Games completed 2017

[ThirdDrawing]

I finished the first Zone of Enders today, and man....it *sucked*.

[Todinho]

I finished the first Zone of Enders today, and man....it *sucked*.

Yeah ZOE 1 is not that great but ZOE 2 is great I assure you so dont let your experience with 1 make not play the sequel it's an improvement in literally everyway.

[Jobobonobo]

Spoiler: show

14/01: Rez Infinite
16/01: Journey
20/02: Bastion
20/02: Pokemon Moon
09/03: Grow Home
April 15:Kirby Mass Attack

April 30: Yooka Laylee (PS4)

So I finally finished this after 39 hours of gameplay! This was one of my most anticipated games and how do I rate it? Well, it certainly exceeds at giving me warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings. It does feel good to roam around in bright, colourful worlds again. Soundtrack was as top notch as I expected from Grant Kirkhope and David Wise. And a lot of the characters were charming and some of the dialogue was pretty witty. Also this game was HARD. I have not felt so challenged in ages! It absolutely refuses to hold your hand and respects the player in a way that I found refreshing. For example, there is a bridge you need to cross but they are fans blowing strong gusts of wind so you cannot cross. You also see cannonballs but you cannot do anything with them yet. Once you learn the move to swallow objects that allow you to absorb their properties, it becomes obvious what you need to do. Swallow the cannonballs and you become too heavy to be blown off the bridge. In a lot of games, they might explicitly tell you this whereas here by exploring and playing with your surroundings you understand what the game wants out of you. There are a lot of clever moments like this in the game and they tickle all the joy centres in my brain in just the right way.

So, things are going good until I have enough pagies to face the final boss. Now I did have a few small complaints with the game (lack of enemy variety, no option to skip dialogue completely, arcade games were meh, flying controls a bit wonky) but never enough to stop me playing and overall having fun. This boss battle, though? Utterly despised it. The second stage goes on forever and minions are being spammed at you constantly. What was a small issue before (unskippable dialogue and cutscenes) become enraging when you have to battle him again and again. And there was no consistent method to beat him in the final stage, I knew what to do but it sometimes work and sometimes didn't. Also the way to defeat him relies entirely on your power meter. And when it runs out, there are no butterflies to top up which leave you extremely vulnerable to his attacks. I could never go through this stage without losing a load of health! Why was there no butterflies?! For goodness sake, the N64 Banjo games had ammo throughout the battle to help you against Gruntilda. This was the one part of the game that was a complete chore to go through and I had to keep plugging away at this arsehole for 3-4 days! To have this at the very end of the game broke my heart, it turned what I found to be a great game to a very good one instead.

So in conclusion, I had a wonderful time until the final boss battle which in turn made finishing the game a bitter experience for me. However for Playtonic's first effort I found it to be a fairly solid title and I really look forward to what they have planned for the future.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

I finished the first Zone of Enders today, and man....it *sucked*.

Yeah ZOE 1 is not that great but ZOE 2 is great I assure you so dont let your experience with 1 make not play the sequel it's an improvement in literally everyway.

Oh yeah... I remember playing through ZOE 1 too... if someone else didn't bring up that the game existed I would have continued to forget about it!

That is with the PS3 HD collection as well. Really must get back and play ZOE 2, as that was the primary reason to get that collection.

[AndrewBrown]

05/01: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture [PS4]
13/01: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks [WiiUVC]
17/01: The Order: 1886 [PS4]
28/01: Undertale [PC]
29/01: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles [Wii]
15/02: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [Wii]
18/02: Battleborn [PS4]
08/03: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [Switch]
12/03: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove [Switch]
13/03: Fast RMX [Switch]
17/03: Blaster Master Zero [Switch]

14/04: Snake Pass [Switch]
19/04: Injustice: Gods Among Us [360]

[James]

Spoiler: show

06/01 - Titanfall 2 (Xbox One)
08/01 - The Binding Of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Steam)
09/01 - Sorcery!: The Shamutanti Hills (Android)
15/01 - Donkey Kong Jr. (3DS)
15/01 - Mario Kart: Super Circuit (3DS)
15/01 - Warioware, Inc: Mega Microgame$! (3DS)
16/01 - Donkey Kong (3DS)
27/01 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Online Edition (PS3)
10/02 - They Breathe (Steam)
10/02 - Undertale (Steam)
28/02 - Nioh (PS4)
20/03 - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Switch)
06/04 - Fast RMX (Switch)
09/04 - Graceful Explosion Machine (Switch)
17/04 - Mr. Shifty (Switch)

01/05 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)

Just your run-of-the-mill Grand Prix completion, but credits are credits. It's lovely to be back Karting again, even if I have a long way to go before I'll be troubling anyone on the podium of a CAR game night.

16 completions.

[skidoosh]

Spoiler: show

Inside (100% both endings)
Gone Home
Firewatch
Bastion
NieR (Xbox 360)
The Order: 1886 (Platinum)
DmC: Definitive Edition (PS4)
NieR: Automata (Platinum)
Horizon Zero Dawn (Platinum)
Lego: LOTR (Vita)

Resident Evil 7 (PS4)

Great story, great level and environmental design!

[Todinho]

Horizon Zero Dawn(PS4)- By open world standarts not a very long game especially if you focus on the main quest(which you should) so the game didnt exactly make the best of first impressions on me but by the end I was very plesantly surprised with how it turned out, while I still dont think it's this 10/10 game there are 2 aspects of it that are and it`s why this game is worth playing, that`s the machine combat and the main story.

When I looked at the combat in videos and stuff I thought it was fine but I didnt think it would be this amazing and it really is, the amount of strategy involved in taking down the machines is great, you have to figure out it`s weakness,choose the better tools to use,set traps and be able to execute all of it, I know I said it before but it really has a quality of Witcher in that sense, you cant just go into a fight throw 50 arrows and win, you have to think and plan otherwise you` re gonna get destroyed, this was also another welcome surprise the game is alot more challenging then I thought and despite you levelling up you dont really get overpowered you can still be easily destroyed at the end of the game by machines you`ve been fighting all along so combat remains always very skillbased. On the open world stuff it`s ok, I really like the Cauldrons that are this little mini dungeons in the world, the towers were interesting visually at least and require more thought then your average Ubisoft game and I like how there isnt a billion things to collect and find in the map. The one aspect of gameplay I really didnt like was the human combat, because that is the most generic by the numbers "been there done that" part of this game,the stealth is that kill everybody in one hit kind and combat boils down to head shoots,it's just really underwhelming and I'd have no problem having 0 human combat, it would no make much sense to the story but I'd take it.

Also yeah the story in this game is amazing! Alot of post-apocalipse media tends to ignore whatever catastrophe happened and focus only on the drama of the people dealing with it and the consequences, well Horizon is the complete oposite of that the game story is entirelly about how the world came to be, and without spoiling I have to say it's one of the more interesting and best executed Science fiction stories I've ever played in a videogame and the game still manages to tie that really well with Alloys personal story in a really cool way. Honestly if you dont see yourself playing this game for whatever reason but you like Sci-fi I highly encourage watching it on youtube or something because it's really worth it. On the other hand I think the side quests are pretty bland,I mean they arent your god awfull fetch quests of FFXV but they tend to boil down alot to "follow that trail with your witcher sense" and the story and characters in them are quite forgetable, that's also a big problem concerning the politics of this new world, I mean the history and culture they created for this new world is really cool and well thought out but in the present the characters you talk to and the events that happened just arent that interesting, it's a shame because I see alot of characters that could be interesting but they just kinda of stay there and nothing of much import happens to them until the very end of the game.

But yeah Im really glad I got this as a gift because I probably wouldnt have played it anytime soon otherwise, while I think the game has alot it could improve and change this is a really solid foundation and I havent been this excited for the propect of a sequel in a new IP in quite awhile because of all the potential of things they can expand and improve upon.

[ThirdDrawing]

Yeah ZOE 1 is not that great but ZOE 2 is great I assure you so dont let your experience with 1 make not play the sequel it's an improvement in literally everyway.

I went in with an open mind......but neither game is really that great. The voice acting is okay, but the dialogue is absolutely atrocious in places. I blame the localisation. Both games stories' just aren't that interesting. It makes me wonder about Death Stranding.

This was from the same guy who gave us MGS 3?

[Alex79]

Yeah but the dialogue in Metal Gear Solid has always been appalling as well. Don't get me wrong, I love it for that, but it's dreadful in places!

[Todinho]

Yeah ZOE 1 is not that great but ZOE 2 is great I assure you so dont let your experience with 1 make not play the sequel it's an improvement in literally everyway.

I went in with an open mind......but neither game is really that great. The voice acting is okay, but the dialogue is absolutely atrocious in places. I blame the localisation. Both games stories' just aren't that interesting. It makes me wonder about Death Stranding.

