Recently completed video games

[Tanukitsune]

I re-played Earthbound and it's still pretty amazing... it only got annoying because I tried to get a rare drop... I gained so many levels trying to get it that I breezed through the rest of the game.

 

But I still can't grasp Gygas true form.... 

[Cordeos]

I finished Assassins Creed Black Flag yesterday. The ship gameplay was a lot of fun, it made me really want a game that is all about age of exploration ship battles. The rest is the standard AC open world, lots of pointless collectibles, stupid mini-games, bad plot etc. I just want to sail around shooting stuff.

 

If someone does make that ship game, I would want access to more than one kind of pilot-able ship with stats balancing (speed vs. armor vs. firepower), the ability to command fleet battles in real time and a multiplayer team deathmatch component. 

[Tanukitsune]

I finished Freedom Planet... It's weird, I could swear it promoted itself a Sonic fan game, but everybody at the Steam forums seems to be upset if you suggest it... even though it's probably the best "Sonic" game I've played in ages... it's also the best "Rocket Knight" game I've played in ages too, it's just soooo Sonic it's weird they are denying it... Maybe Sega insisted they didn't? Either way, it was awesome...

 

I also beat Momodora I & II, free indie metroidvania games that are pretty solid... I think one of the programmers might be an Idle Thumbs fan? Short, tough, but fun!

 

[undermind9]

finished Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus on ps3.  Played on "legend"/Hard...which was awful for the beginning until some of the weapons leveled up...at which point it would have been absurdly easy.

 

Not the usual extra long adventure game that'll be found in the R&C universe...but still a pretty good time.  It started as a $30 game, probably can be found for <$15 new, which was refreshing to get a shorter game at a sub-AAA game price.  I still like Crack in Time the most, but this was a nice re-visit to a charming & positive world.

 

Not necessarily an indicator of my enjoyment...but started immediately over on the "Challenge" mode which lets you get bolt multipliers to buy the Ω versions and unlock more features to the weapons.  It is adding more challenge because when you get hit resets the multiplier...and some of these weapons are gonna cost some major currency

 

 

I think i am more drawn to the feasibility of the platinum trophy on this one.  It is going to be hard, take some time, but not ultra absurd (RE: VVVVVV no death finish)

[Yasawas]

Game 43: Infamous: Second Son (PS4) 23/7/14

 

This is easily the worst game I've finished for this project and had I not paid £40 for it, known it was short and turned it down to Easy halfway through I wouldn't have bothered. It's genuinely impressive how boring it manages to be for an open-world game about a dude with superpowers. It starts off quite well I thought, the city looks nice and the first batch of abilities you get are fun if a little limited but you soon realise that after that first hour you've seen pretty much everything you're going to see and it really is just an endless, joyless quest to fight another group of guys and move to the next waypoint so you can do it again (unless you really like collecting shit or exploring a city with nothing to do in it) and holy fuck what a chore it is. 

 

Periodically you unlock new skills which is the undoubted highlight of the game and can provide as much as twenty minutes of fun before you sigh and accept that it's the same thing you had before with a different skin on. For all the skills you acquire the combat is rarely better than tedious and the boss fights are more a test of patience than skill (this was where I put the difficulty down.) The cutscenes are excruciating, dialogue often doesn't match up with the subtitles (which could've done with a spellcheck on them too btw) and of course they can't be skipped because God forbid you would want to miss the drama and twists of a story I could've written when I was eight. Utterly appalling. And they didn't even spring for a proper Nirvana song for the end credits either but some cover instead

 

[Tanukitsune]

I kinda slogged my way through Mercenary Kings in the end... Who thought that combining a fast paced Metal Slug-style game with the slog and grind fest of Monster Hunter? 

 

I cheated to get skip the grinding and only did the non-optional missions and I still think they should have scrapped even more levels, the first part is the first since it's some much more of the same and it doesn't really change after the point the game "should" have ended, the game finally decides to add new areas and enemies... but it's still mostly the same enemies only harder. 

