Back to back to back to back RPG's for the last few months!

I guess I must be starved from the general lack of them this generation!

Bugsie's 2012 List (hey it only took me three months)

1. Portal (the first one) - PS3

Finished on 13/03/12

What a brilliant game!.  I've had the Orange Box for donkey's years (even if the inferior PS3 version).  I started Portal years ago and even though I was enjoying it, I somehow got distracted and didn't play past the first handful of levels.  I got the sequel recently and was itching to play it but felt guilty not having played the original so I started it again from the beginning a few days ago and played in short bursts whenever I got a little bit of gaming time.  Finished it tonight.  Finally got to hear Still Alive and found out what the fuss was about.  Cute song but the real star is the game itself.  Can't wait to play number 2 but I don't think I will jump into it right away.  Will try to wrap up a few games already started if I can hopefully get back in from where I left them.

2. Metal Gear Solid - PSX (played on PS3)

Finished on 26/03/12

Not sure what to say.  I appreciate the impact and the ground broken at the time, but time has not been kind to this game.  It looks like shit and controls are a nightmare by today's standards.  I'm more relieved than anything else to have finished it.  Great game in many ways but I wish I'd played it nearer the time it was released.  At least now I feel I can move on to the other games in the series which hopefully improved upon it.

3. Journey - PS3

Finished on 27/03/12

The title couldn't be more fitting, for this is indeed very much ... a Journey.  And a very strange and wonderful one at that.  At £10 for less than two hours of game it's a bit on the expensive side, but as an experience it's worth every pence.  The "multiplayer" aspect of it, if one can call it that, is a bit of a gimmick and has no actual impact on the gameplay for you can (and most probably will) do most everything by yourself without worrying about what the other guy is doing - so it's a bit like the ghosts of other players you see in Demon's/Dark Souls except it's a more constant presence.  It does have an emotional impact though (especially on a particular level).

4. Mighty Switch Force - 3DS + Five level expansion

Finished 29/03/12.  Expansion finished 29/05/12

This game is very special for at least a couple of reasons.  While it was not the first 3DS game I played on my brand new handheld, it is the first one I get to finish.  It is also a game I played from start to finish ... entirely on the bog!  Fun times.  It's a great game.  I really enjoyed it.  A 2 (and a half) D action platformer with puzzle elements and a fun gimmick in the "switch" mechanic.  The backrounds look nice with the 3D effect but it doesn't impact gameplay as the game is played on the 2D plane.  If I remember correctly the game cost under £5 on the 3DS shop (and that was on launch), so it's very cheap.  It's not very long, but because it's such great fun it probably feels shorter than it is.  It has a total of 16 levels most of which are fairly varied, so there is virtually little to no repetition here to complain about.  In fact the game very much leaves you wanting more, which is a testament to its quality and design, and at an age where I find myself trying to get to the end of a game just so I can put it aside and move on to something else, this should count for a lot.  I remember Leo and Robio at least played and loved this, I recommend it very highly to Travo, Vader, Gaminggeek, Archangel and anyone else with a 3DS.  This put the previous "mighty" games as well as shantae firmly on my want list, and also made me think I ought to revisit "A Boy and his Blob".

Update:  This wonderful little game was so good that it left me (and I presume most anyone else who played it) wanting more.  And that is exactly what we got with the update WayForward gave us completely free of charge which includes five wonderful new levels.  Some new ideas, others taken from the original levels but pushed further.  Everyone of the new levels was a joy.  Would it be too greedy to ask for even more of this?

5.  Mario Kart 7 - 3DS

Finished 02/04/12

I'm listing this here even though I feel that I've barely scratched the surface of it.  I beat every cup (and got 3 star gold) with a single character on 50cc (ie easy).  But I'm taking my buddy Aspro's approach here on what constitutes a game beat (do what you must to get the credits to roll).  I expect I will be playing a good bit more of this, and I hope the vgp crew gets its act together to arrange a few more multiplayer sessions (it was fun when I played with Robio and Vader).

6. Super Mario 3D Land - 3DS

Finished 19/04/12

I finished this I think mostly because I I've been stuck in London with just my 3DS and this and the Mario Kart 7 cartridges.  Not a bad game per se but I expected a whole lot more after all the excitement and positive reviews, and just by virtue of this being a main Mario game created by one of Nintendo's best teams.  Slightly more in depth impressions in the thread for this game in the forum.

