Games Completed 2022

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Scrustle
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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
29/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Revengeance)

I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to beat this mode, but I did it. It wasn't particularly elegant, and I did lean on healing items at certain parts, but I managed to get through without having to resort to any cheese tactics. This mode was pretty stressful to go through though. Often with action games like this I feel like I hit a wall at some point where it either stops being fun or I simply can't do what it asks. This mode was definitely over the hump of what I find most enjoyable, but it wasn't the worst experience I've had in that vein. It still had a good amount of fun alongside the frustration. This mode basically demands you perform near perfectly, or you just die instantly. So there were a lot of deaths and restarts, but you do get some tools you can lean on in things like Ripper Mode. This mode also puts a huge emphasis on parries too, which can be both a big danger and a big help. Parry counter-attacks do a ludicrous amount of damage, so certain basic enemies can just kill you in one hit. On the other hand, you can just obliterate boss health bars with a well timed parry. Deleting half their health and skipping entire phases in one hit.

I realised I haven't spoken about the DLC chapters before either. I'm pretty ambivalent on them. Getting to play as Sam in his chapter is pretty fun. His abilities are similar to Raiden, but different enough to require a change in approach. He gets a few good boss fights as well. But his final boss is an absurd difficulty spike. All the enemies in general are way more aggressive and sometimes just give you no window to do anything. It seems awkward with how Sam's move set has a lot more end-lag than Raiden's. Wolf's chapter I am less keen on. Wolf is even less capable than Raiden or Sam, so he's not as good to play as. So his chapter has a strange emphasis on stealth and platforming, which are not the strong suits of this game. But he has a really good final boss, which is the only enemy truly unique to any of the DLC. In fact as I was doing a bit of achievement hunting before jumping in to Revengeance mode, I decided to go for some of the ones that require you to beat a boss on Hard with zero damage. I did Sam in the main game, and this Wolf DLC boss.

Not sure what to do next. I don't really have anything glaring left undone that I really wanted to do. More or less all the other achievements are either things I'm not that interested in, or are extremely demanding in their requirements, and I don't feel like having that headache. It's a real shame there's no achievement simply for beating this mode, since it's hard enough on its own. Ah well. Maybe it's finally time to try MGS5...
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Alex79
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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)
MAY - Untitled Goose Game (Switch)

I think I bought this for one of the kids for Christmas either last or the one before. It's an enjoyable game but at times beyond irritating playing with a six year old who doesn't listen to plans and honks when you're trying to sneak. But we finished it in the end.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ColinAlonso »

Spoiler: show
Jan 10 - Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS5)
Jan 16 - Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intermission (PS5)
Feb 3 - SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clash - SNK version (Switch)
Feb 13 - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS5)
Feb 19 - Bravely Default II (Switch)
Mar 20 - Universal Paperclips (Android)
Apr 12 - CrossCode (PC)
Apr 17 - Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Switch)
May 31 - Inertial Drift (PS5) - Story mode, All Characters 100%

A wonderful arcade racer. The main gimmick is that the left stick only allows for light steering and adjustments and the right stick is to drift.

What's actually interesting about this is that the different cars can handle quite differently. The easiest character in the story mode is Edward. He has a hot hatch with good acceleration, low top speed and great handling. Pushing the stick can send the car into a good and very manageable drift, braking mid-drift can sharpen the turn of the drift. Fun to drive and entertaining at the start. Ada is next, her car has higher top speed and slightly weaker handling but isn't massively different from Edward's, though breaking before corners is more important.

I nearly stopped at the start of Ibba's story. He's bought a new car and chosen power. Lots of acceleration and good top speed but poor handling. The difference in handling is a shock. The right stick will do very little on its own now. Cornering requires lifting off the accelerator with the right stick in place for the drift and then going back on the power to drift. Braking before a corner with the right stick in position will result in a sharper drift. Getting the right line through corners becomes very important with Ibba and the game becomes a proper challenge.

The last and hardest story character is Viv. Her car has great top speed but terrible acceleration. Entering drifts is similar to Ibba's but whereas his car felt stiff, Viv's is skittish and oversteering can be a big problem. And with that low acceleration every mistake, every wall hit and even drifting too much in corners (drifting does reduce speed) loses time all down the next straight. Viv's events led to swearing, muttering and fist pumping celebrations.

