The last few games you beat and rate them 5

[The Merchant]

Had a bit of a strange journey with Spider-Man 2. The game started pretty meh, evolved into something great in the mid-game, then fell off towards the end. As someone who absolutely adored the first game and really enjoyed MM, I can't help but feel underwhelmed when everything was said and done. The overarching story peaked and valley'd quite well, but the writing as a whole was pretty mediocre (and at its worst was legitimately cringe-worthy). Gameplay is great (as you'd expect given the blueprint the first game provided) and the suit variety is without a doubt the best we've gotten from just about any superhero game ever as far as I'm concerned. Coming away I am far more excited about Insomniac's Wolverine than the prospect of a S-M3, which is a bit of a bummer. All that said, it was an enjoyable experience worth playing.

7.5/10

 

[Jovavic]

Homefront: the Revolution - Solid 7.5/10

Homefront: The Revolution is a AA (my feeling) semi-open world FPS set in the near future. The North Koreans invade and controls the USA. You are Brady, a soldier of the revolutionary faction. The game reminds me of a mix of Far Cry, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus and Terminator: Resistance.

I found the game to be more challenging than other shooters at first and puzzles are sometimes hard to solve. In some missions, you can't jump straight to the checkpoint because it will bug the progression (as I said AA game). There is no skill tree but you can purchase equipment that will make you run faster, reload faster, heal yourself faster, etc. You can upgrade your weapons and add weapon variants. Like your pistol can transforms to a SMG or the shotgun transforms to a firethrower. Same for throwables. You can recruit NPC (and they effectively kill enemies) and hack drones on the fly to help you along the way. You can stealth (not my playing style) and I found it challenging. You can drive a motorcycle in some areas of the game and it handles really well. There are side job that make you earn money to spend on equipement and upgrades, but are optional.

There are 3 DLCs and each are built around 3 linar missions (1 to 2 hours of gameplay) and are tied to the main game story. The Voice of Freedom DLC is a direct prequel as its ending is the main game opening sequence. The Aftermath DCL is the continuation of the story and is set 2 weeks after the events of the main game and is more open world than the 1st DLC. The Beyond the Walls DLC continues the story further. I feel that these 2 DLCs are the true ending of the game.

It's really decent for the challenge, the vibe and story. As a person who primarily plays FPS games, I think this game definitely scratched an itch. Easily worth the $3.99 I paid. It's a way better game that the critics described it to be.

Read your review and saw it on sale for 2 dollars on the PS Store, picked it up, sounds interesting!

 

[SimGrindcore]

Read your review and saw it on sale for 2 dollars on the PS Store, picked it up, sounds interesting!

There you go!

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Read your review and saw it on sale for 2 dollars on the PS Store, picked it up, sounds interesting!

It apparently also has a full copy of Timesplitters 2 within the game, the only easy way to play it these days. Don't forget to play that too! That game was a ton of fun.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Alan Wake - 5.5/10

I didn't play single player video games when this was originally released 13 years ago, so it's hard for me to grade it on a curve. In 2023, it was not an enjoyable experience.

As I wrote in the Currently Playing thread, The Remedy-ness of it is cool. The trippy, mind bending, what's going on here story is really it's only major selling point...The atmosphere is pretty good, too, I guess. Particularly when you're in the dark woods.

The actual gameplay is brutal. I found the dodge and jump to both be janky as hell and frustrating to use. The gun play is forgettable. There's only a few enemy types and you deal with them the same way. It was so un-fun that I eventually turned the difficulty down to easy just to get through the story....There was a lot of walking from point A to point B segments where nothing was really happening....The 'puzzles' were simple and repetitive. Find a generator so you can turn on a light or use some equipment. Move this cart out of the way. Stuff like that. There's nothing to figure out...When I had it on hard (or maybe it was normal?), I wanted to explore to find ammo or batteries for the flashlight or whatever, but the character is kind of slow and stamina is pretty limited. Stamina needs to be limited during combat or else you could just run by everything, but it would have been nice to have unlimited stamina when you're outside of combat...Throughout the world, there are lost pages of a book the character is writing for you to collect. I started off reading them, but grew kind of bored of it. It would have been nice for the character to just read them out loud while you were still exploring or going to the next spot.....When enemies appeared, the game plays a sound, freezes, and the camera rotates to show you where they are. At first I thought this was kind of cool, but I think it takes away from the spookiness of it for them to show you where everything is. I don't want to be jump scared throughout the entire game either, so I appreciate the notice. But it would have been better if there was just a sound and you had to find them yourself.