7. Sly Cooper HD - PS3 (originally PS2 game)

Finished 21/04/12

Played about half of this before I left for the UK and I was absolutely loving so I couldn't wait to get back into it.  Finished it yesterday.  Don't know when the last time I criticized a game for being, ahem ... too short was.  Probably not since the days of the black and white gameboy, but I felt this about this particular game.  I enjoyed it immensely.  It's a good thing it comes as a trilogy so I have the other two games to look forward to.  Wonderful platforming and nice mix of other elements with racing levels (not horribly overdone like in Jak and Daxter), space shooter levels etc.  The game is also a joy to behold.  Cel shading is a favourite with me, and this looks stunning.  Don't know how much of it is thanks to the HD makeover as I hadn't played the game before on PS2.  Also made me wish I had a pair of 3D goggles to make this the first 3D game I play on a TV screen.

8.  Mario Tennis Open - 3DS

Finished 01/06/12

OK, I'm listing this game here even if I've only just beaten it in the Aspro definition of beating a game i.e. saw the credit roll.  All it took to do that was to win all four of the standard cups and all four of the advanced cups of the singles tournament.  There's a good bit more to do with the game and it's a lot of fun so I see this camping in my 3DS for a while.  I hope some of you guys will also get it so we can play online as I don't like playing against random opponents.  If I go by how much I enjoyed the Gamecube version, this looks like it will have a good bit of staying power with me (especially as I think the tennis itself is even better and more frantic than in that great game).  I recommend this game to all 3DS owners here.

9.  Sine Mora - XBLA

Finished 02/06/12

That's right, I finished a space shooter!!  Well, at least the story mode, on the easy difficulty, with a lot of continues ... But who cares?  What a wonderful experience.  The game is a true joy to behold, with greatly detailed, stunningly beautiful backgrounds as well as 3D structures and ships, adhering to a decidedly steam/diesel - punk aesthetic.  The gameplay is frantic as with any space shooter worth its salt.  It's a great deal more forgiving because instead of being one touch death, or even a life bar - what you have instead is a timer which you must keep from reaching zero by killing enemy ships.  Though it's by no means easy.  Even to finish the story mode (with nothing over an E grade in any single section or mission) was pretty hard work at times.  The main reason I got an X360 (when I already had a PS3 and Wii) was Radiant Silvergun and the promise of a nice selection of Cave and other shmups.  With games like this it is more than delivering on that.  I see myself playing this game many times over and I recommend it highly to all true gamers

10. Sly 2: Band of Thieves HD - PS3 (Originally on PS2)

Finished 17/06/12

One of the few times I played a sequel back to back with the original game. I don't think I intented to do so but Sly Racoon was so short and so sweet that I was only too pleased to dive into Sly 2 right away.  Sly 2 is much longer than the first game.  In fact it felt too long at certain points and I was tempted to give it up altogether.  But I persevered, and I'm sort of glad I did.  It's a pretty good game, but disappointing compared to the first.  The structure of the game is considerably different.  Where the first game is essentially a platformer, with small sections of different gameplay thrown in for variety, this game tried to be a whole lot more, by introducing an almost GTA like "mission" structure.  This would have been alright provided most missions were platforming missions, but they're not.  There's a lot of stealth, a lot of other things ... not enough platforming.  So, a bit disappointed but still a good game, I enjoyed most of it.  Not going to be playing Sly 3 anytime soon though, I don't think (though I'd like to play it at some point in the future).

11. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - DS

Finished 31/07/12

I love 2D Castlevanias.  This was no exception.  An excellent addition to the brilliant series of games we had since the launch of the GBA (three for GBA, and three for DS).  This was the hardest of all of them.  It's been a while since I've had to watch and learn bosses patterns so I could avoid them and beat them.  In all of the previous aforementioned game, I could easily level up at certain strategic places so I was strong enough not to have to be overly careful.  Not possibly here.  No such spots, and the game's difficulty is up a notch anyway from the previous ones.  The game isn't one continuous massive environment (Dracula's Castle etc) it's made up of a bunch of "stages", some of them linear like order Castlevania levels, some with rooms all over like Metroid worlds.  You also rescue villagers who give you fun quests etc which is also a nice touch.  All in all loved the game.  Solid 9/10 easily.  Here's hoping the 3DS will get its own trio of quality castlevania games.

