Games Completed 2022

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
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)

I've never been a fan of Sonic, so it's really testament to the power of Cane and Rinse that following the show last year I purchased and downloaded Sonic 1 and 2 for my Switch.

Finally got around to playing the first game properly today, and it's the first time I've finished the game since back in the day. And honestly? Well I'm as surprised as anyone to tell you I enjoyed it! Is it a great game? No, I honestly don't think it is. And I'm amazed it got so much traction back in the 90s because even at the time there were better platformers, in my opinion. There are cheap deaths, annoying underwater stages, it's easy to get lost in some of the later levels, but in amongst that there's just enough to keep you playing - and smiling. I enjoyed it, I really did. Still looks very pretty, too, and that music is timeless.

Will definitely be playing through the sequel before this year's show for sure.
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)

What else is left to say about this game - played it to completion on all three generations the game has released for and loved it every time. Did everything barring the two 'collect 50 of x' missions and enjoyed every second of it. The game looks better than ever (in fidelity mode on the Series S - performance mode wasn't great looking) and I actually paid attention to the story properly this time around and it's better than I ever gave it credit for. Great game. But, GTA VI now please!
User avatar
DeadpoolNegative
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: April 16th, 2015, 5:00 am

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by DeadpoolNegative »

What else is left to say about this game - played it to completion on all three generations the game has released for and loved it every time. Did everything barring the two 'collect 50 of x' missions and enjoyed every second of it. The game looks better than ever (in fidelity mode on the Series S - performance mode wasn't great looking) and I actually paid attention to the story properly this time around and it's better than I ever gave it credit for. Great game. But, GTA VI now please!
I've played through the story four times- twice on the 360 and twice on the X1- and I want to buy a Series X just to have an excuse to play it again. It's well paced and so much fun. With Houser's departure from Rockstar, however, along with Lazlow and so many others, I worry that what made the story work so well will be gone, whenever 6 deigns to show its face.

--Dan
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)

Played through the story mode of this with one of my boys and we really enjoyed it. The story mode can be beaten in under three hours, but when we finished a message flashed up: "The story is over but the game has just started", and true enough loads of stuff unlocked on the main menu. At a glance there appears to be absolutely loads of content in this although I'm not sure how deep all these modes and missions are, but there's plenty enough to do anyway!
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

I've had an inkling to go through this one again ever since it got added to backwards compatibility on Xbox, and suddenly found the motivation to go ahead with it recently. It's been a very long time since I last played this, and when I have thought about going back to it in recent times I've been worried that it might not stand up. But I had fun with it again and the stuff it did well back in the day is still stand the test of time.

It has an incredible atmosphere to it. It's rich in darkness and melancholy, griminess and grittiness, and some quite affecting horror too. The lighting, and in particular the frequent use of deep dark shadows gives the world a mysterious and haunting feel to it, helped by the excellent ambient sound design. The way it's all grounded in a fairly realistic looking world helps give it a sense of tangibility to it as well, which makes the darker aspects stand out as being especially pronounced. It manages to make a few mundane city blocks and a couple of subway stations extremely memorable and evocative. The Otherworld sections too are great. Much more abstract and surreal, but also where the game really cranks up the horror elements. The desolate battlegrounds, full of disgusting horrors and imposing structures really sell the idea of this supernatural place of endless inescapable suffering that feels like a harrowing glimpse in to the unknowable true nature of the Darkness itself.

The characters are pretty well realised too, for the time at least. Human characters are portrayed in a pretty down to earth way, which also helps create the feeling of this world being a more believable place. It makes the supernatural elements stand out in opposition to them as well, emphasising how unnatural and horrific they are. It knows how to have a tender moment too, mostly with the moments including Jenny. They are some of the best parts of the story, and provide the major motivational force, but looking back these days the way they deal with Jenny probably isn't that great. Overall the story isn't particularly amazing, being a pretty simple revenge story. But it does have some genuinely good moments where it lets its characters simply be themselves and be vulnerable together. Although it's probably been surpassed these days, and even those good moments are an example of a bad trope in the larger plot. Still, I have fondness for what it does do well at times. The voice performances are generally really good as well, especially the Darkness.

