming in again to say: Dat Titanfall 2 campaign. :awesome: It's spectacular and so much fun. I've stopped playing for today. Mainly because the lady is on her way but also because I don't want the game to end... Trophy wise the game is pretty easy, especially when compared to other open world games. I knocked the multiplayer ones out straight away and there was only 25 collectibles to nab. If anyone else didn't care for the original game I highly recommend you give this one a go. It's a far better game and experience. I loved the first game so I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed the second this much. Will pick this up when it's below 30€. Edited December 27, 2016 by drahkon
Fierce_LiNk Posted December 27, 2016 Posted December 27, 2016 Completed Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time last night on the NES classic. It's amazing how much it plays with the form and innovates, 2D Mario really hasn't progressed much in almost 30 years. The levels start out feeling a little short but their increased complexity as things go on make the levels feel much longer and the for the most part its through brilliant and challenging game design. The final world is where things start to feel a little cheap and irritating but it never matches Mario Bros. 2 for annoying game design. There are the odd frame rate drops and the weird inverted ghosting on the right side of the screen can get annoying at times but for the most part it's Mario at it's best with countless game changing innovations. One thing to mention though is that this game must have been nigh on impossible when it came out, the game took me about 5 hours to finish with save points but I tended to play through a world per session. I can't imagine how tough the game would have been when you had to play through the entire thing in one sitting, or just leave your console on for hours until you were ready to play some more, thank god for technical innovation. Super Mario Bros. 3 is still one of my favourite (if not my most favourite) Mario games to date. The world maps are great and the theming is fantastic in each one. It felt absolutely incredible to play all those years ago. I still don't think that the NSMB World Maps have evolved like they should have and they haven't elaborated on the SMB3 template all that much. We simply got good. I honestly think that growing up in the NES era really helped create the gamer I am today. You were pushed and challenged with games back then and you learnt patience and how best to tackle situations. Most games these days are an absolute pushover. Finishedamd platinumed The Little Acre (PS4) the other day. The game got some good write ups so I decided to give to a try. The game is a point and click adventure. The animations of the characters are fantastic. At times I felt like I was watching something like Dragons Lair or Space Ace. The style kinda reminded me of those games. While the game was good, it was pretty short, even by point and click standards. The puzzles were pretty simplistic, as well. There weren't many options or variations for the solutions and you're first guess is usually right. Up next is Watch Dogs 2 (PS4). I finished and platinumed this today. I wasn't a fan of the first game. I found it to be very bland and boring, both in characters and the world I was in. This game fixes both of these problems and is a MUCH better game. Playing around in San Fransico was an absolute joy. I loved that the whole of the areas are open from pretty much the get go. The various skills that you acquire in the game make it a right laugh to mess people around with. I was calling the cops on random people, one of which was a guy dressed as a doughnut. It was hilarious to see the police pull up chase him down. Also, being able to take control of people's cars made for some massive LOL moments. Trophy wise the game is pretty easy, especially when compared to other open world games. I knocked the multiplayer ones out straight away and there was only 25 collectibles to nab. If anyone else didn't care for the original game I highly recommend you give this one a go. It's a far better game and experience. I adored Watch Dogs and a large part of that was down to the Chicago/Neo-noir theme that it had going on. It felt very cloak and dagger, espionage-y and I loved that. I have to admit that the initial trailers put me off Watch Dogs 2 because it didn't seem to be following on from the theme and atmosphere of the first. Saying that, people on here have been saying great things about it. I trust your opinion, so I'll be on the look-out for WD2 when it drops in price or when I get through my back catalogue!