12.  Geometry Wars: Galaxies - DS

Finished 03/08/12

Had this game for many years but previously only played the Retro Evolved mode of the game, which I understand is almost identical to the XBLA version.  Galaxies is very similar in gameplay but offers a ton of mini scenaria with vastly differing conditions for the player to explore.  I would say there is a good 60-70 levels in total to explore.  You can't really beat them, so to speak, as you go on until you lose all your lives each time, but there's some scores to aim for by way of bronze, silver and gold medal for each level.  Some were relatively easy to get gold on even on first attempt, others more challenging, others requires specific tactics.  The game gives you a drone ship which follows you, which levels up with experience and becomes more effective the more you play.  There is a fairly good selection of these to unlock and upgrade and they have differing behaviours eg one attacks, one defends, one collects bonuses etc.  Game is great fun.  Bizarre Creations created a very solid gameplay which is at the base of this and Kuju fleshed it out into a very neat little game.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.

13.  Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - PS3

Finished 12/08/12

Had played a good bit of this before I went on holiday.  Got back right where I left it though I hadn't played it in a month.  I really enjoyed it.  I've completely turned around as regards this franchise.  At the start of the generation when the first game came out I thought it was just hot air after playing it a little bit.  After giving it a second chance I ended up enjoying it.  And I totally loved ACII.  Now Brotherhood, though it's quite a long game it feels more like an expansion rather than the next big step in the series.  There are a number of new elements and improvements though nothing compared to the huge step forward that was II.  The story is good for a game, but at some point I got a liitle tired of it, so I was just moving to the nearest quest or sidequest pointer on the map and doing whatever I was asked.  It's tons of fun to play.  I love jumping on rooftops, doing leaps of faiths, finding the platforming paths with the overhanging beams and ledges to traverse my way in a big 3D environment ... and I love assassinating!!  Especially by sticking my secret blade in some templar bastards throat.  No point in saying anything more about this game as it's so mainstream that everyone knows whatever they need to know about it and I guess most of you here have either played it already - or have no intention to do so (with the exception of Leo who I know is planning on playing this).  

14.  Batman: Arkham Asylum - PS3

Finished 16/08/12

If I had no expectations for this game, I'd have thought ... hmm repetitive - but fun and overall fairly enjoyable.  With a game as highly lauded as this though I expected something really special.  This is mediocre at best.  I'm not saying this to be a hipster about it and hate on something most people think is great.  I honestly went in expecting a great game.  What I found was an automated fighting system rewarding button-mushing and occasional evasion in a few of the latter set pieces and the same stealth task of having to take out 6-7 goons with guns one by one to clear a room - over and over and over again.  Add to that a lot of backtracking, useless collectibles, and a list of baddies most of whom you don't even get to fight.  I wish I hadn't bought Arkham City as well.  I don't look forward to more of this at all.  Being in a gnerous mood, I give Arkham Asylum a 6/10 - but it's actually a 5/10.  Competent but unremarkable and highly highly repetitive for such a short game.  Only recommended to Batfans (who I have no doubt have all played it already)

15.  Outland - XBLA

Finished 19/08/12

Outland is such a brilliant game.  Imagine if Metroid and Ikaruga had a child ... a lovechild!  That game would be outland.  I really really enjoyed it.  It also got very challenging near the end basically expecting you to mix and match all of what you learned along the way.  The last couple of bosses were very hard but not unfairly so.  It did take me about half a dozen tries to beat the final boss though.  Not sure who else here has played it apart from Leo and I think possibly Vader but I recommend it very highly.  It's a wonderful action platformer with lots of shmup elements and a very well implemented light/dark force mechanic

16.  PixelJunk Shooter - PSN

Finished 08/09/12

Sweet little game I've had for sometime but kept forgetting to play.  Not very long, and fairly easy (except for a very annoying bit where you are expected to use a mechanic that you are never introduced to and which is completely useless in the rest of the game).  The game is great fun and fairly inventive.  There are heavy puzzle elements in how you go about rescuing your guys and completing a level, so "Shooter" is a bit misleading in the title.  It could do with some more difficult scenarios (ie requiring more thought to solve).  More bosses would also have been very welcome, even though the three that are there are great fun and have some puzzle elements in keeping with the rest of the game.  Overall very nice.  Will look into Shooter 2 sometime.

