The last few games you beat and rate them IV

[S E P H]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II

Man what a step down this one was from the original version. It had way too much dialogue, way too many options of dialogue, and all the dialogue was completely meaningless when the game forced you to go down a certain path during parts of the story. I also disliked how many original places we went to again, just for a stupid nostalgic factor like Telos, Dantoonie, and Korriban. Not a fan of that, but the worst was the gameplay. Holy smokes, at certain points the combat was so bad. For example, when you tried to heal yet were still stuck in combat, your character would automatically go back to the enemy to heal? Like wtf is this? You had to cancel out of combat to actually heal that design is so rubbish and I had a couple more problems with similar issues.

I still liked the game, the storyline was interesting, the characters were lit (not as good as the first one though), and for five bucks it gave me multiple months of fun. I also loved the Exile, actually styled her after the main character for the game Meetra and I thought she turned out to be more interesting than Revan. I mean Revan is OG, but for a main character in the second installment, I thought Obsidian very well on her (quite impressive).

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Doom II

8/10

 

[Osprey]

Doom II

8/10

I'm actually playing that right now. I played through all of Doom in the last week and am now partway into Doom II. It's cool that I'm less familiar with the levels and enemies. It has to be because, whenever I get an urge to play a little Doom, I load up the original instead of the sequel. If you're on PC, a port was released a few years ago of Doom 64. I'd never played that because it had never been on PC before. I ended up quite liking it because it's basically just Doom with completely new levels.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

I'm actually playing that right now. I played through all of Doom in the last week and am now partway into Doom II. It's cool that I'm less familiar with the levels and enemies. It has to be because, whenever I get an urge to play a little Doom, I load up the original instead of the sequel. If you're on PC, a port was released a few years ago of Doom 64. I'd never played that because it had never been on PC before. I ended up quite liking it because it's basically just Doom with completely new levels.

I’ve beaten the original Doom and Doom II a shitload of times. Both on the PC and on the Xbox One too.

When I beat Doom II again yesterday, it was the Xbox One.

 

[Ceremony]

​

Type:Rider (PS4, 2017)

If Celeste was the first 2D platformer I'd played in a while then my next game both follows and doesn't follow that. Type:Rider is a 2D platformer where you control a colon through an assortment of levels inspired by the history of typography. The uncommon part for me is that it's largely an educational experience, which definitely isn't something I play normally.

Gameplay is fairly straightforward, if a little awkward. Your colon rolls along the platforms and jumps and can rotate in the air, but the controls are heavily reliant on momentum in a way which isn't always easy to generate. If you need to make a big jump you'll need to have a bit of a run up, and if you miss or hit the edge it's almost impossible to recover and carry on. The checkpoints are plentiful so this isn't really a problem, but the mechanics seem like they should favour fluid and reactive movement but this is rarely possible unless you've tried a level and know where you're going. There's a speedrun timer on all the levels but even without this in mind the game is very short, so I don't think it means much.

There are some occasions where you see glimpses of the potential for more diverse gameplay but they don't come to anything. Sometimes you can jump onto a thin platform where one of your colon's dots will be on the top and another one underneath. There are interesting things you can do here but for the most part it's still just left to right. A to B. Same goes for sections later on where movement in the air is slowed down letting you refine your jumps, but this is gone as quickly as it appears. It's a small team that made this game and it's arguable the gameplay isn't the main focus, but I still felt as if there was potential that went unrealised.

None of this matters though because I spent some time reading about the history of printing and typography and art design and I loved all of it. Do you know where the concept of capital and small letters came from, or what they were called? I do now. Do you know why typewriters all have the same font? I do. This information is interesting, but not really presented in an engaging way. You find asterisks throughout the levels, you pick them up and you get some pages to read. The backgrounds and elements in levels you interact with correspond to what you're learning which is a nice touch, but until you get to the more modern sections (where you also get to play Tetris and Space Invaders) all of the platforming elements are just plain black and cover up a lot of the interesting looking stuff in the backgrounds.

It was a fun few hours and I learned stuff. I was never bored. I've done a lot worse with video games. My biggest problem is probably just saying "Type:Rider", even saying it in my head I feel like I'm just saying typewriter in an American accent.

 

[NinjaKick]

Mission Impossible 64

10/10

classic game

 

[Unholy Diver]

Dying Light 2 Stay Human - 7.5/10

Decent game, finished it in just short of 44 hours, I found the game to be a bit buggy, had to close and restart the game probably 8-10 times due to the character getting stuck on something or not being able to talk to a npc to progress the mission for "enemies nearby" that could never be found, I played through the original when it came out and while I don't really remember much about it I feel like I would rate it a tad higher than the sequel, story was pretty thin, and few if any characters were very likeable. Not a bad game, but after 7 years I would call it a slight let down

 

[mouser]

Supraland, Crash DLC. 7/10

I love Supraland, such a creative game. This DLC is 6-13 hours depending on how completionist you want to be. Was fun to get back to Supraland with the DLC. Most notable con is they don‘t explain how all your tools work. So If it’s been a while since you played the original game you may not remember some of the creative tricks and mechanics at your disposal.

