Games Completed 2022

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Jobobonobo
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Jobobonobo »

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

I finally finished off this nice classic Sonic inspired platformer after first buying it a few months ago. The three heroines you play as were their own twist on the classic trio of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles with some interesting twists mixed in. Lilac is the main speedster of the group with some additional melee abilities mixed in, Carol is Knuckles with her brawling and wall climbing but also has her own motorcycle to speed through levels while Mila is the Tails equivalent with her ability to gain extra height with her ears and her childish innocence but in contrast to Tails is actually the hard mode of the game with limited but strong combat abilities and low health.

In terms of presentation, it is pretty lovely with luscious 16 bit graphics, decent animations and most importantly for a Sonic love letter, a really good soundtrack. What I could have done without is the story and voice acting. I legitimately think Sonic 3 and Knuckles were the best in the series in terms of storytelling as the little vignettes that served as transitions between levels with no dialogue were wonderful examples of the principle show don’t tell. I also think that for the most part platformers don’t need to have super compelling storylines and mostly get in the way of the action. And the voice acting was just not for me. Thankfully you can skip all the cutscenes and just have the main game itself so it is not a huge deal breaker if you just want a good 2D platformer to mess around with.

The level design and mixture of precise platforming and speedy sections capture the best parts of classic Sonic quite well. Going through the levels is a lot of fun and two out of the three characters are really fun to play with. The exception is Mila. Her attacks are strong but you need some build up before you can use them and she is very fragile meaning you need to be extra careful with her. Not to mention certain bosses with her are really frustrating. In particular, the mid boss of Glacier Battlefield and the end boss of Dreadnought 1. Just bosses that were challenging but doable with the other two that were just joyless slogs with her.

But despite these flaws, I mostly enjoyed my time with Freedom Planet and would recommend it if you want some old school Sonic-type antics. I hear there will be a sequel on the way so if they balance out the characters a bit better then it might be one to watch out for.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Alex79 »

Never heard of this but looks nice, added to my Switch wish list!
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Spoiler: show
1. Deaths Door
2. Pokemon Arceus
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
I heard a lot of people prior to playing this game say online that it had no right being as good as it was, that was something I never really understood as I always thought Eidos Montreal were a good developer given their previous output, so I was expecting a good time, but even so it blew me my expectations.
As everyone else who has played the game has pointed out, the writing truly is excellent but I'm going to go further and say I think the writing is up there with Naughty Dog and Rockstar. The way the characters talk to eachother is not only really natural but often times really funny and other times quite emtional. Whatever feeling they are trying to get across, the script nails it and that is helped by the fantastic voice acting performances. For me these versins of the characters are better than the movie ones which I also thought were really good versions of those characters, so that is quite the accomplishment.
I must also give a shout out to the incredible environment and monster designs in the game which were really imaginative. I often think sci-fi media often just makes very human looking worlds and aliens whereas barring a few enemies, the worlds and enemies truly do feel alien.
The only downside to the game is the combat which could be better. To me it felt a little wishy washy, great on spectacle but at the end of the day all the different moves and power ups felt very similar, just with a different animation. It felt as if it was trying to do what the recent Doom does with their being all these different abilities you have but in Doom Eternal where only certain types of guns work better with certain enemies, in Guardians, all the enemies just felt like bullet sponges.
8.5/10
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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)

This run was pretty interesting. The changes made to the fights in this mode added back a sense of unfamiliarity to the experience that was nice. Brought back a bit of that feeling of playing through the first time and not knowing exactly what the method for everything is going in, and helped improve some fights that feel a bit simplistic on the normal mode. But it's kind of a mixed bag. Some fights are altered quite a lot, while others get basically none. And some changes are good, some are not.

The best is when they add more weak point sigils to a colossus. It has you approaching the fights in new ways and climbing around areas you normally never would. One of the best examples is the fourth colossus, the horse-like one. It now has sigils on both its shoulders rather than just the head. Usually the fight is basically over once you get on its back and climb up to the head, but on this mode you have to explore it much more and deal with new behaviour. It had some action that I don't think I've ever seen it do before. It definitely made that encounter much more engaging that before.

But then there are others where the only real change is that they thrash around more and give you less of an opening to attack. Sometimes this works out okay, and the trick is that you just need to work out how long you can charge any given stab. But other times it's pretty tedious and doesn't feel like it's being fair with giving you any openings at all. They will just not stop shaking you and you spend ages simply waiting to be allowed to do anything at all.

