The last few games you beat and rate them 5

[Frankie Spankie]

Thank Goodness You're Here! - 8.5/10
This is basically a Saturday morning cartoon of British humor. The game play is rather simplistic, you run around a small village helping people and getting into mischief. There are tons of jokes all over the place that will have you laughing from beginning to end. It's short & sweet, it doesn't overstay its welcome at a little over 2 hours. It's an absolute joy to play in and afternoon and I loved every minute of it.

 

[Shareefruck]

Thank Goodness You're Here! - 8.5/10
This is basically a Saturday morning cartoon of British humor. The game play is rather simplistic, you run around a small village helping people and getting into mischief. There are tons of jokes all over the place that will have you laughing from beginning to end. It's short & sweet, it doesn't overstay its welcome at a little over 2 hours. It's an absolute joy to play in and afternoon and I loved every minute of it.

"I can't keep pretending anymore, Roger. It's just too big!"

I was not at all a believer in that Untitled Goose Game type of gameplay loop until Thank Goodness You're Here gave their spin on it

 

[x Tame Impala]

Gris - 3.0 (Very Good)
Had preconceived notions heading in, but this was actually way better than expected in most areas, and seemed to nicely sidestep a lot of pot-holes that I thought it was going to step into.

Expected great visuals, but the designs/art direction, shapes, and color sensibilities were even more impressive and striking than I expected. Probably up there for me in terms of best looking games overall.

Expected slightly contrived, conventionally swirling new-age-y "emotional/theatrical" music that would make my eyes roll a bit, but I was actually surprised by how it felt more adjacent to the Hiroshi Yoshimura ambient stuff that I've been so into instead (that guy's influence on videogame music is really feeling notable). Was still skeptical in early chapters, but green and blue really had a flavor that sold me, and now I'm outright curious about checking out the soundtrack.

Expected really bare bones/borderline non-existent mechanics and level/puzzle design, and while yeah, it isn't SUPER deep, it actually felt surprisingly satisfyingly designed, intricately thought out, and elegant for the limited thing it was going for-- just enough to scratch an itch. The steps to the puzzles do seem to move slower (and involves more meandering walking) than the actual quality of the puzzles justify, but that slowness also feels pretty justified by the atmosphere.

I don't think the themes outright felt like inspired brilliance or anything (which certain other "Games as Art" games have for me), but it's still a nice little cohesive concept done well. In this case, the general aesthetics/mood are significantly more notable than the actual meaning for me, personally. That said, the storytelling DIDN'T feel emotionally manipulative like I dreaded (Hate that Ori brand of emotional storytelling).

I guess one extremely small nitpick would be that its cinematic presentation awkwardly seems to take control from the player a little earlier and more often than felt natural.

Games played from 2018:
Celeste - 5.0 (All Time Favorite)
Into the Breach - 5.0 (All Time Favorite)
Shadow of the Colossus - 3.0 (Very Good)
Gris - 3.0 (Very Good)
Bomb Chicken - 2.0 (Positive)
The Messenger - 1.5 (Neutral)
God of War - 1.0 (Negative)
Spiderman - 0.5 (Bad)
Iconoclasts - 0.5 (Bad)
Detroit Become Human - 0.0 (Terrible)

You thought Spider-Man was bad!? How?

 

[Shareefruck]

You thought Spider-Man was bad!? How?

It's been a while, but I thought it was just another shiny/soulless and basic-mechanic-ass movie game where people praise the storytelling because of how closely it comes to the quality of what amounts to a crappy MCU movie that was never any good in the first place, personally. Plus, design-wise I just don't think very highly of the beat'em-up type of genre to begin with (outside of maybe something like Sifu), nor have I clicked with any high production value Sony Interactive game (which never feels like a cohesive/creative/inspired idea to me-- just a scientifically determined mish-mash of what is generally expected in a game).

Other than making web-slinging feel good/right, I just didn't see anything worthwhile about it.

If it helps, my ratings shouldn't really be looked at as some evenly scaled way of evaluating how competently made something is, it's more like a measurement of how much I give a crap/see value in something. If I'm completely ambivalent, I'll be tempted to just give something close to a zero and be done with it, and spend most of the scale differentiating between the things that I actually find kinda neat. I hate how typical rating scales basically dedicate 6-7/10 points of differentiation between things that are ultimately not worth damn. Instead, I just have three buckets to put things I ultimately don't like in.

 

[PeteWorrell]

I can understand the feeling about Sony games. I enjoyed games like Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War 2018 and Spider-Man but for some reason i have no desire to play the sequels. I might get to God of War Ragnarok eventually but i am in no hurry to do so.

