Games completed 2017

[Scrustle]

I think I forgot to mention before that Terry Gilliam is in it, which is kind of cool.

I did not know that. Whereabouts?

He voices the king.

[ratsoalbion]

Huh. If I did know that then I'd forgotten.

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Quantum Break - XB1.
(Jan) Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag - PS4.
(Jan) Adr1ft - PS4.
(Jan) Dear Esther - PS4.

[skidoosh]

Spoiler: show

Inside (100% both endings). Um. Yeah.
Gone Home
Firewatch

Bastion

Have to say. When I started playing this, I really didn't like it. Then. Like a fungus, it started to grow on me. By the end I was more than impressed!

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Quantum Break - XB1.
(Jan) Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag - PS4.
(Jan) Adr1ft - PS4.
(Jan) Dear Esther - PS4.
(Jan) Virginia - PS4.

[ColinAlonso]

Spoiler: show

Jan 2 - Everybody's Gone To The Rapture (PS4)
Jan 11 - very DOOM (PS4)
Jan 21 - The Last Guardian (PS4)

Jan 27 - Pokémon Sun (3DS)

First Pokémon game I completed since Silver way back when. It doesn't do things drastically different from back in the day but was a good fun adventure and kept me going for 67.5 hours without dragging until I reached the credits. It looks like there's story after the credits but I'll probably play Majora's Mask first to avoid possible burnout.

[Alex79]

JAN - Little Big Planet Vita (PS Vita)
JAN - Everybody's Gone To The Rapture (PS4)
JAN - Day Of The Tentacle Remastered (PS Vita)

JAN - Hidden My Game By Mom (Android)

I just had to play this after what the others said, and I'm glad I did. Rattled through it in an hour or so, but it really was quite enjoyable. Just utterly bizarre, totally random humour and the puzzles were challenging enough to be interesting and mildly satisfying to complete. I'd rank this alongside the likes of Frog Fractions for sheer WTF value. I didn't really find the adverts particularly intrusive, I mean it's a free game isn't it, guy has to make a living somehow. I'll definitely play the second one at some point. Maybe after tea, haha.

[Scrustle]

Spoiler: show

05/01 - Forza Horizon 3: Blizzard Mountain
15/01 - Odin Sphere Leifthrasir
17/01 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
25/01 - The Unfinished Swan

29/01 - Folklore

Another game I've had on the go for a long time and am glad to finally get done. I did leave it for quite a while halfway through though as other stuff caught my attention.

But anyway, I'm ending up rather mixed on this one. It's got some great and unique art design, some really neat ideas, and a very nice atmosphere, but is quite often tedious, clunky, and can be a real slog to get through. The idea that all your attacks come from collecting all the creatures you come across in a somewhat Pokemon-like way is pretty fun. Makes for a lot of variety, and some interesting ways to mix things up and create your own play style. The combat itself though ranges from an awful mess to something just above passable. When it's good, it's not really anything special. Mostly bog-standard hack-and-slash type thing. Nothing really stands out apart from the aforementioned creature use. But when it's bad, it's a horrible pain. Certain enemies can stun-lock you in very annoying ways, the camera can be very unhelpful in corners, and the frame rate is pretty dire in a lot of spots. Bosses follow a similar trend. Some are interesting Zelda-like puzzle bosses where you need to work out the right solution to beat it. Others are bogged down by cheap attacks and clumsy controls. The motion control stuff is not too bad. When it's simple, it's a fairly quick and satisfying way to add a bit of tactility to capturing creatures. But some of the more complicated motions can be a bit fiddly and leave you open to other attacks in a way that feels somewhat unfair.

The art design is the real centre of attention here though. The game really has a great style to it, that is actually still rather impressive in certain ways. The real world hub setting of the little Irish seaside village of Doolin is so well realised. There may not be much to it in terms of space, but what is there is very well done. For one thing, the small size makes sense, as it's meant to be this mysterious little place away from civilisation. But it does a really good job of capturing that kind of windswept seafront feeling, and the rustic buildings that feel like they've been there for centuries. I really like the little details they added, like all the clutter in the cottages, or the sunlight shining on the dust floating around the window. The Netherworld stages are also pretty great in terms of art design. Or at least mostly. They are richly detailed and full of colour and fantastic surreal scenery. Places like the magical forest and underwater castles covered in pink coral are really nice to explore. The soundtrack is pretty good too. Not every track is a killer, but some of the more atmospheric ones are really nice. Especially the Doolin village theme. It's this delicate and melancholic solo piano piece that has a sinister edge to it. It really adds a lot to the feeling of the place.