Story mode involves going to a track in each of the five areas (there are actually 2 per area plus reverse tracks) and beating 4 events (from time trial, race, duel, ghost battle, endurance, style). There's actually not as much difference in some of the modes as the other cars are effectively ghost cars so I could focus on my lines. The game often allowed me to continue even if I didn't win but 100% requires all gold results (with one enforced exception.) The tracks are a nice progression from easy to difficult too and I had to relearn my racing line on each with each new car.

Overall, a lot of fun.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ColinAlonso »

ThirdDrawing wrote: May 29th, 2022, 6:47 am #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!
For all the things I did do in that game, I ignored Colony 6 very quickly. :D

Never felt that pushed to play the second game though. :?
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Rhaegyr
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Rhaegyr »

Hah - I really liked the Colony 6 quest!

Then again, I'm a sucker for having your own base (and seeing it grow) in an RPG ever since Crescent Isle in Skies of Arcadia.
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stvnorman
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by stvnorman »

10 May: Tengai (Arcade on Switch)
19 May: Cotton Fantasy (PS4)
22 May: Dick Turpin (ZX Spectrum)
26 May: Gryphon (Commodore 64)
30 May: Banshee (Amiga)

When I say completed Tengai, I mean played it to death but still had to feed way more credits into the last two levels than I’d normally prefer for one of my schmup journeys! Cotton Fantasy was a lot more forgiving on an acceptable handful of credits, though I’m saving a big all-character complete for when my Switch Collector’s Edition arrives! Always had a passion for Dick Turpin but never played his Spectrum adventure before, so that was a primitive treat, as was Gryphon from the 1985 glory days of the Commodore 64! And after dabbling since the Amiga A500 Mini arrived the other month, I finally saw through the brutal last levels of very pretty vertical shooter Banshee and its measly three credits! Also decided I’m bailing on Elden Ring - I’ve loved almost every second, but about eighty hours in I’ve just had my fill and don’t need the same again.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ThirdDrawing »

ColinAlonso wrote: May 31st, 2022, 10:54 pm For all the things I did do in that game, I ignored Colony 6 very quickly. :D

Never felt that pushed to play the second game though. :?
I quite enjoyed the second game, though I was kind of burned out at the end of that one too.

If you can get Torna, I really, seriously recommend it. It is a prequel to Xenoblade 2 and it is much more concise. It also has an excellent plot. Really enjoyed it and it is worth seeking out.
Rhaegyr wrote: June 1st, 2022, 8:46 am Hah - I really liked the Colony 6 quest!

Then again, I'm a sucker for having your own base (and seeing it grow) in an RPG ever since Crescent Isle in Skies of Arcadia.
So am I (ala Suikoden) but jumping through the kinds of hoops you have to go through to finish Colony 6 was just ridiculous and I couldn't be bothered by the end.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ColinAlonso »

I liked Crescent Isle too! The requirements for Colony 6 rub me the wrong way straight away.

Can Torna be played without playing the main game?
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ThirdDrawing »

ColinAlonso wrote: June 1st, 2022, 10:46 pm I liked Crescent Isle too! The requirements for Colony 6 rub me the wrong way straight away.

Can Torna be played without playing the main game?
Yeah, Colony 6 is just basically a slog with ridiculous hoops.

As for Torna, yes it can. You get a bonus if you have Xenoblade 2 save data, but it's just money and not content, so not that huge a deal. There are some moderate spoilers for the main game but not as many as I expected.
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Scrustle
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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
29/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Revengeance)
02/06 - Lost in Random

This is another game I was only somewhat interested in, but decided to give a shot for being on Game Pass. But unlike Death's Door I actually stuck with this one. It doesn't make the best first impression though. It has a very slow start, and the writing comes across as being aimed at a pretty young audience. But then once they introduce the little die sidekick and the mechanics of the game, it picks up pretty quickly. It still has a lot of long stretches where you are mostly exploring around and talking to characters, but it gets significantly more entertaining from that point. It's also very keen on puns, which I am an appreciator of. There's even one pun that they spend almost the entire game building up to. It's a surprisingly long game too. I was taking my time with it, but I ended up taking 18 hours to get through this.