Hero-of-Time Posted December 28, 2016 Posted December 28, 2016 With Final Fantasy XV leaving me feeling disappointed I decided to play through another FF game. I've had Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3) on the shelf for a while ( played and finished the 360 version back on release ) so figured I would play through it. I've been playing it inbetween other games over the past week and have just finished and platinumed it today. I loved this back when I played it on the 360 and I still love it now. The battle system is so fast and fluid. Doing the class shifts with a quick tap of a button and changing the course of a battle is so satisfying. During my 50+ hours on the game I never felt the story dragged on or left me wondering what the hell was going on, which is something that FFXV left me feeling. Hearing remixes and original tunes from FFXIII warms my heart. Blinded by Light is such a fantastic battle theme and is certainly a favorite of mine. There was also a tune that played in one of the worlds ( Augusta Tower ) that reminded me so much of Phantasy Star Online, especially when it kicks in.
Tales Posted December 28, 2016 Posted December 28, 2016 I was looking at downloading it. Is it a Harvest Moon clone? To be honest, I've never played a Harvest Moon game for longer than 30 minutes. From what I've read in impressions Stardew Valley is basically Harvest Moon but with more stuff to do. I haven't tried combat and mining in the game yet, but my first impression is that it's very much like the Rune Factory games; Harvest Moon farming with rpg elements. Check out Rune Factory 4 on the 3DS e-store first if anyone is interested/enjoyed Stardew Valley.
Sheikah Posted December 28, 2016 Posted December 28, 2016 With Final Fantasy XV leaving me feeling disappointed I decided to play through another FF game. I've had Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3) on the shelf for a while ( played and finished the 360 version back on release ) so figured I would play through it. I've been playing it inbetween other games over the past week and have just finished and platinumed it today. I loved this back when I played it on the 360 and I still love it now. The battle system is so fast and fluid. Doing the class shifts with a quick tap of a button and changing the course of a battle is so satisfying. During my 50+ hours on the game I never felt the story dragged on or left me wondering what the hell was going on, which is something that FFXV left me feeling. Hearing remixes and original tunes from FFXIII warms my heart. Blinded by Light is such a fantastic battle theme and is certainly a favorite of mine. There was also a tune that played in one of the worlds ( Augusta Tower ) that reminded me so much of Phantasy Star Online, especially when it kicks in. FFXIII-2 is a great game. With regards to the music, I really loved Noel's Theme. Sad as fook. The multiple endings made me think of Chrono Trigger and was rather well done I thought.
Hero-of-Time Posted December 28, 2016 Posted December 28, 2016 FFXIII-2 is a great game. With regards to the music, I really loved Noel's Theme. Sad as fook. The multiple endings made me think of Chrono Trigger and was rather well done I thought. Indeed. There is a massive amount of content to unlock. I feel both this and FFXIII get written off far too easily. I love both games and I'm hoping the PS4 XIII remastered trilogy rumour is true.
Jimbob Posted December 29, 2016 Posted December 29, 2016 Sat down and played the entire Batman: A Telltale Games earlier. Not too bad, very enjoyable story. If they are making a 2nd series, would love to see what it's about.
drahkon Posted December 31, 2016 Posted December 31, 2016 This month I've only completed two games: Odin Sphere Leifthrasir and Minecraft: Story Mode. While both good games I can't give either of the my GOTM award. I've enjoyed/am enjoying Titanfall 2 and Stardew Valley much more so it's going to be one of them even though I haven't finished them. It really is a difficult choice... Even though I'm not done with the campaign, yet, I can already say that this is easily the best single-player shooter I've ever played. Yes, even better than Half Life 2. The pacing, the spectacle, the mechanics, the gameplay, the graphics, the sound...it's perfect. Looking forward to completing the campaign sometime next week and nab the Platinum. I'll do another complete playthrough for the collectibles instead of just using chapter/mission select. The year is almost over so I guess it's time to choose my GOTY. However, I'm already drinking and preparing dinner for tonight so I'll think about it in two or three days and will post my choice
