Games completed 2016

[seansthomas]

Jan 17th - The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the past
Feb 2nd - Gunman Clive

Feb 15th - Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Picked this up for £2.95 on Wii U and fancied a blast of something quick, so have played through the campaign over the past fortnight.

Weird game? Stereotypical, dull macho male leads. Epic set pieces I rarely felt a part of. Nonsensical story. A different weapon every 30 seconds, yet identical to the last. Strange strategy game sub missions. Utterly baffling story. Terrible first few missions. Some horrible violence. Only played Modern Warfare before on Wii, so I'm sure most of you COD players will shrug and say 'yeah, that's COD'.

But after those first few missions, it got OK. Some of the Strike missions were tense and a bit harder than I expected whilst a couple of the later levels took place in some great environments. Some genuinely interesting decision points and situations seemed to alter the story quite drastically too (though I barely cared in truth). When the levels stopped being about 'run to that checkpoint' and made you work through enemy areas whilst getting attacked from all sides, it became briefly compelling.

Glad I gave it a quick blast. I adored GoldenEye on Wii and have wanted to play a shooter since my 360 died shortly after I completed Far Cry 3, so it filled a need. Wasn't as good as either of them but an OK week excursion.

Surprised to pop online and find lots of very busy Wii U death matches still happening too. But they seemed really dull after Splatoon, so back to Xenoblade X now...

[martymcfly3004]

Spoiler: show

Halo 2 (master chief collection, normal)
Halo 3 (master chief collection, normal)
Halo 4 (master chief collection, normal)
Halo 3: ODST (master chief collection, normal)
Outrun 3D (All Endings)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3D (All crystals)
Papers Please (3 endings, including one 'good' one)
Unravel

Just completed unravel. This game does have some gameplay flaws but it also has a really nice low key story developing in the background, beautiful music, a nice atmosphere, and is at times the most staggeringly beautiful game I have ever played. My wife who is completely disinterested in gaming even looked at the screen every now and then with interest at what was going on. If you have EA Access go and get the trial now, you get the first two levels to try out, complete with achievements.

[Bakers_12]

10/2 MGS V

18/2 Uncharted - Easy

The HD remaster looks quite dated but it was an enjoyable romp of a game a purfect palet clenser after MGS V.

[Combine Hunter]

23/01 - Advance Wars (Wii U)
29/01 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Wii U)
06/02 - SOMA (PC)
10/02 - Deus Ex: Revision (PC)
12/02 - Firewatch (PC)

18/02 - Catherine (PS3)

[Scrustle]

Spoiler: show

10/02 - Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition (Normal)

19/02 - Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition (Normal)

[Alex79]

What did you think of Killer Is Dead? I almost picked it up dead cheap a few weeks ago but didn't. I loved what I've played of Killer 7 but not really played any other Suda stuff so wasn't really sure if it would be my thing.

[Scrustle]

What did you think of Killer Is Dead? I almost picked it up dead cheap a few weeks ago but didn't. I loved what I've played of Killer 7 but not really played any other Suda stuff so wasn't really sure if it would be my thing.

This is actually the third time I've played through the game, so I'm generally a fan of it. It's very similar to No More Heroes, in that it's relatively simple and rough around the edges, but still pretty fun. It's got a basic combat systems, with side-content that isn't particularly exciting, but the core of it is satisfying. Great aesthetic to it, and although it's pretty button-mashy, I find it very entertaining. Fast paced and very stylised. There's a fun mechanic to it where if you dodge at the last second time freezes and you get a bunch of free hits, where everything turns just red and white, and you attack really rapidly. Very fun to pull off. And as your combo rises it changes your attack animations and speed, which is also pretty rewarding to keep going.

But it's something to not take too seriously. It doesn't exactly measure up to the likes of DMC or Bayo. But it's worth picking up for a few quid and blasting through, since it's not super long. The PC version is pretty good, but only once you mess around with the game files to lift the 30fps lock. That isn't too hard though. There's a simple guide on the PC Gaming wiki.

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Assassins Creed Liberation HD - PSN.
(Jan) Army of Two:The Devils Cartel - PS3.
(Jan) Assassins Creed Freedom Cry - PS4.
(Jan) Alien Breed Episode 2:Assault - XBOX 360.
(Jan) Beyond: Two Souls - PS3.
(Feb) Bastion - XBL.
(Feb) Batman Arkham Origins Blackgate - PSN.
(Feb) Borderlands The Pre-Sequel - PS4.
(Feb) Bloodborne - PS4.
(Feb) Contrast - PS4.
(Feb) Condemned: Criminal Origins - XBOX 360.