The combat mechanics are pretty interesting when they do happen as well. It comes in the form of a pretty simple action game, but where your abilities are tied to cards that you can only play based on the roll of the die. So that's the randomness aspect. It's not a roguelike, as one might suspect from the name, but it is something that plays a big role in how you approach combat, making you improvise with what you have access to at any given time. There's a deckbuilding aspect to it as well, so you have some influence over what hand you have to play with and what strategies you can build by combining certain cards. Some levels introduce a larger board game aspect to it as well, where you have a playing piece that moves along a path based on your die rolls. Each part isn't that complicated on its own, but putting it all together it's a fun thing to juggle with. Despite the game seemingly being aimed at younger players, I can see the combat actually getting a bit overwhelming for a kid.

Aesthetically it's pretty cool as well. It's kind of a dark, twisted fairy tale that has an obvious Tim Burton-esque influence. Perhaps a bit of Psychonauts too. With all the weird characters with strange proportions that look a bit like stop-motion puppets, and a whimsical tone with a bit of a darker edge to it. It's got a nice purple and blue colour palette to it, with an emphasis on mist and fog that gives it its own atmosphere.
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Scrustle
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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
29/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Revengeance)
02/06 - Lost in Random
03/06 - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

I'm in two minds as to whether I want to even post about this, since it was such a short experience that basically amounts to a demo, and because I had such a negative reaction to it that it might just be something of a kneejerk response to what is essentially an extremely bad first impression, rather than the full experience of a whole game. But it is presented as a standalone game, and has credits roll at the end, so whatever.

I've been pretty hesitant to try MGS5 out, as a lot I've heard about it has put me off, and this experience reinforced those ideas. For all the discussion that exists out there about this game, the most common point of praise has been the shift in gameplay. The more open levels, the modernised controls and mechanics, etc. After playing MGS4 and appreciating the modernisation that game did, that made 5 seem more appealing for allegedly iterating and improving on that even more. What I played here I did not enjoy. The open environments made it feel like I couldn't get my bearings and like I was always exposed. Like enemy encounters were vague and unpredictable. A lot of the smaller tweaks to controls and mechanics don't necessarily make the game feel better to play either, just less like MGS. I've repeatedly struggled with the gameplay for most of this series, often with that being something I merely pushed through to get to what I did enjoy. But even then I appreciate that these games have very intentional and concentrated design, where they were trying to be their own thing for that specific purpose, even if they were obtuse and hard to get to grips with. I don't get that sense with this game, and instead I'm being reminded of the negative feelings I had towards stealth games in general before starting this series. I know the argument exists that this game does reveal a more tight design if you stick with it and play the side missions, but I'm really not in to the idea of repeating this over and over. I've heard Phantom Pain is even more sprawling and unfocused than this game, which certainly puts me off that game too.

What little story there was here was pretty unpleasant too. One part near the end was perhaps the most repulsive things I've ever seen in a game. What they do to Paz here is absolutely abhorrent. I'm usually not squeamish when it comes to gore in games, and I'm not phased by most of it. I have a limit though, and this game went way over it. I get that these events are supposed to be horrific, as it's a dark inciting incident that sets up Phantom Pain, but it's excessively cruel to Paz and Chico in particular, especially since their suffering is framed as Snake's loss. Snake himself here is really dull too. He has hardly any lines, and the lines he does speak are performed pretty badly. Since I haven't bothered to stay away from spoilers much with these games, I know there's a reason for that, but it still doesn't help that a large part of what was entertaining about the previous games is gone here.