 

I don't regret cheating in the end, in the same way Final Fantasy is actually better when you can just rush to the best parts and don't need to grind, this game is pretty OK when you can skip... well, nearly all of it? *shrugs*

[Bjorn]

I kinda slogged my way through Mercenary Kings in the end... Who thought that combining a fast paced Metal Slug-style game with the slog and grind fest of Monster Hunter? 

 

I played in co-op one night for a couple of hours and thought, "This is great!"  Then I played the next night for a couple of more hours and thought, "Dear god, does it ever change...or end?"  Seems well made, but there's just way to much mandatory repetition (limited levels and enemy types) and grind in the missions. 

[Tanukitsune]

It has +100 levels, some of the optional levels are the most excruciating, since they all have a time limit and force you to find several items or rescue hostages with no hint of where to even look... I'm glad the most boring levels were optional at least. :|

 

Oh, by the way since the game's art is from Paul Robertson, all of the sudden you reach a temple of scantly clad amazons, it's not a Paul Robertson game if it's not full of busty jiggly women and dogs... lots a weird dog bosses.

[Bjorn]

Oh, by the way since the game's art is from Paul Robertson, all of the sudden you reach a temple of scantly clad amazons, it's not a Paul Robertson game if it's not full of busty jiggly women and dogs... lots a weird dog bosses.

 

I played the female character, and every helicopter scene required her breasts to bounce the whole time.  FFS.

[Dewar]

Finally, after years of being without an important core gamer experience, I have beaten XCOM: UFO Defence with the help of the OpenXCOM project. It's crazy good, and I can see why people were a bit annoyed with the mechanics that were left out of the new game. I ended up getting a bit lost toward the end, getting swarmed by UFOs a few an hour, until I realized that the aliens build bases on earth and I had one right next to my HQ. Once I figured that out and took care of business, it was smooth sailing.

[Winnipeg Fats]

Finally, after years of being without an important core gamer experience, I have beaten XCOM: UFO Defence with the help of the OpenXCOM project. It's crazy good, and I can see why people were a bit annoyed with the mechanics that were left out of the new game. I ended up getting a bit lost toward the end, getting swarmed by UFOs a few an hour, until I realized that the aliens build bases on earth and I had one right next to my HQ. Once I figured that out and took care of business, it was smooth sailing.

Holy CRAP I loved that game.

 

Good for you!

 

Somebody needs to play and beat Star Control 2 now.

[Dewar]

I played Star Control 3 when it came out and loved it. I went back to play Star Control 2 from the open source Ur-Quan Masters thing, and I just couldn't get on with the time limit.

[Bjorn]

I'm not typically the type to think of Top X lists, but Star Control 2 would be somewhere on my Top X list if I ever made one.  Like really high.  The first time I played it as a kid, I remember realizing that there must be some pattern to the rainbow planets and sticking that tacky poster stuff onto my CRT monitor screen to see it.  Tracking them down ultimately ended up costing that game because I spent so much time off faffing about looking for rainbows rather than preparing.  But totally worth it.   There are actually some mods that can change the time limit.  I don't know how well they work though, the time limit is really baked into the story and plays out in stages.  There are some question solutions that are only available after the time limit event has been initiated. 

 

It's funny, devs are kind of in a damned if they do, damned if they don't place with time limits.  Lots of players, quite legitimately, hate them.  But then we almost universally mock games where someone is screaming about how the end of the world is coming, but the hero has all the time in the world to go fuck off doing whatever he want. 

 

Anyways, I finished Shank's single and co-op storylines.  It's fascinating to see the evolution of Klei, to go from Eets -> Shank -> Mark of the Ninja -> Don't Starve.  Shank isn't a great game, but its fun, particularly in co-op.  And it's fairly short, which is good.  The mechanics really don't justify having extra padding. 