Ganepark32 Posted December 31, 2016 Posted December 31, 2016 Despite having the winter bug and being pretty much bed bound over the couple of days prior to and including Christmas itself, I've managed to complete a couple of games to round off the year in gaming. First up, after stepping away from it to play a couple of other things, I went back to and finished World of Goo on the Wii last week. I absolutely loved this game back in the day and still do now. I don't WiiWare got another game that came close to matching how brilliant this game was and still is, it's not just one of the best Wii games but one of my favourite games ever. The pointer controls work perfectly, only occasionally being frustrating but that may be more as a result of some of the panic that sets in in later stages and trying to stop your goo structure from toppling or hitting spinning blades and that like. It still looks fantastic, in large part to a great art style that's really put to good use in Tomorrow Corporation's second game Little Inferno, and the music is just beautiful. It really is a brilliant game. Such a simple premise but with a lot of depth and strategy needed, especially later on. I'm still not keen on the neon green goo balls that you have to throw about in those later stages and some of the ones with the balloons seem to operate on their own physics but the slight frustrations in some of these design choices are easily put aside for the simple yet engrossing gameplay. The triumphant feeling left when you've managed to clear those later stages really is a brilliant feeling. It's still my favourite game by Tomorrow Corporation and even with the calibre of indie games released this year, it still stands up extremely well to them. Definitely not showing any age amongst the newer titles. Not tried the micro-management title they put out after Little Inferno but didn't really hear much positivity for it so may give that a miss. But should they ever decide they want to return to more puzzling pastures, I'd definitely take a new World of Goo. Also finished up Lara Croft Go on android over Christmas. Wasn't really sure what to expect as I didn't play the Hitman Go game but thought that at 79p, it was worth a shot and I was hearing a lot of good stuff about it. And in the end, I really enjoyed it. Was a nice change of pace and I was pleasantly surprised by how moreish it felt playing it; it definitely gave me a "Just-one-more-go" feel. I was a bit hesitant how it would handle on a touch screen and despite some slight inconsistencies in recognising a tap or a swipe, it works well though I feel it would perhaps handle better with a control or mouse. It wasn't overly difficult, I don't feel. There were a couple of areas where I had to step back and think about how to approach things in the right order so as not to get killed or crushed by falling boulders and any frustrations arising here were mainly because I tried rushing through the levels without properly thinking about them. When I took a second to think, plan and then execute it played much better and that's when I enjoyed it. It's certainly got me wanting to try Hitman Go now as well as Deus Ex Go. I can especially see the latter being interesting depending on how they integrate the breaches and hacking elements. May even be tempted to double dip on this one on the PS4 as I enjoyed it enough. We'll see but yeah, pleasantly surprised and a nice little game to sit and play through over Christmas. Next up is Ubisoft's open world snow sports title, Steep. I picked this up after it went on sale for half price in GAME and its pretty much been a constant fixture in the disc drive on my PS4 since I bought it. I've played so much of it and loved pretty much every second of it. I've put plenty of time into the previous SSX game but nothing compared to how much I've invested in this and it's simply because it's just so much fun to play. Straight out of the gate I will say that trick and control wise, it doesn't come close to the feeling that SSX gives, especially on the trick front where pulling off tricks in this game feels clunky and stiff compared to the smoothness of SSX. Perhaps it's their attempt to make it feel more weighty and realistic but in the freestyle challenges requiring trick scoring, it just didn't come off as well as it does in other areas. That being said, the controls and the weight you feel when carving feels very realistic and the movement of your character as you reach high speeds and become unstable is spot on. They've really nailed that aspect of the game and it just becomes great fun finding a rocky/ridge line and trying to ride it all the way to the bottom at high speed without falling. When in your wingsuit or in the paraglider, they also carry a good sense of weight and feel realistic in how you traverse the mountains in those respective sports. It's a shame the freestyle doesn't hold up well (and with skiing, you'll end up going backwards with the game's cues for turning the right way round unworkable as far as I could see) but for the rest of it, it's really well done. There's so much to do and see, with a huge amount of variety in terms of easing you in and then really testing your skills on the highest difficulty events. Some more arcade elements crop up throughout which do feel a bit out of place amongst some of the majority of the rest of the game which feels more like a simulation but they carry some fun moments and some nods to Ubisoft's other franchises (Rabbid's Valley, for instance, is a run filled with Rabbids heads that are screaming when you ride passed them). Some of the events are a bit duff. I wasn't too keen on the freeride ones, having to ride ridge lines and get points for simply doing that. With the controls not being as smooth as they could be, these events are a bit more tricky than they should be. That being said, I enjoyed pretty much everything else, including the wingsuit and paragliding events. As much as I loved the pro-rider events and some of the freestyle ones, it's with the wingsuit ones where I really got