 

[pistolpete11]

My review of Spiderman was "it's fine". Production value is good, but it's mostly mindless slop. Haven't thought about it since I finished it and haven't been even tempted to play the sequel

 

[Jovavic]

I'm not much of a comic fan but I found Spiderman and the Miles DLC decent enough, tried them on a whim when I had Plus.

 

[Shareefruck]

Yep, pretty much what everyone else is saying. Mindless slop/decent enough might as well just be nothing for me.

 

[robertmac43]

IMO Spider man 2 is much better then 1. Movement is better, story is better, combat has more variety with both Peter and Myles. Personally, I loved it. I also recognize I'm a massive Spiderman fan to begin with.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Mindless slop is harsh! Did you play on the hardest difficulty? Combat gets more intense that way. They were both 8/10 games for me from what i remember. Great production, good story, did a great job of making you feel like Spiderman. Not flawless games of course but I know I couldn't get through God of War at all or Horizon and yet had no problem deep diving into both of these games.

 

[pistolpete11]

Mindless slop is harsh! Did you play on the hardest difficulty? Combat gets more intense that way. They were both 8/10 games for me from what i remember. Great production, good story, did a great job of making you feel like Spiderman. Not flawless games of course but I know I couldn't get through God of War at all or Horizon and yet had no problem deep diving into both of these games.

If there's a difficulty level between normal and the hardest, that's probably what I played it on. Combat was a too button-mashy from what I remember. The areas where you could stealth around and capture guys in webs was fun, but got repetitive. Same with the web slinging. The boss fights were entirely forgettable. I'm trying to remember one to comment on, but coming up empty. The story was equally forgettable.

It was highly polished. They accomplished what they set out to do. Just kind of generic for me. I ended up playing while watching/listening to podcasts.

I liked God of War, but I understand and agree with a lot of the criticisms of it. It was one of the first single player games I played in probably 10+ years at the time, though. So it had a different impact, but I think the story and atmosphere were all way better than Spiderman.

Horizon is one of the few games that I finished that I wish I would have bailed on.

 

[Shareefruck]

I don't really think of the term "mindless slop" as referring to a game's difficult/level of challenge, personally. It's more about how uninspired and uninteresting something feels to think about, engage with, and conceive. You can crank up the difficulty in just about anything and it could be intense.... but.. many would still feel "mindlessly intense", if that makes sense.

But I dunno, beat'em'ups in general, even 2D side-scrolling arcade ones (things that I can often be won over by sprite art alone, which I'm a major sucker for) just tend to make my eyes glaze over, and rarely feels beautifully/intricately designed to me, personally.

 

[pistolpete11]

I don't really think of the term "mindless slop" as referring to a game's difficult/level of challenge, personally. It's more about how uninspired and uninteresting something feels to think about, engage with, and conceive. You can crank up the difficulty in just about anything and it could be intense.... but.. many would still feel "mindlessly intense", if that makes sense.

But I dunno, beat'em'ups in general, even 2D side-scrolling arcade ones (things that I can often be won over by sprite art alone, which I'm a major sucker for) just tend to make my eyes glaze over, and rarely feels beautifully/intricately designed to me, personally.

Difficulty plays a factor. If you can run into any situation like a bull in a china shop because you are essentially invincible, that's a whole less engaging than needing to analyze the situation, develop a strategy, and then execute on that strategy.

It's by no means the only thing, though. There are 'easy' games that are still rewarding and 'hard' games that aren't any good. With Spiderman in particular, though, I don't think difficulty level is really the determining factor.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Silent Hill 2 - 8.5/10

My opinion dropped a bit as the game went on, combat got pretty repetitive over 20+ hours since there isn’t much variety. But it is probably the scariest game I’ve played, atmosphere was terrifying. Story was good though I found myself less invested in the lore and notes than a good Resident Evil game. Hope to see more of the series remade, was a really good time overall.

 

[Shareefruck]

Difficulty plays a factor. If you can run into any situation like a bull in a china shop because you are essentially invincible, that's a whole less engaging than needing to analyze the situation, develop a strategy, and then execute on that strategy.

It's by no means the only thing, though. There are 'easy' games that are still rewarding and 'hard' games that aren't any good. With Spiderman in particular, though, I don't think difficulty level is really the determining factor.

I think I tend to feel that when something is compellingly designed enough, no amount of ease is enough to turn it into outright mindless slop, and if something is uninterestingly designed enough, no amount of difficulty is enough to stop it from being that.

For the stuff in between.... sure, I guess.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Pacific Drive - 8/10
Pacific Drive is certainly a very unique game. What really drew me to it was the idea of having what is basically "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The Racing Game." It does a great job at it! The story definitely has that kind of vibe, hell, they even call it "the zone" in Pacific Drive. I don't want to get too involved explaining the story but it was certainly really interesting all the way through.

Pacific Drive is a roguelite where you're gearing up your vehicle to become stronger and stronger. The game basically revolves around three key game mechanics.

