Games Completed 2022

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
User avatar
markfm007
Member
Posts: 193
Joined: September 18th, 2016, 9:35 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by markfm007 »

Jan 7th - Little Nightmares 2
Jan 15th - Final Fantasy IX
Feb 3rd - Deathloop
April 29th - Last of Us Remastered

Decided to replay this a couple weeks ago when I was feeling under the weather. I've replayed it multiple times but it's been a few years since my last one. I love coming back to it, everything about this game just clicks for me, pun intended. Not sure if I'll get the remake as I feel very attached to the game as it is, but I am curious about it. It was cool to revisit this game and see that there's still plenty to love.
User avatar
ThirdDrawing
Member
Posts: 571
Joined: October 13th, 2016, 2:33 pm
Location: Poverty Stricken StudentLand

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ThirdDrawing »

#7 - Xenoblade 2: Torna, the Golden Country.

Finally managed to get a copy of this for a reasonable price, and it might have ended up being my favourite Xenoblade game so far. Set characters instead of having to gamble for Blades, an amazing soundtrack and a concise story. This is an amazingly focused game that has all the good parts of the series, and none of the fat.

A lean, mean Xenoblade machine. A great experience.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79 wrote: February 16th, 2022, 7:37 pmJAN - Universal Paperclips (Android)
JAN - Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox)
JAN - Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons (Switch)
JAN - Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (Xbox)
JAN - Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox)
JAN - Halo Infinite (Xbox)
JAN - Hitman (Xbox)
FEB - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Nintendo DS)
FEB - Max Payne 2 (Xbox)
FEB - The Walking Dead: 400 Days (Xbox)
FEB - Hyper Sentinel (Switch)
FEB - It Takes Two (Xbox)
FEB - Overboard! (Android)
APR - Hollow Knight (Switch)
APR - Sagebrush (Switch)
APR - Saints Row IV (Switch)
APR - Sonic The Hedgehog (Genesis on Switch)
APR - Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox)
APR - WarioWare: Get It Together! (Switch)
MAY - Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (Arcade on Xbox)

I've long maintained that this is one of my favourite arcade brawlers, but it's been years since I've played through it. One of my boys and I credit fed our way through it this morning and it's still a great example of the genre. Not much more to say - we enjoyed it!
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2426
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
03/01 - Halo 3: ODST (Master Chief Collection)
06/01 - Halo 3 (Master Chief Collection)
09/01 - Hotshot Racing
25/01 - Halo 4 (Master Chief Collection)
29/01 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
03/02 - Heavenly Sword
05/02 - Need for Speed: Carbon (Battle Royale)
09/02 - Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
20/02 - ICO
24/02 - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD
25/02 - Halo 5: Guardians
05/03 - Asura's Wrath
09/03 - Shadow of the Colossus HD (Normal mode)
30/03 - Shadow of the Colossus HD (Hard mode)
30/03 - Forza Motorsport 3 (100%)
01/04 - Muramasa: The Demon Blade
11/04 - Forza Horizon 2 (100%)
17/04 - The Darkness
20/04 - The Darkness II
25/04 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Normal)
29/04 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
29/04 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (X360)
06/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Hard)
07/05 - Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
10/05 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS2)

A very strange, very bad game. It feels like it came from a weird alternate universe, being so similar yet so different from the 360 version. It's definitely significantly worse than that version too, which is saying something with the problems that one has. What's weird is that a lot of the issues here are very familiar, despite the game being a totally different entity.

The overall scenario and concept are the same. You go through the same locations with the same story, with the same voice actors following almost the same script. But the actual content of the levels is quite different, with there being some levels in this game that didn't appear in the HD version, but with one that is missing from this game. The most obvious being the Jedi Temple levels, three of which show up here. Honestly they are not great. Short digressions that are pretty pointless and feel like filler. Despite it being DLC that didn't appear in the main game, the singular Jedi Temple level of the HD version is far better, justifying itself more in the story and attempting to do something interesting with mechanics at one point. The other exclusive level this PS2 version has is one set on Cloud City. It's also nothing special, again feeling kind of pointless and out of place. It's strange because the location gets name dropped in both versions of the game, so it seems like that mention is referring to a cut level, but this iteration of it doesn't cover those events at all. This game also cuts a lot of set pieces of the HD version. A lot of the cooler moments are gone, or relegated to unimpressive cutscenes. So that's the first thing I heard about this game that made it seem like it could secretly be superior, turning out to in fact not be a benefit at all. The only silver lining is that levels take less time to get through.

