Games Completed 2018

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
Bakers_12

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Bakers_12 »

2/1 Battlefront 2 single player
2/1 Battlefront 2 Resurrection

5/1 inside iOS

Amazing art direction that drips of atmosphere. Do I have a clue what’s going on with the world depicted in the game ......no but does that matter? On the whole the puzzles are good hitting the sweet spot of being a challenge but not brick wall that you can’t pass. Though them creepy swimming kids can do one!
User avatar
Dante Fireseed
Member
Posts: 356
Joined: September 5th, 2012, 1:26 pm
Location: Somewhere within the Multiverse

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Dante Fireseed »

Happy New Year

Here we go again folks

X-Com 2 - 4th January (PC)

Another great installment in one of my favourite franchises. I have to confess I do save-scum, but I love it!
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2426
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
04/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Normal)
05/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Jetstream Sam DLC (Normal)

Was thinking about going in to the main game in hard mode already, and did do the intro mission (more of a step up in difficulty than I was expecting), but then realised I still have these DLC chapters to play through, so went back to this instead. I've always preferred the main game to these, albeit this one being the more enjoyable of the two. I found it to be not as good as I remembered though. It's still fun enough. Sam does have an interesting and satisfying play style that differs from Raiden, and there are some cool fights, but other parts feel sloppy and not that fun. Like they didn't balance Sam's style against certain enemies properly. The gorillas are tough enough in the main game, but here they are a massive pain. The final boss too isn't really fun. It's a repeat of Armstrong, but they give him some new moves here, while taking out some of the other parts of his fight in the main game. The attacks feel cheap though, both new and old, and you can get cornered really easily, which feels like it shouldn't be a problem in the arena you fight him in.
User avatar
Chopper
Member
Posts: 1405
Joined: April 16th, 2013, 6:35 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Chopper »

With caveats, The Long Dark, Wintermute Story Mode.

With caveats, because only two parts of a planned five-part story have been released. And those two parts are a gruelling and sometimes misguided introduction to the game.

To go back a bit, the main portion of the game up until release was an open-ended and permadeath survival mode. This was, and probably remains, the best part of the game. It was a phenomenal (but harsh) experience in a stylised and beautiful world. I was ranting and raving last year about The Long Dark being the best Walking Simulator out there. I guess I overegged the pudding a bit, because it is a pretty damned difficult game. Yes, if you survive long enough to get comfortable, it's a great walking sim. Getting there is tough though.

A story mode was added and this is a mixed bag. I don't even know if I would recommend it at this point; certainly I would tell people to play it on easy if they choose to start with the story mode (and actually, play Survival on easy at first too while you're at it). The problem with the story mode is that it is poorly paced (lots of fetch quests to illustrate simple concepts), the quests are heavily scripted and on the home-modder rather than the professional level (you get a quest to kill a bear, you open the cabin door and the fucking bear is right there and mauls you to death), the scripting often breaks down, and there are a good few game crashes.

Despite that there are some great moments, usually when the game tells you to 'go here' and it is several maps away and you have to plan, and not get caught in snowstorms, eaten by wolves etc. The risk/reward balance between pushing on or playing it safe results in some great situations.

This game is strongest where the systems of the basic survival game take over from the guided experience of the campaign. Having played through the first two episodes, I'm hopeful that they will make the next three (if they are ever released) more compelling and not over-reliant on fetch quests. You can see they were caught out here because they had to make a campaign that explained the basic mechanics to new players, but hopefully it will improve.
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2426
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
04/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Normal)
05/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Jetstream Sam DLC (Normal)
06/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Blade Wolf DLC (Normal)

In contrast to the previous DLC, this one ended up being a bit better than I remember. I still prefer Sam's DLC overall though. The reason I didn't like it so much before was because at first I didn't really get that this one is supposed to be way more stealth focused than the rest of the game. You can't attack enemies head-on, which is an attitude the game really enforces a lot usually. So this time I knew what I was getting in to from the start. Still, very limited stealth in an action game isn't exactly the most fun thing, and there's only really two non-optional fights where you're not supposed to just creep up on everyone and kill them in one hit. One of those fights is the final boss though, which is for once not an enemy recycled from the main game. It's a relatively fun fight too. Nowhere near the level of the bosses in the main game, but still fun regardless. Quite different from them too, being a mech who wields an axe, so pretty different from the other one-on-one cyborg fights or UGs in the game.
User avatar
ratsoalbion
Admin
Posts: 7918
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
Location: Brighton, England
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by ratsoalbion »

06 Jan: Resident Evil: Director's Cut (PAL PS1 on PS3)
Jill/Standard
User avatar
Flabyo
Member
Posts: 3576
Joined: August 8th, 2013, 8:46 am
Location: Guildford

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Flabyo »

7th Jan - Mafia 3 (XBO)

On the one hand, a pretty bog standard GTA clone that does nothing gameplay wise you’ve not already played a dozen times in better games.

On the other; a well presented story with an interesting framing device, a strong political point to make, and a satisfying conclusion.

And also several voice actors you know well not sounding at all like you’re used to, to the point you don’t even realise it’s them till the credits roll.
User avatar
ColinAlonso
Member
Posts: 585
Joined: September 6th, 2016, 9:13 pm
Location: Dublin

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by ColinAlonso »

Jan 7 - Bleed (PC)

A fun run-and-gun platformer. I picked it up in the Steam sale after seeing it on the volume 7 schedule. As such I had few preconceptions going in but I expected it to be hard and, while I died a lot, generous checkpoints meant I could finish the game on normal difficulty.

The controls get a little bit of getting used to. I feel players more experienced with twin stick shooters will have less of a problem there. The analogue trigger jump is tricky though as I would often double jump at the start of a jump when I didn't want to.
Spoiler: show
Loved the final boss. After fighting loads of giant bosses, he's just a guy with guns and bombs. He's also (rightly) referred to as "that blonde idiot".
It's short but there is plenty that I haven't done. Of the unlockable weapons, I only got the revolver as the rest of my points went into health and slo-mo. There's also two higher difficulty levels.

(I avoided the podcast thread as the posts there have pretty much made all my points already.)
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by duskvstweak »

ratsoalbion wrote: January 6th, 2018, 11:15 pm 06 Jan: Resident Evil: Director's Cut (PAL PS1 on PS3)
Jill/Standard
"Jill/Standard" sounds like you're some sort of mean high schooler, insulting Jill to all your posh friends.
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by duskvstweak »

I just played and beat Dead Space 1 for the first time. Fun, but it was rough unlearning the headshot while simultaneously learning I might be trash at shooters now?
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by duskvstweak »

Hunter30 wrote: January 3rd, 2018, 10:56 pm January - Jade Empire: Special Edition (PC)

Showing its age a bit, and button-mashing was often the easy way to victory, but a cracking story and overall an enjoyable experience that exceeded my expectations.
Played that a few years ago and really liked it, too. Would love to see that world get a sequel.
User avatar
ratsoalbion
Admin
Posts: 7918
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
Location: Brighton, England
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by ratsoalbion »

duskvstweak wrote: January 7th, 2018, 4:10 pm
ratsoalbion wrote: January 6th, 2018, 11:15 pm 06 Jan: Resident Evil: Director's Cut (PAL PS1 on PS3)
Jill/Standard
"Jill/Standard" sounds like you're some sort of mean high schooler, insulting Jill to all your posh friends.
:D
Todinho

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Todinho »

Prey(pc)- Appropriately this is a game Im in 2 minds about, on one hand I really like the more open structure of the game that really rewards exploration and how it gives you so many tools to tackle obstacles, way more then the average "immersive sim", stuff like the gloo gun, morph ability and even the crossbow really increase how you can find paths through the enviroment I also like the progression and how you can pretty much get any skill you want. I also dig the whole game style with it's synthwave soundtrack, the art deco look and how it's enemies animate.

On the other actually playing the game can be a bit of a drag, usually in these types of game I tend to play as stealthlly as possible but the sneaking in pretty felt very basic to me and I didnt feel the game gave you many tools to help with that, most of the skills and itens are to help with exploration and combat while stealth is left by the wayside, so I played the game more offensively but I didnt actually like fighting the enemies,the mimics and phatoms are neat but I really didnt enjoy fighting any other enemy type and by the end of the game I was running through areas letting enemies hit me because I wanted to avoid combat.
The game as has a bunch of really weird issues like, why isnt the suit repair kits along with the medkits, psi shots and food in the quick wheel, the suit is one of the 3 meters you have to manage yet unlike the other 2 you cant quickly repair it from the menu, instead you have to go to the inventory and use it from there. Also why do I have to find a security booth everytime I want to track down a person, why couldnt you download all that in your PDA and track people that way, you could still do it that you can only track one at a time but doing it like this just saves time.

Storywise the game was fine, I cant say I cared much about the people of Talos I aside from the Cook quest everybody else was pretty boring, also why the hell is this set in a future where the cold war never ended? I mean it has 0 bearing on the story it doesnt matter at all, I think it was amde to make the world more interesting but I didnt care at all, the typhon are interesting and the research they were doing is but I found everything outside that pretty bland, compare it to the world of Deus Ex or Dishonored where the worlds are way more interesting then the main plot of the games and Prey comes really short. The story itself here was fine, I had alot of problems with it that disappeared once I beaten the game and all and all it`s pretty interesting but I`ve seen similar themes done better before.

Overall I think it`s a good game and I enjoyed playing it more then I disliked it I would be excited that a sequel could really improve and let then fullfill the whole potential of this but it appears the game wasnt that successfull and Bethesda might can it so Im left kinda of bummed.
User avatar
Pitwar
Member
Posts: 323
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 9:46 am
Location: Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Pitwar »

7th Jan - Halo 4 (Xbox One)

The last Halo game I had played through to completion was 3, so due to the fact I got an Xbox One for Christmas I thought it best I start catching up.

Halo 4 was decent, but not brilliant. I think part of that is that shooters have come on since Halo 4 was released, and you have to remember that this isn't a recent game. But I enjoyed it for the most part and have already started my play through of 5.
User avatar
KSubzero1000
Member
Posts: 3365
Joined: August 26th, 2015, 9:56 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Pitwar wrote: January 8th, 2018, 11:17 am shooters have come on since Halo 4 was released
I'd be interested to hear about why you feel that way and how exactly modern shooters have improved on the core Halo formula.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Alex79 »

I couldn't say how they've come on, it's not really my number one genre, but to me playing Halo (I played Reach a couple of years back) it felt a little archaic even then. I've just got so used to pressing L1/LT to aim that playing a game without that mechanic feels really weird. I also think shooters have got a lot more open over the last few years, with looser mission parameters etc. Don't get me wrong, there's still a place for corridor/arena based shooters, but they do feel a lot of title old to me. I don't think I'd get much out of playing Halo/2/3 now, despite enjoying them at the time.
User avatar
Pitwar
Member
Posts: 323
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 9:46 am
Location: Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Pitwar »

KSubzero1000 wrote: January 8th, 2018, 11:27 am
Pitwar wrote: January 8th, 2018, 11:17 am shooters have come on since Halo 4 was released
I'd be interested to hear about why you feel that way and how exactly modern shooters have improved on the core Halo formula.
Play the Titanfall 2 campaign and then go back to a game like Halo 4.

There's just so much variety in the missions in Titanfall, with each level offering you a new mechanic to play with.

Halo 4 is very much a simple template of similar looking rooms with similar looking enemies. Compare a similar concept such as the most recent Doom and it doesn't really come close. Again, Doom offers more variety and more creative ways to play.

Like I say, Halo 4 wasn't a bad game by any means, but is very by the numbers in what it does.
User avatar
Dante Fireseed
Member
Posts: 356
Joined: September 5th, 2012, 1:26 pm
Location: Somewhere within the Multiverse

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Dante Fireseed »

4th January - X-Com 2 (PC)
6th January - Last Day of June (PC)

I really enjoyed this, a melancholic story dealing with loss. A great soundtrack from Steven Wilson. I think this one will stay with me for a while. If you have any love for games such as Gone Home, Dear Esther etc I can highly recommend
User avatar
KSubzero1000
Member
Posts: 3365
Joined: August 26th, 2015, 9:56 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Pitwar wrote: January 8th, 2018, 12:14 pm Play the Titanfall 2 campaign and then go back to a game like Halo 4.

There's just so much variety in the missions in Titanfall, with each level offering you a new mechanic to play with.

Halo 4 is very much a simple template of similar looking rooms with similar looking enemies. Compare a similar concept such as the most recent Doom and it doesn't really come close. Again, Doom offers more variety and more creative ways to play.

Like I say, Halo 4 wasn't a bad game by any means, but is very by the numbers in what it does.

Fair enough. I have not played Titanfall 2, but I would argue this game and DOOM are very much the cream of the crop and are hardly representative of the genre as a whole. I think the vast majority of popular FPSs such as CoD and Wolfenstein still follow a very bare-boned mechanical structure and could learn a thing or two from the traditional core Halo gameplay model. Especially in terms of combat flow and the subtle differences between various enemy types such as AI modifiers and the shield system.
User avatar
Pitwar
Member
Posts: 323
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 9:46 am
Location: Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Pitwar »

Like I say, I didn't hate the game, and I'm a fan of the Halo franchise as a whole.

I just feel that 343 had the chance to push the franchise forward and try some new things, but they played Halo 4 a little too safe, to the point where in many ways it was a step backwards compared to 3.

Like you say, Titanfall 2 and Doom are considered by many to be the cream of the crop in regards to shooters from the past few years, so maybe it's unfair to compare an older game to them. But shouldn't every game that's released be aiming to be the best it can be?
Locked