That said, some stuff is rather rough. I vaguely recall taking a shot at replaying this a while back and dropping off it quickly because of how slow movement is in this game, and that is what got me questioning how well it has aged. Coming back to it this time, yeah it is definitely a very slow paced game in general. I do really like the semi-open, interconnected structure this game has, but getting around it takes forever. In combat too, you are not mobile at all. Aiming is really clunky as well. It's very slow, and while you do have aim assist, it's not very reliable. You spend a lot of time shooting out lights in this game, to give yourself shadows to hide in that your powers need to recharge. It's really fiddly and takes some getting used to. This is definitely not a run-and-gun by any definition of the word. The abilities you get to play with are cool, they feel powerful and give an extra layer to the gameplay on top of basic shooting. But there's not a huge range of them and they don't feel especially dynamic. So the gameplay here, while it's not terrible and can be enjoyable, feels pretty janky, and requires you to approach it with a certain mindset that is accommodating of its slow pace and wonky controls. And in a way I don't really mind how slow you walk around the world, as it gives you a chance to soak in the atmosphere, and for these locations to shine on their own.

I'm glad to have played through this again though, and see that it can still be enjoyable for the stuff that I always hold it up for in my memory. It's great that this got included through the Xbox backward compatibility program too. It was never a likely candidate for it, and given how there's been no port or remaster of this in any way, that helps extend its life and broaden its reach. I really do think this game was one of the best of its era and deserves to be remembered better for it. I would love to see a re-release of some kind though, as unlikely as that would be. But if it did get one, I feel like a simple porting wouldn't really be enough. Overhauling the mechanics to make it faster and smoother to play would be necessary. Doing so would probably be very difficult though. It would require rebalancing the whole game around it, not to mention how difficult it would probably be to dig in to that old proprietary engine these days.
User avatar
ColinAlonso
Member
Posts: 585
Joined: September 6th, 2016, 9:13 pm
Location: Dublin

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ColinAlonso »

Alex79 wrote: April 12th, 2022, 9:12 pm And I'm amazed it got so much traction back in the 90s because even at the time there were better platformers, in my opinion. There are cheap deaths, annoying underwater stages, it's easy to get lost in some of the later levels
Annoying underwater stages were common, nay essential, parts of platformers at the time.

Sonic 2 tries to avoid it by rarely forcing you underwater, though when it does it's really annoying and Sonic 3 manages to make its water level my favourite level in stand-alone Sonic 3, somehow. I think its because half of the time underwater is spent at speed.
User avatar
ColinAlonso
Member
Posts: 585
Joined: September 6th, 2016, 9:13 pm
Location: Dublin

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)
Catch-up time.

Mar 20 - Universal Paperclips (Android)
Should be an interesting podcast, although I didn't find it too interesting to play.

Apr 12 - CrossCode (PC)
Wow! Starting this while in the middle of something else was a mistake as that game got put completely to one side. A top down 2D RPG that seems to grab its gameplay influences from Secret of Mana and Link to the Past but does not dwell on those and is very much its own weird sci-fi adventure.

Combat is pretty fun with loads of options available to the player. Melee and ranged attacks, dodges and blocks, special moves tied to each of these, 4 elements to be obtained and added to the skill set, each with their own versions of special moves. Fights are quick and snappy, bosses are often interesting, although there are big difficulty spikes with some of those.

Dungeons contain quite a number of puzzles particularly using the ranged attack 'balls'. This could easily grate on others but I enjoyed them a lot.

The verticality of the overworld areas could also turn into a puzzle to get some treasure. Now while the treasure usually isn't that useful, I enjoyed the exploration and small sense of accomplishment with some of them.

I really enjoyed the characters and story. Although I reckon there are plenty of plot holes that could be picked at and the characters aren't that deep, It was just entertaining.

I often moan about silent (or near silent) protagonists, however since Lea is mute in-story and does express herself, I liked her as a lead character. It makes me more annoyed the the emotionless silent protagonists.

Soundtrack is solid too. My favourite game so far this year.