[Griddlelol]

I've only heard bad things about Shank, but Mark of the Ninja is such a brilliant game I keep wanting to try Shank out. Although from what is said about Shank and what I think about MotN, it seems that Klei went from a rather average developer into a fantastic dev in one game, then managed to continue down that track, so I don't even know if it's worth it. 

 

Their next game, um...the spy one, looks pretty damn good. Klei have a way of making me interested in their games just by the art, plus how they don't remake the same game over and over makes me even more interested.

[Bjorn]

It's not bad, it's just not great.  I'm pretty sure I got it in a Klei bundle a couple of years ago.  If you see it bundled or dirt cheap, I'd say it's worth trying.   The combat isn't deep, but it is surprisingly entertaining in a grindhousy-violent way.  Driving a chainsaw into a dude, then flipping him in the air, suspending him there for a couple of seconds with dual pistols, then grabbing his buddy and body slamming them together to kill the first guy never really got old.  If that sounds fun (it is really violent, fair warning), then the animations alone are worth a buck or two. 

[Griddlelol]

That does kinda sound fun. In that incredibly crisp Disney style art I think it could be entertaining.

[Bjorn]

Yeah, the biggest complaint I remember reading about it as that you could just button mash your way through it hammering two buttons.  Which is technically true, but I don't know why you would play that way.  Most of the attacks can be chained into one another for different moves, and that was where the fun was for me, finding and deriving glee from murdering dudes in flamboyant ways. 

 

 

I played Star Control 3 when it came out and loved it.

 

I meant to ask about this last night and forgot.  I've never seen anyone speak positively about SC3, but then everyone I've talked to about it all loved SC2.  Do you remember what you loved about it?

[Dewar]

Yeah, the biggest complaint I remember reading about it as that you could just button mash your way through it hammering two buttons.  Which is technically true, but I don't know why you would play that way.  Most of the attacks can be chained into one another for different moves, and that was where the fun was for me, finding and deriving glee from murdering dudes in flamboyant ways. 

 

 

 

I meant to ask about this last night and forgot.  I've never seen anyone speak positively about SC3, but then everyone I've talked to about it all loved SC2.  Do you remember what you loved about it?

 

Keep in mind I never played any of the other games in the series, so I didn't have much to compare it to at the time. The main thing that really grabbed me were the alien conversations. They had some really nice looking CG for the aliens and I think it might have been the first game I played with full voice acting. The story really gripped me at the time, and the puzzles were just hard enough to keep me interested without getting me stuck for too long. Ship combat was somewhat average, but I remember having quite a bit of fun playing multiplayer fights with friends.

 

That game had a time limit too and i remember that making the end of the game a pain. I really like the time limits in Dead Rising for instance, as you have a set goal, but also all this side stuff, so you have to decide what side stuff you can fit in and it creates this really cool balancing dynamic that makes the open world feel larger than it really is. The problem I had with SC2 is that there's no real direction, and it felt as if every time I finally figured out what I should be doing, the game would end on me. SC3 has a little bit of a clearer mission path to follow.

[Griddlelol]

I just finished The Wonderful 101. Otherwise known as the Wii U System Seller That No One Will Ever Play. It's a tongue in cheek, super hero game, styled after 90's TV shows like Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The art style is gorgeous, and everything about The Wonderful 101 evokes that kind of TV show it's emulating. So for me it hit me right in the nostalgia gland just by looking at it and hearing the cheesy dialogue. 

You play as a group of people who are individually weak, but can join up to form different weapons that have different damage potential, different ranges and importantly can be used in niche moments to defeat enemies that would take a long time just to pound on. 

The game is essentially a combat puzzle, in which you use the different weapons to defeat enemies. You can have multiple weapons up at the same time (one of which you control, the others the CPU controls), or you can make your main weapon extra large for increased damage and increased range. It leads to some really interesting situations, some of which you might not figure out until you happen to be using a weapon that is the enemy's weakness. There are also enemies that you're practically told (which is unusual) what their weakness is. 

