The last few games you beat and rate them IV

[Unholy Diver]

Super Mario 3D World 8.5/10

Very solid game, shouldn't have waited nearly a decade to play it. I would probably rank it behind Odyssey, and Galaxy in the 3D Mario games I've played

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Haiku, the Robot - 7/10

Haiku, the Robot is a nice casual metroidvania. You'll constantly find yourself returning to new areas as you unlock new abilities. The bosses can be a bit challenging but once you figured out the patterns, they aren't overly difficult. If you're looking for a challenge, this isn't the game for you. But if you want a nice, casual adventure as a cute robot, pick it up. All the mechanics certainly feel great!

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Twelve Minutes - 6/10

My wife and I stumbled on this game on Game Pass two nights ago and were hooked. Really interesting interactive thriller game which features Willem Dafoe and Daisy Ridley as voice actors. Dafoe delivers incredibly, as always.

The game begins with the main character (an unnamed man) walking down the hallway to their apartment, finding his wife inside. Before long the player discovers that the main character is stuck in a time loop of repeating the same 10 minute segment of the night over and over again. The player must make various decisions and discoveries to uncover the truth about what's going on and why this is happening.

The story is really cool, the interactive narrative aspect of it is different and the point-and-click method is pretty casual and easy for even non-gamers. The game has the right environment to really amplify the creepy and mysterious feel of the game... My big issue with the game is that throughout pretty much the entirety of it you are given zero direction about what you're actually supposed to be doing. This becomes even more pronounced toward the end of the game.

We rarely do this, but we actually googled the rest of the game, only to realize that we have already effectively "beaten" the game, and there was just some other endings we could get. Definitely worth a play, but don't feel bad if you catch yourself wanting to google something to get a nudge in the right direction.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Golf Peaks 7/10

Golf Peaks is a relaxing little puzzle game focused around golf. You'll get a series of cards for each course and have to use them appropriately to get the ball in the hole. It's not overly long, it'll only take you about 2-3 hours. Every world introduces a new mechanic and they teach it with ease as the game gets more complex. It's a lot of fun all the way through.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Hexcells - 8/10

Hexcells is a fun logic game which feels very much like Minesweeper with a twist. If you've enjoyed Minesweeper, you'll enjoy this one.

Your main differences are:

* Hexagonal tiles instead of square tiles
* The game also presents how many blue tiles are in a row or column. (Kind of gives the game a bit of a Sudoku feel)
* There are indicators on some cells telling you if the blue tiles are in a row or not.
* There is no luck involved, you can solve each puzzle with logic!

My biggest gripe with Minesweeper was always that when you get towards the end, you're pretty much guaranteed to have to guess. Not with Hexcells! You can figure out every move with the information in front of you. There are about 25-30 levels in this version. The first half or so are about teaching you game mechanics. I completed the game 100% in about 2 hours but also have a lot of time in Minesweeper in my life. I definitely recommend this logic puzzler!

 

[Osprey]

I finished Teardown. It was fun. I wrote more in the "currently playing" thread. I recommend it if you have a powerful PC and like demolishing and blowing up stuff. It might be hard for me to go back to games without destructible environments.

Hexcells - 8/10

Hexcells is a fun logic game which feels very much like Minesweeper with a twist. If you've enjoyed Minesweeper, you'll enjoy this one.

Your main differences are:

* Hexagonal tiles instead of square tiles
* The game also presents how many blue tiles are in a row or column. (Kind of gives the game a bit of a Sudoku feel)
* There are indicators on some cells telling you if the blue tiles are in a row or not.
* There is no luck involved, you can solve each puzzle with logic!

My biggest gripe with Minesweeper was always that when you get towards the end, you're pretty much guaranteed to have to guess. Not with Hexcells! You can figure out every move with the information in front of you. There are about 25-30 levels in this version. The first half or so are about teaching you game mechanics. I completed the game 100% in about 2 hours but also have a lot of time in Minesweeper in my life. I definitely recommend this logic puzzler!