Then there are the mechanics, and this is probably the big one. The gameplay is basically exclusively combat, and that combat is absolutely terrible. Utterly shallow, totally dysfunctional, and very unsatisfying. It carries over abilities and combos that are sort of similar to the HD version, but here they are even more truncated and stiff. Nothing you can do is interesting or compelling, and there's zero room for creativity. On 360 you had a few combo strings that gave a hint of variety to fights, even if they were pretty scripted dial-a-combo affairs. But even that is far above what this game offers. That version was plagued with issues caused by the ragdoll physics, as either you or your enemies would flop about uncontrollably and ruin combos. This version lacks those physics systems, so one might hope that would actually make combat more consistent and reliable. Not so. It is even worse when it comes to collision detection, and the game constantly drops your inputs as well. It strangely has a similar feel of wrestling with something that is falling apart in your hands, but the PS2 version somehow manages to be even worse. The control layout is clunky, with unintuitive and unresponsive mapping. Bosses are garbage as well. I honestly don't really know how I beat any of them. Trying to approach them with any thought just leads to stun-locking and misery. Button mashing just somehow works, sometimes.

So on both fronts the things that I had heard about this game that made it sound like it might actually be the better version were very wrong. The reasons I gave it a chance at first was because the HD version is already so messy it didn't seem hard to improve on it, and since this is the version that got remastered for Switch, that kind of suggested that those in charge of the franchise thought it would make for the best impression in the current context, removed from the initial release hype and contemporaneously impressive graphics. Instead it makes that remaster look even stranger.

I called the HD version "barely functional" when I talked about it before. But now I feel less confident about calling it that, given how now I know how much worse it could be. It is a very janky, and often frustrating game. But it somehow manages to look good compared to this. Although, I suppose dysfunctional ranks below barely functional. Then again, I didn't come across any major glitches in this game. Playing the 360 version recently, I managed to clip in to the wall within the first 10 minutes without even trying. I still had a worse experience overall this time, and the general baseline quality is definitely lower. It's games like these that give you context for how good other games are though. Even something that you could call mediocre or unambitious can be appreciated when you see how much it manages to get right compared to something like this.
RetroClarence
Member
Posts: 39
Joined: September 17th, 2019, 8:56 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by RetroClarence »

Hi all, I hope you don't mind me joining in here. So far I have completed this year:

The Last of Us Part 2
The Legend of Zelda
Resident Evil 2 Remake
Zillion
Metroid
I Am Setsuna
Metal Gear
Horizon Zero Dawn
Maniac Mansion
Day of the Tentacle
Final Fantasy

On the go at the moment (at various stages) I have:

Octopath Traveler
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Dungeon Master
Castlevania

I'll update as I go.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79 wrote: February 16th, 2022, 7:37 pmJAN - Universal Paperclips (Android)
JAN - Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox)
JAN - Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons (Switch)
JAN - Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (Xbox)
JAN - Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox)
JAN - Halo Infinite (Xbox)
JAN - Hitman (Xbox)
FEB - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Nintendo DS)
FEB - Max Payne 2 (Xbox)
FEB - The Walking Dead: 400 Days (Xbox)
FEB - Hyper Sentinel (Switch)
FEB - It Takes Two (Xbox)
FEB - Overboard! (Android)
APR - Hollow Knight (Switch)
APR - Sagebrush (Switch)
APR - Saints Row IV (Switch)
APR - Sonic The Hedgehog (Genesis on Switch)
APR - Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox)
APR - WarioWare: Get It Together! (Switch)
MAY - Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (Arcade on Xbox)
MAY - Super Mario 3D World (Switch)

Finished this a couple of weeks ago and forgot to add it. Saw the credits roll and did the post-credit stages haven't 100% the game and got every star and stamp yet. Enjoyed this, it gets really quite fiendish in those extra worlds!
RetroClarence
Member
Posts: 39
Joined: September 17th, 2019, 8:56 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by RetroClarence »

I bailed on the very final level. It’s so difficult. Also, to 100% it I think you need to go through again with multiple characters.