Then there are some which don't feel like there is any difference at all, outside of maybe having more health and doing more damage. This are kind of strange in that they don't really feel harder. With some luck they can even be easier than normal mode.

Ideally it would have been best if they were able to go with the additional sigil method for all the fights, but I guess that's not really practical on the many colossi where there isn't really any extra room to put more sigils on them. I think they could have done more than they did though. And failing that, the method of making you time your stabs works well to make fights a bit more considered. It just needs to be a bit more consistent with how well it does that.

The next step on my journey to the platinum will then be the hard mode time attack, which honestly I am kind of dreading now. I can see many of these fights posing a big roadblock considering how drawn out and tedious they can be. I've taken a look at the par times and a lot of them aren't very far from the normal mode times, and after this run I'm not feeling confident about being able to hit some of those targets. Well hopefully with some practice and video tutorials it won't be so bad.

---

30/03 - Forza Motorsport 3 (100%)

This is something that just kind of happened. I recently started playing this again on a whim, as I tend to do every so often. Just going back to some of the old Forza games for a little nostalgia trip. But I somehow felt the urge to stick with this one long enough to complete the last leg of the event list. It's been ages since I last played this game in earnest, but last time I did I knew I left this off at a place where 100% completion was within reach, but I just dropped off it. Coming back I remember it was because a lot of the events I had lined up next were longer ones using slower cars, so I didn't feel like going through that at the time. But I managed to get over that hump and clean up every single last race this time. I even had some fun with the slower cars, as the physics model still manages to make them enjoyable. I was glad to get past them to the faster cars though.

I did have to make a bit of a jump though, not having many events left in the mid level cars, going right up to the racing classes. The lower racing classes are a lot of fun. The R3 cars grip really well and make getting your line right really satisfying. R2 is more of a challenge, with some cars being more manageable than others. Some are grip monsters that are great to use, while others feel like they have nowhere near enough grip. R1 is pushing to the edge of my abilities though. I have to turn traction control back on and struggle to keep a decent line. They can still be really fun but not the most enjoyable time I've had in the game.

I did notice some strange quirks in the difficulty balancing too. It felt pretty inconsistent a lot of the time. For much of it I found the AI pretty easy to beat, finishing way ahead of the pack even in cars around the same PI as them. Occasionally I found it a struggle to win and had to resort to desperate tactics. On one hand I'm not sure that's really a valid criticism. Of course I'm going to be better with some cars or tracks over others, and having the entire game have a totally flat difficulty curve isn't something you want anyway. But certain things about it didn't really make sense. Sometimes when I thought like I was doing well and pushing the absolute limit in some races I was still falling behind. Then in the final race of the game I totally destroyed the AI, despite it being an R1 endurance race around the infamously tricky Nurburgring, where I was definitely not driving anywhere close to optimally. Despite Forza's AI always seeming to have some strange issue over the series, I guess it shows how much it actually has developed since this point.

Anyway, this whole thing has felt like closing the book on a very long journey with this game, finally completing it and getting every achievement since first playing it on release day. It's been 12 and a half years in the making, but I finally finished what I started all that time ago. I do have another old Forza game that I am close to completing 100% like this too, with Forza Horizon 2. I think I'm actually even closer with that one, as I did try to do a big push with it a while back, but dropped off that one as well. I guess that's the next one to aim for.
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stvnorman
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by stvnorman »

3 Mar: Batsugun (Arcade)
6 Mar. Far Changing Tides (Xbox Series X)
12 Mar: Prehistoric Isle 2 (Arcade)
17 Mar: The Mandarin (Amstrad CPC)
26 Mar: Buggy Boy (Atari ST)
30 March: Mushihimesama (Arcade on Switch)

Decided to challenge myself with original Batsugun rather than the more welcoming Special Version before I moved on this month - a few more credits but still respectable! Mushihimesama then took over, from novice to original mode, and its many hours of bullet-heaven either way! Made a brief interlude with a literal dinosaur massacre seem positively easy, although Prehistoric Isle 2 is pretty easy by SNK standards with a bit of practice and a few credits. There was another interlude of a very different kind with melancholy, meditative puzzle-adventure follow-up Far: Changing Tides, as well a new CPC game and an old ST one that I’ve wanted since it came out but only just bought. Apart from that, I caved in to Elden Ring and that might take a bit more beating…
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ThirdDrawing »

ratsoalbion wrote: March 25th, 2022, 3:55 am Albeit a new game from 2002!
😄
Technically not, as it's a port of a Japanese Gamecube game!