I played and finished this last night, as well. I like Minesweeper and love sudoku, so this was completely up my alley. I'm gonna play Haxcells Plus next and then Haxcells Infinite (which includes a puzzle generator for endless puzzles). Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Hexcells Plus is a lot more challenging than Hexcells, just an FYI. It feels like Hexcells is mostly just an introduction to the game series. It's still a lot of fun but you won't be finishing it nearly as quickly as you finished Hexcells.

 

[Osprey]

Hexcells Plus is a lot more challenging than Hexcells, just an FYI. It feels like Hexcells is mostly just an introduction to the game series. It's still a lot of fun but you won't be finishing it nearly as quickly as you finished Hexcells.

I'm glad to hear that. All but a couple puzzles in Hexcells were too easy. I'm used to playing sudokus on the hardest difficulty, so I want it as challenging as possible.

Edit: Finished it. Yeah, that took several hours longer and I enjoyed it a lot more.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Hexcells Plus - 8/10

Hexcells Plus is essentially a continuation of Hexcells. You should 100% play Hexcells first and then grab this if you want more challenging puzzles. The original Hexcells is rather easy and you'll likely finish it in just a couple hours. Hexcells Plus is a lot more challenging and will take you a lot longer. They only add one new mechanic while reusing mechanics in Hexcells in more challenging puzzles.

If you played the original and want more, grab this as well! It's definitely more of a challenge than the original and for that reason, you'll likely enjoy it even more!

 

[DynamiteKid]

It Takes Two - 10/10
- while the graphics, controls and challenge are all good, but not amazing, it's the story and the fact my non-gamer daughter and I completely had a blast playing it. Really hoping they do up a sequel, cause there is nothing out there really like this (yes, I know there are some other 2-player games, but this is in a world of its own).


Horizon Forbidden West - 8.5/10
- hard to give a game that poor of a rating when I put 65+ hours into it. The sheer amount of dialogue actually wore me out. I seemed to skip through more of it during the second half of the game. Probably missed a bit of story points, but some of them went on......forever. Very beautiful graphics. I haven't stopped and starred at a screen in a game like this in a long time.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Vaporum: Lockdown - 8/10

Vaporum: Lockdown doesn't really add too much from the original. It's really just a whole new map rather than adding new gameplay mechanics. The story is a prequel and interesting enough. If you enjoyed Vaporum and want more, grab this one. It's more focused on puzzles than combat compared to the original but it's still good fun all around.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Save Room - Organization Puzzle - 8/10

This is a fun little puzzle game based around the Resident Evil inventory management system. Even starting the game does the classic voice line except they say "Save Room" instead. It's not very long, there are 40 puzzles and none of them should take you too long to figure out. I 100%ed it in about an hour and a half. It's cheap, it's fun, I recommend it.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

7.5/10

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

7.5/10

Is it as much of a Sonic knockoff as the cover/title suggest?

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Is it as much of a Sonic knockoff as the cover/title suggest?

Sorta.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Titanfall 2 - 8/10

I'm going to start this review by saying I only played the single player campaign for Titanfall 2.

The gameplay is great. Whether you're on foot wall running, sliding, etc as you take down enemies or in your Titan fighting other titans, it always feels like a blast. The game often switches you between your titan and on foot so you never feel bored of one over the other. You get several load outs where you can really customize your titan with whatever weapons you like as well so you can experiment with different weapons.

The story was interesting enough, it felt like your typical action movie but you still feel like a bad ass because of the gameplay mechanics. The game also runs incredibly well. I know it's an older game but even at 6 years old as of the time of this review, it's still one of the better looking games out there and I never noticed a single moment where the frame rate started chugging along. For a point in reference, I'm playing max settings at 1440p on a 2080Ti.

It's definitely worth a playthrough. I played it on master and unlocked every achievement in about 8.5 hours but looking back, I think I would have had more fun playing it on easy or medium. Master difficulty got a bit unfair at times where I had to often hide in cover just to regenerate health. I feel like if I played it on easy, I would have felt like a real bad ass by trying to speed run the game and constantly killing people while wall running, sliding, jumping etc. Pick it up if you're on the fence, the campaign is a lot of fun!

 

[Mikeaveli]

Titanfall 2 - 8/10

I'm going to start this review by saying I only played the single player campaign for Titanfall 2.

