Games Beaten 2015

[Ack]

That's too bad. I received Omerta free on GOG some time ago and was curious about trying it. I guess I can sit and wait on it a while longer.

[Gamerforlife]

I don't like shooters, I could write a whole essay as to the reasons why, but The Order 1886 was just very interesting to me with its setting and story. A period piece in Victorian England with immortal knights of the Round table fighting werewolves? Fuck yeah

And this is largely what works about the game, the story is engaging. The characters are cool. The voice acting is excellent. And in terms of presentation this game is slick as fuck with its seamless transitions, zero load screens and gorgeous graphics. The game's sense of place is excellent with beautiful looking environments, settings and enemies who actually speak in relation to what's going on for a more immersive experience. When you move about the battlefield, you'll hear guys say things like, "he just went down the stairs" and if a guy gets off a lucky shot on you then you might hear, "Fuck you knight!" That's the kind of stuff I look to see more of in modern games, immersive stuff and realistic feeling enemies.

I love the use of black water in the story, which heals all wounds and extends life. It explains how the knights can survive hellacious situations they find themselves in, making it more believable that a guy regularly getting shot throughout a game can somehow survive it all, a little detail most game makers don't care about. Most shooters have a disconnect between cut scenes and gameplay. Why is it such a big deal when a guy gets shot in a cut scene despite regularly shrugging of bullet wounds in actual gameplay? Well in this game you'll see characters shot, blown up, etc. in cutscenes and use black water to heal themselves much like a player would use a medpack to heal in a video game in actual gameplay. Something nice about a shooter where people actually do get shot and stuff in cut scenes...sometimes completely randomly, mimicking the randomness of actual gameplay. I don't know, it's a small thing that most people probably won't even notice or care about, so moving on....

Gameplaywise, meh - it's a shooter. Though this game is more balanced than a lot of other shooters I've played. I actually found it a fun challenge to replay a lot of the game's firefights to try and get through without taking a single bullet and this is surprisingly possible in many of the game's encounters with the right mix of skill, strategy and luck, unlike most shooters where getting shot regularly is a given. Some of the science weapons you get to use in parts of the game are fun too, like the Arc Gun. One thing I gotta knock the game for though is it's use of bullet time, which is the worst I've seen in a game of this type. It's just really clunky how they implemented it and it's not nearly as useful as it is in other shooters. In fact, you can largely play through the game forgetting you even have a bullet time ability. I only really used it whenever some obnoxious shot gun user would try to rush me, and I'd stop his punk ass with bullet time...or if possible just melee attack him for a very, very satisfying kill animation. Seriously, fuck those shot gun guys. Punk ass bitches

When the game doesn't have you shooting stuff, you'll engage in quick time events and stealth scenarios and various other things like climbing, pushing boxes, etc. The QTEs are what you would expect, though there are moments where the game utilizes them in really smart ways. In one part of the game, I was shooting a charging enemy. This had no effect, so my next thought was to try the gun's secondary function. Not a split second later I got a quick time prompt to hit the button for the gun's secondary function. One boss fight looks to mirror Resident Evil 4's knife fight, but then adds a Punch Out inspired twist to it that is kind of cool and actually makes the fight feel more interactive for the player. There's a LOT of QTE stuff in the game, to the point of almost feeling like you're playing a game like Heavy Rain at times.

I really wish someone would make a game one day that has QTEs with NO button prompts. I think it would make the game so much more interesting if players had to look at the situation, see what's happening, then figure out what to hit on their controller. When games give you prompts all the time, it feels like you're not really interacting with the game or being challenged. You're just being told to hit specific buttons on command...which is uninteresting.

The stealth stuff is pretty basic, but it's fun to take a break from the bland shooty shooty stuff and just sneak up behind dudes and shove a knife through their neck. The game actually has a melee feature (mentioned earlier), that you can use if you get close to an enemy, even during a fire fight. This is very cool, as the melee kills all result in a variety of different killing animations that can vary based on where you and the enemy are. I went through an early fight in the game just charging fools and meleeing them to death instead of shooting my way through. That was fun...but suicide in later levels obviously when enemies have better weapons and can mow you down quick as a hiccup.

A solid game, moreso if you actually like shooters...which I generally don't. I largely enjoyed it for the story and presentation though rather than the shooty shooty stuff. I like this property and these characters and this world. The game's an easy Platinum too for those of us who care about that sort of thing. I don't get all the hate it got from critics as there's honestly nothing awful about the game

[Fragems]

I really wish someone would make a game one day that has QTEs with NO button prompts. I think it would make the game so much more interesting if players had to look at the situation, see what's happening, then figure out what to hit on their controller.

Beyond Two Souls did this.

[noiseredux]

I really wish someone would make a game one day that has QTEs with NO button prompts. I think it would make the game so much more interesting if players had to look at the situation, see what's happening, then figure out what to hit on their controller.

Beyond Two Souls did this.

so did Dragon's Lair.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I really wish someone would make a game one day that has QTEs with NO button prompts. I think it would make the game so much more interesting if players had to look at the situation, see what's happening, then figure out what to hit on their controller.

Beyond Two Souls did this.

so did Dragon's Lair.

and it was incredibly annoying.

[Fragems]

Yeah in B2S it was hard to tell how they wanted you to react for instance it was hard to tell if they wanted you to dodge, counter, or attack in a combat scenario so it was easy to screw up by moving the wrong way. It could easily be fixed by adding more button combos or color based prompts though.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Dragon's Lair is irritating as hell but "gets a pass" for being old and kinda cool looking.

Beyond Two Souls is just a dump load of dump.

[noiseredux]

I beat Dragon's Lair for Summer Gaming... last year maybe? It was horrible. Just one of the most frustrating games I've ever played thru, and it became one of those "I have to beat it to say I've beaten it" but I never want to play it again.

It still looks stellar though. Great looking game. Def ahead of its time and I give it tons of props for what it did, and other games it inspired. Just totally not fun.

[fastbilly1]

It still looks stellar though. Great looking game. Def ahead of its time and I give it tons of props for what it did, and other games it inspired. Just totally not fun.

Which is why if you buy the HD version, there is a "play like a movie" option. Same with Space Ace.

[Luke]

Dragon's Lair 2 is much more enjoyable. It is completely insane from beginning to finish and improves on the first game as far as indicators, story, dialogue, and silliness.

When I first played Dragon's Lair 3D I wished I was playing the second installment. But if you are a fan of the series, 3D is worth checking out.