My reaction to this game made me wonder what I would have thought of this game if I tried it under different circumstances. If I had played this as my first MGS, knowing little about the series and just trying this out to test the waters, I definitely think I would not have followed up on it. Maybe my reaction would be less extreme, but with less investment in the franchise, I think I would be unimpressed and grossed out, and not thinking much more of it. If I was an MGS mega-fan who had been keeping up with every game as it released, I think I would still be pretty negative about it. It would have been a huge shock, but I don't know if that would have been a big disappointment that would have me swearing off Phantom Pain immediately, or whether I would try to give it the benefit of the doubt to keep hope. As is though, it's taken something I was already sceptical about and made it even less appealing. I still don't want to totally rule out playing PH, but at this point I see next to no silver lining to make that idea even somewhat appealing.
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markfm007
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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
June 1st - Marvel's Spider-Man

Very fun and breezy game. I found myself quickly working my way through it like a bucket of popcorn. Combat has a sort of sticky addictiveness to it that I happily threw myself into whenever the opportunity arose. This game is like the beginning of the Incredibles - you see crimes happening beneath you and think ‘I’ve got time’. There are a LOT of side activities, but I’ve already finished about half of them without even realising, and I expect I’ll finish the rest before long. The characters, story and just general writing are strong too. I was fully invested by the end, particularly in the Peter/Doc Ock story.

Only real criticism I have of the game is that there’s a sort of frothy weightlessness to everything. Combat, side stuff, it’s all fun but it all feels about the same. There are no real peaks and valleys. The story has some strong moments, but the process of getting there is a bit blurry. I could say that about a lot of games though, and I think in the case of Spiderman it does work, for the most part. This game is a ton of fun though and I’ll definitely look to pick up Miles Morales and whatever comes next.
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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)
31-May A Plague Tale: Innocence (PS5)

Another excellent 10 hour single player experience on PS5 after completing Kena. I thought the storytelling was great and I enjoyed getting to know the little rag tag group we assembled by the end. For a game that has a cartoony church villain and rat tornados in a historical setting I could see this becoming a silly mess of a story with a tone all over the place. But the whole thing worked with humor and heart in a horror survival setting. "Not bad...not bad at all."
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Alex79 »

Scrustle wrote: June 3rd, 2022, 4:33 pm Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

I still don't want to totally rule out playing PH, but at this point I see next to no silver lining to make that idea even somewhat appealing.
For what it's worth, despite many people saying that Ground Zeroes is a perfect vertical slice of Phantom Pain, I don't actually think the two games have much in common apart from the movement/ability of Snake.

Phantom Pain is a much more emergent sandbox of a game, and although you have options in the Ground Zeroes mission, it's far more linear. I actually didn't like GZ very much either, but I loved MGS V. Trouble is, if you do decide to play the next game, it doesn't even get going until a good couple of hours in to the game, so you might not even make it that far before binning it off. (I actually really like the MGS V intro sequence, but I can see why people wouldn't).

In short, if you're curious, I wouldn't let your negative feelings towards GZ put you off trying V.
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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)
MAY - Untitled Goose Game (Switch)
JUN - The Secret Of Monkey Island (PC-CD on Android)

With the announcement of a new game in the series I thought I'd try to have a play through of every other game in the series. All three of them...

I really enjoyed this, can't remember the last time I played it, but it's still fantastically fun and just a really nice game to go back to. I managed the whole game looking up only one hint (I couldn't remember how to get the key from LeChuck's cabin wall, but it was obvious when I looked it up!)

Looking forward to playing the second game soon, but I might have a quick diversion through Sam & Max first as that's one of the only Lucas original point and clickers I never finished.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ColinAlonso »

Spoiler: show
Jan 10 - Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS5)
Jan 16 - Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intermission (PS5)
Feb 3 - SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clash - SNK version (Switch)
Feb 13 - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS5)
Feb 19 - Bravely Default II (Switch)
Mar 20 - Universal Paperclips (Android)
Apr 12 - CrossCode (PC)
Apr 17 - Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Switch)
May 31 - Inertial Drift (PS5)
Jun 6 - CrossCode: A New Home (PC)
While the game's story does reach its conclusion in the base game, it ends abruptly after that and this is its much needed epilogue.