Between this and Shadow of the Colossus, these old, classic games are making me think that they are just too dated for me to enjoy in the present day. Games might not be as groundbreaking or whatever anymore, but the technology improvements and more importantly the lessons learned for world design, quality of life improvements, etc. that are just common practice now make games a lot more enjoyable. Demon's Souls, which I generally liked, broke new ground and started a new genre, but the other FromSoft games are still much better IMO (haven't played DS2 yet, though ). I appreciate the impact they had on the gaming industry, but it's going to be harder for me to convince myself to play 10+ year old games again.

I haven't played Alan Wake but SOTC never had good gameplay even at the time.

Truly great games don't age, these just aren't those games.

 

[SimGrindcore]

It apparently also has a full copy of Timesplitters 2 within the game, the only easy way to play it these days. Don't forget to play that too! That game was a ton of fun.

You can play Timesplitters 2 through an arcade cabinet in the last open world section of the game. Or in the main menu under "Extra" but I don't know if you have to buy the DLCs for that.

 

[pistolpete11]

I haven't played Alan Wake but SOTC never had good gameplay even at the time.

Truly great games don't age, these just aren't those games.

Yeah, I guess I'm not even sure if Alan Wake is considered a classic, but people are stoked for the sequel. SOTC is pretty widely considered a classic, though.

My issues with both of those are beyond the janky gameplay. FromSoft can be janky, but I've never had to force myself to finish one of their games.

 

[Voodoo Child]

After spending over 400(!) hours on TotK, I picked up a few games recently. CC: Radical Dreamers and Mario Kart Deluxe with the booster pack which I’m running in tandem - Kart is kart and CC is one of my favorites and a great example of a game that’s a work of art.

But the other game I picked up was Fire Emblem: Three Houses and I played it first.

I’ve never been a big TRPG guy, the last one I played was FFT and that was like twenty years ago.

+:

- Amazing score and voice acting.
- Excellent cast of memorable playable and non-playable characters.
- Three houses means three chances for NG+, but I’ll hold off on that at least until I finish CC.
- The story was excellent but not only was it excellent, it was plotted perfectly with ever increasing stakes.
- It’s maximum comfy; PS2 Squaresoft levels of comfort.
- Solid length, first run was 51 hours - not too big but not small.
- Excellent customization options for battle units.
- Fantastic artwork, Miyazaki-esque.

-:

- Super linear. You follow the calendar and it stops on specific days where you teach, certain events happen, you explore the monastery and undertake sidequest battles, but you can only do a certain amount of sidequest battles on a given week. Major plot events always seem to fall on the last weekend of the month.
- Weapon durability was fine - better than Nu-Zelda at least but why does the

Spoiler

sword of the creator

only charge enough for five uses each time you rest? A rest day is essentially a wasted day - put ten on the thing!
- It felt like a lot of the time I used the same combat arts over and over again.
- Byleth’s movements out of battle in the academy are kind of janky.
- At least in my house, the Blue Lions, some characters are just weak and die every battle, always the same ones (Ingrid and Mercedes in this case and Ashe until I made him a Wyvern Lord). Contrarily, some characters were beasts and gained levels much quicker (Felix, Dimitri, Dedue and Byleth).

A very good game - but a must buy for the Switch? Depends on what you like.

8.5/10

Next purchases: going full comfy with FFIX and the X/X2 bundle (wish I could get them separately because I have no need to play X2 again), Witcher 3 (still the reigning #1…TotK, you came so close) and maybe something else.

