Games completed 2016

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Assassins Creed Liberation HD - PSN.
(Jan) Army of Two:The Devils Cartel - PS3.

[MagicianArcana]

I finally beat GTAV's story mode. I thought the final mission was pretty underwhelming. (At least the one I chose was) It wasn't challenging and it was pretty predictable. I think the final mission in GTAIV was more exciting.

But as a whole the game was great. My friends and I are still playing GTA online a lot.

[martymcfly3004]

Spoiler: show

Halo 2 (master chief collection, normal)
Halo 3 (master chief collection, normal)
Halo 4 (master chief collection, normal)
Halo 3: ODST (master chief collection, normal)

Halo 3 ODST complete. Very impressed, my favourite Halo game so far. Now onto Reach.

[macstat]

Jan 2 - Fallout 4
Jan 3 - Assassins Creed Syndicate
Jan 5 - Gunpoint
Jan 7 - CoD - Advanced Warfare campaign
Jan 15 - Mad Max

[gallo_pinto]

Spoiler: show

Jan - Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3)
Jan - Escape Plan (Vita)

Jan - Escape Plan (Vita)

I've had this game for a pretty long time and I finally got around to playing it this week. I think I would have liked it more if I had played it closer to its 2012 launch. I was probably more excited about what my Vita could do at that time and more ok with the gimmicky Vita controls than I am in 2016.

Both the game's unique art style (science fiction meets 1920s Hollywood) and classical music give this game such a unique feel and it oozes style. There's even a hilarious tap dance intermission at the halfway point. But the touch screen and rear touch pad gameplay is really frustrating. The puzzles aren't very complex and you can usually see exactly what you need to do to clear a room. The problem is the controls often get in the way and you spend a lot of time waiting for the level to reload after you die. By the 10th time that happens on a given level, you just want to stop playing. This game has great style, but not much substance.

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Assassins Creed Liberation HD - PSN.
(Jan) Army of Two:The Devils Cartel - PS3.
(Jan) Assassins Creed Freedom Cry - PS4.

[macstat]

Jan 2 - Fallout 4
Jan 3 - Assassins Creed Syndicate
Jan 5 - Gunpoint
Jan 7 - CoD - Advanced Warfare campaign
Jan 15 - Mad Max
Jan 16 - Saints Row IV - Gat out of Hell

[dezm0nd]

Jan 1: Fallout 4
Jan 12: Doom 3: BFG Edition (Veteran)
Jan 16: Doom 3: Ressurection of Evil (Marine)

Moving onto the Lost Missions next!

[Flabyo]

5th Jan - Wolfenstein: The New Order (XBO)

16th Jan - Oxenfree (XBO)

Thoroughly enjoyed that. Well acted, and just the right side of unsettling to keep my interest to the end. Pleased with the ending I reached, but there's scope for some quite different outcomes I think so might well go through it again later in the year.

It is perhaps a little short for how much it costs right now, but that's a minor quibble for me, I'm happy to take the odd risk here and there with what I buy.

Definitely a developer to watch.

[seansthomas]

Jan 17th - The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the past

Will save my full thoughts for the upcoming podcast thread, but enjoyed this a lot. Never owned a SNES or played this before. Sets a very high bar for the series and I can see why so many people love this title so much. It gets so much right for a game of its age.

Got stuck loads and without walkthroughs / quick saves on the Wii U, I'd never have persevered / beaten it but I'm glad I did. Us gamers have it easy now, eh? Great game.

[Alex79]

I've been playing it a bit too, and I found myself questioning, do we have it easier, or do we just have less time? Days were I'd have been happy to play this over the course of an entire year, maybe even longer. When I remember back to being a kid I'd get stuck on games for years, returning to them from time to time chipping away. Nowadays I barely give myself any time before looking up the solution, simply because I don't have time to spend wandering the wilderness for hours upon end looking for ways to progress. I think it's a combination of time and the ease of instant help that makes people think games were harder 'back then'.

[Todinho]

I've been playing it a bit too, and I found myself questioning, do we have it easier, or do we just have less time? Days were I'd have been happy to play this over the course of an entire year, maybe even longer. When I remember back to being a kid I'd get stuck on games for years, returning to them from time to time chipping away. Nowadays I barely give myself any time before looking up the solution, simply because I don't have time to spend wandering the wilderness for hours upon end looking for ways to progress. I think it's a combination of time and the ease of instant help that makes people think games were harder 'back then'.

Totally agree,this game isnt really all that obtuse or hard when I look at it,the game gives you all the hints for you to succeed but you have to explore and take your time which in this day and age where we want immediate results we are less inclined to do,for example in my current playthrough I often forgot where some item was but instead of wandering the world and talking to npcs to figure out where it was I went straight online to see where it was,Im not saying the game is perfect in that regard there are a few sections that the game doesnt do a good job signaling you what to do but those are the exception not the rule.

Btw I also finnished A Link to the past today,did while listening to the Zelda 2 podcast and I was really glad that I wasnt playing that one XD.While I have some problems with the game,it mostly combat and some dungeons,I still had a blast playing it,in terms of how fun it just to explore the world and get itens few games are as satisfying good stuff

[dezm0nd]

Jan 1: Fallout 4
Jan 12: Doom 3: BFG Edition (Veteran)
Jan 16: Doom 3: Ressurection of Evil (Marine)
Jan 17: Doom 3: The Lost Missions

Levels which felt like they were swept off the cutting room floor and pieced up together with a flimsy narrative. It's quite good but nothing special until you reach Hell. Hell is always special.

