Games Beaten 2014

[graffix_13]

So what did you find was better in the second Borderlands vs. the first game?

Everything?

The writing, the environments, the graphics, the classes, the leveling systems, the challenge, the interfaces, etc. Borderlands 2 would probably be in my top five games from the previous gen, and I'd say it is well worth trying unless for some reason you completely hated the first one.

First one did not seem to hold anything special but if the second one is that much better I will give it a shot. I got that along with a physical copy of some DLC. I always wondered why people went on about it so much. I just assumed that 2 was just more of the first game. That is what I get for assuming eh?

I just wanted to echo what dsheinem said. Borderlands 2 is WAY better than the first Borderlands.

In fact, I recommend playing Borderlands 2 first. I tried the first Borderlands but couldn't get into it. Then in early 2013, I gave Borderlands 2 a try and....WOW. Night and day. I loved Borderlands 2 so much it inspired me to go back and play the first one. I think I was still on a Borderlands 2 high while playing the first one, lol.

Borderlands 2 is in my Top 10 of All time and definitely one of the best games on the PS3.

[pierrot]

Don't you have to get all the pieces of the mask to Platinum or am I remembering wrong? I got to a hidden section that was sort of Meatboy-esque and it was positively rage inducing. Saw blades and what not everywhere. I beat the game no problem, but trying to get those mask pieces was nuts. Didn't have the patience.

Yep, that's Tule Tree. Worst section of the game, IMO. The dimension swapping while jumping to other platforms was just a pain in the ass. I had the most problems with the second section, where you have to run up the pole, dimension swap, jump to the other side, then dimension swap back to the other side without the spikes. The saw blade part was the last section, so you were almost done. I used Goat Fly while dimension swapping on that part and that seemed to work best for me.

Sierra Mountains was bad too for the orb, because you had to jump to disappearing platforms, and the would only appear for a second or so. So if you missed one on your jump, chances are you would fall and have to start over. I got past that section with a little bit of luck (ok, a lot of luck) and memorization after countless deaths.

No, bad is the El Diablo challenges. I got gold medals on all of them, but it took me a few hours.

Also, I really like the differences in the credits after the good and bad endings. Really cool game.

[Exhuminator]

Finished Front Mission 4 last night. Did all story missions and 23 simulator missions, final save said 51 hours 31 minutes. Totally worth it, great strategy game for hardcore mech fetishists. If the presentation and OST were up to snuff, it'd really be up on my scale. But as it stands I'd say 8/10.

[Violent By Design]

1. Sonic Triple Trouble - GG (5/10)
2. Hearthstone - PC (8/10)
3. Portal 2 - PC - (10/10)
4. Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition - PS3(10/10)
5. XCOM: Enemy Unknown - PS3 (10/10)
6. Tomb Raider - PS3 (9/10)
7. God of War - PS3 (7/10)
8. To The Moon - PC (8/10)
9. Kirby's Dreamland - GB (6/10)
10. BioShock Infinite - PS3 (9/10)

Wow, what a game - let me tell you something, I did not expect this game to be as good as its hype.

Well, first thing is first, this is clearly not a BioShock game. They certainly just put the BioShock tag on there for some brand recognition, but it certainly does the series justice.

I was totally blown by its aesthetics. I didn't expect the graphics to be nearly as good as they were, especially since I am running the game on PS3. The artistic design was just so wonderful. The first few stages of the game are just such a wonder, it might honestly be the most beautiful looking game I have seen. There is such a genuine sense of wonder when you walk through Columbia, heck the scenes before that when you're just walking in a flooded church was just awesome.

The only bad thing about the aesthetics is that Columbia gets war torn and things begin to look rather bland, also the game has some back tracking so it gets boring looking at the same stuff as before.

The world building for BioShock is probably its second strongest point. The American exceptionable world is just so fun to live in. Reading about this crazy religion where you praise Americans and their ideals was a joy, I mean really - looking at George Washington as if he is Moses, that's awesome. It was cool that they didn't avoid the problems of that time like racial segregation and exploitation of business and laborers.

The acting was very professional, and the characters were pretty good. I think the guy who made the weapons (Fink?) was probably the most charismatic character. The other characters are a bit more safe.

The gameplay is really bare bone, which is probably the game's biggest weakness. The actual controls are done well (though I played this on a PS3, playing with a mouse would have been a lot better), but there's not much depth to the combat and they don't try to do anything new or unique. Very plain/normal weapons for the most part, little to no RPG elements (doesn't feel like BioShock). There's a lot of money thrown at you in this game, but not a lot of interesting stuff to invest in.

Vigors (spells) were decent, but I thought it sucked being limited to so few, also I didn't figure out how to actually pick up old vigors that I ditched. If you can't actually go back to a vigor you replaced, then that's a pretty bad system, hopefully I was just dumb and didn't know how.


The game is pretty easy for the most part, it certainly holds your hands. It wants you to experience the plot, but there are certainly some mobs that are hard to crack. I died maybe 3 times, but the game does have the option to rank up the difficulty.

I thought the design of Elizabeth was just phenomenal, more from a creator/programmers point of view. The way she interacted with her environment and her body language - Take Two really went out of their way to make her seem like a real ally. The actual AI depth with her is pretty shallow, she'll find ammo/items/mana/hp and stuff for you, but it's not like you tell her what to do (for the most part) or you upgrade her or anything like that, might as well just be you getting random bits of health and money every now and then.


Last but not least, the storyline is probably what the game is most known for. It is certainly very well written, a lot better written than most games. The general plot doesn't really dwell onto many of the games themes (the themes in this game are made more for exposition and world building), but it is fun analyzing and taking into account all of the paradox's of multiverses. There are a lot of things that seem like plot holes/hard to understand, but if you sit back and think about it - this game did a very good job at covering all of those holes. Very well crafted, and plenty enough depth for you to sit back and digest all the secrets you found out.