Also, finish #5 - Uncharted 3.

It's astounding what a giant leap in quality UC3 is from UC2 in terms of story telling and pacing.
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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

Had a lot of fun revisiting this one again. I've always felt like this game doesn't get enough love, standing alongside Okami as being a brilliant example of just gorgeous Japanese art in a very fun action game. I don't want to repeat too much of what I said the other day, but suffice it to say it's a great time with extremely satisfying and stylish combat, and a blistering face pace in general that keeps you hooked to continually push forward. This AI upscaled texture mod looks fantastic too, and shows the game in a light I always wished I could see it in.

I do have some more thoughts since that last post though. To be honest the story doesn't really stand out much. It's really hard to follow, and I have to admit that I lost track of what was happening about halfway through. It's a pretty simple story as far as I can tell, but it seems like most of the actually important stuff happens off-screen, with major characters who barely appear outside of brief mentions in the dialogue. It also probably didn't help that I was switching between both characters alternately on this run, and both threads deal with a totally separate evil sword that has gotten in to the hands of some nefarious ambitious schemer. I also made a point to unlock all three endings for each character, which meant spending a lot of time in post-game bonus content unlocking all the dozens of swords there are to forge. So by the time I saw everything, it was a long time since I had any of the preceding events fresh in my mind. But much like with the other flaws of this game, I struggle to really hold it against it, as the simple act of playing and viewing the game is so inherently enjoyable.

Another thing I noticed is how each of the characters feel subtlety different to play, which is weird because they shouldn't really. They both have the exact same abilities and fighting style, with the same timing of their attacks, etc. Yet Kisuke feels stronger and more satisfying to use. He does have slightly higher stats, but not by a significant margin. But I suppose he also gets swords with better special abilities early in the game, and his bosses are better as well. It's a shame, because Momohime is the more conceptually and aesthetically interesting character. The idea of a princess being possessed by the soul of a vengeful bloodthirsty warrior definitely holds more intrigue than a simple ninja with amnesia. But I still like both anyway, so it's not a big deal.

So anyway, great game, still like it a lot. One that I think more people should check out.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ratsoalbion »

ThirdDrawing wrote: April 1st, 2022, 7:19 pm
ratsoalbion wrote: March 25th, 2022, 3:55 am Albeit a new game from 2002!
😄
Technically not, as it's a port of a Japanese Gamecube game!
Exactly what I meant; a Japanese GameCube game from 2002, it's a (very welcome) retro re-release.

Believe me, I was as thrilled as anyone when it came out on Switch (and then PS4 and XO), but a conversion of a 20 year old game doesn't count as a 'new' Mr Driller in my book.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ThirdDrawing »

ratsoalbion wrote: April 1st, 2022, 7:48 pm
ThirdDrawing wrote: April 1st, 2022, 7:19 pm
ratsoalbion wrote: March 25th, 2022, 3:55 am Albeit a new game from 2002!
😄
Technically not, as it's a port of a Japanese Gamecube game!
Exactly what I meant; a Japanese GameCube game from 2002, it's a (very welcome) retro re-release.

Believe me, I was as thrilled as anyone when it came out on Switch (and then PS4 and XO), but a conversion of a 20 year old game doesn't count as a 'new' Mr Driller in my book.
Sorry, I completely misread that. Totally my fault. I can read, honestly.
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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)

Didn't really have any intention of buying and replaying this again any time soon, but James had been talking about it a lot on Twitter and it was only a fiver on Switch so here we are! It just a brilliant game, and nothing has diminished since I first beat it around 2018. Think I was a fair bit quicker this time around, clocked the credits in just over 30 hours, but not done The Grimm Troupe and Godmaster yet, which I fully intend to do because I never tried them last time either, or at least I can't remember doing so! Already started the Grimm DLC and it's great so far. I was absolutely aching for Silksong before replaying this, but fortunately this has quenched my thirst a little for now. Amazing game.
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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)