Apr 17 - Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Switch)
Ah poor Chicory. Already saddled with being the developer's follow up to Wandersong, one of my favourite games of recent years, it then got hit by the CrossCode steam train above.

When I started, I only felt like I could play for 60-90 minutes before deciding to do something else, I was enjoying it, but I felt that I got my fill of it for the day. Exploring and colouring in was quite fun but I would only play in shorter stints, it just hadn't fully grabbed me.

I liked colouring in where people lived and left everywhere else to just what I needed to do, which I felt was a nice compromise. The skills gained through the story are mostly (entirely?) movement based and exploring the world was good.

I dropped it for CrossCode at maybe 60% through the story
Spoiler: show
before the wielder trials
and came back to it this weekend. My mood to it was so different, I raced through it. It was like night and day, now I just wanted to play it as much as I could.
Spoiler: show
I think Pizza having another character (Chicory) to bounce their thoughts and feelings off from this point helped from the writing.
I really like Lena Raine's soundtrack for this and I didn't have any strong feelings for the Celeste soundtrack (which is what I think she's best known for).

So, while it could never beat Wandersong, Chicory is still a charming game that I ended up liking a lot.
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

Figured I might a well do this one again too since I did the first one. I've never liked this one as much as the first, but still been generally positive on it. It lost a lot of the atmosphere of the first game, but it tried to do a lot to improve and expand the mechanics. Coming back to it, I'm not so sure it was as successful on that second front after all.

Aesthetically and tonally it is massively different. It's much brighter and more colourful, going with a cel shaded look that is pretty attractive on its own merits. But it shifts the feel of the game a lot to something much more cartoonish. Characters were never especially deep in the first game, but here they feel like shallow stereotypes in comparison to even that. There are elements that you could say are even more edgy than in the first game, but they are treated in a way that feels crass and not taken particularly seriously, so they don't come across as being as affecting. There's also the introduction of a lot more supernatural elements to the world outside of the Darkness itself, and it hurts the mystery and imposing nature that came from it being the only thing like that you come across. The new villains are not compelling either, being pretty generic evil cultist types. This game also actually shows much more interacting between Jenny and Jackie than the first game too, but none of it has the same impact that only the short few scenes the first game had, because of the overall tone of this game, how ineffectively they are placed within the pacing of the campaign, and how it's pretty clear they are all illusions anyway. I will give it credit for one thing though. They replace the Otherworld sections with sections that take place in a mental hospital, as the story tries to get you to question what is actually real at all. While I miss the loss of the old Otherworld sections, this is at least a decent idea on its own. But it falls foul of a lot of the same problems as the rest of the game with its shallow tone.

Gameplay wise, a lot of what it does seems good on paper, but in practice it often stumbles over itself. This time it's a straightforward linear campaign with no overworld to walk around. While there are non-combat sections, you don't really get anywhere to explore and there's only ever one string of objectives to go through. Not a bad thing in principle, but still a little disappointing.

You have a lot more control over your demonic tentacles this time, and that does come with a lot of cool ideas. You can slash in whatever direction you want, meaning you can use that to be a close range sweep, or throw enemies up in the air to immobilise them, etc. You can also grab enemies with the other tentacle and do a range of executions to them which each give you a different reward. Or you can grab stuff like ammo, or objects to throw at enemies. Much more than just what was essentially a basic melee attack in the first game. But issues start arising when it comes to what specifically you try to use your tentacles for. There are so many context sensitive actions, and only a couple of buttons for them all. It results in a lot of struggling to get them to do what you want them. You might be trying to pick up an object, but they just want to pick up a random gun instead, or vice versa. It can be a massive problem in the middle of a hectic gunfight when you really need the controls to do what you expect them to, and they just don't.

Another issue arises from the change of art style. With the lighter and more vibrant colour palette, it becomes really hard to tell what exactly counts as a lit or dark area, so you can't confidently get around in a fight, or will sometimes be hit with an unexpected light area that kills all your powers and blinds you with post-process effects.