[seansthomas]

I've been playing it a bit too, and I found myself questioning, do we have it easier, or do we just have less time? Days were I'd have been happy to play this over the course of an entire year, maybe even longer. When I remember back to being a kid I'd get stuck on games for years, returning to them from time to time chipping away. Nowadays I barely give myself any time before looking up the solution, simply because I don't have time to spend wandering the wilderness for hours upon end looking for ways to progress. I think it's a combination of time and the ease of instant help that makes people think games were harder 'back then'.

Totally agree,this game isnt really all that obtuse or hard when I look at it,the game gives you all the hints for you to succeed but you have to explore and take your time which in this day and age where we want immediate results we are less inclined to do,for example in my current playthrough I often forgot where some item was but instead of wandering the world and talking to npcs to figure out where it was I went straight online to see where it was,Im not saying the game is perfect in that regard there are a few sections that the game doesnt do a good job signaling you what to do but those are the exception not the rule.

I think what made those older games harder were often the technical limitations. I recall replaying the same section of old Master System games over and over and over to beat them. No save points, no level selects. Just start the game and try and beat it. I recall my Mum banning me from playing Lucky Dime Caper at one point because I died several times in a row on the last level which took bloody ages to get to and I had a total meltdown.

We've definitely got it far easier now. Not in terms of puzzle solving so much; I could have solved most of the puzzles in Zelda. More in terms of save states and decent maps. Plus years of gaming means we inherently are less surprised by games than we once were; we've encountered hundreds of puzzles, scenarios, types of game etc.

I resorted to walkthroughs then too I guess, its just that they were in the Tips column of Mean Machines and CVG or on Gamemaster.

Most of the guides I used on this game were because I often knew what I had to do, but I had no idea where it was on the map I'd met a certain person, how to get back to the dark world portal or where I'd seen that cave entrance! Since kids and the new job, my game time is so limited that trudging a world trying to relocate something is a luxury I can't afford sadly. But I'd like to think I wouldn't Google how to do something before giving it a go myself first. Too often, anyhow!

[Todinho]

I see what you mean,when it comes to quality of life stuff games surely improved alot for example not being able to switch between worlds at will or not having markers for every notable building or NPC just wouldnt happen nowadays it makes it alot easier to complete games because of that since it removes some busywork but it also takes some of the adventure away from it,that's one of the reasons why Dark souls gained so much popularity,overall I think Link to the past strikes a good middle ground it's way more acessible then the original game but still has the ethos of "figure out yourself".

[InsrtCoins]

Let's start this year off strong.

Jan 2: Ori and the Blind Forest (X1)
Jan 3: Oh...Sir! (PC)
Jan 4: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Jan 16: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC)

[ratsoalbion]

03 Jan: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (WU)
17 Jan The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (WU)

[James]

Alrighty roo! Back on the forum for the first time in a while. Time to catch up on what I've completed this year. Here goes:
10/01 - The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (PC)
10/01 - Flow (2012) (Android)
11/01 - Asterix (1993) (SNES)
14/01 - Assault Android Cactus (PC)
14/01 - A Bird Story (PC)
15/01 - Home (PC)
15/01 - Looney Tunes: Road Runner's Death Valley Rally (SNES)
16/01 - Ikaruga (PC) [Arcade Mode, Easy]
17/01 - Nidhogg (PC) [Single Player]
18/01 - Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (PC)
18/01 - Samorost 2 (PC)
18/01 - Shelter (PC)
18/01 - Super Crate Box (PC) [10 crates on all three levels]
18/01 - Waves (PC) [Challenge Mode]
18/01 - The Yawhg (PC) [One "bad" and one "good" ending]

I've qualified a few of these to explain what I considered a "completion" to be. Been cranking through some backlog games recently, and I've started with the shorter ones first. Too many here to put down my thoughts for each, but every one is great in its own way (I wouldn't have played through to completion otherwise). Turning over a new leaf this year - every game gets an hour to grab my attention before I decide to continue playing or FIITB (to dredge up an old GamerDork phrase).

It's on to Street Fighter Alpha series for the next week or two. Podcast preparation ho!

[zen_anarchy]

Only game I've Finished so far in 2016 is fallout 4

came away thinking it was good but not great, fun time sink.

I hope there is some interesting DLC later on to draw me back especially with the games location would make for some great Lovecraft inspired DLC like Point Lookout.

The whole town building element was fairly underused and underwhelming and the randomly generated quests are just annoying padding to an already barebones(for Bethesda) adventure.

the story and main quests where fine in my opinion, I wasn't expecting anything well written or of an especially high standard so I was pleasantly surprised at some of the turns the adventure took.

finished fallout 4 and fired up Xenoblade Chronicles X

"Oh, boy... "

[James]

Spoiler: show

10/01 - The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (PC)
10/01 - Flow (2012) (Android)
11/01 - Asterix (1993) (SNES)
14/01 - Assault Android Cactus (PC)
14/01 - A Bird Story (PC)
15/01 - Home (PC)
15/01 - Looney Tunes: Road Runner's Death Valley Rally (SNES)
16/01 - Ikaruga (PC) [Arcade Mode, Easy]
17/01 - Nidhogg (PC) [Single Player]
18/01 - Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (PC)
18/01 - Samorost 2 (PC)
18/01 - Shelter (PC)
18/01 - Super Crate Box (PC) [10 crates on all three levels]
18/01 - Waves (PC) [Challenge Mode]
18/01 - The Yawhg (PC) [One "bad" and one "good" ending]

19/01 - Another World (20th AE) (PC)
19/01 - LEGO Batman: The Videogame (PC)

Despite their obvious differences, these two games both have a great sense of tone and of setting a scene. Both are also held back significantly (in my estimation) due to the difficulty in controlling the characters. LEGO Batman is exactly how I remember the Star Wars and Indiana Jones games that immediately preceded it - great fun, but with some mechanical drawbacks that make it quickly tedious.