It’s a truly wonderful game though. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Mario.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79 wrote: February 16th, 2022, 7:37 pmJAN - Universal Paperclips (Android)
JAN - Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox)
JAN - Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons (Switch)
JAN - Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (Xbox)
JAN - Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox)
JAN - Halo Infinite (Xbox)
JAN - Hitman (Xbox)
FEB - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Nintendo DS)
FEB - Max Payne 2 (Xbox)
FEB - The Walking Dead: 400 Days (Xbox)
FEB - Hyper Sentinel (Switch)
FEB - It Takes Two (Xbox)
FEB - Overboard! (Android)
APR - Hollow Knight (Switch)
APR - Sagebrush (Switch)
APR - Saints Row IV (Switch)
APR - Sonic The Hedgehog (Genesis on Switch)
APR - Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox)
APR - WarioWare: Get It Together! (Switch)
MAY - Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (Arcade on Xbox)
MAY - Super Mario 3D World (Switch)
MAY - You Must Build A Boat (Android)

First played this through a few years back and enjoyed it then, and have been having another run through it over the last few weeks. It's 'just' a match-3 puzzle game on your phone, but it's the best one I've played. Your man runs across the top of the screen and encounters monsters and you match swords for physical attacks, staffs for magic, and there are tons of spells and upgrades and stuff, as well as collecting all the different monsters. It's a great example of a phone game - short runs, quite addictive and last about 8 hours in total. I still recommend.
User avatar
Angry_Kurt
Member
Posts: 395
Joined: May 1st, 2020, 2:53 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Angry_Kurt »

4. Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Excellent dungeons and great new mechanic with the whole wall merging deal made this a great Zelda game. Really didn’t like the renting mechanic though and until the final boss a bit too easy, bosses were so so. 8/10
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2426
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
03/01 - Halo 3: ODST (Master Chief Collection)
06/01 - Halo 3 (Master Chief Collection)
09/01 - Hotshot Racing
25/01 - Halo 4 (Master Chief Collection)
29/01 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
03/02 - Heavenly Sword
05/02 - Need for Speed: Carbon (Battle Royale)
09/02 - Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
20/02 - ICO
24/02 - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD
25/02 - Halo 5: Guardians
05/03 - Asura's Wrath
09/03 - Shadow of the Colossus HD (Normal mode)
30/03 - Shadow of the Colossus HD (Hard mode)
30/03 - Forza Motorsport 3 (100%)
01/04 - Muramasa: The Demon Blade
11/04 - Forza Horizon 2 (100%)
17/04 - The Darkness
20/04 - The Darkness II
25/04 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Normal)
29/04 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
29/04 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (X360)
06/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Hard)
07/05 - Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
10/05 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS2)
18/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Very Hard)

So I finally did it, and broke through the wall I couldn't before. Out of all the things I wanted to do revisiting this game, this was the main thing I wanted to do. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do next though. I don't want to drop the game quite yet, but I'm satisfied having come this far. I think I'll try going after some achievements and collectables, then maybe I'll give Revengeance mode a go. But I'm not so bothered about cleaning up absolutely everything.

This run was mostly a lot of fun again. The level of challenge takes a pretty big step up, with new enemy layouts, and way more aggressive behaviour. Bosses gain new moves too. It makes for a lot of fantastic intense moments. I could feel it sharpen my skills a bit more. There were a couple of pretty miserable moments though, mostly caused by the camera. I've never had a huge problem with the camera in this game like others have, even though it can be a bit erratic. But in this mode, with enemies being way more aggressive and numerous, the camera just goes haywire trying to keep up. There were points with it spinning around wildly trying to keep the target on screen, which made trying to point the stick in the right direction for parries just impossible. That only happens in a few spots throughout the game though. I found the final boss a bit easier than I was expecting too, given how that's the thing that floored me last time I tried this mode. Still really tough, with how he can just wipe the floor with you in literal seconds as soon as the fight starts. But I managed to overcome it without too many tries, which I was somewhat surprised by.

I also got somewhat better scores this time around than I did on Hard, and I think I worked out what I was missing before. It does take overall completion time in to account for the chapter rank after all. Before I jumped in to this mode I did experiment with that a bit on Hard and discovered it to be the case. So now on this mode I put that in to practice and came away with probably the best rankings of any run I've done so far.
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2426
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
03/01 - Halo 3: ODST (Master Chief Collection)
06/01 - Halo 3 (Master Chief Collection)
09/01 - Hotshot Racing
25/01 - Halo 4 (Master Chief Collection)
29/01 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
03/02 - Heavenly Sword
05/02 - Need for Speed: Carbon (Battle Royale)
09/02 - Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
20/02 - ICO
24/02 - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD
25/02 - Halo 5: Guardians
05/03 - Asura's Wrath
09/03 - Shadow of the Colossus HD (Normal mode)
30/03 - Shadow of the Colossus HD (Hard mode)
30/03 - Forza Motorsport 3 (100%)
01/04 - Muramasa: The Demon Blade
11/04 - Forza Horizon 2 (100%)
17/04 - The Darkness
20/04 - The Darkness II
25/04 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Normal)
29/04 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
29/04 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (X360)
06/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Hard)
07/05 - Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
10/05 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS2)
18/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Very Hard)
21/05 - Umurangi Generation Special Edition

I've been interested in trying this game out for a while now, and now I finally have I'm glad I got the chance. It's a really cool and interesting game with a really strong style and message to it. But it does have a few issues that do hurt the experience a bit unfortunately.

This game has an excellent sense of aesthetic and identity to it that gets the creative juices flowing to inspire you to take some good photos, with vibrant use of colours and a retro, lo-fi scrappiness to it. Levels and characters are all low poly, but they have a lot of little details to them that give them a lot of personality. It has a very energetic and rebellious tone. But as well as that it also does some really good worldbuilding, with how it tells a story in the background through the locations and events you see through all the levels. Covering issues of colonialism (both explicitly and as metaphor), state oppression, propaganda, environmentalism, etc. There's a narrative through the game of young people trying to find a way to live and express themselves in this world as everything is falling down around them. But not in a shallow dismissal of the problems the world face, but instead in defiance of them, and not ignoring them. It's very up front about its politics. The worldbuilding is also reflected in the mechanics of the game too, as the photos you are tasked with taking in order to make ends meet do imply some kind of agenda behind whoever is making the requests. Certain things you aren't allowed to take photos of, things you have to keep in frame while keeping others out, etc. The soundtrack is great too. It's a weird, funky mix of things like house and hip-hop that also has that chaotic energy the whole game's art design has. There's little touches to the sound design too that are clearly inspired by the likes of No More Heroes and Killer7 as well.

There were certain things about the controls and game design I didn't much enjoy however. Player character movement doesn't feel great. It's kind of clunky and collision detection is really shoddy. It's very easy to get stuck on objects, or sometimes get flung in the air by them. Jumping often doesn't seem to work. The camera movement is not good either, at least on a controller. It doesn't alter the aim speed depending on what camera lens you are using, so it becomes increasingly more twitchy the longer lens you have. There is a toggle to slow down some of the controls to make finer adjustments, but it doesn't affect camera rotation. It makes lining up shots really fiddly at times. Camera rotation also seems to be locked at a lower frame rate than the game itself too, making looking around feel very stuttery. The way the game designs objectives are a very mixed bag too. Sometimes the restrictions they put on you for major photo objectives are pretty cool. Making you use a certain lens for a specific subject makes you think outside the box with composition. But then the game also locks half of the equipment upgrades behind optional objectives, which involve you having to get every single objective in each level under 10 minutes. So unless you want to do a 100% speedrun of the entire game, you end up missing half your gear. These optional objectives also involve you having to find a number of tiny film reels hidden in each level that are extremely hard to see even when you're right on top of them. I still had fun without getting all the gear, but that still seems pretty counter productive to what this game is going for.

But despite those issues I still liked the game a lot. I can kind of overlook the problems with controls to a degree too. In a way they seem fitting with the larger personality of the game. It's not pretending to be perfect, and feels like it's part of the rougher edge it has. It gives the game a bit of friction that it's clearly trying to evoke in other parts of its aesthetic. That kind of friction that can give something a sense of catharsis or variation to it that makes it feel a bit more human.

I have all the photos I took saved as well. I'll probably post some of them in another thread later. (EDIT: posted some here.)
User avatar
Rhaegyr
Member
Posts: 258
Joined: July 29th, 2019, 2:47 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Rhaegyr »

Cuphead

Fuck that was tough.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Alex79 »

Rhaegyr wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 12:46 pm Cuphead

Fuck that was tough.
Haha, well done though! Absolutely loved this game. The final boss took me days!
User avatar
Kasuga-san
Member
Posts: 42
Joined: August 6th, 2021, 10:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Kasuga-san »

I just finished Guardians of the Galaxy and why did I not just give Eidos my money for this game when it first came out? While the gameplay could get a bit messy and characters talked too much, usually leading to audio glitches during my playtime, the writing was excellent. Unlike the MCU, I like that this game allowed for serious moments without cracking a joke. Definitely worth playing if you like sci-fi/superhero games, though I can understand if the humor doesn't land for some. Good stuff that I had probably unfairly written off because of the Avengers game. Leaning towards checking out the Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion DLC for the PC game. The base game had me for quite a while even though I'd already played the boardgame. For me it has the "one more turn" appeal that the Civ games have for me.
User avatar
Rhaegyr
Member
Posts: 258
Joined: July 29th, 2019, 2:47 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Rhaegyr »

Alex79 wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 5:54 pm
Rhaegyr wrote: May 23rd, 2022, 12:46 pm Cuphead

Fuck that was tough.
Haha, well done though! Absolutely loved this game. The final boss took me days!
Thanks!

It wasn't even the final boss that bothered me that much - it was a bloody dragon on Island 2 called Grim Matchstick who had a killer 3rd phase. Queen Bee was a bit of a nightmare too.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Alex79 »

Had to look it up to remind myself, but yeah that Dragon took me plenty of tries, too. The Queen Bee though I managed to work out the pattern fairly quick and I don't remember her taking me too long - the guy on the roller coaster was probably my biggest sticking point.
User avatar
Pconpi
Member
Posts: 63
Joined: January 9th, 2020, 5:57 am
Location: Seattle, WA USA

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Pconpi »

Spoiler: show
4-Jan Universal Paperclips (Mobile)
12-Jan Yakuza 0 (PS5)
12-Jan Contra III: The Alien Wars (Nintendo Switch)
19-Jan Castlevania: The Adventure (PS5)
21-Jan Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo Mansion)
27-Jan Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
29-Jan Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (PS5)
30-Jan Haunted Castle (Nintendo Switch)
8-Feb Super Mario 3D World (Nintendo Switch)
15-Feb Metroid Prime (Replay on Nintendo GameCube)
22-Mar Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
28-Mar God of War (PS3)
10-Apr Uncharted: Golden Abyss (PS Vita)
14-Apr God of War II (PS3)
16-Apr God of War: Chains of Olympus (PS3)
19-Apr The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Replay on Nintendo 3DS)
10-May Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (Nintendo 3DS)
14-May New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS)
23-May Sonic the Hedgehog 2 3D (Nintendo 3DS)
25-May Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5)