1 - Exploring/Scavenging - You'll spend a good amount of time outside of your car on foot. During this time, you'll be scavenging for materials. There are some survival mechanics here but it's not too involved.

2 - Maintaining/Repairing/Upgrading Your Car - Everything is a danger and you'll constantly have to repair and maintain your vehicle whether it's repairing your cracked windshield, repairing damaged body panels, or fixing flat tires. You'll also upgrade your car to be stronger as you progress.

3 - Driving - This is by far my favorite part of the game, there are several different anomalies blocking your path as well as just hazards in the road. Racing around, especially running from the storm, can be adrenaline pumping depending on the situation. It gets really exciting racing from the storm with it right behind you while you're low on health hoping you can hit that portal back to the garage before you run out of health.

There are a few different mechanics in this game and for the most part, not all of them will be for a lot of people. To be completely honest, about halfway through, the maintaining/repairing portion started to feel like a drag but fortunately there are some nice accessibility options that lets you basically skip that part and just focus on the driving and story. I ended up turning more and more features off just so I can focus on the part I enjoyed, the driving, because the rest felt like such a drag for me after a while. That's also because I'm not huge on these kinds of maintenance games, it's not to say it had poor mechanics, that part of the game just wasn't exactly for me.

The game also does not hold your hand at all. There were a lot of mechanics I didn't understand until I already put 5+ hours into the game. Part of it felt a little frustrating because I felt like I was behind where I should be not realizing what I should be collecting/doing. There is a "scan" function that puts things into your logbook but your logbook feels like an absolute waste without any relevant info. Furthermore, you can't really ignore it because you have to scan certain anomalies to unlock upgrades in the garage.

That being said, the game is really interesting and there's nothing else quite like it. Driving around in The Zone was still an awesome feeling. If you like the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games and want to experience it in a different genre, this is definitely worth your time. I think it overstays its welcome a little bit and is a little too long but plenty of accessibility options will help you see it through to the end if you start to tail off in the latter half.

 

[x Tame Impala]

I think I tend to feel that when something is compellingly designed enough, no amount of ease is enough to turn it into outright mindless slop, and if something is uninterestingly designed enough, no amount of difficulty is enough to stop it from being that.

For the stuff in between.... sure, I guess.

What design changes would you have liked to see in the Spider-Man series to make it more compelling?

 

[Shareefruck]

What design changes would you have liked to see in the Spider-Man series to make it more compelling?

That's kind of an odd question to expect to answer in justifying how uninteresting I find something. If my criticism were that there was something actively broken about the game, or if I felt the game had a compelling idea that just didn't quite come together, then perhaps a fix/improvement could be fun to contemplate, but if my issue is an absence of a striking idea altogether, that's essentially asking me design a new game from scratch that would be worthwhile to me, which is an absurdly tall order. If it were that easy to pull something creatively inspired out of my ass at your request, I'd be a successful game designer.

 

[Ceremony]

I think the PlayStation Studios PS4-era games were all developed/designed with mass appeal in mind. None of them are really remarkable or innovative in terms of story or mechanics, but they're all satisfying enough to play and engaging enough to follow that if you're into them you'll happily spend 20/30/40 or more hours with one and feel you've got your money's worth with something quality.

Spiderman is obviously a popular enough character with enough name recognition that it's going to get picked up by a lot of people. All you really need to do is make swinging about New York satisfying and you have a winner. It's not a game or series I've ever been interested in, but it does embody Sony's philosophy from that time pretty well.

Still, you do actually need to make a good game for people to take to it. I was quite happy with Horizon Zero Dawn because I found the gameplay satisfying and I liked the story. I didn't like God of War despite being familiar with and deeply enjoying Kratos' past adventures because the gameplay was dull and the plot and characterisation felt like a 750 hour set up for the next game.

 

[x Tame Impala]

That's kind of an odd question to expect to answer in justifying how uninteresting I find something. If my criticism were that there was something actively broken about the game, or if I felt the game had a compelling idea that just didn't quite come together, then perhaps a fix/improvement could be fun to contemplate, but if my issue is an absence of a striking idea altogether, that's essentially asking me design a new game from scratch that would be worthwhile to me, which is an absurdly tall order. If it were that easy to pull something creatively inspired out of my ass at your request, I'd be a successful game designer.

It's a spiderman game, i'm not sure what else you would expect other than swinging around and fighting bad guys. The story was compelling enough and the production was top notch. On the "Hard" difficulty there was enough nuance to the combat to make it interesting and even challenging at times.

I'm not asking you to design a videogame, merely asking what changes you would have liked to have seen to make it better for you. That's a reasonable request. If you've got nothing then you've got nothing and I'll leave it at that.

