Games Beaten 2014

[Flake]

I found Legend to be slow and bloated.

Children may be generic, yes. But it's streamlined and fast and smooth and tons of fun to play. The perfect game to play when you're just looking to vegetate on the couch for an hour or so at a time. Nice and straightforward hack 'n' slash action.

Okay, when you frame Children like that, I can agree. My problems with Children were more with its place in the greater legacy of the franchise than the execution of the game itself. My frustration with Square and the wasted potential outweighed any pleasure I could have had with the title.

I also agree that Legend is bloated but....it's just in my nature to defend the first four titles in that series to the death.

[Exhuminator]

So far Dawn of Mana is pretty damn good.

[BoneSnapDeez]

You and I both seem to enjoy games that critics don't.

Though I don't enjoy Dawn of Mana much myself.

Speaking of 聖剣伝説 I hope to play through Final Fantasy Adventure as soon as I'm done with Crystalis.

[Exhuminator]

You and I both seem to enjoy games that critics don't.

Let our experiences not suffer the ignorant misconceptions of the bourgeois pundits.

[Fragems]

[quote="Fragems"]Games Beaten 2014:

1. GTA V(360)
2. Brothers(PSN)
3. Infamous(PS3)*
4. Infamous 2(PS3)
5. Remember Me(PS3 PS+ Freebie)
6. Shadow of the Colossus(PS3 HD Collection)*
7. Watch Dogs(PC)
8. Aliens Colonial Marines(360)
9. Titanfall(PC)
10. Battlefield 4(PC)(Hard)*
11. Adventure(Atari 2600)
12. Doom(Xbox)
13. Beyond Two Souls(PS3)
14. Killzone(PS3 KZ Triology)

Pretty mediocre FPS in my opinion. The levels were empty and linear, AI sucked, weapons and controls felt slow/clunky, and the story was bland. Also even with the "HD Remastering" of the graphics the game just looks ugly . About the only thing I found really interesting was having four playable characters to pick from each mission but really they all played just about the same just with minor tweaks to the objectives.

[Sload Soap]

Aliens Vs Predator (2010) (360)

This was pleasantly surprising. AvP 3 isn't a good game but it's not nearly as bad as I'd heard.

It is a deeply flawed experience all the same. Though you get the series unique gimmick of being able to play as a marine, predator or alien each with their own style and skills, each campaign is extremely short and lacking in any big moments.

As ever the colonial marine story is the most interesting. Early on there are moments of real tension as you fight off aliens with a pathetically underpowered pistol and the worst flashlight ever as your only defence. There are no iron sights and the aiming is a bit loose but it kind of adds to the tension.

The thing is, it never progresses past this. Sure you fight androids and predators later on but there is never a real sense of progression or the game building to something. This is also reflected in the alien and predator campaign, the predator especially suffering from a lack of challenge (you get a spear later on it one shots everything but the boss) and pace. Each campaign just sort of ends and unlike AvP2, there isn't the same level of clever overlap between storylines.

I did find some enjoyment though. I feel like the game does a good job making each campaign at least feel distinct in terms of play. The marine is close to survival horror in play, checking corners and cautiously dropping flares to illuminate dark passages. The alien is a schlock fest, skittering insanely fast along any surface and murdering puny humans with dreadful ease. The Predator is a power fantasy beating alien and human alike to death with his bare hands when he isn't making them explode from with laser fire or gleefully ripping heads off (with dangling spinal cords attached) in insanely violent finishers.

Even here there are issues. Those same graphic finishers can put you in the line of fire and the alien is still as hard to control at speed as she's always been but I guess it's the sacrifice made for such violently vicarious thrills.

So yeah, not awful but certainly lacking the pacing and set pieces of its ancestors. It's a B-Movie and a bit of fun, nothing more. I can dig that, though I can see why some might not.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (360)

Barely a game but much more than a demo, Ground Zeroes is kind of a fascinating artifact.

I'll just get this out of the way now: for me this is no way near worth the price Konami asked for. It's a generous beta at the very best and that Konami are either so arrogant or so desperate to parcel this off as a separate paid product speaks volumes to their current status as a publisher.

With that said, I really liked Ground Zeroes and this new gameplay approach to MGS. It's almost like a stealth sandbox giving you all the tools you need to complete your task but not giving you any clear instruction on how. The eponymous main mission is basically "Rescue Chico and Paz" and if you want to do that by pure stealth, pure action, bit of both, the game will acquiesce to those demands. I still got the feeling stealth was the "proper" way to do things but I knew Ground Zeroes was good stuff when on being seen I jumped in an APC, went on a mad rampage through the base, completed my objective and made a dash for the exit. Yes, I got marked down by the scoring system but honestly I couldn't give a crap about that. It was fun and I was laughing like a maniac.

