Games NOT beaten: 2011

[KillerJuan77]

fantasia - sega
final fantasy VII - ps1

today is a sad, sad day. my disc 2 is fucked; there is a deep scratch on the label side. i have no idea how old or when the scratch occurred, but i just noticed it when i decided to play it last week . the idea of problems occurring because of it were in the back of my mind from the get go, but i wasn't going to let that stop me from playing it. so, i am stuck about 20 hours into it.

for those of you who have played it, my current save is near corel on the rail road tracks; i am getting the first huge materia from the nearby macko reactor. when i try to leave corel there is a never ending blank screen. the music still plays, but the screen is forever black.

i probably won't go out and search for a disc two or another copy this year, which is why i am chalking it up as not beaten. but, at some point i will probably want to beat the game again and will have to make another purchase. thankfully, this isn't an 80 dollar game.

You could try to resurface it with displex or polish.

[Gamerforlife]

Infamous - Speaking of generic and mediocre, we have Sucker Punch's Infamous. Let's see, we'll take third person shooting 101 and sandbox games 101 and slap them together going through the same motions as the fifty billion other shooters and sandbox games out there. Then we throw in a gimmicky excuse for a karma system that has little effect on the game other than slightly changing the story and making you wish you were playing a Bioware game where this sort of thing ACTUALLY MATTERS. Then throw in some unlikable characters, repetitive missions(like all sandbox games) and a shitty platforming system that requires ZERO skill since Cole just automatically gets drawn to anything he can interact with like metal to a magnet. Did I mention how annoying it is when you are trying to drop to the ground but can't because Cole keeps trying to grab the ledge or building you're trying to get off of? Nothing I love more than being reminded that I have no control over my character. It's like Prince of Persia 2008, why let players do the work when you can just play the game for them?

I thought the karma system was just fine. If you're a jerk, it doesn't just make minor changes to the story, people on the street will insult you, run away from you in fear, and even throw stuff at you. Plus the game takes on an overcast, dirty look. If you're nice, the sky is much more clear, and people cheer you and say nice stuff about you. I thought it had a nice effect.

All that stuff is superficial. Gameplay-wise, little changes. In fact, gameplay has no effect on karma whatsoever. You'll frequently hurt or kill innocents over the course of the game because the designers had the bright idea of having most of your enemy encounters occur in populated areas. Does killing a few innocents in the thick of combat give you bad karma? Nope. Does standing in a puddle and killing three people as you send bolts of electricity through the water give you bad karma? Nope. It's just gimmicky. Your actions only affect karma when the game decides for them too

Also, while a game like Mass Effect poses some serious moral questions at the player, it's all silly grade school stuff in Infamous. Do I punch this guy in the face(Oh no! Bad Karma!)or do I just walk away(Yay! Good Karma!). Compare that to deciding whether or not to wipe out an entire race in Mass Effect, or whether or not to kill a prisoner, or whether or not to diffuse a hostage situation through diplomacy or just killing the terrorists. You make MEANINGFUL moral decisions in Mass Effect

[Gamerforlife]

Damnit, even though it pisses me off in so many ways I've found myself picking up Darksiders again. I may end up forcing myself to finish it

I told myself I wouldn't keep playing, but I like the story, the world, the characters, the atmosphere, etc. The same things that got me hooked on The Darkness. It feels like a cool comic book.

It's also kind of interesting to see what game it's going to rip off next as I keep playing through it. I heard there's a Portal gun ala Valve in the game. Jesus, I even played through a third person shooter section. This game wants to be everything, even more so than Castlvania: Lords of Shadow did. It's God of War, it's Panzer Dragoon, It's Zelda, it's a third person shooter, it's Portal, it's damn near everything

[J T]

Your attempts to criticize Darksiders for being derivative have ironically made me want to play it. Perhaps it's time to clear some space on the harddrive again so I can install my copy of it.

[Stark]

Your attempts to criticize Darksiders for being derivative have ironically made me want to play it. Perhaps it's time to clear some space on the harddrive again so I can install my copy of it.

I LOVED Darksiders, anything with Simon Templeman in it is okay in my book. IMO, who cares if a game is derivative or unoriginal, it's not a movie, it's a game. Is it fun to play? Darksiders, check. Castlevania: LoS, check. Infamous, check.

[brunoafh]

I quite liked Darksiders as well. The blatant rip off nature of the game doesn't prove to be overly irritating like it does in Lords of Shadow and Dante's Inferno, and there's enough creativity and interesting set pieces going on in the game to give it it's own personality. Worth a shot in my book.

[Gamerforlife]

It's winning me over despite my previous rant. It's not uncommon for me to go back and forth on certain games between hating them and liking them. Like I said before though, a lot of it is the story and characters. One part of the game reminds of Samurai Jack. You meet this big, huge Scottsman. He immediately doesn't like you and the two of you fight. Then some other characters come along and interrupt the fight and now it becomes a battle of you and the scottsman versus these other characters.

What makes this part fun is that it turns comedic as you and him try to one up eachother. A counter pops up on screen keeping score for every kill made by you or him and he taunts you throughout the battle as you try to score more kills them him. If you guys remember the fun moments between Samurai Jack and the Scottsman on that show, it's very similar. I guess I could say they're ripping off that too I actually liked it though, and I nabbed an achievement for outscoring the bastard

[Xeogred]

Darksiders was one of those games ruined by watching one of my friends play large chunks of it. He sucked ass at it and his brother and I were just constantly head-in-hands or having to guide him. I dunno, he ruined that and other games for me. Does that ever happen to you guys?

I hope you didn't like Dante's Inferno brunoafh, haha. You already know my distaste towards GoW (3 mostly), but Dante's Inferno was easily one of if not thee worst game I played last year (or was it 2009?). Utter trash and some of the most boring level design I have ever seen. Very disappointing since I loved what those devs did with Dead Space, though I guess Dead Space 2 didn't turn out to be that special to me either, worth a play... but not several like the first game.

[Gamerforlife]

Wow, Darksiders has even more influences than Lords of Shadow did. I'm only ten hours in and here are the influences I've already seen so far:

Challenge rooms that are just like Ninja Gaiden's Tests of Valor
A pistol weapon that is just like Dante's guns in Devil May Cry
Time manipulation like Prince of Persia
A Metroid-like overworld where you access new areas when you gain new abilities
Dungeons that are exactly like Zelda, even including a little jingle when you solve puzzles
A flying level that is just like a Panzer Dragoon game
God of War like combat and fatalities(minus the annoying mini-games)
Special sub-items for use in solving puzzles as well as beating bosses like in Zelda
A scythe weapon like the one in Ninja Gaiden 2 and a gauntlet weapon like in DMC
Portals like in...Portal(or Portal 2)
A powerful, two handed gun weapon that you use in third person shooter combat
Platforming similar to Prince of Persia or Tomb Raider

and who knows what else as there is still plenty of game left for me to get through. I won't be surprised to see it throw in a boss battle right out of Shadow of Colossus at this point like Lords of Shadow did. This game is the ultimate chameleon. I just realized one of the voice actors is Mark Hamill, so that's kind of cool. The game's artist and creative director is Joe Madureira of comic book fame. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the game's story, world and characters have managed to pull me in even when I was having issues with the gameplay

[Gamerforlife]

Oh, how you've dissapointed me Darksiders

Moving on to another game....