 

[Shareefruck]

It's a spiderman game, i'm not sure what else you would expect other than swinging around and fighting bad guys. The story was compelling enough and the production was top notch. On the "Hard" difficulty there was enough nuance to the combat to make it interesting and even challenging at times.

I'm not asking you to design a videogame, merely asking what changes you would have liked to have seen to make it better for you. That's a reasonable request. If you've got nothing then you've got nothing and I'll leave it at that.

Don't get me wrong, nothing about my negative opinion is remotely related to "expecting more" or feeling that I was entitled to a better experience or anything like that. In fact, I never try to frame media experiences that way-- expectations do not matter to me and I find it annoying when things are framed that way, as if everything's just a relative thing that you decide to do on an "I feel like this type of occasion and I hope this fits it"-basis. That's just not how I'm wired. I'm simply stating as a matter of fact how little I valued the experience, fully understanding what it is (even acknowledging that it could be perfectly fitting for what it is and possibly should stay exactly as it is), but finding that pretty irrelevant to my impression of it. Again, I'm making a subjective value judgement, not evaluating how successfully it carries out its desired function in the world or something (not something I'm interested in ever doing).

That said, I wouldn't close the door on what type of game it is/has to be as if it's doomed to be what expectations should dictate, either. I'm open to the possibility of this type of superhero game somehow being some miraculously/uncharacteristically inspired take on the genre that does manage to transcend those expectations. I'm not a talented enough hypothetical game designer to be able to imagine what that would look like (as I said, my gripe with it is simply the absence of anything I find compelling-- so answering that would require coming up with something compelling from scratch), but I think it's an intriguing possibility that I'd love to see anyways.

Regarding your question, I think it's perfectly reasonable if you're merely sincerely curious if I have any better ideas and nothing else, but I would find it unreasonable if you were asking it as a gotcha and suggesting that something like that is necessary in order to have a valid/respectable negative opinion about it (I'm not sure what exactly you were insinuating, but the way you're being defensive right now does make it feel that way). Because the latter would be a more childish sentiment akin to saying "Can you do better? If not, shut up."

I just don't feel the same way you do about it. It's good at the factors that I generally don't value all that much/view as icing (such as big budget production), and not good at the factors that I do.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Don't get me wrong, nothing about my negative opinion is remotely related to "expecting more" or feeling that I was entitled to a better experience or anything like that. In fact, I never try to frame media experiences that way-- expectations do not matter to me and I find it annoying when things are framed that way, as if everything's just a relative thing that you decide to do on an "I feel like this type of occasion and I hope this fits it"-basis. That's just not how I'm wired. I'm simply stating as a matter of fact how little I valued the experience, fully understanding what it is (even acknowledging that it could be perfectly fitting for what it is and possibly should stay exactly as it is), but finding that pretty irrelevant to my impression of it. Again, I'm making a subjective value judgement, not evaluating how successfully it carries out its desired function in the world or something (not something I'm interested in ever doing).

That said, I wouldn't close the door on what type of game it is/has to be as if it's doomed to be what expectations should dictate, either. I'm open to the possibility of this type of superhero game somehow being some miraculously/uncharacteristically inspired take on the genre that does manage to transcend those expectations. I'm not a talented enough hypothetical game designer to be able to imagine what that would look like (as I said, my gripe with it is simply the absence of anything I find compelling-- so answering that would require coming up with something compelling from scratch), but I think it's an intriguing possibility that I'd love to see anyways.

Regarding your question, I think it's reasonable if you're merely sincerely curious if I have any better ideas and nothing else, but I would find it unreasonable if you were asking it as a gotcha and suggesting that something like that is necessary in order to have a valid/respectable negative opinion about it (I'm not sure what exactly you were insinuating, but the way you're being defensive right now does make it feel that way). Because the latter would be a more childish sentiment akin to saying "Can you do better? If not, shut up."

I just don't feel the same way you do about it. It's good at the factors that I generally don't value all that much/view as icing (such as big budget production), and not good at the factors that I do.

I’ve been debating with you for years pal, there’s no gotcha attempt here. Just curious

 

[Shareefruck]

I’ve been debating with you for years pal, there’s no gotcha attempt here. Just curious

For the record, I cannot for the life of me distinguish between most of the posters/names I interact with here (certain ones just blur together), so if we have a specific history/pre-existing understanding, I don't remember it, unfortunately.

Edit: Sorry, "gotcha" is admittedly too uncharitable, I just meant it sounded like the question might have been asked as a way to challenge the validity of the opinion, as if to say "you ought to be able to come up with something better if you're going to criticize it," which would be an idea I'd find unreasonable.

 

[Ceremony]

For the record, I cannot for the life of me distinguish between most of the posters/names I interact with here (certain ones just blur together),

Devastated by this, frankly