[ratsoalbion]

03 Jan: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES on WU)
17 Jan: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES on WU)
24 Jan: Crash Team Racing (PS1 on Vita)
25 Jan: Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX - World Tour Mode (PSP on Vita)
07 Feb: Until Dawn (PS4)

21 Feb: Doom (360)

[fieldy]

Firewatch - Very, very pretty game with a unique premise. I really enjoyed Firewatch, the opening had me really interested and I got very into the story of Henry. The drama and tension really builds in this game and I found myself becoming increasingly paranoid when away from my tower to the point where I had to keep looking behind me, not many games have made me feel like this and I really enjoyed this uneasy feeling. Unfortunately the story builds and builds but ultimately ends on a mute note leaving me feeling a little disappointed - I would however recommend Firewatch everything up until the ending was very well done.

[James]

Firewatch - Very, very pretty game with a unique premise. I really enjoyed Firewatch, the opening had me really interested and I got very into the story of Henry. The drama and tension really builds in this game and I found myself becoming increasingly paranoid when away from my tower to the point where I had to keep looking behind me, not many games have made me feel like this and I really enjoyed this uneasy feeling. Unfortunately the story builds and builds but ultimately ends on a mute note leaving me feeling a little disappointed - I would however recommend Firewatch everything up until the ending was very well done.

I'm really interested in why the ending left such a feeling of disappointment, fieldy. Yours isn't the first reaction I've heard along these lines. I completely agree that the finale has a muted tone, but I thought it fitted the way the story had developed. I do understand what you mean about the building tension, but...

Spoiler: show

...each individual story arc (the missing girls, Brian & Ned, the research station) kinda resolved in a way that hinted that the feeling of tension will tend to overwhelm reality when in such a strange, isolated environment.

Anyway, I'd love to hear your take if you're game.

[Flabyo]

I want to talk more about the Firewatch ending actually, time for it's own thread I think...

[Scrustle]

Spoiler: show

10/02 - Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition (Normal)
19/02 - Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition (Normal)

23/02 - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Prince of Darkness)

Had this one sitting close to being finished for a while, and recently decided to wrap it up. Third playthrough overall, with this one being on the hardest difficulty. It's a bit odd though, because I found it really easy. I guess the difficulty curve of this game is a bit lax then. Going through it the first time I remember thinking the difficulty was pretty well balanced. On the normal mode, bosses put up a decent challenge, but it hit a really nice balance where you could turn things around in a fight. Start off on the back foot, but then have time to work it out and clinch a victory just before it was too late. I guess they didn't carry that through to the higher difficulty levels, at least not for my skill progression.

I've been dabbling back in the first game too recently. At first I was just going back to pick up a few things I missed before, but it might turn in to a proper playthrough. I have a playthrough of the DLC for LoS2 going on right now as well, close to being finished. Also on the highest difficulty.

[fieldy]

I'm really interested in why the ending left such a feeling of disappointment, fieldy. Yours isn't the first reaction I've heard along these lines. I completely agree that the finale has a muted tone, but I thought it fitted the way the story had developed. I do understand what you mean about the building tension, but...

Spoiler: show

...each individual story arc (the missing girls, Brian & Ned, the research station) kinda resolved in a way that hinted that the feeling of tension will tend to overwhelm reality when in such a strange, isolated environment.

Anyway, I'd love to hear your take if you're game.

Well for me the game played out very nicely as you say all of the story Arcs are resolved before the final section of the game apart from one which I thought was the main arc...

Spoiler: show

Henry and Delilah's 'relationship' is for me the main over arcing storyline. The whole premise of firewatch is that Henry is trying to get away from what is obviously a traumatic end to his last relationship and then he comes into contact with Delilah who seems like a good fit for Henry. The way they communicated eluded to something more and indeed at one point in my play through whilst talking about the June fire, things seemed to get quite intimate. The game had me wanted to meet Delilah and to make it work for Henrys sake but in the end Delilah didn't even want to see Henry face to face, she just disappeared.

I think what Campo Santo were trying to achieve was something in the vein of these 'slice of life' films, something along the lines of 'theres not always a happy ending in real life' sort of thing but really when put with rest of the story where the characters relationship was built very nicley it seemed like a quick way to end the story. I felt short changed by it as I had invested a lot of thought into the decisions given to you in order to get that 'Happy ending'

That said as a package i think Firewatch is a very unique and interesting game worthy of the amount of time I spent playing it. The game looks incredible with very nice lighting and colour choices as well as being well written I think apart from the ending. As I said in my original post not many games have inspired such a feeling of unease and isolation like this.