pulled in and there's nothing quite like finally nailing that line to the finish through a cave or rock outcrops after spending hours failing at the first hurdle. It was genuinely exhilarating and at times, I pretty much screamed the house down when I finally nailed some of these events. I'm left with only 3 events left out of 111 to get gold on: 2 wingsuit ones and 1 paraglider one. The 2 wingsuit ones are insanely brutal and give you margin for error and the paraglider one says easy but I have no idea how you can finish that in gold medal time. But I'll keep plugging away over the next weeks to nab these and the last points of interest in the mountains to get the platinum. As it is though, I feel I've suitably finished the game and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's gonna go unnoticed by many but I do recommend giving it a go. And finally, this morning I finished up Lifeless Planet: Premier Edition. I remember seeing the start of this on playthrough on Youtube a few years back and had been waiting for a price cut to jump in and thankfully the PSN sale did just that. You play as an astronaut who's crash landed on a strange, unknown world and is set adrift from his crew mates. The game starts out by tasking you with tracking them down but as you do, you begin to discover the remnants of a Russian town and research facilities strewn across the surface of the planet. When you come across you crew mates and subsequently find them dead, it becomes a fight across the planet to uncover what's going on and find a way back home to Earth. The story makes it seem much more action packed than it is but it's a very simple walking simulator with some very light puzzles and platforming segments, the latter of which can be frustrating due to some iffy controls and camera work. More often, you'll simply walk through various environments until you trigger a small cutscene and then keep going. There's very little more to it than that. It's a shame then that the story feels underused and that the rest of the game can't keep up with it, even if it does start to become a bit ridiculous. A little more substance would have gone a long way with the game and made it more engaging than it was as I trudged through the last sections of it. It was a game I found interesting in the slice of a playthrough I watched and while I still found some of it to be that, it didn't really pique my enjoyment as much as I wanted and I'm left feeling a little let down by it. At least I picked it up in the sale and didn't pay the full asking price otherwise I'd really be feeling out of pocket. Completed January Axiom Verge (Started Dec. 2015) Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition Resogun* (Rookie complete, 3 difficulty settings to go) Super Exploding Zoo Among The Sleep Amplitude Just Cause 3 (Started Dec. 2015) Fallout 4 (Started Nov. 2015) Flower February The Witness (Platinum get) Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Submerged Rainbow Six Siege (Situations Completed) Firewatch Unravel March Hotline Miami SOMA The Fall Murdered: Soul Suspect (Platinumed) Uncharted 2 Remastered April Uncharted 3 Remastered Republique (PS4) Shutshimi Teslagrad Volume (Platinumed) Mirror's Edge (PS3) Blues and Bullets - Episode 1 & 2 (of 5) Octodad: Dadliest Catch May Shadow Complex Remastered Koi (PS4) The Park (PS4) Table Top Racing: World Tour Uncharted 4 June Ratchet and Clank (2016) Invisible Inc. (Beginner difficulty) Child of Eden (PS3) Oxenfree VEV: Viva Ex Vivo Gone Home (PS4) Mirror's Edge Catalyst (Platinum, October) July Far Cry Primal Infamous First Light Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell Type:Rider (PS4) Adr1ft Shadow of the Beast (PS4; Normal Difficulty) Trials of the Blood Dragon Song of the Deep Unmechanical Extended August Hyper Light Drifter The Walking Dead Season 1 (Platinum) Abzu This War of Mine: The Little Ones - 2nd Run: Day 28 (Long term) No Man's Sky (Platinum) Bound September Oceanhorn Batman: A Telltale Series - Episode 1 Datura (PS3) Tales from the Borderlands (Platinum, October) Remember Me (PS3) October Deus Ex Mankind Divided Dear Esther: Landmark Edition Virginia Until Dawn Ghostbusters The Video Game (PS3) November The Deadly Tower of Monsters (Platinum) Goat Simulator (Platinum) Rise of the Tomb Raider Titanfall 2 Small Radios Big Televisions Grow Up Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition Battlefield 1 Beyond Good & Evil HD (PS3) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (PS3) Broforce December Asemblance Catlateral Damage (Platinum) Inside Trine: Enchanted Edition Stories: The Path of Destiny Four Sided Fantasy Little Inferno (Android) Prune (Android) Watch Dogs 2 Monument Valley (Android) World of Goo (WiiWare) Lara Croft Go (Android) Steep Lifeless Planet: Premier Edition And with that, I hit 90 games completed to close out this year for me. I smashed last year's total and my benchmark of 40. And I've still got plenty left to play through January, and that's before Sony update the PSN sale next Friday (please let Rez Infinite be in that update!). Picked up Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter and Thumper as well as the intro pack for the latest Hitman game as I've never played one. Add to that Bastion as I've never played that either and The Last Guardian and I've plenty to play through in the coming weeks.