The game also heavily relies on ADS mechanics, and this game reminded me of why I generally don't like them. I was starting to soften on them recently after playing Halo Infinite and replaying 5, but here they started getting on my nerves again. That said, generally the shooting is a lot tighter than the first game, and movement is somewhat faster too. But this game does the thing where going in to ADS mode sticks the gun right in the middle of screen so much that you can't see what you're shooting at. It's basically required to hit anything that isn't right in front of you, but doing so feels like it blinds you by obstructing your view anyway.

I think one thing that made this stuff stand out to me this time is the difficulty I tried to go for on this run. I played most of this on the third out of the four modes. I assumed since I've played this twice before I shouldn't have much trouble. Turns out it made things pretty frustrating. Enemies have way too much health on that mode, and you're really fragile too. Dropping it down one level made things go much more smoothly, but also perhaps was a little too easy.

Oh, and another small thing I was thinking about mentioning with the first game but didn't. But it turned out to be relevant here too. Both these games use a certain word in dialogue a couple of times which in the years since has become considered a slur. It was kind of jarring hearing it early on in the first game, a reminder of a different time. But in that game, it only happens a couple of times near the start, and it comes from characters who you could believe would say it, and who are also meant to be pretty unpleasant people. In this second game it gets dropped in to dialogue a couple of times randomly through the game, from characters who are supposed to be seen positively. It's a significantly younger game, but I guess it's still pretty old in the context of this issue.

So I have to say I was a little disappointed going back to this one. I don't think it's terrible or anything, but the qualities that I felt like it at least had in its favour before turned out to be less impressive than I remembered. Maybe it has something to do with playing it immediately after the first game, which I don't recall having done before. Pitting them so closely side by side, what is lacking feels much starker. Shooters in general have had a bit of a renaissance since this game too. This came out right after the first big wave of CoD taking over the genre, and so took a lot of influence from that, even if it had its own thing going on with the demonic powers too. But now we've had the modern Doom games school the entire genre in just how tight, complex, and fast it's possible to make a shooter all at once, reviving older design that was supposed to not be possible on a controller. Halo Infinite to a degree as well showing how it's possible to hybridise a lot of shooter design from various eras and make it work, while still adding in fresh ideas that give it its own identity. The grapple hook from that game is sort of similar to the tentacle grab from this game too I suppose.
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)

Been mulling over going back to this one for a while, especially since going through all the older Metal Gear games to keep that thread going. I also decided I want to approach the game a bit more intentionally this time too, and try to get better at the game at least a bit. I’ve never really felt like I fully got to grips with this one, despite having gone through it a handful of times already. Last time I was on a kick with this game I blasted through it on multiple difficulties all the way up to Very Hard, at which point the final boss became a massive brick wall I just couldn’t get past. I realised I was relying on crutches the game gives you way too much. You get some really overpowered upgrades in that game, and I think that made me feel like I was doing better than I actually was, and that I had a lot of developing my skills to do instead. So coming back this time, that’s what I’m trying to do. No real plan for how far I’ll go, but just trying to get a better understanding and mastery of the game than I had before. So I started a fresh file, and I’ve been avoiding upgrading the attack power of my weapon. I might do so a bit on higher difficulty runs, but I’m trying to keep it to a minimum.

This first run was really enjoyable though. It’s great to go back. I feel like in recent years the meme status of this game has overshadowed the actual game itself. Like people just want to reduce it to a few overplayed music tracks and a couple of .gifs taken out of context. But thankfully it’s still an absolute blast. This still had probably the best game feel in any action game ever. Simply hitting stuff just feels so good on a visceral level that it never gets old. The pace of gameplay is great too. So aggressive and fast in a way that gets the blood pumping like little else. The parry mechanic is so satisfying, and encourages that mentality of pushing forward in to fights so well. Blade Mode is interesting and unique, and chopping enemies to tiny pieces is really impressive technically. Zandatsu is extremely gratifying too, which again greatly rewards that aggressive style of play. I’ve been trying to delve deeper in to the normal combos too, avoiding button mashing too much and actually trying to play with some thought. It works somewhat, but this is definitely an area I need to improve. I’ve been able to do a bit better juggling some enemies in the air at least, so there is some potential. I tried adding Blade Mode cancelling in to my play as well, and it definitely adds a little extra layer to combat that keeps it flowing better, but I still need to get better at it. Oh and of course the bosses are amazing too. A masterclass in creating exciting moments and escalation to absurd excess, fully aware of how ridiculous it is and choosing to lean in as hard as it can with it. Just like the game as a whole. You can tell the game is having fun with itself, and the result is something that is genuinely hilarious. Not just in terms of the little jokes it pulls, but how self aware it is about how far it’s gleefully pushing things over the top.