Picked this up on a whim in the sale recently for under £2 and really enjoyed it. I put it on last night when I was in bed just to see what it was like but ended up playing through the entire thing. It only took two hours, but it's quite an interesting little story about looking round an abandoned religious cult site, at which there was a mass suicide many years ago. It's absolutely not a horror game, there are no scares and there is the occasional light puzzle (find a key, work out a combination lock etc) but it's just a nice, compact experience that can be played in a single sitting. It looks quite nice too, really lo-fi 3D graphics, and the closest I can compare it to is Gone Home, but it doesn't have the depth of story in that game, but interesting nonetheless. I'd definitely recommend it next time it's in a sale.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Magical_Isopod »

#5 - Terminator: Resistance (2020, PS4 version enhanced on PS5)

I already stated a lot of my thoughts on this one in my "Watcha playing" commentary, so I'll kinda provide a summary of that and add some additional thoughts.

I genuinely cannot fathom how this game has a 45 Metacritic score. Full stop. It makes absolutely no sense to me. Is the game perfect? No. It's not especially deep, the voice acting can be pretty bad, and it looks decidedly basic in the graphics department. But despite all that, I had a really great time with this game, and I strongly recommend it - with the caveat that people unfamiliar with the first two Terminator movies may not find the same appreciation for it.

The user score is 7.5, and that's definitely more apt. The game's scope is not super ambitious, but it doesn't need to be - it tells the story of the future events leading up to the first two movies, although it's set entirely in the year 2030, well after Judgment Day. It does a decent job showcasing the bleakness of this world, with a lot of the set dressing and abandoned notes doing a lot of that heavy lifting. The gunplay is basic, but still a lot of fun. You see the robot, you aim at the robot, you shoot the robot. Red glow means weak spot. But I was actually really impressed by how much of a threat the enemies in this game are... I actually had to push the difficulty down to easy in the interest of timing, but most of the enemies, and especially some of the later Terminator models, can absolutely rip you a new asshole. It's very in keeping with the lore, and actually sets up some moments of genuine horror - particularly an early scene where you have to use stealth to evade T-800s patrolling an old hospital, whilst you have no weapons with which to engage them.

A weird nitpick of this game, though, is a result of what I presume to be a language barrier... The devs are Polish, and the game is set in LA. However, because of some bizarre writing style issues, it doesn't feel like LA. If that makes sense. The verbiage never feels right, and I spotted dozens of grammatical and typographical errors. And while the voice cast occasionally nails their assigned roles, they rarely have California accents - and sometimes, the actor's original accent (I presume British) comes through unintentionally. It's kinda funny, but in a game that relies so heavily on atmosphere and world building, it's a bit of a shame. Additionally, the slightly cartoonist art style doesn't mesh too well with the established look of the movies - my presumption here, though, is that they're trying to go for a style more akin to the Terminator comics, as the European release does come with a prequel comic.

But that's really it for the downsides, and they're easy to overlook. I came into this game expecting like a "Oh hey, it looks like the thing I like" licensed video game of middling quality. What I got was a genuinely great experience that occasionally elevates to strong moments of excitement and dread resultant of the gameplay and world building, and actually does a really great job of providing a creative and interesting spin on a moment of the Terminator storyline that didn't really need explanation, but left me compelled anyway.

Strong recommendation to Terminator fans. Unfortunately, here in North America, Limited Run Games (ew) has distribution rightsto the physical release. However, you can import the Euro version - and the game is published by British outfit Reef Entertainment - for dirt cheap. I paid $30 CDN. Well worth that price.

&iso2022
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Jon Cheetham wrote: January 18th, 2022, 2:23 am 1. Dark Souls Remastered (Switch) - 3rd Jan
2. Pyre (Steam) - 10th Jan
3. Disco Elysium (Switch) - 17th Jan
4. Deathloop (Steam) - 24 Jan
5. The Forgotten City (Steam) - 13 Feb
6. The Solitaire Conspiracy (Switch) - 14 Feb
7. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4) - 19 Feb[/b]
8. A Short Hike (Switch) - 22 Feb[/b]
9. Elden Ring (PS4) - 10 April

Probably the best modern From game. It’s tough putting anything above Bloodborne but the vastness and richness of what you’ve got here is just on another level. This is a game of rare quality and immense scale. It has the best dungeons they’ve ever designed, the best NPC quests, many of the best boss fights (and also a couple of the worst) and is filled with astonishing art design and innumerable permutations of ways to approach its challenges.

