Updated with Arkham Knight.
26. Beat Metal Gear Soliv V...already shared my displeasure with the ending in the MGSV thread, still really really really really really like the game.
Updated with the Binding of Isacc and Minecraft of all things.
robio said:Updated with the Binding of Isacc and Minecraft of all things.
It's possible to "finish" Minecraft?
Foolz said:It's possible to "finish" Minecraft?
There is a final boss.
robio said:Foolz said:It's possible to "finish" Minecraft?
There is a final boss.
I almost convinced myself to try it for a few seconds there.
I am so far behind last year. At least I'm ahead of Foolz.
By Miu Watanabe.
Updated with game no 15. New Super Mario 2.
So my brand new New 3DS arrived and I wanted a game to try it out with. Given that thanks to Super Mario Maker I have been going through a Mario Platformer phase, I thought to myself ... why don't I play New Super Mario Bros 2 since I have it there on my shelf still in its shrinkwrap? So I did.
Good news ... the New 3DS feels and looks great. The battery life improvement is also noticeable. Pleased I got it, I see it becoming my new favourite handheld console.
Bad news ... New Super Mario Bros is the worst cannon Super Mario platformer. It feels like a shameless cash-in so the gold collecting theme/gimmick is ironically very appropriate. Having said that, it's not a bad game. I played it till completion, and my rule is: Any game I felt compelled enough to at least complete can't have been that bad.
But if you compare it to any of the other 2D Mario platformers (or the 3D ones for that matter) then it falls short in just about every department. It feels very by the numbers and short of fresh ideas. The gold coin collecting theme very soon becomes nothing more than an annoying gimmick which if anything detracts from gameplay rather than adding. The levels, while pleasant enough often feel stagnant and very short of new ideas.
Also this game has the poorest boss battles in any Mario game bar none (Yes even cutting the bridge behind Bowser 8 times in Super Mario Bros NES makes for better boss battles than this game. The lameness of the mid-bosses (the ones in the little castles half way through a world) has to be seen to be believed. Every one of them is a group of little triceratops type creatures on ferris wheel style revolving platforms and you just need to jump with your head on each one. The Koopalings are the final bosses in each world which originally I remember made people excited as they would be returning for the first time since SMB3 (and what a game that was!). Well in this here game they are some of the lamest boss fights you've ever played in any game and are only marginally more exciting than the triceratops. Shit it makes me angry even thinking about how little effort went towards the bosses in this game. I remember thinking NSMBU had lame boss fights. But this takes the bisquit!
This game is a shameless cash grab. I do not recommend it to anyone and I regret having bought it.
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
Updated with MGS5...one of the best games ever made with one of the lamest endings for a great game of all time.
9.0 rating.
Updated with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
I'm not 100% completion rating I still have the Secret Seclusion to beat.
SUPER MARIO MAKER LEVELS:
- SMB Mix-Up! (1AB2-0000-0047-5A7D)
- Storm the Castle (77BD-0000-00E0-A9C0)
I still cannot force myself to play past the third world in DKC: TF. There is just something about that series that I just cannot connect with.
Something about TF. It's not as exciting as Returns.
27. Beat Hell Divers - 8/10
This game is rad. Dope trophy system.
28. Beat Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - 5/10
What a let down after how enjoyable The New Order was. It does everything worse than that game. He still has the same shitty soft spoken monologues, it has zombies, it made a shotgun section boring, it's less varied, it's poorly paced, the story has less going on for it. If it wasn't for the core shooting and gib shots I would have been bored out of my mind, oh and somehow they came up with a boss fight, shittier than the ones they had in The New Order. Smooth.
On to finishing Dying Light and then The Witcher 3.
Updated with Transformers Devastation.
For anyone who is a fan of the IP....this game is a MUST PLAY...even moreso than the Cybertron series. Because they completely nailed the look and vibe of the original cartoon to the point where it really feels like you are living the dream you had as a kid of being able to control the cartoons themselves. Whereas the Cybertron series is more in line with the modern day vibe of the newer movies, just much better than said movies because they cut out all the fluff in favor of focusing on great gameplay.
If you're not a fan of the IP, though, you probably won't think the game is anything special. Its basically a watered down version of what Platinum does with the Bayonetta series. Good stuff, but definitely could have used a bigger budget or more development time. Its only about 6 hours long and you do in fact run through the same area back and forth through the entire game. But the basic gameplay and boss battles along with the simple but engaging plot overcome the limited play area with solid ideas.