killthenet Posted December 31, 2016 Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) After avoiding all podcasts and news sites since it launched I was really keen to play through The Last Guardian and after getting a PS4 for Christmas I was finally able to get stuck into it and it didn't disappoint. I had tried to not get my hopes and expectations up for the game, wary that it could be a huge disappointment because of it's prolonged development, I went media blackout on the game but the odd snippet slipped through the cracks when reviews came out so I was aware that it hit the mark for some but was not worth the wait for others, so I was tentative about playing it. In the end though the game is everything I could have hoped for so I needn't have worried about tempering expectations, it fits right alongside Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus as an artistic masterpiece, with stunning architecture and level design and beautiful music. There are the odd technical flaws but that is to be expected from Ueda's games, the controls are a little unresponsive at times and Trico can be frustrating to command at first but as your bond with him grows he comes to listen to you more so the frustration disappears after a while. All the complaints are minor in the grand scheme of things though and the game does perfectly what it sets out to do, to engender a bond between boy and beast that adds real weight to the precarious platforming and the beautifully realised cutscenes. I don't think I've ever been so emotionally invested in a video game, I found myself verbally praising and encouraging Trico throughout the game, delighted when he listened to me and relieved when he came through particularly hairy moments, the emotional bond is formed slowly and utilised brilliantly to enhance the gameplay and the narrative. Despite the nightmare development time Ueda's artistic vision is uncompromised and he has created an artistically flawless modern masterpiece that echoes other classic works of art, particularly The Iron Giant, in telling such a beautiful tale. In a year in which I've played a number of wonderful, life changing games The Last Guardian has to stand right at the top as one of the very best I've ever played. Edited December 31, 2016 by killthenet
Hero-of-Time Posted December 31, 2016 Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) I was looking at my shelf to see what I could play next and decided to dig into the backlog and play Tearaway: Unfolded (PS4). It's been on the shelf since last September and I barely started it back then. I finished the main game yesterday and have just mopped everything up and got the platinum. I loved the original game on the Vita and rate it very highly. The game used the Vita controls and features very well and I would say this version of the game does the same with the Dual Shock 4. Using the light bar to blind enemies and the touch button to bounce are nice little things to do. It's not all good news though. The camera in the game needed a bit more fine tuning. When looking for collectibles I needed to hunt high and low for things, the camera simply wouldn't let me at times and often got stuck behind scenery. The original game was a shortish but very sweet game. It felt the right length and it ended at a good point. This version is one of those cases where making a game bigger doesn't mean it's a better experience for it. The new levels, while fun, make the game drag on for more time that is needed. I'd rather that MM used the time to polish things like the camera, rather than trying to add more content. I can see why they done it though. They were obviously trying to get people who had played the Vita version interested in a game that they had already played. With that done my gaming of 2016 is now over. It's been a fun year of gaming and i've managed to complete 122 games, which beats my record of 113 from last year. I also managed to pick up 67 platinum trophies during the course of the year. Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (3DS) Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (3DS) Bastion (Vita) Wave Race (Wii U VC) SuperFrog (Vita) Hardware: Rivals (PS4) Super Mario Land (3DS VC) Super Mario Land 2 (3DS VC) A Boy and his Blob (PS4) Tales From The Borderlands (PS4) Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) Steins Gate (Vita) Life is Strange (PS4) Xeodrifter (Vita) Grim Fandango (PS4) Three Fourths Home (Vita) Donkey Kong Country (Wii U VC) Digimon Cyber Sleuth (PS4) Pokemon Rumble World (3DS) Resident Evil 3 (Vita) Space Harrier 3D (3DS) Mark of Kri (PS4) Pokemon Red (3DS VC) Sonic Generations (PS3) Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U) Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Wii U VC) Super Mario Advance: Super Mario Bros. 2 (Wii U VC) Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World (Wii U VC) Ratchet: Gladiator (PS3) World of Illusion (Mega Drive) Pokken Tournament (Wii U) Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (Wii U VC) Day of the Tentacle (PS4) Far Cry Primal (PS4) Minecraft: Story Mode (PS4) Mega Man X (Wii U VC) Lego Dimensions (PS4) Lylat Wars (Wii U VC) Bully (PS4) Shutshimi (PS4) God of War 3 Remastered (PS4) Star Fox Zero (Wii U) Bloodborne (PS4) Ratchet and Clank (PS4) Mario & Friends Amiibo Challenge (Wii U) Alienation (PS4) Lego Avengers (Vita) Severed (Vita) Runbow (Wii U) Table Top Racing (PS4) Super Exploding Zoo (PS4) Actual Sunlight (Vita) Uncharted 4 (PS4) Rogue Galaxy (PS4) Disney Infinity 2.0 (Vita) Persona 4 Dancing All Night (Vita) Kirby Robobot (3DS) Tales From The Borderlands (PS4 Retail) Hitman GO (PS4) Gone Home (PS4) Volume (PS4) Zelda (Wii U VC) Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4) South Park: Stick of Truth (PS3) A Link Between Worlds (3DS) The Division (PS4) Pac-Man (PS4) Ms Pac-Man (PS4) Dig Dug (PS4) Monster Hunter Generations (3DS) Ultratron (Vita) Beyond Eyes (PS4) Zelda: OOT (3DS) Beyond Two Souls (PS4) Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Vita) Adventures of Mana (Vita) Guacamelee (PS4) Guacamelee (Vita) Mutant Blobs Attack (Vita) Metrico (Vita) Rise of Kasai (PS4) Oceanhorn (PS4) Donkey Kong Country ( Wii U VC)...didn't realise I had already played this earlier in the year. Donkey Kong Country 2( Wii U VC) Donkey Kong Country 3( Wii U VC) Walking Dead Season 1 (PS4) Super Princess Peach (DS) Walking Dead 400 Days (PS4) Walking Dead Season 2 (PS4) Disney Infinity 2.0 (PS4) Doodle God (PS3) Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix (PS3) Paper Mario Color Splash (Wii U) Shovel Knight (Wii U) HarmoKnight (3DS) Dragon Quest Builders (PS4) Code Realize (Vita) Amnesia (Vita) Metroid: Zero Mission (Wii U VC) World of Final Fantasy (PS4) My Name is Mayo (PS4) Titanfall 2 (PS4) Nubula (PS4) Virgina (PS4) Deadly Tower of Monsters (PS4) Altered Beast (3DS) Arcade Archives: Contra (PS4) Saturday Morning RPG (PS4) Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (PS4) Final Fantasy XV (PS4) Gears of War 4 (Xbox One) Odin Sphere (PS4) Jak III (PS3) Batman: Telltale Series (PS4) Color Guardians (PS4) Lara Croft GO (PS4) Super Mario Run (Mobile) Lego Star War: The Force Awakens (PS4) Shantae: Half Genie Hero (Wii U) The Little Acre (PS4) Watch Dogs 2 (PS4) Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3) Tearaway Unfolded (PS4) Here's the breakdown. PS4 = 58 games Wii U = 21 games Vita = 19 games 3DS = 14 games PS3 = 7 games Mega Drive = 1 game Mobile = 1 game Xbox One =1 game Last years numbers were these. PS4 = 33 Wii U = 24 3DS =19 Vita = 14 PS3 = 8 Wii = 6 Xbox One = 5 PSOne = 3 GameCube = 1 Apart from the PS4 being played more, the numbers are quite similar. Very weird. Edited December 31, 2016 by Hero-of-Time