Will give Supraland Six Inches Under a go in the near future.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Guardians of the Galaxy - 8.5/10

Really enjoyed this. The combat gets a little repetitive but the story was great and it was a lot of fun to play. Seems like it’s getting a second life on Game pass so hopefully it does well enough to get a sequel.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion - 7/10

Game is like an hour long and pretty funny. Not sure how people think of stuff like this.

 

[guinness]

Horizon: Forbidden West - 8/10

That's going to sound like a high score, after I get done explaining my issues with the story arc, but overall, I had a good time playing it, a great time sink, the characters were generally fun, and I groove on post-apocalyptic games. I mean I've probably played Fallout 4 for hundreds and hundreds of hours, and there is just so much broken with that game.

Compared to FO 4, FW is practically flawless.

Graphics - 10/10
Superlative. I couldn't believe the PS4 could do that. Foot prints in the sand, snow, wet armor when getting out the water, the lens flares, facial animations/expressions, the HDR. Some glitches here and there, but relatively minor nitpicks.

Story - 6/10
HZD ended on a good cliffhanger, with strong antagonist, the relation with the protagonist was complicated, but made sense in the realm of its world. The sequel adds a 2nd antagonist at some point, and even that was fine, as #2 was tied in with #1. But then #3 appeared, and that's when the story began going of track for me, just too many factions, characters, and it had plenty of other avenues to go down from the 1st game, some of which it did bring up in the sequel, but ultimately went to a quick dead end.

But the game introduced major antagonist #4, with kid you not, about 10 minutes left in the game. I feel like that's a literary no-no. I get that the plot has to go somewhere, I knew that a 3rd game was going to happen, etc, but I felt like the writers could've stuck with pre-existing characters and loose ends, rather then adding more.

It almost Scooby Doo'd itself. Some of the side missions felt more satisfying than the overall story arc.

The AI was good/bad. I do wish Aloy had better spatial awareness. Example, there was a location I was in, I could surmise what it was, based on a conversation that another character had with Aloy earlier on, there was a literal red 'X' on a door, and not a peep. I did like when the odd missions where you were paired with other characters, they weren't completely useless. Some rubberbanding here and there with attackers, but to be expected, as it's a video game.

Largely hated the crafting in this one. I know by their nature, RPG's are grindy, but there were times were it felt more tedious than that. And as a game, I know there are always enough plot holes to sink ships, but always amusing that power, lights still work in the far future, even elevators.

The game map was almost overwhelming, but oddly, when I did make it to the two major cities, there wasn't much to do after a couple missions in each location.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Gravel - 7.5/10

Gravel feels like an old school arcade racer. I recommend shutting off all the driving assists, the assists feel a bit unnatural. You'll get an even better arcadey feel and slide around corners at high speed. It looks surprising good and the game runs great. If you want something arcadey to the feel of old school racers from the PS2 era, this will definitely scratch the itch. The AI cars can feel a bit like tanks at times but the game is still some solid fun all around.

 

[Dolemite]

LEGO Star Wars - The Skywalker Saga - 10/10 - GOTY candidate easily

This game was rebuilt and re-thought from the ground up and after you finish the story line the Free Play is just massive. Every planet and battlestation in the 9 movies is represented here with tons of side quests, puzzles and more.

It's easily the most difficult and time consuming Platinum trophy in the last five years.

 

[Unholy Diver]

New Super Mario Bros U - No Rating

I've been working on this game for the better part of a decade, The Wii U never really got a lot of my time, and then when the newer consoles PS4/XB1 and then PS5/XB Series X came along the Wii U got banished to the basement TV

This game also kicked my ass, I must have died over 100 times, and only "finished" it due to the Luigi assistance, I honestly felt like it must have been what my mom felt like in the 80's trying to play SMB and getting killed by the first Goomba or jumping right into the first pit

 

[Commander Clueless]

Elden Ring (PS5) - 10/10

As an adamant Souls non-fan, I was convinced this game wasn't for me until a friend convinced me to give it a go and....dang if I didn't love it.

It has a few things that need work...most notably the targeting system in my own personal case.

However, this game does so much well and I love it....and what it does do well, it does so well I can't dock a point from it.

FromSoft converted me to a fan (but I'm still not playing no Soulsbornes ).

I didn't believe the hype, but I'm happy to say I was wrong.



Guardians of the Galaxy (PS5) - 7/10

Honestly a game I very much enjoyed, but the combat is where it loses points for me. I like the style, but the execution felt clunky and more annoying than enjoyable on several fights IMO. It loves absolutely overwhelming the player with visual nonsense on harder difficulties to the point where I would recommend playing it on lower difficulty to keep the combat light.