Importantly, it's incredibly fun. I was actually getting emotional in some boss fights from just being incredibly happy and thinking "THIS IS SO COOL!" The bosses also end on QTEs. Now I'm normally one to hate QTEs, but these are good. They're simple and they fit. For example they could consist of drawing the hand symbol which then punches the boss. Nothing frustrating like many other games. 

 

It has its problems though! There's a lot of mini-games. Most of which aren't fun, and difficult because they're not designed well compared to the rest of the game. The worst part about them, is that you're punished for not being good at them as dying and taking damage affect your score and currency to buy new things at the end of each level. This I found frustrating and bad design. You can tell which missions had mini-games because my rank wouldn't be "gold" or "silver" it'd be "consolation prize" (which is pretty funny). It feels kinda unfair that I'm being punished for not being good at the janky mini-games.

It also explains nothing. Some people hate this, but I loved it. It made me experiment and look things up if I did something I and didn't know why. Felt Dark Souls-ian in that respect - you're not told how the game works, so go figure it out. 

 

If you have a Wii U, or are considering getting one, this is a must have. If you love Platinum Games, it's a great example of what they do (plus Bayonetta 1/2 are coming out on Wii U soon) too. So yeah, I guess this sums it up:

 

 

[Twig]

That gid just reminds me how great Viewtiful Joe was. I need a new one of those. That's actually good. Or just a remake, I'd take that, too. GOD that game was so good.

[Griddlelol]

Well it's inspired a lot by Viewtiful Joe, hence why Wonder Red practically looks like Joe also it has the same director.

 

 

I just wanted an excuse to post that gif.

[Trip Hazard]

Somebody needs to play and beat Star Control 2 now.

Hey hey HEY. I already did, a couple of months ago. And, it was acebest.

[Twig]

Well it's inspired a lot by Viewtiful Joe, hence why Wonder Red practically looks like Joe also it has the same director.

 

Yeah I know all that.

[Merus]

So finally finished Ace Attorney 5. My attention wandered enough while playing it that I put it down for months, and decided to come back to it to clear away some of the backlog.

 

It suffers from the same problems the other Ace Attorney games have, to a greater extent; there are a couple of surprises, but it's clear that it's More Ace Attorney rather than being Better Ace Attorney. The writing likes to undermine the attorneys at every opportunity, even when the player can see an option the attorneys can't. The gimmicks from previous games return, and they're gimmicks, although the emotional detection does get more interesting than the 'tell' perception ever did when you're looking for emotions that are absent, or that are consistent. Still, I think the multiple witness gimmick from Layton vs Wright is worth expanding on because it genuinely changes how the core mechanic works.

 

I'm also a little bothered by some of the themes - you out a transgender student in one case, and while I think the translation covered for it as best it could, it bothered me, and I know a friend of mine quit right there. The overarching culprit turns out to be a clearly American spy, and between this game, Ghost Trick, and Ace Attorney Investigations, there's been an almost xenophobic reliance on hostile foreign agents from Capcom's recent adventure game output.

 

★★☆

[Sloshy]

Recently I've completed my first open-world sandbox-type game: Watch_Dogs (with Aiden Pearce's iconic baseball cap, of course). I've fiddled around with open-world games before like Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption but I've never actually finished one's campaign before this past week, and I have to say that I'm left feeling extremely mixed. People have practically written entire books already on how the game fails in certain aspects so I don't need to repeat those, but I'd like to call it essentially the world's most technically advanced mini-game collection, and not even that good of one. A lot of the game's aspects were made with care and the whole game absolutely shines with polish, but I never felt like there was a cohesive whole to any of it, especially the storyline. Everything that happened, and everything I could do on the side, just felt so pointless that I was never really able to enjoy it for what it wanted to be. That said, I'm glad that I got it for free with my new graphics card (thanks NVIDIA!) and I'm looking forward to the future Season Pass content along the way.