Still bummed the Switch doesn’t have Mass Effect Legendary, Dragon Quest 8, Assassins Creed: Origins or anything Suikoden, still planning to sell it or trade it in for a PS5 once Ghost of Tsushima 2, the new Witcher game and (one hopes) a new Uncharted game get announcements and release dates.

 

[Ceremony]

Shadow of the Colossus is a great game that has aged perfectly fine. I didn't play it in 2010 but Alan Wake would have been crap then and is crap now.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Super Mario Galaxy - 9/10

Replayed on Switch via Super Mario 3D All Stars, 15+ years old and still holds up amazingly, maybe my favorite 3D Mario outing, loved the diverse settings, enemies, and level designs, wish the sequel was available on Switch

 

[PeteWorrell]

Shadow of the Colossus is a great game that has aged perfectly fine. I didn't play it in 2010 but Alan Wake would have been crap then and is crap now.

I played Alan Wake in 2013 so when it was still relatively new and it was terrible. I am still puzzled at how that game is somehow a cult classic.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Aside from Max Payne 1 & 2, I thought everything from Remedy kind of sucked. I don't know if there's just heavy marketing from the company or something. I haven't played Quantum Break but I haven't heard good things. I was very disappointed in Control as well.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Just beat again via PS2 emulation:

8/10

 

[PeteWorrell]

Just beat again via PS2 emulation:

8/10

I am always sad that the studio that made this no longer exists so we most likely are never getting anything else like it.

Aside from Max Payne 1 & 2, I thought everything from Remedy kind of sucked. I don't know if there's just heavy marketing from the company or something. I haven't played Quantum Break but I haven't heard good things. I was very disappointed in Control as well.

They experiment and try new things so i can give them that. They are not constantly making the same game over and over again like certain companies.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

True

I only briefly tried Alan Wake years ago and wasn't impressed, I still never even played Quantum Break. I just remember people always getting hyped for their games and then the general fan reaction was mixed.

 

[Unholy Diver]

True

I only briefly tried Alan Wake years ago and wasn't impressed, I still never even played Quantum Break. I just remember people always getting hyped for their games and then the general fan reaction was mixed.

I thought Quantum Break was pretty good, but not a must play title, not bad but not great either

I wasn't crazy about Control, I tried to slog thru it but felt it was just a chore and tapped out about 2/3 of the way thru

I played partway thru Alan Wake when it first released then dropped it, went back and played thru on Game Pass in the last year or so, another pretty good from me, probably gets more love than it deserves

 

[pistolpete11]

I liked the story of Alan Wake (for the most part), but thought the gameplay was dreadful.

I liked the gameplay of Control (for the most part), but I couldn't even begin to tell you what the story was about.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

I thought Quantum Break was pretty good, but not a must play title, not bad but not great either

I wasn't crazy about Control, I tried to slog thru it but felt it was just a chore and tapped out about 2/3 of the way thru

I played partway thru Alan Wake when it first released then dropped it, went back and played thru on Game Pass in the last year or so, another pretty good from me, probably gets more love than it deserves

Alan Wake had a lot of hype behind it because it was delayed for so long despite having huge interest at every E3 event. When it came out, it had some of the most impressive graphics at the time.

I thought it was a 7/10 game, where the gameplay loop really became stale for the last 1/3 of the game or so.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

My main problem with Control was the map was so damn confusing. Most of the rooms have that same sterile aesthetic so it's easy to get lost. I got to a point where I genuinely couldn't figure out where to go next. I wasn't sure if the game bugged and a path didn't open up or something.

I ran through the whole map I had available twice and couldn't find the next path to take. I eventually found an elevator shaft I could climb down but the climb was so awkward I thought, "There's no way this is the path for me to take." After I searched the whole map a couple of times I finally decided I couldn't find anywhere else to go so I decided to work my way down. I died several times missing jumps which strengthened my theory that I wasn't meant to go down there.