One thing that continues to baffle me with this game though is how the ranking system works. It never made sense to me, and it always feels disconnected from how I actually perform. I’m getting Bs all the time, regardless if I think I’ve done well or poorly. Sometimes I’ll get an A or the occasional S, but rarely do I feel like I’ve done anything particularly different to all those B rank fights. I don’t get it. It’s just one of the things I need to work out to get better at this game I suppose. Not that I’m aiming to S rank everything, but at least get to a point where I can feel happy with how I’m doing, and that I have a decent grasp on what the game expects from me. Also I suspect handicapping myself by not increasing my weapon power probably contributes to it, making encounters take longer, and other things that would affect. But still, I don’t feel like it’s made a noticeable difference to what I’ve always got before.

It’s cool to be able to pick up on a few little references to previous games that I missed before as well. It’s only really the small stuff though. Even though this was the first Metal Gear game I ever played, I was still roughly familiar with the series before then. I knew the general setting, who Raiden was and his past, what the Patriots were, etc. But now little nods in dialogue stand out more to me, like Raiden lamenting about losing his arm a second time after MGS4, or how Sunny wears a flower pin in her hair that looks like the one Naomi gave her. Speaking of, it gave me a bit more appreciation for Sunny as a character too. Now having the context of her being so shy and unsure of herself in 4, seeing her being much more comfortable and enthusiastic in this game means a lot more. Seeing how she’s managed to come out of her shell and find a place where she feels more in her element.

Having the context of the old games also makes this game feel a bit different from a game design perspective as well. There are certain points where a character might tell you what your next objective is in a level, and you can imagine how that could refer to a section right out of the older games, that might have been a more complicated sneaking section or something. While here it’s just a hallway with some enemies to fight through. Not that it’s disappointing or anything. The simple enemy gauntlet works well for this game. But it’s kind of interesting to be able to spot signs of how the design of this game may have been different before, and how they’ve tried to adapt that in to what it eventually became.
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

Honestly I didn't really enjoy this game much in the end. It did end up mirroring my experience with Symphony of the Night in a lot of ways, which is hardly surprising how intentionally similar they are. I just really don't like how this game plays on a basic level. Movement is so stiff and slow, and it doesn't really improve over the experience. Combat is also very rigid and mechanically basic. How you have barely any moves at your disposal and you're stuck to the spot when you swing your weapon. The difficulty balancing across the experience feels strange and uneven too. It has that massive roadblock right at the start with the first boss in the actual castle being a huge spike, but then it gets pretty easy for most of the experience until you start getting in to the late game areas towards unlocking the true ending. At that point it becomes just annoying. Loads of enemies with erratic behaviour, some of which can move and attack through walls, and are coloured the same as the background. Also a bunch of stage hazards that happen to be bugbears of mine. If I wasn't so close to the end by the time the difficulty ramped up I'm sure this stuff would have stopped me from finishing it. The final boss is also pretty terrible, with very unclear moving hitboxes. I also found myself relying more and more on guides towards the end. Some of the ways you need to progress are so obscure I don't know how you're expected to know to do them without a walkthrough. But needing one kind of ruins the feeling of exploration, since you're not discovering stuff yourself anymore.

It's frustrating because I can see a hypothetical version of this game that I do really like. There are things I like about it. The art design is great, and I like the tone it has. How it's a mix of intricate and atmospheric Gothic architecture and themes, but with a fun, campy overtone to it reminiscent of old monster movies and such. I think SotN probably does it better, as the pixel art is more charming than these 3D models, and the "bad" voice acting adds to that campy feel. But this game still has the same heart to it. So if there was a game that could bring that feel, but with mechanics that actually felt good to use and had a decent variety to them, I can see myself really clicking with it. I have seen gameplay of this that shows some more interesting movement mechanics, and seeing that is what convinced me to give it a chance in the first place. But the reality is that never happens just playing the game naturally. It must be some obscure combination of hidden abilities that the game neither pushes you towards or is designed to require.