The gameplay is great. Whether you're on foot wall running, sliding, etc as you take down enemies or in your Titan fighting other titans, it always feels like a blast. The game often switches you between your titan and on foot so you never feel bored of one over the other. You get several load outs where you can really customize your titan with whatever weapons you like as well so you can experiment with different weapons.

The story was interesting enough, it felt like your typical action movie but you still feel like a bad ass because of the gameplay mechanics. The game also runs incredibly well. I know it's an older game but even at 6 years old as of the time of this review, it's still one of the better looking games out there and I never noticed a single moment where the frame rate started chugging along. For a point in reference, I'm playing max settings at 1440p on a 2080Ti.

It's definitely worth a playthrough. I played it on master and unlocked every achievement in about 8.5 hours but looking back, I think I would have had more fun playing it on easy or medium. Master difficulty got a bit unfair at times where I had to often hide in cover just to regenerate health. I feel like if I played it on easy, I would have felt like a real bad ass by trying to speed run the game and constantly killing people while wall running, sliding, jumping etc. Pick it up if you're on the fence, the campaign is a lot of fun!

Excellent game, easily my favourite multiplayer shooter of the last generation and the campaign was great as well. It's a shame the multiplayer is now unplayable on PC due to EA's incompetence and an ever bigger shame that we'll never see a third game.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Excellent game, easily my favourite multiplayer shooter of the last generation and the campaign was great as well. It's a shame the multiplayer is now unplayable on PC due to EA's incompetence and an ever bigger shame that we'll never see a third game.

Side thing about the game, especially the MP, I constantly ran into the audio source issue where it would lag the shit out of my game (frames, not network) and could never find a proper fix.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - 9/10

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a real time stealth tactics game. I'm not personally a fan of RTS games but this one is still amazing. It's made by the same developers as Desperados III, which I played before Shadow Tactics, so if you like Desperados III, you'll like this one.

You'll control 5 different characters through a great story as you slowly and methodically take out anyone in your way as you take on objectives. I personally enjoyed the story more than Desperados and while this is a great game, would probably prefer Desperados in every other way. Which is fine. Desperados III was a 9.5/10 game for me, Shadow Tactics is a 9/10. They're both amazing but you'll find this one cheaper so if you haven't played either, absolutely pick this one up first.

The stealth work is top notch. You can plan out attacks so everybody commits their actions at the same time and you'll feel awesome taking out 3 guards at the same time while distracting another that can see them die. As a small side note compared to Desperados, you can enter "shadow mode" to plan out these attacks but the game does not pause while doing so. Speaking of technical QoL improvements that Desperados had as well, Shadow Tactics does not have a fast forward button. It can make clearing areas a bit more tedious.

The levels are smaller and a bit more compact so Shadow Tactics feels like a great entry for Mimimi Games into the stealth tactics genre. For that reason, I highly recommend picking this up before Desperados III despite the fact that I did the opposite. You'll appreciate the QoL improvements a bit more and some of the things won't feel as tedious in Shadow Tactics. The levels are also a bit easier here. I finished the game in a bit under 17 hours with experience in the genre but I could see if this is your first time playing this kind of game, it'd probably take you 20-25 hours depending on how quickly you can adapt to some of the mechanics.

Overall, this is still an amazing experience. It's a must have. There really aren't many games like this at all so even if you're not sure if you're interested, pick it up and give it a go, you'll never know unless you try it! Like I said, I am not a fan of RTS games but I love these games by Mimimi. Shadow Tactics can also be found very cheap very often, you'd be stupid not to pick it up during a sale!

 

[Osprey]

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - 9/10

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a real time stealth tactics game. I'm not personally a fan of RTS games but this one is still amazing. It's made by the same developers as Desperados III, which I played before Shadow Tactics, so if you like Desperados III, you'll like this one.

You'll control 5 different characters through a great story as you slowly and methodically take out anyone in your way as you take on objectives. I personally enjoyed the story more than Desperados and while this is a great game, would probably prefer Desperados in every other way. Which is fine. Desperados III was a 9.5/10 game for me, Shadow Tactics is a 9/10. They're both amazing but you'll find this one cheaper so if you haven't played either, absolutely pick this one up first.