Narrative and characters are on point, the dialogue choices are fun (albeit rather overdone).

Weirdly enough, more than its fair share of bugs including a couple crashes on PS5.


A definite recommend with a few caveats.


But please game industry, for the love of all that is holy, stop it with the QTEs. QTEs are NOT FUN.

Just stop.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Guardians of the Galaxy (PS5) - 7/10

Honestly a game I very much enjoyed, but the combat is where it loses points for me. I like the style, but the execution felt clunky and more annoying than enjoyable on several fights IMO. It loves absolutely overwhelming the player with visual nonsense on harder difficulties to the point where I would recommend playing it on lower difficulty to keep the combat light.

Narrative and characters are on point, the dialogue choices are fun (albeit rather overdone).

Weirdly enough, more than its fair share of bugs including a couple crashes on PS5.


A definite recommend with a few caveats.


But please game industry, for the love of all that is holy, stop it with the QTEs. QTEs are NOT FUN.

Just stop.

I can't believe game developers are still making QTE in games. Have they ever played one themselves? It's terribly annoying.

 

[Osprey]

Heh. I had to look that acronym up...

"In video games, a quick time event (QTE) is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen instruction/prompt."

I hate those! They're probably the laziest form of "gameplay," IMO. Even 10-year-old me watching Dragon's Lair (basically QTE: The Game) in the 80s was like "Wait. It costs twice as many quarters to 'play' an interactive movie? I'll save my quarters and just watch someone else 'play' it."

 

[Shareefruck]

One thing that I found interesting to try to square after playing Metroid Dread is that there seems to be a fine line between a really satisfying parry mechanic (which I love) being in many ways the exact same thing as a soul-deadeningly hollow and tasteless QTE (which I hate). Maybe it's an issue with execution/subtlety of indicator/surrounding mechanics rather than something I find fundamentally wrong with QTEs, I dunno.

On an unrelated note, I caught a bit of the new Stanley Parable DLC, and I just want to say that I really hate its whole schtick. It's so obnoxiously self-indulgent, hollow, and less creative/tasteful/admirable than it's made out to be, in my view. So cheap to lean entirely on being meta for the sake of being meta and call that abstract/existentialist/observant. Annoying how criticism tends to be deflected from it too--"You're missing the point, what you're criticizing is what it's trying to go for, its not trying to be anything other than what it is, yada yada yada." It's a 0/10 for me and at the bottom of my ratings, personally.

 

[Commander Clueless]

On an unrelated note, I caught a bit of the new Stanley Parable DLC, and I just want to say that I really hate its whole schtick. It's so obnoxiously self-indulgent, hollow, and less creative/tasteful/admirable than it's made out to be, in my view. So cheap to lean entirely on being meta for the sake of being meta and call that abstract/existentialist/observant. Annoying how criticism tends to be deflected from it too--"You're missing the point, what you're criticizing is what it's trying to go for, its not trying to be anything other than what it is, yada yada yada." It's a 0/10 for me and at the bottom of my ratings, personally.

I wonder how much of this is a reaction to public perception, i.e. what would you think of it if you didn't hear anyone else's opinion on it and went in blind?

I had a similar reaction to Undertale. By all accounts a fantastic game, but by the time I got around to playing it, the thing was already in eye-roll/sick of it territory. A shame, really.

 

[SimGrindcore]

Games I played lately:

Fallout 76
Off the bat, I have to say that I prefered Fallout 4 by far. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of quests. Secondary quests (that pops on your Pip Boy when you're are close to a location), Misc quests (radiant quest that pops on your Pip Boy) and Daily quest (same thing as Misc. quests), If you're like me and you like to clear a part of the map before continuing the main quest, it's exhausting. Now, I just ignore Misc. and Daily quests. Other players can be really annoying but some others are really nice and helping (shoutout at Grim Blasthappy on Xbox!!). 6/10

Kona (indie game made by Parabole in Quebec City, Canada)
Part walking simulator, FPS and mystery solving game. Worth supporting this small indie studio. Solid 7/10.

Kona (video game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Burnout Paradise Remastered
Solid arcade racing game, I'm not really into racing games but I really enjoyed. Reminds me of RUSH on the Nintendo 64 back then. 7.5/10

Dirt 5
Play Forza Horizon games instead. This game feels unfinished. 5/10

 

[Shareefruck]

I wonder how much of this is a reaction to public perception, i.e. what would you think of it if you didn't hear anyone else's opinion on it and went in blind?

I had a similar reaction to Undertale. By all accounts a fantastic game, but by the time I got around to playing it, the thing was already in eye-roll/sick of it territory. A shame, really.