Given how these games have stuck to this design philosophy for 25 years now, I don't expect that hypothetical Igavania made for me will ever exist though. I guess the closest we ever got was the PS2 Castlevania games, which funnily enough I did actually enjoy somewhat.

29/04 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (X360)

With this getting a remaster on the Switch this was on my mind again. I've always had a soft spot for these games, despite never really thinking them to be particularly good. I have heard how the PS2/Wii versions of this game are actually better than this version, and I've been somewhat curious about that. So playing this again was partly for nostalgia, but also to get it fresh in my mind again for the possibility that I might play through the PS2 version finally to compare it better.

This version though has aged poorly. It may have always come across as a shallow janky game, but going back to it now, it's far harder to forgive it for its failings. It barely functions. Combat is incredibly sloppy and is always falling over itself at every moment. Attacks not connecting, inputs being dropped, physics breaking, event triggers not working, lock-on camera freaking out, even falling through the world and clipping out of bounds. Bosses are pretty awful too. They are impossible to read, and for some utterly confounding reason the game decides to frame them with a fixed camera angle that is always either way too far away to see what's going on, or way too zoomed in making depth perception impossible. It's a mess.

It has some nice looking environments at times, but plenty of rough looking ones too. Usually the good looking places are the interiors of space ships, with lots of shiny materials and naturally blocky surroundings. Areas that are supposed to be more organic are much less convincing. The visuals in general are very dated, with character models in particular looking rather ugly. The game re-uses level assets in the back half too, so they wear out their welcome a lot. It performs awfully as well. Some time back I had a chance to get a copy of this on PC, and even though that port is supposedly not great, I always kind of regret not getting it. Even if it's locked to 30fps, at least it should be stable.

I guess there is still some novelty factor to the physics engine, seeing enemies go flying when you force push them, or buildings shatter to pieces. Sometimes when the combat works it can be entertaining as well, in a simplistic, button-mashy sort of way. But those moments are rare, and there's other games that do even that kind of thing much better as well.

I haven't done the DLC yet, but I do plan on going through it. I have heard that one thing the PS2 version has over this one is extra levels that were cut from this version. But some of those were brought back as DLC here, while others are unique. So in the interests of being thorough, they're getting played too. I also remember the unique levels being a fun bit of fan service too.
User avatar
stvnorman
Member
Posts: 911
Joined: March 19th, 2013, 8:09 pm
Location: Keysoe, Bedfordshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by stvnorman »

11 Apr: Silent Hill 3 - HD Collection (Xbox Series X)
16 Apr: Hardcore 4x4 (PS1 on Evercade VS)
25 Apr: Beach Head (ZX Spectrum)
27 Apr: Alien vs Predator (Arcade)
28 Apr: Espgaluda II (Arcade on Switch)

Fancied a break from Elden Ring so did a relative speed-run of Silent Hill 3, which might be on autopilot now but it’s still a happy place! Loads of fun with very PS1 off-road racer Hardcore 4x4 from Gremlin Collection 1 on Evercade VS too - just need to let your eyes, ears and fingers adjust! Then most of the month was spent moving from Novice in one credit to original to Black Label mode Espgaluda II, which I’ve ended up being enjoyably proficient at and can now see the end in a reasonable number of continues. Same for an old favourite mash-up beat ‘em up, and I even found time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of everyone’s favourite home computer with Beach Head!
User avatar
Magical_Isopod
Member
Posts: 993
Joined: May 29th, 2018, 11:57 pm
Location: London, ON, Canada

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Magical_Isopod »

#6 - Sonic 2 (1992, Genesis - via Nintendo Switch via the Genesis Classics Collection)

Being born in 1990, I was a little young to remember the cultural zeitgeist surrounding this game at launch, but it's one I always remember owning. Sonic 2 is an odd duck for me - the internet at large seems to remember this one very fondly, but it's always the one I skip over and kind of ignore.