Took me 102 hours to beat and I still have most of a major dungeon to explore. Plus about 50 caves and tunnels scattered around the map!
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by ThirdDrawing »

#6 - Suikoden.

A short, fun little romp of a JRPG that really excels at what it tries to do. I haven't played this in quite a while and it was really fun to go back to it. On to Suikoden 2!
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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%)

Finishing FM3 100% got my mind on this game again, and so I went and did the same thing, making the final push towards finishing 100% of the career mode. I wasn't too far away from it already, as I had tried before, but dropped off just before the final stretch. I remembered the reason for that is because last time I tried to make a serious push with this game, it was because I wanted to do another cycle of the usual career mode and do the big finale race again, around the big Goliath track. I had done it twice already, but then after putting in a lot of time and getting suspicious that it hadn't shown up a third time, I went to look it up online only to discover it never happens again. So that took the wind out of my sails for that attempt. This time though I just wanted to go back to this game and clean off some unfinished business. Although I did look through the menus and it seems you can't even lap around that track for the Rivals mode, so if I really did want to see it again, I'd need to start an entirely fresh file. But I still had fun going through the last of the career anyway, not expecting something I knew wasn't coming.

This game is still a real looker, even if there are little subtleties that future games have improved on. This one is still impressive, and has a style and feel to it that later games in the series don't have. The geography and architecture of the Mediterranean setting obviously has its own character to it, but it also has a certain quality to its lighting that I like a lot. A really strong glow to the sunlight, that sells the feeling of the heat of the bright sun, and brings out a lustre to the metallic paintwork on cars. The way it does weather effects is really good too, and the rain effects in particular are arguably still the best in the series. Better than FH3 and 4 at least. The way the sky darkens so much, and thick rain drops collect on cars, scattering light in a million different directions. It looks really nice. You can tell that this is one of those games that come around in the early years of a console generation, when the developers go a bit crazy with all the new power they have to do fancy effects, but before things have settled down in to the best practices of what games of that generation "should" look like. So maybe some parts of the world look a bit sparse, and some of the effects are a bit excessive, the overall look and feel it creates still impresses, and has its own personality.

To actually play it is starting to show its age a bit however. The handling model, while still good, feels pretty unrefined compared to later games. Especially FH4 and 5. Cars generally feel pretty unstable, and require a lot of wrestling to keep under control, especially under breaking. Differentials are often set way too high by default, and putting a wheel off the road by even a tiny bit can lead to disaster very suddenly. The AI is really aggressive and frequently rams you or divebombs in to corners. None of this is new to me though, I've always been familiar with it. These issues were the downside of being early in the console generation, part of the growing pains the series was going through at the time. This game being based on the engine of FM5, that had these same problems but even worse. But this is the first time I've put serious time in to this game since FH5 came out, so it stands out more after having two games in a row that are so much more refined and forgiving when it comes to the actual driving mechanics.

The way the career mode is structured stands out as being a bit unusual too, and reflective of this transitionary time, at least in retrospect. It moved away from the more traditional structure of FH1 that unlocked an increasing number of individual races in the world that had car class restrictions that got gradually higher. This time they tried to marry the online and offline modes in their general design, by structuring the career like the online Road Trip game mode that has since become somewhat disliked by the playerbase in later games. The career is split in to short championships where you have to do four races around a specific area of the world, in a specific type of car. Three championships in a row together make up one Road Trip. You don't have choice over what type of race you do, but your car can be of any performance class. During this endgame run it also lets you choose what specific car type you use, but if I remember rightly that isn't a choice you are given before the first finale. It's been so long I'm not entirely sure though. It's supposed to emphasise how the open world now has no barriers on the side of the road and you can just drive across anywhere to the next event, as well as making each Road Trip feel like a fun adventure where you go on a sightseeing tour of the world. I do like it for that, as it still has some structure and a sort of ebb and flow to it that later games don't have, and sells the holiday atmosphere the game is going for. But at the same time it also does feel a bit flat, at least compared to FH1, given how every single race type gets thrown in to all the championships without much distinguishing them. Unlike in FH1 where the street race stuff is set aside as being not officially part of the festival, making the setting feel a bit more fleshed out. Also of course with there being no limit on car class, it doesn't have the smooth difficulty curve of FH1 either. Then again, FH1's career was in general somewhat conventional for the time. This style stands out more as its own thing.