The story is something I don't think I can fully give credit to unfortunately. Since I spent so long away from it, I did forget quite a bit in the meantime. Remembered enough to get the main plot threads back, but I think I missed some of the details. Either way, the story has some interesting aspects to it, but isn't something that I would say is a highlight. It has two major plot threads that run side-by-side. One concerning the events of Doolin, and the other the goings on in the Netherworld. The Doolin story is a murder mystery tale that fits in well with the setting. It's full of the dark secrets of the villagers, and uncovering what happened on one fateful night long ago in the past. It never gets too exciting though, and none of the characters are particularly deep. But I do appreciate how it all contributes to the atmosphere of the village. The Netherworld stuff is about a supernatural civil war, and some other light metaphysical trappings. Again, nothing too interesting or deep here. But it's pretty inoffensive and links to the Doolin stuff in a couple of ways.

So overall I guess I did like it. Glad I played it, but I would have a hard time recommending it. It's an interesting artefact that shows off a lot of imagination. But as a game it's only really passable, outside of a few spots, which are hard to justify slogging through the bad stuff to get to.

[gallo_pinto]

Spoiler: show

Jan - Cave Story (3DS)
Jan - Hidden my game by mom (iPhone)
Jan - Hidden my game by mom 2 (iPhone)
Jan - Frog Fractions (Mac - Replay)
Jan - The End of the World (iPhone)
Jan - Rhythm Heaven Fever (Wii)

Jan - Shovel Knight (3DS - Replay)

Replayed the main campaign in anticipation of playing through the DLC as Plague Knight and the upcoming DLC as Spectre Knight. This game is great. I'm not sure how this one hits the sweet spot of "modern game in retro style" so perfectly when there are so many others that are going for the same thing. But kudos to Yacht Club for hitting a home run and then being so good to their fans by supporting the game with such meaty DLC (all free).

[hazeredmist]

Super Mario Land 2 (GameBoy / 3DS Virtual Console)

Well worth playing through this again just to remind yourself just how incredible a technical achievement it was at the time. It's got a personality all of it's own, clearly inspired by Super Mario World in terms of a world map, but with a unique set of enemies and levels. I really do love it, it's quite easy but it's GameBoy platforming at it's best, and while I still prefer the original Super Mario Land for pure nostalgia and a little more challenge, it comes highly recommended.

[gallo_pinto]

Super Mario Land 2 (GameBoy / 3DS Virtual Console)

Well worth playing through this again just to remind yourself just how incredible a technical achievement it was at the time. It's got a personality all of it's own, clearly inspired by Super Mario World in terms of a world map, but with a unique set of enemies and levels. I really do love it, it's quite easy but it's GameBoy platforming at it's best, and while I still prefer the original Super Mario Land for pure nostalgia and a little more challenge, it comes highly recommended.

I played the three Super Mario Land games for the first time last year and I agree with you that Super Mario Land 2 is really good. A very creative Gameboy game. I hadn't played Super Mario Land at the time it came out, so I didn't really enjoy that one very much (or the different gameplay of SML3: Wario Land). But I thought Mario Land 2 held up really well.

[DomsBeard]

Spoiler: show

18th January Infinite Warfare Xbox One

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

23rd Jan

The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2

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

The Bunker

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

Would be a great Cane And Rinse Episode though

Resident Evil 7 Playstation 4

Really enjoy it and would recommend

[Todinho]

Day of the Tentacle: Remastered(PS4)- Well it's kinda becoming tradition for Sony to offer a classic Lucasart adventure game and for me to finnish it in January XD But yeah like with Grim Fandago last year I decided to pick up and play through this one,it's a pretty short game all things considered,the game it self isnt too hard and most of the puzzles are very sensible which was a nice to see the only thing that really stumped me at times was having to switch characters and give itens between them,storywise it was a funny games but not much else it felt alot like an episode of a cartoon unlike Grim Fandango that felt like this great Journey with some real well developed characters,here characters are 1 dimensional but that's fine. So yeah not as good as Grim Fandango but still enjoyable.

[seansthomas]

5th January - Arkham Origins (Wii U)
12th January - The End of the World (Android)
18th January - Rayman Legends (Wii U)
31st January - Light House (Android)


A clever, free little mobile puzzler. 90 levels of increasingly tricky ways to transfer your limited luminescent resource to a lighthouse via switches, deflectors, nodes and teleports.

Some of the later levels get pretty hard and it feels at times like a hybrid of the rigidity of Hitman Go's structure and the physics of Portal 2.