17.  Sound Shapes - PSN

Finished 19/10/12

Boring, bare bones platformer with bad mechanics and not a whole lot of imagination (unless you have a lot of that yourself and a lot of time on your hands to build exciting levels).  As far as the single player campaign that comes with what you buy, it's pretty boring and basic and I don't really recommend it to anyone.

18.  Papo Y Yo - PSN

Finished 10/11/12

When I first started playing this I thought it was just a very poor derivative game with badly designed and uninteresting environmental puzzles and I very nearly gave up.  But I stuck with it and I finished it eventually.  It gets better.  I think overall it's not too bad.  Would give it a 6.5 or 7.  Totally unremarkable, but I've played worse.  And if I got to the end of it, that must be worth something.

Not sure how I feel about the emotional baggage that comes in tow.  Or the message: "Your drunk father is a monster.  There is no way to save him.  Just burn your memories and cut your losses.  Reject him and move on."  Not sure if that's something I want to be forced to deal with when I'm playing a game.  Maybe I don't want games to grow up after all.

19.  Heavy Rain - PS3

Finished 13/11/12

Ok this is much more an interactive movie than it is a game but still, for what it is - it's very enjoyable.  The gameplay mainly consists of moving in an environment checking things which have prompts and QTEs during the action scenes.  The story I thought was very good.  Much better than a lot of high budget action thrillers you get at the cinemas these days.  I would go as far as to say it's similar in character and feel to games like Se7en and Memento if it wasn't for the mostly bad voice acting.  I thought they did something interesting with the facial animations, not sure it's similar to LA Noir as I haven't played that yet but it looks quite good.  It's nice that it has different things happening to different characters with several possible endings.  I was fairly satisfied with the ending I got, but I probably wouldn't mind playing it again in a few months to go about things in a different manner.  I sort of regret not finishing Fahrenheit, but I am looking forward to Beyond.

20.  Dead Space - PS3

Finished 24/11/12

My word.  Game number 20 in my log was really something special.  Haven't loved a game this much in ages.  I realise anyone who has a PS3 or 360 here has most likely played this a long time ago, but in case there is even a single person who hasn't.  Seriously... Play. This. Game!  Mini review:

Another very LTTP game for me as I keep plugging away at the old backlog.  This time I finidhed Dead Space (the original 2008 game).  I had obviously heard a lot of great things about this game so I expected to like it.  Even so I didn't expect to like it as much as I did.  Seriously, this is one of the best games I played this entire generation.  I feel so stupid not to have played it sooner, I've had it (still shrink-wrapped) for years.

Sure the comparisons to RE4 are valid as the gameplay is very similar, but (I don't know if it's the adrenaline and the excitement talking) I would go as far as to say that Dead Space build on what Capcom accomplished with RE4 and offers an even better game (for my money).

The setting is marvelous.  A huge mining space ship and some dystopian mining colony in the far reaches of space.  The retro-futuristic vibes reminded me the little bit of what i've seen of Bioshock (and made me want to go back to play that).  The atmosphere is so thick  you can cut it with a knife - with very obvious nods to Tarkovsky's Solaris.  My goodness, the story is so brilliant.  This is serously some of the best sci-fi not found in a book by Isaac Asimov or Arthur C Clarke - but the tribute is a very obvious one as your character's name is Isaac Clarke.  The gameplay is so intense.  The game is seriously creepy.  It has a most intense sense of claustrophobia from beginning to end.  The incredible sound design just adds to that.  Enemies come at you from all sides and you often don't realise until they're too close.  The boss fights though few are very clever and very enjoyable.  Game is very long for an action game, and though there is a fair bit of backtracking through the environments, it never feels like it drags.  It's really good and really intense from beginning to end.

I think this may be the best EA game I have ever played.  I expected it to be good, but it's better than good.  It's near perfect.  9.6 easy!  I'm so glad I have Extraction and Dead Space 2 ready!