The new beach area is nice but the new dungeon is too long and has a brick wall of a boss at the end of it. Still my favourite game I've played so far this year.
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Indiana747
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Indiana747 »

(Jan) Terminator Resistance(platinum) - PS5.
(Jan) Call of Duty: Cold War - Series X.
(Jan) Dishonored 2 - PS5.
(Jan) Aliens: Fireteam Elite - Series X.
(May) State of Decay 2 - Series X.
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Scrustle
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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
29/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Revengeance)
02/06 - Lost in Random
03/06 - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
12/06 - Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix

Feels good to finally actually get this one done. I'm left with the same kind of mixed feelings on it. I think I like the idea of this game more than actually playing it. It creates this impression of something that could be really cool, and on occasion it does deliver on that, but a lot of the time it does not. It promises this experience of absurdly fast racing where you're slicing through these bustling cities, just barely able to keep control and constantly having to thread the needle in situations where you have the tiniest window to react. When it works, it's great. It can get really intense, requiring a laser focus, with ultra responsive cars that feel like rockets on wheels.

But the problem is that is often not the experience you actually get. I think I previously said this game is too fast for its own good. I don't think that's quite accurate anymore, but it definitely feels way too chaotic for its own good. Races can and often are ruined by the hundreds of things that can go wrong in a fraction of a second, frequently in ways you could have done absolutely nothing about. A traffic car pulling out somewhere you couldn't have seen, hitting a kerb or bush in a way that makes the car react weirdly, or just having to deal with the aftermath of opponents crashing in front of you, or them hitting you as you try to turn a corner, etc. So many races demand you restart them over and over just because some random nonsense like that happens. It makes the overall racing experience feel kind of unrefined and often frustrating. Like it's demanding more from you than the game itself can accommodate for. I think there's also just way too much traffic in general. You can't really be expected to skilfully weave through lanes when every single one is occupied, which was not a rare occurrence.

I do think the car customisation deserves praise though. It's still pretty impressive how much you can do, with the cars themselves looking pretty nice. They really nailed the look of paintwork and chrome for this game. There's a decent range of body kits and spoilers too. The wheel selection is very much of the time though. It's not exactly bad, but this is where the DUB license feels most prominent. There's a lot of wheels, but most of them are extremely ostentatious and excessive. Huge garish chrome things that barely fit under the car. There are still a handful of good options, but they are the exception. But as well as that, the game also allows you to adjust the dimensions of the wheels and the car's ride height to an impressive degree. It unfortunately does not allow you to adjust the fitment of the wheel against the wheel arch however, and by default it's quite narrow. Another sign that it follows the style of the time. But in a way it's appropriate with how these cars feel to drive. They move like toy cars, so they sort of look like toy cars too.

This version of the game also has the bonus city of Tokyo that has its own separate mini-career. I played a chunk of that, and it seems alright, but I wasn't that motivated to spend much time in it. It feels like it's intended to be a late game thing, where opponents start off in pretty fast cars, even in events that force you in to a slower class. It's cool that it's there though, making for a change of scenery from the three US cities of the main game. Even if it's just ported from Midnight Club 2.
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Scrustle
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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
29/05 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Revengeance)
02/06 - Lost in Random
03/06 - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
12/06 - Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix
13/06 - God Hand

Another one off the "I'll get to it someday" list. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but I don't think I'll become one of the people who evangelise this game like it's the best thing ever. It's fun, goofy, unique, but also had some issues that I couldn't overlook. I talked about the game before here, so this will be building on that.

The combat mechanics are pretty cool, especially when it comes to the amount of control it gives you over your abilities. It has a cleverly simple system that gives you a lot of room to build your own fighting style with a lot of intricacies out of a basic and easy to understand control scheme. Certain moves have special properties like breaking a guard or launching an enemy, and while it makes sense to have those on their own separate commands, you can also put them in your normal default combo too, so there's a lot of flexibility there. But it does so in a way that encourages a more tactical approach to your actions, rather than just giving you everything you could possibly want without any downsides to account for. It's a cool system. I found myself gravitating towards using a lot of leg sweeps to knock down enemies before wailing on them, as it seems like a lot of them are susceptible to that. The kinaesthetics of the combat are nicely done as well. Really fast and hyperactive, with good impactful sound design too.