Having played it over the last couple of days, I sort of understand why.

Sonic 2 is a rough game. In a lot of ways, it feels somewhat incomplete. The lens of history shows us that it is - it's lacking two full worlds that were intended to be in the game. But playing the game as it is, I noticed a lot of issues with things like collision and physics that, while existing in Sonic 1, felt much more pronounced here.

Sonic 2 also has relies really heavily on cheap enemy placement - they really, really love sticking a baddie at the top of a ledge you can't see until you reach it, at which point your rings explode.

Some of the stages are downright infuriating too. Casino Night Zone in particular is something I dread encountering every time I play it. Metropolis Zone 3 is seemingly deliberately designed to snap controllers. Wing Fortress has possibly the single worst Sonic music track paired some really janky level design. And those special stages... By the gods, even if I enjoyed them - and I don't - they drag on for way too long. Collecting X number of rings is well and good, but Tails exists in these levels strictly to shed rings on your behalf. Immensely frustrating.

The game's not without positives though. This game is the advent of the spin dash, something that is now core to the 2D Sonic formula. A few levels - Mystic Cave Zone in particular - are really interesting and well-designed. And Mecha Sonic is one of my favourite antagonists in Sonic due to a very cool design and fun boss fight.

Taken on the whole though, this is my least favourite of the Genesis Sonic games. It's... Fine? But it's nowhere near the high standard of 1 or 3&K in particular. It just kinda feels incomplete and "half-way". It's not bad by any stretch - it's perfectly fine. But it does have some problems that would be ironed out in later iterations.

&iso2022
User avatar
ratsoalbion
Admin
Posts: 7918
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
Location: Brighton, England
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ratsoalbion »

Design complaints aside, what I would say is that the Genesis Classics Collection is a particularly bad way to experience Sonic 2 (and - sadly- every other game on there), due to its substantial input and audio lag woes.

The SEGA AGES version from M2 gives a much more accurate impression of how the game is supposed to actually feel and play.
User avatar
ThirdDrawing
Member
Posts: 571
Joined: October 13th, 2016, 2:33 pm
Location: Poverty Stricken StudentLand

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ThirdDrawing »

The rpgs on it are good though!
User avatar
Magical_Isopod
Member
Posts: 993
Joined: May 29th, 2018, 11:57 pm
Location: London, ON, Canada

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Magical_Isopod »

ratsoalbion wrote: May 3rd, 2022, 2:45 pm Design complaints aside, what I would say is that the Genesis Classics Collection is a particularly bad way to experience Sonic 2 (and - sadly- every other game on there), due to its substantial input and audio lag woes.

The SEGA AGES version from M2 gives a much more accurate impression of how the game is supposed to actually feel and play.
I was thinking of giving it a whirl on either my CRT or 2DS to compare notes. I definitely noticed the input lag and stuttering though. Emulation's come a long way, though, to say that this release is "bad".

How's the Mega Collection version on PS2? I picked that up recently for the Game Gear titles.
User avatar
Rhaegyr
Member
Posts: 258
Joined: July 29th, 2019, 2:47 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Rhaegyr »

I love how the Mega Drive Sonic games have no definitive ranking, everyone seems to have a particular order/favourite.

Sonic 2 is by far my favourite but I enjoyed reading your perspective nonetheless!

Except the bit about not liking Casino Night Zone; surely deserves a ban.
User avatar
Magical_Isopod
Member
Posts: 993
Joined: May 29th, 2018, 11:57 pm
Location: London, ON, Canada

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Rhaegyr wrote: May 6th, 2022, 11:27 am I love how the Mega Drive Sonic games have no definitive ranking, everyone seems to have a particular order/favourite.

Sonic 2 is by far my favourite but I enjoyed reading your perspective nonetheless!

Except the bit about not liking Casino Night Zone; surely deserves a ban.
I'd have to rank the Genesis ones:
S3&K > Sonic 3 solo > S&K solo > Sonic 1 > Sonic CD > Sonic 2.

Haven't played Knuckles Chaotix. And if we count Mania, being that it's so similar, that remains the absolute best Sonic game.