This was from the same guy who gave us MGS 3?

Ok so let me set the record straight on this because it's a common misconception, Kojima didnt direct or write any of the Zone of the Enders games. He only produced the games and his company Kojima Productions developed it, the one thing about ZOE that you can point to Kojima especifically is the ZOE 2 intro trailer that was done by Kojima himself, but in reality the writer and director of the ZOE franchise is Shuyo Murata aka as the one guy I blame for every single bad writing decision in MGS4, as you can tell from the ZOE games I dont think mr Murata is the best writer around.
Murata did work on the Metal Gear games as a writer, but I think his influence is only really apparent in MGS4 with some scenes in the game that if you compare the dialogue with ZOE becomes quite apparent that the same person wrote both, when it comes to who wrote the Metal gear games, Kojima wrote the MSX games himself and MGS1,2&3 he wrote with Tomokazu fukushima, Murata did oficially was in the writing team of MGS3 but likely in a very minor role. In MGS4 however Kojima lost Fukushima so he and Murata wrote the game, on the writing of MGS4 there's also the infamous point where Kojima wanted to end the game in a certain way and his own staff forbade him to. On Peace Walker Kojima is solely credited with the story but both Kojima and Murata are credited as writers plus a new writer who's name escapes me but who was focused on writing dialogue apparently and he was also present in MGSV which might explain why Murata's influence is only aparent in MGS4. As for Death Stranding Murata isnt on the New Kojima Productions team from what I saw and Kojima is writing the game along with the guy who wrote the metal gear books in Japan, now I never read those so I cant judge the guy either way.

On ZOE though yeah the story doesnt matter it's your generic mecha anime thing, but it's pretty cool though and I think the gameplay of 2 is really fun.

[KSubzero1000]

I'll second everything Todinho said. Fukushima is indeed one of Metal Gear's unsung heroes, and I do believe that the decline in quality of the writing post-MGS3 can be attributed to his departure.

Also, Z.O.E. 2 is worth playing for its fantastic gameplay alone, even if the narrative isn't to your liking.

[Chopper]

What Remains of Edith Finch

Oh boy.

It's spectacular. Narratively and gameplay-wise, it succeeds very well, and it does things that are bold and brave and possibly brand new to gaming.

I went into it fairly blind, and haven't read up on it yet; what little I did know, I didn't like the sound of - it sounded pretty pretentious in its central conceit. I think this is borne out; the means of linking the stories together is very contrived.

However, within the structure that they've set up (pun intended), the whole thing works extremely well. I suspect the stories will have different strengths and weaknesses for different people, but as a whole I think they offer quite a range of experience/emotion. The environmental detail coupled with the character stories result in vignettes which are silly, sad, blackly funny and sometimes profound. There are some great bits inserting the player in these stories too.

I've just finished and I don't really know what I think of it yet, but it's.....I'm hesitant to say amazing, but yeah, amazing.

YMMV

[Joshihatsumitsu]

Tutturu!

Steins;Gate - Vita - All Six Endings

It only took about around 70 hours (according to the in game clock), but all endings - done.

Now, clearly, I loved this game. However, nothing turns me off more than hype, and it would do little service to a game like this than to place it on a pedestal. (I mean, I really, really love this game...)

I picked the limited edition physical version of this game ages ago, and it was going super cheap because I guess they just wanted to get rid of stock. I didn't dig too deep into reviews or any press, and not having the pressure of expectations allowed me to experience this as fresh as possible, on it's own merits rather by that some kind of weird social consensus, where God knows what would happen if I didn't feel the exact same way everyone else did!

So what I will say is I thoroughly enjoyed this experience (I mean, Jesus... I love this game); it's probably not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it does go on sale on PSN from time to time, and it's not a huge download, so it's a low-risk purchase, so maybe give it a shot.

I'm just happy that I can now flick through the art book that came with the boxed copy, free from having anything spoilt!

El... Psy... Kongroo...

[ThirdDrawing]

Thanks Todinho, I didn't know about Murata and Fukushima.

I don't mind MGS4. It's certainly not as bad as ZOE 1 & 2. As for the ending the staff forbade, are you talking about Snake killing himself?

[Todinho]

Yep that's the one.