The pacing of the overall experience is pretty odd, but in a way I like. It ties in with the difficulty too, in how fast paced it is. It is a hard game that will knock you down in an instant if you're not on the ball. But when you're on top of it, you are blasting through the experience like crazy. Enemy design is generally pretty simple and easy to learn, but until you learn it you're going to get utterly stomped on. You're either steamrolling everything, or losing your entire health bar in seconds. Levels are extremely short too, so it thankfully never feels like any sequence is too long or drawn out. It has a breathless pace to it that makes you feel untouchable, but still makes enemies feel like a constant danger so you can't let your guard down. Bosses are like this too, but they can be a bit of a wall since they have much more health. But it's just a matter of getting their attack patterns down, which is never as hard as it first seems.

I still had big problems with the movement controls the whole way through though. I hated the tank control style turning, and the way the camera is locked to your character's back the whole time. It did nothing but create problems, and I can't see any advantage to it at all. In a game where you need to be relentless with your aggression, and not let enemies get an opening on you, it's a massive flaw to have such a slow turning speed. Without having a lock-on, it makes trying to target the correct enemy basically impossible in some scenarios, as the game just goes to whatever one it wants, even against you trying to push it in a certain direction. It's a huge hindrance to prioritising targets. Your character's own body can sometimes block the view of enemies too, obscuring incoming attacks. The dodge is also awkward and inconsistent, as a sidestep automatically rotates you around a nearby enemy, and tries to point the camera towards them too. But it's inconsistent with which enemy it will decide to do this to in a group, putting you in positions you don't intend to go to, or pointing you in the wrong direction after a dodge. I assume the dodge being on the right stick is why this control scheme exists, even though having it there doesn't necessitate these tank controls. While these controls do make this game stand out among this genre, it's clear why other games don't copy this style. The novelty factor comes nowhere close to making up for the issues it causes.

The tone of the game is very weird, but I do enjoy it, with caveats. It doesn't take itself seriously at all, and is obviously leaning hard in to comedy. It does so in an intentionally silly and stupid way too. It's a hyperviolent slapstick. I think it does that quite well. It's sort of lame, but that's also part of the joke. It's almost as if everyone involved knows this is a game, and how everyone has their role to play in it. They know it's dumb, and they are leaning on the fourth wall a bit and having fun with it. The level design also adds to this feel as well, with how they are these really small boxy areas that seem devoid of any life except you and a bunch of weird looking goons trying to beat you up. Almost like this is cheap film set and everyone on it are just a bunch of actors. But there's also the elephant in the room when it comes to stuff like how heavily it relies on shallow stereotypes and its treatment of women. On the one hand, it's hard to really take seriously because of how extremely stupid everything in this game is, but it is a constant and undeniable part of the game. It's pretty juvenile.

But overall I did enjoy my time with the game. The level of customisation you have with your abilities is really impressive, and definitely makes this game worth trying out. The wacky tone does create some genuinely amusing moments, despite its issues. It's a weird, curious thing that stands completely on its own. Not the greatest game of all time, but one that I'm glad to have experienced.
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seansthomas
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Joined: March 31st, 2015, 8:10 am

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by seansthomas »

23rd Jan - God of War (PS4)
10th Feb - Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox Series S)
11th Feb - Starfox 64 (Nintendo Switch)
14th Feb - Sunset Overdrive (Xbox Series S)
16th Feb - Superliminal (Xbox Series S)

12th Jun - Elden Ring (Xbox Series S)

Guess what I was doing for 4 months?

Elden Ring, oh Elden Ring... what do I think...?

Well it's my game of the year so far, largely because it's so big I've not had a chance to play much else yet!

I need time to properly formulate my thoughts. But here's my gut feel...

There is no denying this is a brilliant title. The first 30 hours or so had me thinking we might be on for one of the greatest ever. The ambience of the music, the design of the world, the way that every enemy and boss seems totally unique for the first few areas... I think that run up to and just past Margit is perfect. Utterly magical. It introduces things at a steady pace, gives you freedom but with enough rough guidance to succeed, mixes open world battle with tight, spectacular dungeons and you start to find some truly magical places off the beaten track.

Tunnels to islands full of dead dragons. Desolate beaches full of haunted, lost undead. Fog obscured bogs. Ruined forts with a lone soldier trying to hold back hordes of enemies. Camps of enemies to stealth through. Dragons sleeping next to you. Giant underground rivers.