You also have a ton of different weapons and tech abilities to aquire and upgrade...though the short playtime makes this feel like an idea that was really made for a longer game. I'm sure there will be a sequel, so hopefully they can really go nuts with the next one.
7.9 rating.
Updated with Far Cry 4.
Really solid game, but it plays, looks, has the same style of story as & the same vibe as Far Cry 3 that its tough to be really blown away by it. I would still pick Far Cry 3 over this one, as I liked the environment and the story a bit more. 8.6 Rating.
Updated with Halo 5.
Not as amazing and epic as the old games, but still a very solid title worth playing. 8.5 rating.
29, I beat Life is Strange. Work with me here until I figure out how to properly do a spoiler
I just beat it, and I'm not 100% sold on how I got to my ending. I obviously went with the "Let it go" approach, and that is a bitter pill to swallow, and it home for me, I've lost a friend before it sucks, but I don't buy the build up to it in episode 5. The game has always had dialogue issues, a lot of cringe, some of the acting is just so lol bad it's barely worth pointing out, so some of it could just be how they explained or the words they used in certain stretches.
When you get the Blackwell mystery stuff out of the way, and it becomes about Max needing to deal with the time stuff, her powers, (and I do disagree with Jango, because I do think the alternate reality thing was a given, time travel, or whatever diner max who rips you a new one is the only one that drops the alternate reality thing, and it's not a big enough point as it is still time travel and chaos theory). First and foremost I don't get the connection between her powers and why the tornado comes into destroy the town, or why we get two moons, or why wales end up on shore. Like I accept the story saying "Max using her powers means that she's altered time too much and then storm" on some level, but the connection is devoid any real nuance. Because the game naturally hinted at the impact of using your powers impacting the surrounding, most of the major stuff that happened began happening with how much Max started usiner her powers. First dream, no storm she makes it to the bench. Next time after she's used her power, there is a storm in the back ground.
Users her powers more in ep 2, we get the eclipse, the 3rd one has the photo bomb run and we get whales on the beach, the 4th one has the two moons because of another photo bomb. So the connection was there loosely, but it's just "it's the butterfly effect, accept it, peace out".
And because that's what ultimately leads to your final choice of ending A or ending B: and ending B is just way too stupid to even be valid. Chloe would essentially have to be cool with you killing Joyce, and would resent your ass (I didn't bother looking that video up, because it's such a stupid potential finish for this game I wasn't wasting my time).
Anyway you pick the ending, she accepts her fate, she's grown to learn that she can't control things and has to accept things as is, let it go, and all that jazz. But everything that gets you to make that choice is a guilt trip session caused by magic tornado. It's not your Max's actual tampering that force me into a no win situation, I eventually saved Chloe, busted Jefferson, David came out looking like a hero, told that bitch Victoria off (cookie stealing hoe), Warren was definitely gonna get some head at the Planet of the Apes viewing, but because supernatural stuff, gotta go back. The part where the game tries to bring up the idea that Max didn't quite use her powers all the time for 100% noble reasons, eh, not necessarily sure if that was the intent, but bitchy max mouthing off at you worked for some of her responses, because hey I did rewind time to show off I knew what was going on with Juliet and to get the answer right, but other times were more than noble reasons. I absolutely buy that Max under any circumstance would be a positive influence for Kate, and would make efforts to help her.
It's not the ending itself that is the problem, it's the set up for said to the ending that I could do without or specifically want reworked. It doesn't completely ruin my experience the way a bad ending usually does, but it feels clumsier than it should be.
As far as the rest of the game. The lip-synching was terrible through out the 5 episodes, it was a marginal improvement at best as the game went on. The dialogue did get better by episode 4 (still never consistently good), but the acting for some of these characters were rarely better than good enough. The stealth sequence didn't bother me, it's not a good gameplay sequence, but it's also so piss easy that it didn't really irritate me. Running through the town was meant to be a bit more tense given how everything around you is going to shit, but the game simply lacks the production value to make that type of atmosphere work.
But as a game, I'm always going to have some beef with this type of game, not the least of which is that they have the bare minimum from an interactivity standpoint. Because in that regard what does Life is Strange actually pull off? It nailed a setting and character archetypes that we rarely see in games (if ever), but how its conveyed in gameplay is by making gameplay as much of a non factor as possible. You do a lot of walking and talking to people, the rewind mechanic and whatever "puzzle" type thing the game comes up with is just a sequence of guess n checks since there is no impunity to anything, and what you're solving isn't much more than run through your dialogue options. The climax itself your input is a single button press, and from a choice standpoint, it's the same issue telltale stuff suffers from. Like yeah great you can do them, and you do add your own small wrinkles to the story, but the majority of the plot still needs to play a certain way, you just make tiny adjustments. So the players involvement in this game is so limited. Which didn't necessarily stop me from having a good time, but it also wasn't exactly some fine example of a game telling a story through you know, a video game.