I didn't intent to compare this game to the first so closely, but that one just seems to come to mind much more readily. I guess it's because I did a playthrough of it not so long ago, and it feels like a closer comparison of games of a similar era. The series has morphed in to something else now, and even though I did play FH5 more recently, honestly that game felt like basically just more of FH4. A game I have moved on from a while ago already.

That got pretty rambling towards the end... Well anyway, FH2 is fun still. Good nostalgia trip, impressive aesthetically, good soundtrack, starting to feel a bit janky to play these days though.
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Kasuga-san
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Kasuga-san »

After hearing the podcast for it and Epic finally putting it on sale for an acceptable price, I picked up Final Fantasy 7 Remake this past month and beat it. I loved FF7 back when it first came out. My brother and I actually bought a Playstation because of it, so part of me was excited while the other was skeptical... and the excited part ultimately wins out in the end. I loved this game. Combat was smooth and fun and all the main story beats were mostly intact or improved upon. The game looks gorgeous at times and at others decidedly does not. NPCs in particular could have used just a bit more love. The only thing that keeps it from being a perfect 10 for me is the Whisper crap. It just feels like an indulgence (as Nomura is apparently known for, though I haven't played more than an hour or two of Kingdom Hearts) that was unnecessary and hurts the story more than anything. The final battles also felt out of place given the story, though I understand why they want to have some of them. I'd say all the other story deviations and expansions were pretty great, though. Really makes me wish Square/Enix would release a true remake of FF6...
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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)

I genuinely don't think I've ever played a more 6/10 game than this, and it's certainly the 'worst' game I've played to completion for as long as I can remember.

The game has a few positives to start with - it doesn't look too bad on Switch; it has a dynamic resolution which keeps the frame rate smooth, and the open world is actually very fun to traverse once you unlock most of your abilities such as super speed, high jumps, gliding and so on (although this totally negates the need to ever use a car or aircraft) and the combat abilities are fun too (explosion damage, telekinesis, flame throwing etc), so mechanically the game is sound.

However, it's wrapped in the most boring, tedious mission set ever. First off, all of the side quests are garbage. Just minigames and high score trials etc, they're just not that fun to try more than once. And the story is utter nonsense. Now, I know nobody is coming to Saints Row for the deep and thoughtful storylines, but this was worse than bad, it was boring. The missions are dreadfully repetitive too, and you could probably bomb through the main story in under ten hours. That's not necessarily a bad thing - I like a tight, focused shorter game. Except this is neither tight nor focused, it's just short AND dull.

Also, they made a nice city yet 99% of the game takes place at night. You only unlock daytime mode once you've beaten the game!

There were a few scripted moments that had me smiling, even laughing on occasion, but overall as I said at the start, this is the most 6/10 game I've played in a long time. It's hardly surprising the series dropped off for a while after this game. I can't say I'm overly interested in the reboot for now.

EDIT: Oh yeah, also, the Switch port is a buggy mess! I had game breaking bugs where the next part of the mission failed to load three times. Each time I was forced to restart the entire game. Thankfully I was only 2 or 3 hours in each time, but still, that wasn't great. There were smaller bugs after that, but every loading screen I was thinking 'will it break again'.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Scrustle wrote: April 11th, 2022, 4:44 pm
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%)
interesting read Scrustle. To be honest by first experience with Forza Horizon was with 4 so I just assumed that all the previous games were similar fairs but just with different locations, cars and fewer event types whereas it sounds like the structure was also quite different too.
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marrispleasure
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by marrispleasure »

Hi. You're goddamn right about JAN - Universal Paperclips addictiveness. I've played it without pause for several hours, and I understand why you deleted it. It's like staring like a zombie into the mobile phone, and if someone interrupts, you might throw something at him. The last time I've encountered that experience was when I used to play Rust https://totalrust.com. I was nuts when it comes first-person shooters games. I don't know how the human psyche works, but I'm convinced that mine might have some faults.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2022

Post by Alex79 »

marrispleasure wrote: April 12th, 2022, 7:36 pm Hi. You're goddamn right about JAN - Universal Paperclips addictiveness. I've played it without pause for several hours, and I understand why you deleted it.
:lol:
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