Well worth a look in and it's a very commendable achievement.

[Scrustle]

Spoiler: show

05/01 - Forza Horizon 3: Blizzard Mountain
15/01 - Odin Sphere Leifthrasir
17/01 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
25/01 - The Unfinished Swan
29/01 - Folklore

31/01 - Doom (Hurt Me Plenty)

It's not exactly news to anyone, but what a bloody great game! Such excellently designed combat which has so much fluidity and momentum to it. Every encounter feels dynamic and unique, and is full of constant thrills and edge-of-your-seat moments. Enemies are all fun to fight and provide a really interesting variety of challenges and situations. Excellent sense of punch to the weaponry that makes them so satisfying to use, with an exceptional soundtrack to go along with it. The whole thing feels expertly put together, mature even, in that it's obviously been made by people who know exactly how to make something great, and doing everything in their power to make it the best they can, without being ashamed of how absurd and over-the-top it is. So refreshing to see such a polished big budget game that so gleefully runs with such a ridiculous concept and is able to flesh it out so well without it feeling like it's trying to apologise for what it is.

There were a couple of things that I was less fond of however. I really didn't like the stage hazards in certain levels. It's only really a problem on a couple of stages, but there are places where it feels way too easy to fall to your death instantly, when you're just trying to explore. I found in these levels that checkpoints tended to be pretty far apart too, meaning there was a whole lot of treating the same ground over and over between tiny missteps that had me sitting in yet another gargantuan loading screen, before traipsing around everywhere I'd already been several times. I also didn't really like the Rune Trials either. I admit I'm not the best at shooters, but I found almost all of them too hard. Only managed to beat a couple. But they're mostly these very restricted, arbitrary challenges that I just never really found fun at all. Many of them cut down a lot of your mechanical options, taking away basically what makes the game so good in the first place. And of course attempting them means having to wait through loading screens to get back in to the level afterwards as well. But in the grand scheme of things both of these problems are minor. Overall I had a blast with the game.

Another thing that I think is really worth mentioning is how well it felt on a controller. One reason I don't play a lot of shooters is because of the design trends the genre has been following in the past decade or so, particularly on consoles. Restricting the player with ADS mechanics forcing you to choose between being able to move and being able to hit anything, ultra-linear levels that end up feeling very artificial, and combat taking place without much moving around a single combat area. A lot of these changes are often blamed on accommodating for controllers, to make the genre work on them. I never bought that idea, and this game totally proves it. It's everything those games aren't, and that some say shouldn't be possible. Yet not only does it work, it works brilliantly. One of the best controlling games I've played in a long time. Proof that this kind of thing is perfectly fine on a pad. Not that it ever needed proving, since Halo already did the same thing back before those design trends even started. Either way I hope this means we'll get more shooters on consoles that play more similar to this.

[skidoosh]

Spoiler: show

Inside (100% both endings). Um. Yeah.
Gone Home
Firewatch
Bastion

NieR (Xbox 360)

Great game. Floored. But great. Started on the new game plus to see the second ending and it just makes you feel like a terrible person.

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Quantum Break - XB1.
(Jan) Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag - PS4.
(Jan) Adr1ft - PS4.
(Jan) Dear Esther - PS4.
(Jan) Virginia - PS4.
(Jan) The London Heist - PSVR.

[AndrewBrown]

Wow, we're at seven pages already?

05/01: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture [PS4] ****
13/01: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks [WiiUVC] ***
17/01: The Order: 1886 [PS4] ***
28/01: Undertale [PC] ****
29/01: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles [Wii] ***

[seansthomas]

5th January - Arkham Origins (Wii U)
12th January - The End of the World (Android)
18th January - Rayman Legends (Wii U)
31st January - Light House (Android)
1st February - Where shadows slumber (Android)


More of a free live beta than a game, you control a little chap who walks around some underground caverns and by changing where the shadows fall in the area, switches and new paths are unearthed.

Intriguing concept and art style. It'll take you 10 minutes to finish it but one to keep an eye on...

[Flabyo]

Jan 1st - Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4)
Jan 8th - Shantae: Half-genie hero (XBO)

Feb 1st - Tales from the Borderlands (XBO)

Really enjoyed that one. Definitely one of the stronger Telltale games, I find myself wishing they'd take on comedy more often than they do.

Pleased that you don't need to know anything at all about the Borderlands games to follow it as well, that's a tricky thing to do. Probably a few jokes that didn't land because of that, but I never felt I was missing important info due to not knowing the source material.