Tales Posted December 31, 2016 Posted December 31, 2016 Finished and platinumed I am Setsuna and FFXV. Both great RPGs and I intend to write in their respective threads later with more details. Bought Senran Kagura Estival Versus. Not going to lie, I spesifically googled for a game with lots of fanservice hoping the game was one of those in sale :p Really got what I paid for. Swinging boobs and pantyshots nonstop. Also bought Stardew Valley but I don't think I will spend more time on it. It's such huge time investment when there are more polished games out there like it. Also started on AC Brotherhood HD. The plan is to go way beyond what is needed for the plat and go for 100% completion. Currently at 48%. Platinum Grim Fandango Rogue Galaxy Gravity Rush Far Cry Primal Heavy Rain Beyond Two Souls Mirror's Edge: Cataclysm Minecraft: Story Mode Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered Uncharted 2 Remastered Nights of Azure Republique Tropico 5 Super Exploding Zoo Ratchet and Clank Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Rebel Galaxy Oceanhorn: Monsters of Uncharted Seas Amnesia: Memories Stories: Path of Destinies Assassin's Creed II HD Watch Dogs 2 Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 Code: Realize -Guardian of Rebirth- Virginia Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Dragon Quest Builders Rise of the Tomb Raider Final Fantasy XV I am Setsuna Started last year Final Fantasy Type 0 Lego the Hobbit Witcher 3: A Wild Hunt Watch Dogs 100%/Complete Firewatch Mousecraft Gone Home Her Story Freshly-Picked: Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland Doodle Kingdom Adventure Capitalist Actual Sunlight 100% DLC/Expansions Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone Witcher 3: Blood and Wine AC Syndicate: Majahara Missions Watch Dogs: Bad Blood Far Cry 4: Valley of the Yeti Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 6-8 Fallout 4: Far Harbour Fallout 4: Automatron Rise of the Tomb Raider: Baba Yaga Rise of the Tomb Raider: Cold Darkness Rise of the Tomb Raider: Croft Manor Finished Star Wars Battlefront Flower Plague Inc Evolved Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell Deus Ex: Mankind Divided No Man's Sky Tingle Rosy Rupeeland Unfinished Bastion Banner Saga Pokemon Yellow Rune Factory 4 Uncharted 3 Remastered Table Top Racing Fire Emblem Birthright Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition Race the Sun Picross e3 Lego Dimensions Picross 3D Round 2 Indigo Prophecy Color Guardians Battlefield 1 Gravity Rush Letter Quest Remastered Proteus Senran Kagura Estival Versus AC Brotherhood HD Stardew Valley Played 71 games. Completed 51 of them, of which 35 are platinums. PS4: 61 Vita: 5 3DS: 3 DS(on the 3DS): 1 PC: 1
Dcubed Posted December 31, 2016 Posted December 31, 2016 Not tried the micro-management title they put out after Little Inferno but didn't really hear much positivity for it so may give that a miss. But should they ever decide they want to return to more puzzling pastures, I'd definitely take a new World of Goo. Human Resource Machine? I actually started playing it a few days ago. It's really good! It's basically a programming puzzle game. You are given tasks to solve (like the good little cog within the corporate machine that you are) and you have to solve them with basic programming tools. And of course, it's got that same, creepy and Orwellian vibe that Tomorrow Corp's other games do, that we oh so love. Recommended for any fans of dystopian programatic puzzle games! Apply today!