Some interesting side missions pad out the experience with the (in)famous self insertion of Kojima into his own franchise being an amusing highlight even if it is a bit douchey. I'm quite not sure how the gameplay on show here will extrapolate into the Phantom Pain but it's a promising start all the same, drenched with style and substance. I can't think of many other triple A titles that would have an ode to obscure 1920's anarchists as its signature theme.

However, while I understand MGS has always been this weird blend of western military fetishism and idiosyncratically Japanese storytelling, there might be a few lines crossed here (the snuke being the least of it) that push MGS from edgy to unsettling. That and if you're like me and haven't played Peace Walker, a lot of the set up will go over your head.

While Konami the publisher offends their fans by releasing this as a £30 product, Konami the developer seems to be on top form. Such a weird little package.

Strider (2014) (360)

Another reboot but this one takes a slightly different approach with its franchise turning Strider into an action heavy Metroidvania with mixed results.

I did like this game but it's one of those games that just has these irritating little niggles, stuff that should have been ironed out but somehow wasn't. The main offender for me was weird hit detection which I think owes to being a 3D modeled game played on a 2D plain.

It's hard to quite explain but basically objects and obstacles that are obviously dangerous like electrified pistons want to behave like they're in a 2D game wherein any contact causes damage but with 3D models it looks weird when you get blasted back fifteen feet for lightly scraping against one.

The game also has a problem where the difficulty is inverse to a normal Strider game. It starts off a bit hard (not overly so) but gets easier and easier as you unlock better upgrades. Unlike say Guacamelee or Shadow Complex (or y'know Metroid) the game never really throws any enemies or situations that really test your increased loadout it just gives them more irritating weapons like sticky grenade launchers and freeze guns that stick you in place or blast you back.

Even the final boss is more a test of reflexes than knowledge which is bit of a shame. I mean it works for a Strider game, but this isn't strictly speaking a true Strider game so it's odd that the gameplay systems weren't adjusted accordingly.

There are pointers to this elsewhere as well. Enemies are rarely dangerous but there there are loads of health capsules dotted about because it's hard to fully avoid their fire. The most common cause of death in Strider 2014 is stun-lock caused by some irritatingly short frames of invincibility both after being hit and using the small pool of defensive moves. Of course this is mostly a problem early on but still, there was a point where nearly just gave up altogether.

It's also not too hot at the whole Metroidvania bit with limited ways to backtrack quickly. I wanted to collect all the additional stuff but just gave up when I realised I was just going in circles. Some doors are one way only for completely arbitrary reasons and there's nothing like Symphony of the Nights teleport network or Metroids speedboots to get through sections faster. Again, sloppy design.

Still, I think there is the beginnings of a very good game here as the with a bit of tweaking and rethinking I think it's perfectly possible for Strider to be a Metroidvania. It controls well, it's got some great boss encounters and is about the perfect length for a game like this (I beat it at 78% completion at just under five hours of play). Double Helix clearly have respect for the property (probably more than Capcom themselves these days) and they have replicated that Strider gamefeel excellently right down to the signature jump arc. It looks nice, it's packed full of unlockables and has some cool remixes of previous Strider musical numbers.

Shame then that sequel will probably never happen as Double Helix are now owned by Amazon and Capcom's current management don't make sequels for games that sell less than 5 million units because Capcom. Grab it in a sale I say.

[MrPopo]

I agree with your assessment of AvP 3; there weren't really any built up moments, just some more gameplay. With AvP 2 as the Marine you had that slowly learning about these crazy dealings that you get caught in the middle of (sort of like the film Aliens), and you don't have the same kind of thing in AvP 3. I'll disagree with your complaint about the Predator campaign, specifically the fact that it's a complaint. The Predator is a total power fantasy character and should stay that way. The worst he should feel is when he's surrounded by Aliens and you need to manage which weapons to use based on energy usage, cooldown, and accuracy.

[Sload Soap]

I get where you're coming from and I enjoy that aspect of playing as the Predator. But unlike AvP2 I think they made the predator a bit too strong here. He's like godmode version of AvP2 Predator. I mean, he can literally pick aliens up and break them over his knee. That's pretty ridiculous. It's fun and a different type of fun to the alien and marine to be sure, but for me it there was a total lack of tension and it sort of negates the Predator's innate cunning.

I guess this franchise is dead now as well? This isn't a great game but it's not a death knell either. I wonder what results adding a Predator to the Alien Isolation template would give.

[noiseredux]

Just finished ep2 of The Wolf Among Us... this game is incredible.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Just finished ep2 of The Wolf Among Us... this game is incredible.

Yeah. It's awesome, huh? Some of the later episodes are a bit weaker , but the game is great from beginning to end.