Games Completed 2021

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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ColinAlonso »

Jan 1 - Slay the Spire (Switch)
I don't think I can ever count this as completed, so for the sake of the list I'm putting the first time I reached the credits down. I've seen them 5 more times since. Much has been said about it but it is an addictive as hell card battler where the runs take about an hour. Great stuff.

Jan 10 - Streets of Rage 4 (PS4) (Cherry - Normal)
Looks great, sounds great, feels great. This hits the nostalgia sweet spot while also being brilliantly fun and polished.
There is one problem though, the final stage is a massive difficulty spike with less fun enemy combos (at one point it just flings Big Bens and his variants at you) and too many end bosses. This was so bad that I dropped Axel and changed to the highly nimble Cherry. I played from the start again to learn her style and also to get more comfortable with the combos. She was also a load of fun and I was able to beat the final level first time.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Spoiler: show
1. Gris
2. My Friend Pedro
Saw this was leaving Game Pass and it had always intrigued me so thought I would get it done before it left. I thought it was an entertaining experience, I thought the whole slo mo shooting mechanic would eventually wear thin but the game managed to add new mechanics or enemy types to change things up through it's short running time of around 3-4 hours. There were a couple of platforming sections which I wasn't as keen on and I suppose at points you could easily get through the level by spamming the shoot button and dodge button quite easily but it doesn't look very stylish. Glad I played it. 7/10
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Flabyo
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Flabyo »

ColinAlonso wrote: January 11th, 2021, 9:25 pm Jan 10 - Streets of Rage 4 (PS4) (Cherry - Normal)
For that final boss...
Spoiler: show
Take the guy out first as Ms.Y is less dangerous.

Once the mecha battle starts stay in the top left of the arena and concentrate on the leg that’s there, ignore going for the other legs. If you can also deal with Ms.Y before you deal the final hit to the mecha the fight is much shorter.

Axel actually has the hardest time solo I think, everyone else has much more speed and range, which makes that fight much fairer.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ColinAlonso »

That's more or less how the fight ended up going on the Cherry run except
Spoiler: show
for sticking to one leg of the mech. Cherry's forward forward attack is very spammable so I went to both with that.
:)
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DomsBeard
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by DomsBeard »

To The Moon

Really enjoyed this and had no idea a sequel was coming out on Switch in Spring which I will be picking up day one. End bit was slightly soured as I couldn't find a certain pixel so had to look it up so killed the momentum.

Listening to the C&R episode now and not saying it is a throwback but Leon is asking us to join Google Plus :lol:
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Scrustle »

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05/01 - Brutal Legend
07/01 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
13/01 - Sludge Life

This was one of the free games on the Epic store, and I've had it sitting around for a while not really intending to do anything with it, but decided I might as well give it a shot now since I got nothing else going on. Usually with these giveaway games that I only pick up because they're free, if I do bother checking them out I find I'm rarely hooked by them, but it turns out it this one was pretty enjoyable.

It's kind of an urban exploration adventure game with some light platforming. You play as a graffiti artist stuck on this strange industrial port/chemical plant-like area, that also has people living there in small apartments, and a big corporate HQ of the company that owns the place. You climb all over the place, tagging everything in sight and interacting with all the strange inhabitants. It has a sort of grungy, lo-fi feel to it, and touches on some themes of class divide and urban subcultures, all with a quirky sense of humour. It's a pretty fun little thing to explore, and I ended up getting all three of the endings available.

Apparently it's still available for free on Epic until the end of May, so if it sounds interesting, there's no reason not to give it a go.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Spoiler: show
8th Jan - Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4)
10th Jan - Donut County (Android)
I usually enjoy Annapurna stuff and this was no different. It is very fun, cute and relaxing. You control a hole that gets bigger the more stuff drops into it, so you move the hole around collecting bits of rubbish, people's property, the people themselves and eventually cars, buildings and infrastructure. The writing is also unexpectedly good. I would usually run a mile at writing that tries to ape "the Internet" but somehow this comes across as funny and upbeat while capturing some of the immediacy and inherent weirdness of IM conversations.
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

Sinclair Gregstrum wrote: January 4th, 2021, 3:22 pm Jan - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)
Jan - Gears 5: Hivebusters (XSX)

A fantastic, self-contained 3-hour Gears campaign that looks stunningly beautiful on Series X (although Gears 5 was already a looker on the older consoles so I bet this is too!).

It's also free to all Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, so if you're a member and you like a bit of Gears this is an absolute no-brainer for an evening's entertainment!
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DeadpoolNegative
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by DeadpoolNegative »

1/3- Mafia: Definitive Edition XBox One

"I got people I need to protect."
Mafia II is one of my favorite games of all time, though that's more for the mood I was in at the time rather than the game itself- I think I wrote a review of it that gave it a 6.5 over a decade ago. But it was memorable experience that tried to tell a familiar story in a compelling way. Mafia III was in many respects the better game- it's definitely deeper and better written- but it's also a huge chore at times, trying to be more of a game instead of just telling the story which would be fine if the gameplay wasn't so much busywork. Also, the graphics were not that great.