The stealth work is top notch. You can plan out attacks so everybody commits their actions at the same time and you'll feel awesome taking out 3 guards at the same time while distracting another that can see them die. As a small side note compared to Desperados, you can enter "shadow mode" to plan out these attacks but the game does not pause while doing so. Speaking of technical QoL improvements that Desperados had as well, Shadow Tactics does not have a fast forward button. It can make clearing areas a bit more tedious.

The levels are smaller and a bit more compact so Shadow Tactics feels like a great entry for Mimimi Games into the stealth tactics genre. For that reason, I highly recommend picking this up before Desperados III despite the fact that I did the opposite. You'll appreciate the QoL improvements a bit more and some of the things won't feel as tedious in Shadow Tactics. The levels are also a bit easier here. I finished the game in a bit under 17 hours with experience in the genre but I could see if this is your first time playing this kind of game, it'd probably take you 20-25 hours depending on how quickly you can adapt to some of the mechanics.

Overall, this is still an amazing experience. It's a must have. There really aren't many games like this at all so even if you're not sure if you're interested, pick it up and give it a go, you'll never know unless you try it! Like I said, I am not a fan of RTS games but I love these games by Mimimi. Shadow Tactics can also be found very cheap very often, you'd be stupid not to pick it up during a sale!

I just played the first mission. That was tougher than I expected a tutorial to be, because it's unforgiving and I was fighting the controls. It's going to take me a while to find a comfortable control scheme, but the game has superb control remapping, so I think that I'll get there. I definitely see the potential and why it's called a hardware stealth game. Thanks for the recommendation.

Tips if anyone else tries it:
* You can minimize the "Borderlands" look by turning Bold Outlines to Low in Options. I almost didn't even try the game because I hate the look, but I can tolerate it this way.
* You can change the voice language to Japanese if you care for a slightly more authentic atmosphere.

I see that there's a standalone expansion that was released last year, Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice. Maybe that has the QoL improvements from Desperados III in it.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

I actually bought Aiko's Choice during the Steam sale. I'm hoping they have the QoL improvements. I'm going away next week so I was rushing to finish Shadow Tactics before I go away and plan on playing Aiko's Choice when I come back. I'll post about it then.

But since it sounds like you're enjoying Shadow Tactics so far, you'll definitely enjoy Desperados III so you might as well wishlist it.

 

[Osprey]

I actually bought Aiko's Choice during the Steam sale. I'm hoping they have the QoL improvements. I'm going away next week so I was rushing to finish Shadow Tactics before I go away and plan on playing Aiko's Choice when I come back. I'll post about it then.

But since it sounds like you're enjoying Shadow Tactics so far, you'll definitely enjoy Desperados III so you might as well wishlist it.

The Desperados games have been on my to-do list for over a decade. I definitely want to play the 3rd eventually, but want to at least try out the old school ones first. Playing Shadow Tactics beforehand maybe wasn't the smartest move. You wished that you hadn't played the 2016 game after the 2020 one because of the missing QoL improvements. Imagine playing the 2001 game after the 2016 one.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Probably lol

The old Commandos games were supposedly this similar style which I do want to play at some point. I never played them when I was younger. If you're interested in those as well, you can buy all four for $1 at Fanatical right now: Commandos Collection Pack | Fanatical

 

[Osprey]

The old Commandos games were supposedly this similar style which I do want to play at some point. I never played them when I was younger. If you're interested in those as well, you can buy all four for $1 at Fanatical right now: Commandos Collection Pack | Fanatical

Yeah, those have been on my to-do list for a long, long time, as well. I don't know why I keep putting those and the Desperados games off. It's a style of game that I should like. I imagine that it's because I played similar games (maybe even the first Commandos, though I can't say for sure) a long time ago and got frustrated. They tend to be very unforgiving. I've always wanted a pause key in them. At least Shadow Tactics allows you to be unseen in bushes and on rooftops, so it's not hard to give yourself time to think. Maybe, after I finish it, I'll go back and try Commandos and Desperados, finally.

 

[NyQuil]

I played Commandos and it could be pretty unforgiving.

But definitely a lot of satisfaction when you pulled off a mission.