Top 3 is like...
1. Sonic Mania
2. Sonic 3 & Knuckles
3. Sonic Generations (3DS)
User avatar
Rhaegyr
Member
Posts: 258
Joined: July 29th, 2019, 2:47 pm

Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Rhaegyr »

Yeah, I can't really count Mania as it's kind of like a Greatest Hits.

I'd rank em: Sonic 2 > S&K > Sonic 1 > Sonic 3 > Sonic CD

What a run that was!
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)

Had fun with this run. I feel like I am getting better at it. I've been trying to be smarter with how I approach encounters, choosing moves that I think are useful for the situation. I mean, I've always tried to do that, but I've been trying to expand it, like tripping up enemies and using Ripper Mode more liberally but more efficiently too. On top of that I tried to get better at specific parry timing in the Sam boss fight, and refraining from using healing as much as possible. I also did a lot of restarting fights until I felt like I did well in them, albeit still not being a perfectionist.

The step up to Hard is bigger than I remember it, especially towards the end of the game. It's a lot more intense, even mentally exhausting at times. I guess that goes to show how much of a difference those upgrades do make. Last time I did this it was a breeze, easier than Normal even. But at times this one was a real struggle. But that's kind of what I wanted, to make it a more interesting challenge that really makes you think about what you're doing.

I am even more confused by the ranking system this time though. With me restarting fights a lot, and just doing better in general, I have actually been getting much better scores for fights this time. Mostly As, and even the occasional S as well. Yet overall chapter ranking was still always just B. It makes no sense at all. With all the reasons I can think of that might explain it, there's plenty of examples that would disprove them. I think I might stay on this difficulty for a while as I explore what makes this game tick. I'll move up again later once I know what I'm supposedly missing.
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

Playing through Bloodstained got this game on my mind again, and I felt like having a bit of a palette cleanser after The Force Unleashed, before jumping back in to the PS2 version of that. I had a good time with it, but playing this again after having gone through Curse of Darkness, it's very clear how much better that game is. I used to think of them as about even, but having a fresher experience of this one, and after having played CoD, it doesn't come off as well.

It's still enjoyable though. It's got that dark and moody Gothic vibe with the hammy melodrama that I like about these games. Combat is pretty fun, as it gives you a lot of combos with your whip. I wouldn't call it deep or anything, but it feels good to use and you can string together some moves which put it little higher than just button mashing. It has some really good music too, especially for the last area in the game. It does have some issues though which make it stand out as an early PS2 game. The levels are a bit dull, from a gameplay design perspective anyway. Lots of very rectangular rooms that often get repeated. Rather flat layout throughout. Each level is also isolated from every other, so it's lacking the interconnectedness that is a defining trait of these games. The levels themselves are usually pretty linear too. While there are alternate paths and secrets to find, they're laid out in such a way that you'll be going back and forth a lot. They don't even loop back on themselves really. The game also feels a bit light on content. On one hand, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's kind of fun to breeze through something that isn't too complicated. But it doesn't feel especially ambitious, instead what you see it basically what you get.

These shortcomings are where the comparisons to Curse of Darkness come in. That game has so much more going on, and while it's also far from perfect, it definitely comes across as the more intriguing game. It has more depth and breadth to it. Levels are far bigger, have a much wider variety in visual themes, are more natural in their look, and have at least some level of interconnectedness to themselves and each other. There are way more weapon types that give a lot more variety to combat too. Then there's the Innocent Devils system that has you evolving your AI familiar that has a bunch of its own abilities. Although that said, some of the issues CoD has actually come out of these improvements over LoI. Making your way through levels can be a slog, as they are so big and you move pretty slowly. You go at about the same speed in both games, but with the larger levels that can start to grate. CoD also has a normal 3rd person camera, while LoI is fixed. I think that makes the former feel slower too, as you're constantly looking forward at the same path as you move in to the screen, opposed to always moving across a panning background. And while CoD does have a wider range of more interesting weapons, that takes quite a while to emerge. Early on each weapon type has hardly any moves, so it can feel lacking compared to the singular whip of LoI. It takes a while for it to feel like you have a decent amount to play with.
Post Reply