[DomsBeard]

Spoiler: show

18th January Infinite Warfare Xbox One[/b]

Easily my favourite Call Of Duty Campaign I've played (FYI I have not played Black OPs 2 or 3). Great fun for a franchise that isn't usually my cup of tea.[/quote]

23rd Jan

The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2

Brilliant however I do feel that my decisions are based on my previous experiences with Clem which are not relevant here. If you've played it you'll know what I mean. But it is fantastic.

The Bunker

Probably the worst game I have played this gen. Awful, awful game. I can only best describe it as a videogame made by people who have never played videogames. Everything about it was bad. Infuriating controls, instafail sections that were pure luck that you passed. I wouldn't even recommend downloading it when it appears on PS+ or Games With Gold.

Would be a great Cane And Rinse Episode though [/quote]

Resident Evil 7 Playstation 4

Really enjoy it and would recommend[/quote]

17th Feb Doom Xbox One

Solid 8/10 for me. It outstayed its welcome but was fun none the less[/quote]

Bioshock Remastered PS4

Glad I've finally ticked this off my pile of shame after all these years. The last boss reminded me of Metroid Primes final boss for some reason. Looking forward to listening to the show now.[/quote]

March 3Rd

Batman Arkham VR

Very good, just wish there was more of it![/quote

Rez Infinite PSVR

Acts 1-4 were amazing but I thought 5 was a bit of a let down. I obviously miss the point of it somehow

Area X is absolutely amazing though and apart from a bit in Arkham my highlight of PSVR so far. Would love a game based on Area X
[/quote]


The Walking Dead The New Frontier Season 3 Episode 3.

Quite disappointed in this episode I have to say. There was great momentum, cast and story built up in the two episodes previous and an excellent cliff hanger which fizzles out in episode 3. I was most annoyed about a character becoming pissed off with me when I killed someone instead of letting them turn
[/quote]

The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 4

Telltale have lost the plot this series. Some of the choices in this episode are absolutely ridiculous, I actually let one run out as I didn't feel able to make it leading to a game over screen. I'm happy to be proved wrong but I'm pretty sure they've never tied that to a major decision before?, mind you I have always never shied from making any decisions. Clementine might as well not be there and one scene with her left me scratching my head as the way she acts in that is something that ''my'' Clementine would never even think about let alone want to do what is discussed.
[/quote]

What Remains Of Edith Finch

An interesting "game", I enjoyed it in parts but also had a few questions left at the end of it. I think I'd better play Gone Home now for some kind of comparison.

[Chopper]

It's interesting for sure; I'm still not sure what to make of it. I'm finding it difficult to think of it from the perspective of a game, and more of a book of short stories instead. its confusing.

[Scrustle]

Spoiler: show

05/01 - Forza Horizon 3: Blizzard Mountain
15/01 - Odin Sphere Leifthrasir
17/01 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
25/01 - The Unfinished Swan
29/01 - Folklore
31/01 - Doom (Hurt Me Plenty)
04/02 - Gravity Rush 2
26/02 - Unravel
14/03 - Nier: Automata (Ending A)
20/03 - Nier: Automata (Ending B)
21/03 - Gravity Rush 2: Raven's Choice
24/03 - Nier: Automata (Ending C)
25/03 - Nier: Automata (Ending D)
25/03 - Nier: Automata (Ending E)
22/04 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
27/04 - Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City (NG+ level)
28/04 - Kamiko

05/05 - The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone

Decided it was time to go back to this one and make my way through the expansions. Or the first at least. It was a good time. Olgeird was definitely an interesting character to delve in to. A good example of what this game does best. In general though, the experience was basically more Witcher 3. Nothing wrong with that though.

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Quantum Break - XB1.
(Jan) Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag - PS4.
(Jan) Adr1ft - PS4.
(Jan) Dear Esther - PS4.
(Jan) Virginia - PS4. (platinum).
(Jan) The London Heist - PSVR
(Feb) Flashback(2013) - PSN.
(Feb) Rain - PSN.
(Feb) Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light - PSN.
(Feb) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II - PS3.
(Feb) Far Cry Primal - PS4.
(Feb) Bayonetta 2 - WiiU.
(Feb) Sniper Elite 3 - PS4.
(Mar) Life is Strange - PS4.
(Mar) Nier Automata - PS4.
(Mar) Halo 2:Anniversary - XB1.
(Mar) Guns, Gore & Canoli - PS4.
(Apr) Alien Breed Ep.3:Descent - Xbox 360.
(Apr) Horizon Zero Dawn - PS4.
(May) Battleborn - PS4.