But when I got to the bottom, it clearly looked like a well designed cave so I thought maybe that was the path. Nope, that was somewhere I was supposed to go much later in the game. There was a door that was locked and I couldn't open it because I didn't reach that point in progression. I couldn't climb back out, tried reloading the save file which had me stuck down there. I just quit and uninstalled, never went back.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Sea of Stars - 7.5/10

I was pretty hyped for Sea of Stars because it came from The Messenger devs and it looked very similar to Chrono Trigger with the art style and overworld. I will say, for a 16 bit style JRPG, it's absolutely gorgeous. Some of the animations are really neat and the lighting is amazing for a 16 bit game, particularly during some of the magic abilities. The soundtrack is also awesome.

The story is great but I do have some gripes with it. Spoilers obviously:

Garl is such an awesome character and I'm not necessarily mad that he died but I feel like he died too early. I think the game would have flowed a lot better if he dies, you fight the final boss, and the ending is a tribute to Garl as a bittersweet triumph in saving the world. You save the world but lose a close friend. In addition to that, I feel like the game kind of goes off the rails a bit. You play the whole game in a setting prior to technology, you lose Garl, and immediately go into a world of robots and machines. It was a really weird shift where the whole setting changed abruptly.

B'st was a cool character to add to your party but I just wasn't expecting it. Every character that joins your party has sort of a build up and then B'st just shows up and joins your party. I feel like the devs wanted to give you something since you lost Garl and I just never really cared enough for B'st like I did Garl, Serai, or Resh'an because of it. You also don't get the true ending. I looked up a guide for it and there's a lot of work to be done. I couldn't be bothered to grind all that extra and decided to just watch a Youtube video. I like the true ending more than the ending we got but I would have been very disappointed if I went through all that grinding just for a different ending that to be honest was about 2-3 minutes of different dialogue.

I was a bit disappointed in the direction of the story and it made me knock some points off but overall, the game was still very enjoyable. Even with my issues with the story, I'd still recommend it.

 

[Osprey]

My main problem with Control was the map was so damn confusing. Most of the rooms have that same sterile aesthetic so it's easy to get lost. I got to a point where I genuinely couldn't figure out where to go next. I wasn't sure if the game bugged and a path didn't open up or something.

I ran through the whole map I had available twice and couldn't find the next path to take. I eventually found an elevator shaft I could climb down but the climb was so awkward I thought, "There's no way this is the path for me to take." After I searched the whole map a couple of times I finally decided I couldn't find anywhere else to go so I decided to work my way down. I died several times missing jumps which strengthened my theory that I wasn't meant to go down there.

But when I got to the bottom, it clearly looked like a well designed cave so I thought maybe that was the path. Nope, that was somewhere I was supposed to go much later in the game. There was a door that was locked and I couldn't open it because I didn't reach that point in progression. I couldn't climb back out, tried reloading the save file which had me stuck down there. I just quit and uninstalled, never went back.

Whenever I get to a point like that in a game, I check what level/area/mission of the game that I'm on and search for videos of people playing it on YouTube. I then skip ahead until I don't recognize an area, then backtrack to find out how the player got there. It never fails to get me unstuck.

 

[pistolpete11]

Whenever I get to a point like that in a game, I check what level/area/mission of the game that I'm on and search for videos of people playing it on YouTube. I then skip ahead until I don't recognize an area, then backtrack to find out how the player got there. It never fails to get me unstuck.

Same. I have very little patience for that type of stuff, too

If it's a common one, you can usually find something on Reddit, too. For example, I just started the Dark Souls 3 DLC and I went straight to Reddit to see how you access it. I knew from Bloodborne's DLC I would never have figured it out myself. Dark Souls 3 wasn't quite as bad, you have to go to a specific bonfire to talk to an NPC who only shows up when the DLC is installed, but still, I'm not running around the entire map to find out how to play the game

Having said that, I don't remember Control being that bad. Maybe I got lost a few times, but not enough for that to be a lasting memory of the game for me.

 

[Ceremony]

We live in an age of the internet. When you get stuck in a game you google where you are and find 50 posts on reddit complaining about the same thing, and find the answer from there.

 

[Jovavic]

I still use GameFAQs first

 

[Frankie Spankie]

I tried looking it up but like I said, most of the rooms look the same. Scrolling through videos didn't do me any help. I wasn't having enough fun with the game anyway to really want to put in much effort. It was kind of the last straw for me.