Nah, I played it when the original came out and I wasn't aware of public perception at the time. I just really don't like what it's going for (that whole approach to comedy/cheekiness/"creativity" in general), and the DLC doubles down on the stuff that initially put me off. I have the same issue with Bo Burnham's comedy specials.

I do like Undertale and find it endearing/clever, though, despite its obnoxious fanbase ruining things for a lot of people. What annoyed you about it?

 

[Commander Clueless]

Nah, I played it when the original came out and I wasn't aware of public perception at the time. I just really don't like what it's going for (that whole approach to comedy/cheekiness/"creativity" in general), and the DLC doubles down on the stuff that initially put me off. I have the same issue with Bo Burnham's comedy specials.

I do like Undertale and find it endearing/clever, though, despite its obnoxious fanbase ruining things for a lot of people. What annoyed you about it?

I think by the time I had gotten around to playing it, I had heard so much about it I felt like I was playing through it for a second or third time.

I'm not even arguing against the praise for it...I'm sure it's true. It was just one of those "yes, yes I get it already. very clever, like everyone said" type things.

It was like watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the first time. By the time I saw it, I had heard it quoted so many times there was maybe two lines of dialogue in the entire movie I couldn't quote from memory before even seeing the thing.

Well that and I found the random battles early on a little tedious. Once you figure out the formula to beat the frog, for example, it quickly becomes annoying to use the same steps to beat the next 42 frogs. Granted, I might have been doing it wrong/going in circles or something....that was a while ago so the details are hazy.

 

[Shareefruck]

I think by the time I had gotten around to playing it, I had heard so much about it I felt like I was playing through it for a second or third time.

I'm not even arguing against the praise for it...I'm sure it's true. It was just one of those "yes, yes I get it already. very clever, like everyone said" type things.

It was like watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the first time. By the time I saw it, I had heard it quoted so many times there was maybe two lines of dialogue in the entire movie I couldn't quote from memory before even seeing the thing.

Well that and I found the random battles early on a little tedious. Once you figure out the formula to beat the frog, for example, it quickly becomes annoying to use the same steps to beat the next 42 frogs. Granted, I might have been doing it wrong/going in circles or something....that was a while ago so the details are hazy.

True, I do find it mechanically underwhelming, at least. But that goes for just about any random battle thing or leveling system for me in general. I think overall, it's in the solid but not great territory for me.

 

[Commander Clueless]

True, I do find it mechanically underwhelming, at least. But that goes for just about any random battle thing or leveling system for me in general. I think overall, it's in the solid but not great territory for me.

I think in a standard combat system, random battle grinding can get tedious but you at least get progress. In a game that's more of a puzzle game (while playing pacifist) it gets tedious way faster when you don't earn XP.

Granted, I know you can play it more traditionally.


Maybe one day when I've forgotten everything I'll circle back and actually give it a fair shake.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Nier Replicant - 6/10

I got Nier Replicant because I love Nier Automata. I knew it wasn't made by Platinum Games so I figured the game play wouldn't be that good. That being said, it was still disappointing overall in my opinion. Do I recommend this game? Thumbs up or down? I guess somewhere in the middle. Moreso thumbs up if you really enjoy JRPGs.

First, the combat is just OK. It's not bad, it's definitely not as smooth as Nier Automata. There's magic involved in this one as well as melee combat so its' different enough but the melee combat isn't too satisfying. The standard mobs feel really repetitive really quickly and even tanky. The bosses however were all enjoyable and a lot of fun. Fortunately, there were plenty of bosses throughout the world.

The story is interesting enough but suffered from a lot of JRPG tropes. The main problem is how the progression felt. There's A LOT of running around. In fact, you probably spend more time running in this game than you do fighting. Furthermore, there's a lot of weaker enemies in the open world as you run to your next destination that you find it's just easier to run right past them all constantly dodging until you enter the next area. I found myself feeling like I wanted to speed run just because the open world sections felt so boring. I actually unlocked the "speed running" achievement of beating the game under 15 hours just because I wanted to constantly rush through the open world just to get to the objectives since there wasn't really any reason to explore or fight in the open world.

The music is great, just like in Nier Automata. I loved all of the music all the way through. The world wasn't very large and there weren't many characters but I did particularly love the interactions between Weiss and Kaine. Weiss especially had me laughing throughout most of the game, even at the end when the tone gets more serious amongst the rest of the characters. I would love to see more interactions just between Kaine and Weiss to be honest.

In the end, I would probably only recommend this game if you really enjoy JRPGs. Even if you're a big fan of Nier Automata, I don't necessarily think this game is for you. The world is pretty small and the gameplay loop ends up feeling really repetitive. The story picks up a bit in the second half but I don't think it picks up enough to deal with how slow the first half goes. The game may look and sound gorgeous but I personally found it boring. I stuck around because I heard people saying the story picks up as you went on and I ended up thinking I should have just spent my time playing something else.