dazzybee Posted January 1, 2017 Posted January 1, 2017 Put this in the outer thread, but as heros posted in here I'll post. My completed games, I aimed for 50... must do better TOTAL: 37 3DS - 12 iOS - 8 Wii U - 6 PSVR - 4 NES Mini - 4 PS4 - 3
Jonnas Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 To round-off 2016, I ought to tell you the story about a man... He was working two jobs throughout November and December, leaving him little tile to play much. Nevertheless, he was having a good time playing a 2015 game called King's Quest. Well, the first episode, at least. He quite enjoyed the game, but didn't feel comfortable judging it from a single episode. Just as he was finishing the episode, the calamity struck: He done found his internet shot down for a couple weeks before being whisked away back home for the holidays for a couple more. In the meantime, that man played Bastion, an indie game he just so happened to have downloaded from GOG before the whole debacle went down. Audio Most people these days think of a robot with a soft spot for birds when they hear that name, but there are still those that remember that indie game from the distant year of 2011. It did well for itself back then, what with so many folk giving it praise for its art direction and its oh-so very memorable narrator. The man had been told this was an action RPG, but he soon found out, it's way too linear and level-based for that. This was a beat'em up, plain simple. Sure, the isometric perspective and the level-up system made the truth a bit hazy, but a wolf don't change its nature just 'cause it looks like a fox. Regardless, the stories about the game's presentation were right on the money. It's quite the beautiful game, and I ain't talking just the art style, that music is quite moving. And the truth is, that narrator's voice is smoother than silk, never a dull level with him by our side. The plot turned out to be surprisingly touching, what with the background of war, discrimination and tragedy that the narrator tells us. A profound sense of loss permeates many aspects of the game, and the characters do their best to deal with that sentiment. They're flawed humans, just the same as we. I feel like I'm selling the gameplay short. Sure, it's nothing that'll blow your mind, but it does a lot of things right. It gives you a dozen or so different weapons with a distinct feel, and allows you to customize them even further to your liking. Same thing with the liquor configuration (that is, the "equipment") and the Gods (that is, the difficulty setting). And if that weren't enough, there's plenty of extra challenges scattered throughout the game as to teach any player the ropes of each weapon. In the end, there's a lot of freedom to be had in each playstyle. Whether you want to pack a big (but risky) wallop with your hammer, or slowly kill your opponents with long-distance poison darts, well, that's all up to you. The man I saw is fond of the Spear&Bow combination. Oddly enough, Bastion decided to be pouty, and not let players replay previously beaten levels. The man thought this was a big flaw at first, but he soon saw how well it tied into the game's themes of loss and acceptance. At the end of the day, levels are but one of the many things they... that we lost. The man walked away from Bastion feeling like he played a work of art. As for me, it's hard to form an opinion on the subject. After all, I'm just here to tell the story, not to judge it. Played/Beat/Completed:-Freedom Planet (2014) Beaten (Last played: 15th March)-Rayman Forever (1995) Completed (3rd May)-Deponia: The Complete Journey (2012-2013) Completed (14th May)-Blocks that Matter (2011) Completed (25th May)-Sonic Spinball (1993) Beaten (19th June)-Card City Nights (2014) Completed (1st July)-Tetrobot & Co. (2013) Completed (1st August)-Mark of the Ninja DLC (2012) Completed (21st August)-Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010) Beaten (3rd September)-Little Big Adventure (1994) Completed (9th September)-Another Metroid 2 Remake (2016) Beaten (14th September)-Little Big Adventure 2 (1997) Completed (1st October)-Risk of Rain (2013) Beaten (13th November)-King's Quest (2015) Episode 1 Beaten (19th December)-Bastion (2011) Completed (31st December)
CoolFunkMan Posted January 2, 2017 Posted January 2, 2017 It's not particularly a gaming diary as such, but I've made a post of my favourite games of 2016 on my blog, Epitome of Epic: https://goo.gl/cDiCCw I'm going to follow it up with some other 2016 stuff too, so I'll update as and when!
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