Hangar 13 went back to the beginning with this remake and I had a really terrific time with it- like Mafia II it hits very familiar beats, and doesn't quite have as vivid a cast as the other games, but it feels like playing a movie in all the right ways. There's a decent balance between the cinematics and the gameplay, which is a refined run and gun cover shooter. I always regretted not getting around to playing the original, the legends about the racing level probably scared me off.

I think what makes this game work, for me anyway, is the sense that Tommy Angelo is just a cog in a machine he doesn't quite consider. He's not a punk who went to war like Vito or an orphaned veteran who lost his adopted family like Lincoln Clay. He just took a job. And that job paid well. and it provided a nice life for him. But he was a kept man. One of the more interesting aspects of the plot - and one I think was added for this version- is that Tommy developed a pretty severe drinking problem between chapters- and his wife made him get sober- but only on the orders of Salieri. His life was not really his own.

The game's cover and shooting system is more refined than that of Mafia III, but it suffers from not having as many cool weapons and variety. There is more variety in the free mode- too bad I didn't realize I could play it during the main story to unlock cool cars to use.

Speaking of Free mode, the game's recreation of Lost Heaven is terrific, worth drinking in as you go on many long drives between missions.

The game's on the short side compared to most open world experiences today (and this game stretches the definition of open world, to be frank)- you can probably knock it out about 8 hours. But I think that's a good length for it- it doesn't outstay its welcome.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Really interested in Mafia Definitive Edition as I have only heard good things about it and I like the fact it can be played through quite quickly for an open world game, it sounds like the city is just the setting for the story, much like LA Noire.
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DeadpoolNegative
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by DeadpoolNegative »

Yep, there is stuff to find in the open world, but it's relegated to the Free mode, mostly. Funnily enough I have been playing the remastered version of L.A. Noire as well.
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seansthomas
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by seansthomas »

January 11th - Spiderman (PS4)

Fell just short of platinuming it, but very much enjoyed this on the whole.

The story was really good, the intro training chapter was one of the best implemented I’ve seen and it looks incredible. Animation, city, combat, lighting… All phenomenal.

Suffered from a LOT of repetition and padding in terms of street level random events and Sable / Demon crimes but I loved the main campaign, a lot of the side quests and enjoyed the geekery of the backpack / photo / suit stuff.

Definitely excited to one day play Miles Morales knowing it’s shorter and tighter.
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Miririn
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Miririn »

seansthomas wrote: January 16th, 2021, 3:08 pm Suffered from a LOT of repetition and padding in terms of street level random events and Sable / Demon crimes but I loved the main campaign, a lot of the side quests and enjoyed the geekery of the backpack / photo / suit stuff.
From about halfway through the game, whenever I needed to clean out a villain lair or find a rucksack etc, I'd turn off the audio and do it while listening to an audiobook (...this sounds like a criticism of the game, but it's not really. But yeah, non-story tasks tend to be repetitive, as you pointed out)
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Magical_Isopod »

#1 Mass Effect Andromeda

I've said a lot about this game on other fora, but the quickest summary is... Why do people hate this game? It's very, very good. I understand it was buggy at launch, and fair enough but like... This is FAR from the disaster history remembers it as. And playing in 2021, I experienced almost no bugs through my entire playtime on PS4 Pro - the worst of which being an instance where the ground suddenly lost collision, which was easily fixed by re-loading the map.

In terms of story and how it compares to the original Mass Effect... Again, it's not bad. I've heard, "It's just a retread of the original trilogy with less interesting characters." But this isn't true either. Now, I do have some complaints about the story - I'll get to this - but this game certainly tells a different story, and the characters are *mostly* interesting. The human companions in this game are terrible - they're dull, they're boring, and I found myself hammering through their text. But then, the same was true of the original Mass Effect - I remember getting to the point where you have to choose which one lives and dies, and I was just like, "Can they both die?"

So Andromeda's story... It starts AMAZING. But this is a textbook example of gameplay mechanics getting in the way of a good story. So when you start, you're travelling to an uncharted galaxy, and after arriving from a 600+ year journey in cryosleep, you find that none of planets you observed from millions of lightyears away are habitable. It's a desperate, terrifying situation, and when you get some of these planets habitable and start planting outposts, it feels like you're defying the impossible. It's great... Until the game decides, "Wait a minute, we need a million NPCs to hand out sidequests." Aaaaaaand suddenly the game forgets its desperate situation and tense atmosphere, and suddenly you find planets comfortably settled by human "outcasts", with permanent settlements that look like they'd taken decades to set up. And that frustrates me to no end.