21.  Assassins Creed: Revelations - PS3

Finished 08/12/12

I just finished Assassin's Creed: Revelations.  Have rather mixed feelings about it.  There is so much I love about this game, and about the series on the whole, and so much that annoys me or even enrages me.  Overall I think it's a pretty great game.  Maybe not as good as ACII or Brotherhood, but a great game nonetheless.  It keeps a lot of what was great in the previous games, ie the core gameplay elements.  It builds upon certain things introduced in Brotherhood such as the ... erm Brotherhood of assassins you lead.  It also introduces certain new things most of which are mis-steps in my opinion and I hope they are not in ACIII.  The worst of those is a very stupid and very bad tower defence type mini-game you are forced to play when one of your assassins dens is under attack.  It's so stupid and pointless and a complete waste of time - I really wonder who thought this was a good idea to include.  Once I realised how easy it was just to let the Templars take back the den only for me to attack and reclaim it in just a minute - I never bothered with the stupid tower defence anymore.  Another very annoying thing is a fetish with bombs.  I just don't understand it.  Very early on in the game the game forces you to craft and use bombs and after that it just literally begs you to use them when in all honesty - personally I just couldn't be bothered as I was happy enough with my blades and with my band of badass assassins.  Constantinople is just littered with treasure chests with bomb parts.  They are not even hidden like in the previous games.  They are just in your face everywhere.  It gets so very annoying I couldn't even be bothered to open them as soon as I realised.  Also the sections you play as Desmond are super annoying.  They play in first person and you navigate a certain kind of stripped down levels that are like a cross between the matrix and portal in first person.  I think there are five of these.  I played the first two, hated them, then realised I didn't have to play them so I didn't do the rest.

The main missions, though fun, don't seem quite as intricate or as well designed as in the previous two games.  And there's actually very few assassinations, which sort of bothered me personally.  So the game is not nearly as substantial as ACII or BroHo in this department - perhaps that's why they attempted to pad it out with so many of the annoying things I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Istanbul is a nice city for the setting of an AC game.  It's like a cross between the Renaissance cities of the previous two entries and the Eastern cities of the original AC.  Also the fictionalised version of the Byzantine-Ottoman conflict it touches upon as a backstory is quite interesting albeit not very well explained (as with most things in the AC backstory it seems deliberately vague to give it an air of mystery and depth).

The game is quite emotional, or soppy depending on your standpoint.  It is the third and final game in Ezio Auditore's trilogy which began with him as a young man in ACII.  This time Ezio is a weathered old fox in the twilight of his years.  With lots of thoughts and reflections on his life and actions (and the meaning of it all yadda yadda ya...)  There is also a link between Ezio and Altair, the protagonist of the first game.  Through Ezio (or should I be saying Desmond?) we get to relive Altairs final years and his ending.  Quite moving in a way, though a bit preachy.

Decent game overall.  I'd happily give it a 7.5 or maybe 8.  

Dvader said:

Games Beaten:

1. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
2. WarioWare Inc
3. Sonic CD
4. Super Mario 3D Land
5. Kirby's Dreamland
6. Mario Kart 7
7. Batman Arkham City
8. Mass Effect
9. Resident Evil Revelations
10. The Simpsons Arcade
11. Mass Effect 2
12. Afterburner Climax
13. Rayman Origins
14. Goldeneye
15. Bastion
16. God of War Chains of Olympus
17. Killzone 3

I win.

Not in terms of quality, though.

Dvader said:

Sonic jokes are old.

It wasn't a joke.

I finished Child of Eden last night (the internet is safe again, you're welcome).  Absolutely gorgeous. Visually and to a lesser extent aurally itjust amazing. As a shooter it is average at best. Its a strange sensation really. Playing a game and wanting to see more... just as long as i don't have to play it.  Kind of amazed why anyone would think it shoyld have been a full priced game. I don't know. Maybe its more fun to play with Kinnect and using your hands.

Foolz said:

How did you hold the controller?!

With my balls.

Mass Effect 3. Done.

Started Journey yesterday.  Fisnihed Journey yesterday.  Short but sweet.

ME2. HOORAY

^

He's still The God of Trendy. He's just taken on a hipster (could not be more trendy) persona in which he must hate on all that is lauded and cool.