Overall, BioShock Infinite was hell of an experience, the narrative is phenomenal, and I look forward to Levines next game to see if he can deliver another sublime experience. I could see myself liking this game even more a few days from now when it sinks in what I just played. For now I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a game with a good plot and great art, I give it a 9/10.

[Damm64]

Every time i hear someone talk about about infinite i feel i will feel the same way i felt with the last of us, pretty cool movie and ok game. I still need to play infinite to check it out myself but all i can say is that i enjoy a lot more system shock 2 than any of the bioshock games so far.

[darsparx]

Well I finally did it, I finally have one game for a list of games beaten this year:

- Katamari Damacy


It may not have been a 100% completion run but I made every star and over achieved on a few and it felt great to finally see that it was all finally done

[prfsnl_gmr]

Well I finally did it, I finally have one game for a list of games beaten this year:

- Katamari Damacy


It may not have been a 100% completion run but I made every star and over achieved on a few and it felt great to finally see that it was all finally done

Nice! It is such a solid game, and one that I come back to whenever I need a quick, very fun gaming session. I am glad that you enjoyed it.

[isiolia]

1.) Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)
2.) Remember Me (PC)
3.) Mirror's Edge (PC)
4.) Jumping Flash! (PS1)
5.) Run Saber (SNES)
6.) Heavenly Sword (PS3)
7.) X-Blades (360)
8.) Blades of Time (360)
9.) Trapt (PS2)
10.) Hunted: The Demon's Forge (360)
11.) Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3)
12.) Venetica (PC)
13.) Metal Gear (MSX)
14.) Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX)
15.) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD Edition (PS3)
16.) Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP)
17.) Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD Edition (PS3)
18.) Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Gamecube)
19.) Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD Edition (PS3)
20.) Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
21.) Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3)
22.) Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (360)
23.) Halo 2 (XBox)
24.) Halo 3 (360)
25.) Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3)
26.) Halo Reach (360)
27.) Halo 4 (360)
28.) Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PC)
29.) South Park: The Stick of Truth (PS3)
30.) Deception IV: Blood Ties (PS3)

Thoughts

Been busy, so, no as much gaming time. Also, went back to Diablo III a bit.

Deception IV: Blood Ties
After playing Trapt (the actual fourth game in the Deception series), I was hesitant to grab Deception IV before it hit the bargain bin. As novel as the concept might be, the last game in the series had flubbed practically every element of its execution in some way or another.
Curiosity got the better of me though, and I did wind up grabbing it off the new release rack.

Generally, it’s still a niche game, and the production levels reflect that. Graphically, I doubt the PS3 version I played looks appreciably better than the Vita version, since it looks more like a high-res PS2 game. However, unlike Trapt (this is a phrase I’ll be using a lot), I didn’t notice any performance issues.

Story is told with anime style 2D graphics, text in one of several languages, and Japanese voiceovers. In a way, kind of barebones, but it is a niche title, and I think it’ll hold up well over time. Plus, unlike Trapt, I didn’t notice spelling errors and the like in the translation.
Tone is also lighter, as much as brutally killing everyone that comes after you can be anyway.

The core gameplay is pretty much the same as before, but expanded. As before, there are floor, ceiling, and wall traps to pick from. In Trapt, you could equip several of each, but only set one of each kind at a time in battle, mapping them directly to three buttons.
Deception IV is more open, allowing you to select whatever mix of traps you want from a fixed number (I could eventually bring 12, not sure if further XP allows for more). Additionally, the number you can set increases over the course of the game. By the end, I could set seven traps at a time, again a mix of whatever I wanted.

On top of that, traps are also divided into three categories, which also correspond to your three daemon helpers – elaborate, sadistic, and humiliating. There are also abilities to unlock, though you can only equip two at a time. One of which serves as “easy mode” (auto-defense) with a penalty to currency earned.

Where I felt like the game really improved on its predecessor in terms of gameplay, however, was in issuing challenges. The big problem I felt Trapt had with regard to the story mode was that there was rarely ever a reason to utilize additional rooms, or even the full variety of traps you had.
Being fair, Deception IV rarely requires the player to branch out all that much either. However, each chapter has a list of challenges set forth by each daemon. Fulfill one, and she’ll issue a new one. So, even if it’s just for scoring/XP to unlock more stuff, the game is regularly providing reasons to move to another room, use different trap combos, use stage traps, and so on The difficulty curve is also more satisfying. Where Trapt flipped over from being very easy to, well, cheap in the last several chapters, Blood Ties ramps up over the first few chapters and starts throwing bosses in that take a moderate amount of strategy. Gimmicks weren’t overused though.

It still can come across as cheap occasionally, as recovery time after being hit is sometimes too long, status effects are annoying (like running around on fire, unable to trigger traps). Later on, it seemed like minor positioning discrepancies would throw off trap setups, and the “preview” for where enemies would land was often wrong if terrain wasn’t flat.

I wound up liking it. It’s not perfect, but, it’s a whole lot better than its predecessor. More in line with what I thought the series would be.

[Stark]

Well I finally did it, I finally have one game for a list of games beaten this year:

- Katamari Damacy


It may not have been a 100% completion run but I made every star and over achieved on a few and it felt great to finally see that it was all finally done

Now play Noby Noby Boy and be completely weirded out.

[Violent By Design]

Every time i hear someone talk about about infinite i feel i will feel the same way i felt with the last of us, pretty cool movie and ok game. I still need to play infinite to check it out myself but all i can say is that i enjoy a lot more system shock 2 than any of the bioshock games so far.

Well keep in mind BioShock Infinite isn't really a BioShock game