The variety of that start and the sheer quality of it is astounding. Totally breathtaking. It feels like the openness of BOTWild with the world building of Witcher 3 and the combat of Dark Souls. Heaven.

But as the game goes on, something changes. The map just gets bigger and bigger, but not always more interesting. The menus more complex. The holy / fire / rot etc options more baffling. The NPC locations and questlines more hazy, as you forget where things were, even with taking notes. The enemies start to be reused and become overly familiar. Bosses that felt like exciting one offs, start to become standard foes. And the pros and cons become a bit more noticeable.

Much like BOTW, the ability to go anywhere, whenever is incredible when it works and you might end up spending days of your playthrough on totally unique, cool things. My first few weeks were very much like that. But you can also run into 3 catacombs in quick succession, with bosses in them you faced only an hour ago, or spend 3 hours grinding through a fort to pick up a worse version of a talisman you found by chance weeks ago. That's what happened to me post-Leyendell. I repeatedly came across a run of enemies I'd faced several times already, hit a run of 3 toxic swamp areas in a row and spent much of my time reading online wikis after people I'd fulfiled questline tasks for had vanished.

I appreciate that you need to have catacombs (or in Zelda, shrines) dotted around to give you options to level up and progress. Otherwise you'd have huge difficulty spikes. But here's Elden Rings biggest issue; Zelda broke that up with puzzles and mechanics to stop those Combat shrines getting too tedious.

But in Elden Ring, other than finding cool areas and fighting, the tasks boil down to fetch quests, awful platforming, lighting a few torches or opening a big door with a lever. All of which is a big two generations ago.

And there's the fighting itself. Your route through game can't be controlled, so your mileage will vary. Those catacombs or certain areas become either impossible or a piece of cake, depending on your progress and how late you got there. But it's often hard to know 'am I supposed to push on here?' or whether you're in the wrong area, too early.

And that's my single biggest issue with Elden Ring. Because of how much freedom it gave me in terms of ranged magic / summons / respeccing, I never was quite sure if I was playing it right? I know the old Souls adage of 'do whatever it takes to win', but I don't like that.

It's not about winning at all costs, for me. It's about winning in style. But I felt like I spent way too much of this game either relying on my summon too much, and regretting how easy some fights were. Or strolling up to end of game bosses expecting an epic encounter and downing them in 2 goes because I had somehow become overpowered, despite banging my head against a brick wall on a previous boss for a week solidly.

I guess I could replay it and try a different build. But I don't have 140 hrs spare too often nor the patience. You see, Dark Souls gave me strict rules to work to and I largely only ever had myself to blame when I died. Bloodborne keeps the pacing and direction of travel super tight and I always felt like I had some freedom, but also that the game was controlling where I went.

And in both games, because of that the boss encounters were finely balanced, with you knowing you could summon if you got totally desperate.

I think the most damning criticism I can level at Elden Ring really, is that after about 200 enemies, Great enemies, bosses and God's, I only really enjoyed about 5 of them? And the first, really big one is the games best. I don't honestly think I'd have any other than Margit troubling a top ten Souls boss fights list.

I sound like I properly hated it. And I didn't. I put 140 hours in after all! But I can't help feeling that the game would have been way better with a big edit and a lot less repetition.

I'm aware, it might be my issue. I hate in game menus, stats pages, reading tons of item notes to figure out what stuff does. It's why I usually bounce off RPGs and complex racing games where you can tweak tuning. And it's why I love Platinum games and my favourite Souls game is Bloodborne.

Me. A sword. Some bag guys. Lovely stuff.

I think Elden Ring is a staggering achievement, and I cannot fathom how the hell they made it. But for me it falls somewhere between what BOTW and the Witcher do. It has the freedom of BOTW, but not the variety in the moment to moment gameplay to sustain 200 hrs. And it has the world building and sense of place Witcher 3 did, but without the compelling story or writing.

I think, much like BOTW tbf, it's ambition and scale are hugely commendable and it puts most AAA developers to shame. I can't commend that risk taking and creativity enough.

But ultimately it doesn't beat Dark Souls or Bloodborne for me in terms of a cohesive experience.
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