This passed me by last year but I saw a few positive reviews and decided to try it out. Really glad I did as I loved it. It is an amalgamation of popular game mechanics set in a beautifully animated world. I really like games that have a diseased natural world that you restore beauty to...a very satisfying feeling that this game does well. I found the boss combat a fun challenge. Each one would usually require about 5 tries before succeeding which balanced a feeling of challenge without being frustrating. Didn't have big expectations so that may have helped my positive feelings but yeah, will definitely check out whatever Ember Lab does next.
User avatar
Jobobonobo
Member
Posts: 574
Joined: July 27th, 2016, 4:30 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Jobobonobo »

Spoiler: show
Jan 23: Yakuza 3
Feb 12: Wonderful 101 Remastered
Mar 25: Freedom Planet
May 22: Psychonauts 2

Will write up my full thoughts for the show coming up but to sum up, really had a great time with this one. Thought the original was great, think this is a more than worthy follow up especially considering the huge gap between the releases. Definitely recommend it if you gelled with the first one and if you want to try a more unconventional form of 3D platformer.
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2426
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
03/01 - Halo 3: ODST (Master Chief Collection)
06/01 - Halo 3 (Master Chief Collection)
09/01 - Hotshot Racing
25/01 - Halo 4 (Master Chief Collection)
29/01 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
03/02 - Heavenly Sword
05/02 - Need for Speed: Carbon (Battle Royale)
09/02 - Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
20/02 - ICO
24/02 - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD
25/02 - Halo 5: Guardians
05/03 - Asura's Wrath
09/03 - Shadow of the Colossus HD (Normal mode)
30/03 - Shadow of the Colossus HD (Hard mode)
30/03 - Forza Motorsport 3 (100%)
01/04 - Muramasa: The Demon Blade
11/04 - Forza Horizon 2 (100%)
17/04 - The Darkness
20/04 - The Darkness II
25/04 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Normal)
29/04 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
29/04 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (X360)
06/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Hard)
07/05 - Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
10/05 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS2)
18/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Very Hard)
21/05 - Umurangi Generation Special Edition
27/05 - GRID Autosport

A really solid and enjoyable racing game. The handling model is very tight and responsive, and the variety of different race and car types is very good. The feeling of progression as you build your way up through higher tiers of car is pretty decent as well. I appreciated that each race gives you a practice session and often lets you qualify for your starting grid position too. It makes each race feel like more of an official event, and lets you get to grips with a track before you have to race on it. The track selection is pretty good, with a lot of courses that have some really satisfying sections that flow well. The endurance and open wheel classes ended up being my favourites in the end. The former is kind of interesting in how it condenses down what would normally be an hours long race in to a much shorter period by increasing the rate of tyre wear, which actually does affect how the car feels over a race.

This game does have some weird quirks though, which take a while to get used to. The handling model works so that turning slows you down quite a lot, but the slower you are moving, the more twitchy the steering is. So it ends up compounding on itself and making cars not feel great to drive in the lower tiers, as you can't carry speed through a corner with them. As you go through the game though, that problem gradually fades away and the faster cars feel much better to drive. Another thing is that each car type changes the chase camera placement and zoom level. Some cars have it placed much better than others, and it takes some time to get used to all these different cameras.

Some stuff I didn't really like though. Mostly in comparison to the original, as that is still the benchmark for this series. Despite this game not doing badly in terms of progression, it still doesn't do it as well as the first, which had milestones that felt more meaningful. This game also lacks the ability to build up your own racing team like the first had, and your teammate is always hopeless in races. The drift mode in this game feels awful, like cars respond to input randomly. It's also really lacking in aesthetics compares to the first. It does have some nice subtle touches here and there, but it has none of the mood or sense of rawness the first had. And while the handling model is good here, it still doesn't have the subtlety and knife edge feeling of the first game.
User avatar
ThirdDrawing
Member
Posts: 571
Joined: October 13th, 2016, 2:33 pm
Location: Poverty Stricken StudentLand

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ThirdDrawing »

#8 - Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition (Including Future Connected)

I forgot what genuine BS that Colony 6 quest is.

Only took 157 hours. Now bring on Xenoblade Chronicles 3!
Post Reply