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Assassins Creed Liberation HD - PSN.
(Jan) Army of Two:The Devils Cartel - PS3.
(Jan) Assassins Creed Freedom Cry - PS4.
(Jan) Alien Breed Episode 2:Assault - XBOX 360.
(Jan) Beyond: Two Souls - PS3.
(Feb) Bastion - XBL.
(Feb) Batman Arkham Origins Blackgate - PSN.
(Feb) Borderlands The Pre-Sequel - PS4.
(Feb) Bloodborne - PS4.
(Feb) Contrast - PS4.
(Feb) Condemned: Criminal Origins - XBOX 360.
(Feb) Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse - PSN.

[ratsoalbion]

03 Jan: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES on WU)
17 Jan: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES on WU)
24 Jan: Crash Team Racing (PS1 on Vita)
25 Jan: Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX - World Tour Mode (PSP on Vita)
07 Feb: Until Dawn (PS4)
21 Feb: DOOM (360)

24 Feb: DOOM II (360)

[Michiel K]

^^^^
Is Doom II even beatable on 360? How do you enable NOCLIP to kill John Romero's head?

24 Feb: Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (Story Mode)

[ratsoalbion]

No need for NOCLIP, just fire rockets in from the outside.
Both episodes (there's an exclusive set of levels by Nerve as well as the original set) are beatable, and I have the Achievements to prove it!

[Suits]

Yeah, I cleared Doom II back when it was released on X360 without cheats too, can't really remember it being an issue, or if NOCLIP was even available.


I was testing some old games that I found whilst I was moving house last week and put Super Mario Land in my GameBoy to see how it was.

It worked fine as I tested 1-1 and before I knew it I was half an hour in and on 3-2, then before I could reseat myself again, 15 minutes later I'd beaten it !

I remember being able to do this as a child but wondered if I could do it again.

It's such a good game, it plays so well for such an old title and still looks fantastic.

I had a sore back though, where I'd been hunched over the sofa arm under a lamp to see what was going on and my Mrs insisted that I use some earphones as the noise for her was unbearable but to me it was ambrosia for the ears !!

The Chinese level with its music was a found flashback to younger/simpler times.

[Scrustle]

Spoiler: show

10/02 - Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition (Normal)
19/02 - Killer Is Dead: Nightmare Edition (Normal)
23/02 - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Prince of Darkness)

25/02 - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2: Revelations (Prince of Darkness)

Finished this off as well. Same story as with the main game. Was already almost finished anyway, and it turned out pretty easy by the end. It was a bit harder than the main game though.

One thing I forgot to mention before is that on this most recent playthrough of the game, and this DLC, I turned off QTEs. Did it because I was recording my gameplay, and didn't want those prompts showing up in cutscenes, as they do for the killing blows on bosses. I actually think I prefer the game with them on. Makes the special kill moves more involving. Adds a layer of skill to it, however small, and helps to keep up the pace of the gameplay as you're not sitting there doing nothing for the time it takes the animation to play. It also of course makes taking bosses down more satisfying. You feel more involved in that final blow. Also some enemies can do moves to you that pin you and do damage over time. With the QTEs off, those hit you harder than they would otherwise, as you don't get the chance to mash your way out of it. And as I've talked about before, I actually think these games do a relatively good job of QTEs as a whole. While they are usually derided, for good reason, I feel like the system these games use manage to avoid most of the problems that QTEs have.

I also feel a little sad now that I basically don't have a reason to play this game any more. Done everything I could possibly want to do with it. I haven't done a lot of the Kleidos challenges, but I don't find those particularly fun, so I probably won't ever bother with them. A couple are pretty cool, but quite a lot feel stupidly hard and poorly thought out, so to actually finish them seems like more trouble than it's worth. But the thought of leaving this game behind for good still upsets me a bit. It actually ended up being a pretty important game to me. And despite what some people might think of it, I think it has a notable place in the history of the medium too, if for no other reason than the situation it found itself in, and the part it had to play in the story Konami.

Well, back to the first game I guess. I also started a third playthrough of Mirror of Fate HD on hard mode a while ago too, but didn't get far. Might pick that one up again as well.

Oh, and another thing. I've always felt a little disappointed this was the only DLC for this game as well. While it's good, I always had the feeling that a second was planned. I expected they would follow the same trend they did for the first game, in releasing two DLC packs after launch, both titled with a "re" prefix. Given that this DLC has you play as Alucard, it seemed like a no-brainer that a second would have you play as Victor. It would be good to actually get to see more of him too, since he gets the short end of the stick in the game proper. But such an expansion never came to be. Probably due to troubles going on at Konami. I've heard the game had trouble in development, and you can certainly tell from playing the game that it probably didn't go so smoothly. I guess Konami just pulled the plug instead of going ahead with more content, just trying to end the project as soon as possible.