In general, this could have been a 9/10 game or better... If they hadn't gone for an open world game design. There are moments in the main story, especially toward the end, that feel unfinished, unpolished and as though they meant to say more but ran out of time. I strongly, strongly feel that if they'd stuck to that core theme of desperation and survival, it would have made discovery of a planet at the very end of the game that much more impactful. If they'd made your situation isolated and terrifying, and cut all these worthless sidequests, and instead focused on a tight, interesting story... The game would have been better for it. I know this game is nearing 4 years old now, but open world game design just makes narrative-driven games worse. Straight-up. I would love to see this one remade with like a "director's cut," where they chop out the guff and actually make the game the opening hours suggest it'll be.

The gameplay is *great*, like, this is the best movement and combat in the series, by a country mile. And the visuals and art design are just... Woah. This is STILL a great-looking game.

Overall though, I'd say this one's like a 7.5/10. It really feels like the team behind this had some really great ideas, but corporate interference forced them into making something that merely chased contemporary trends. And that's a damn shame. Knowing that the same thing happened to Anthem a couple years later... Yikes. EA needs to back off and just let people create good games.

My final thought... I really hope the new Mass Effect takes place after Andromeda. I wanna see some Angara who have made the trip to the Milky Way. I want to see a marriage of the drama provided from both the Reapers and the Kett. I want to learn more about the Remnant and that civilization. If modern Bioware is creative, they'll do exactly that. If they're just a shell of Bioware rendered worthless by EA... It'll just be Mass Effect 4.

&iso2021
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
05/01 - Brutal Legend
07/01 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
13/01 - Sludge Life
17/01 - AER: Memories of Old

Recently had this on the mind again, and felt like it was the kind of experience that I was in need of right now. A nice calming and airy experience. I like it a lot. Still sad about the studio having to close down after putting this out.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)

Really enjoyed this. I blitzed through the first 8 or 9 chapters but for some reason totally ran out of steam with it before Christmas. I just wasn't in the mood for sitting in front the TV playing games, but picked it back up again last week and finished it off, and I'm glad I did because the story and characters were great and it's always nice to be back in Kamurocho. Loads of cool time wasters like the arcade games and darts and stuff, and the combat is as solid as ever.

One thing I'll never quite understand is all the praise the side stories in these games get, though. There is the odd one that's alright, but to be honest I find them a bit boring and it's almost always irritating trying to run somewhere and getting pulled in to some silly mission when you want to get on with the main story. Still, they add value for people who want them, and they don't hurt me by being there. Even without doing many of them I clocked almost 35 hours on the game. (EDIT: Oh, well the end of game stat screen said I did 25 of 50 side missions, so I couldn't have disliked them that much, haha).

Overall I thought it was an excellent Yakuza spin-off. Happy to see more from Tak and pals in the future.

Oh - if we do get a sequel, DROP THE FOLLOW MISSIONS!!

(One more thing, I would have bet my life I was so sure Leon mentioned there would be a Judgement show in volume 10, but on searching it appears not. I must have completely imagined it! :lol:)
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Indiana747
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Indiana747 »

(Jan) Call of the Sea - Series X.
(Jan) Remember Me - PS3.
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Flabyo
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Flabyo »

Jan 17th - Quantum Break (XBO)

Sure, let’s start the year off with a really old XBO game... I think this brings me back up to 100% of Remedy’s output.

It’s a decent game. The combat is competent, the plot is well put together and interesting. But it’s not spectacular, I’d say it’s a long way behind both Control and Alan Wake. But certainly worth playing.

Those live action tv episodes between the chapters though... they manage to look both expensive and cheap at the same time, and add not that much to the game other than a fairly hefty increase to the games development budget.

Ends with the usual sequel hook, but I can’t see it ever getting one. If only because they’ve tied the visual appearance of all the characters to the actors appearance (so that the live action bit works) which means you’d need to rehire all the same cast again, and some of these guys are more expensive now than they were in 2016.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Alex79uk wrote: January 17th, 2021, 11:56 pm
Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
Glad you enjoyed it, I find it difficult to choose which is my favourite between this and Zero (the only two 'Yakuza' games I've played) as I found the combat in Zero to be better but found the story to be better and more focused in Judgement. I can see what you mean regarding side missions in terms of what you actually do in them, but I think what people (including myself) particularly like about them compared to side missions in other open world games is that they are often more well written and interesting.

I would also love to see a sequel with these characters as I think they have the potential to double down on the detective aspects of the game, especially now that they are willing to experiment in new genres like they have with Yakuza Like a Dragon. Whatever they do though they must get rid of the tailing missions, I genuinely despised doing them!
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Yeah, agree the combat was better in Zero just because of the three styles, but Judgment better than the two Kiwami games I think. Kiwami 2 still has my favorite story. I think overall, of the ones I've played, I'd rank them as:

1. Kiwami 2
2. Judgment
3. Zero
4. Kiwami 1

But really, I enjoyed them all a lot.
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