All in all, not completely fond of how episode 5 works, was invested most of the way with the story, but wouldn't go out of my way to play this specific game again. Not enough to the interactions in the game, and I found how you got to the ending a bit clumsy. But I did enjoy the story, I liked Max, Chloe, Joyce, and Warren. Other story beats I had some minor issues with, but that's neither here nor there. I'd humor the idea of going back to Remember Me to see how that game and world works. And I'm looking forward to seeing what this group does next.
I don't think that was the intent, but I'm not a big fan of the nightmare sequence regardless. However, I don't think the nightmare sequence actually has much bearing on the ending (which is arguably one of the problems with it). Ending itself is dope because the lead up to it is the rest of the game.
Foolz said:I don't think that was the intent, but I'm not a big fan of the nightmare sequence regardless. However, I don't think the nightmare sequence actually has much bearing on the ending (which is arguably one of the problems with it). Ending itself is dope because the lead up to it is the rest of the game.
With condescending Max? I'm assuming that's what you're calling nightmare sequence. Yeah sure, I don't know man, it telegraphs that decision nicely, and thematically the ending fits, but the reason they come up with for you to make that choice feels so lame in comparison.
Funny I just ordered this game (strictly speaking the omega ruby version as the red box looked better) earlier today. Not sure if I will play it.
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Anyway, I updated my log with The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. It's a really great game. I didn't go into this game with any bloated sense of expectation due to nostalgia over A Link to the Past. I had played and enjoyed that game well enough but was happy to just take this game at face value and enjoy it for what it had to offer, which is a lot.
The first thing that strikes the player is how wonderful this game looks and sounds on the 3DS (I played it on my regular old 3DS but I intent to replay it on New 3DS as soon as I get one). The stereoscopic 3D is probably the best I have seen in all the 3DS games I have played. I played with the 3D slider turned up all the way at all times and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The colours are vibrant, the graphics have a very distinctive and original style and look very appealing to me. And, once again, it looks stunning in 3D.
It also sounds great, even on the 3DS's tinny speakers. This game has beautiful music.
Now the gameplay. It's really good. The gimmick of merging onto walls and moving in 3D is nicely done and it doesn't get old. I like that it is used throughout the game in all aspects of the game. It is used to traverse and explore the overworld, to solve environmental puzzles (either for progression or for bonus treasure chests) as well as in boss fights.
The overworld is nice though it felt somewhat small. I understand it's identical to that of A Link to the Past, but did it really have to be? I don't see why. It's good, but it feels small. I'd have enjoyed a bigger game world. The side missions, treasure tombs and side-quests are fun though there aren't that many of them. I'd have enjoyed it if there were more of them.
The dungeons on the whole felt somewhat simplistic and basic. Don't know if I am finally experienced enough in Zelda games (I don't think that) or if they are made easier than in previous games but I generally made quick work of most of them and didn't really get stuck anywhere. The bosses are mostly simplistic, very easy and forgettable. Beat most of them (I think all of them actually) at the first time of trying without ever coming close to dying. Also, some of them looked suspiciously familiar
I think the bosses are my one big disappointment with this game.
A lot was made of the item rental system and doing the dungeons in any order. Other than rendering some items competely useless and unnecessary (what use is there for the boomerang, or the bow and arrow), and some which you only really use in one specific dungeon and nowhere else, you get your usual bombs, hookshot etc which help you through most puzzles etc. Personally I enjoyed having everything from early on in the game. It made no difference to me playing the dungeons in any order or if I'd played them in a specific, logical order. Same difference to me.
This game is good, in fact it's very good, but it plays it really really safe. For all the hatred that Phantom Menace and Spirit Tracks get on this forum (which for the life of me I cannot understand), they both threw new things into the mix, took chances and shook things up. For this reason (and for the fact that the dungeons in ALBW are fairly simplistic) I don't think that this game is as good as the DS Zeldas. There, I said it, now shower your hatred on me, I can take it.
So, Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is a great game, it is thoroughly enjoyable and has nothing fundamentally wrong with it. But, it stops short of being a masterpiece because it just doesn't do anything to make itself stand out amongst so many wonderful older games that it shares its name with. Which is a shame as it could have been a masterpiece if they made the dungeons longer and more elaborate in design and if they'd given the bosses some more thought.
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu