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- 10/02 - Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition (Normal)
19/02 - Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition (Normal)
23/02 - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Prince of Darkness)
25/02 - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2: Revelations (Prince of Darkness)
27/02 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
02/03 - Portal: Still Alive
08/03 - The Darkness II
25/03 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Normal Castle)
30/03 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
13/04 - Bayonetta (Normal)
24/04 - Hyper Light Drifter
22/05 - Dark Souls III
07/06 - Halo 5: Guardians
15/06 - Dark Souls III (NG+)
24/06 - Darksiders (Normal)
16/07 - Yakuza 5
05/08 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
23/08 - Metroid Prime (Wii version)
20/09 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
05/10 - Fast Racing Neo - Neo Future Pack (Subsonic)
11/10 - Forza Horizon 3
16/10 - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Wii version)
28/10 - Toren
31/10 - Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel DLC (NG+ level)
07/11 - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
26/11 - Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas
06/12 - Gravity Rush Remastered
18/12 - The Last Guardian
So after all these years waiting, it's finally all over. At the end of it all, I'm finding myself very torn on what to think of it. All the way through the game I found issues with the controls and camera unbelievably infuriating, especially with the latter. I've always been fine with these things in previous Team Ico games, but here I don't think you can say it's par for the course for what you would expect from them. They are massively flawed, and make playing the game an excruciating struggle a lot of the time. And this is coming from someone who almost never has a problem with cameras in game, even ones that are supposedly notorious for it.
But on the other hand, I absolutely loved Trico itself. I remember back when it seemed like this game would still come out on PS3, I was always a bit put off by the creature, thinking it looked goofy and ridiculous, and not sure I'd be able to really get on with it. But as time went by and it came closer to actually releasing, it started to grow on me. And the realisation of it in the game is just great. All the little subtleties of animation, sound design, and behaviour really make it feel like a living animal with a mind and personality of its own. I really felt like I was bonding with it through the game, and I liked the way it grew and changed as the story progressed. The last few hours of the game are amazing too. While it's a very good looking game throughout, the way the lighting changes in that last act makes things just look stunning, and the ending story sequences were very emotional. I'll admit there was a bit of a lump in my throat for a couple of the scenes.
So overall, I can't really come to a single conclusion about my feelings on the game. It is mind-boggingly infuriating a lot of the time. Not in a way that I think you can overlook because of the more positive aspects, or because it's a Team Ico game, or whatever reason you can come up with. I'm usually the type who would let some of the flaws of their previous games slide for whatever artistic reason, but I just don't think it cuts the mustard here. There's no real excuse for it. On the other hand, I really enjoyed interacting with Trico and how they crafted that relationship. It was a massive highlight, especially towards the end when more stuff starts happening. Team Ico have tried to do similar things in their previous games, especially with Ico, but I think they succeed here much more than they have before. That kind of bonding between characters was never actually a major highlight to me in their other games, but here they really nailed it. In a way the game is like another go around at Ico, and here they do some things worse, and some things better. I think at the end of it all I'm glad I played through it and experienced it all. Even though a couple of times I was considering quitting, I'm happy that I didn't.
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