DrBloodmoney's Super Scientific Ranking of Games!

[DrBloodmoney]

11 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

I enjoyed the write up of Tomb Raider: Legend particularly. That's one I'm really fearful of writing myself actually. My favourite actress plays Lara in those games, so I need to figure out a way for it not to just sound like a Keeley Hawes praise fest for paragraphs and paragraphs. I'm perfectly capable of objectivity, but that one might be tough. (plus that game has the Soul Reaver in it.... So... yeah you know what I'm like when I hear or see that, like a shark that's noticed a little trickle of blood ) 

I always struggle to really define that trilogy, or I guess series, because the Lara from those games is the same one from the isometric ones right? Either way, Legend is my favourite, but I think the best Tomb Raider experience comes from Anniversary, but that isn't doing anything particularly new on account of it being a remake/re-imagining. Underworld just sort of ties up a few loose ends and is a little bit too Uncharted-esque for my liking. Legend is an absolute joy to play though - I think its aged remarkably too, I played it again right at the end of 2019, and it didn't feel like a game that was over a decade old, in fact none of that trilogy did, to be fair.

 

I liked Anniversary to a point certainly - and lord knows, I had sunk hundreds of hours into the original games it was pulling from on PS1 at the time they were released - but I think it suffered a little in my experience because I didn't play it until the PS3 release, and I did so directly after Legend. The difference in controls and pacing etc is pretty stark, and so it always felt a bit lesser by comparison.

 

9 hours ago, madbuk said:

While there are certainly criticisms of TR Legend that I regularly like to mention (it being the start of the white ledge platforming saga, which isn't remedied until Shadow of the TR over a decade later, and is even copied by many other games afterwards like Uncharted/Horizon, it being too actiony, the puzzles being too simple, etc.), it really is such a high quality package and something the series needed after AoD. A prime example of quality over quantity, and it has my favourite version of Lara by far. I wish the new games were even remotely as engaging as Legend was, storywise. Would love to see a PS4 or PS5 (or both!) stack someday for the LAU trilogy. Legend also has my favourite OST of the series, so many good tracks.

 

Must admit, as much as I liked the boobs-and-badass Lara, I do prefer the tone of the new trilogy over the old ones - it's really a case of personality - there was never much character to the old Lara, she was more of a cypher - ultra-capable, never faltering, never out of her element -  with the stories more dependent on the antagonists to drive them forward. The new ones are less bad-guy dependent for the driving force of the narratives, and more of a journey for Lara herself.

It does help that those games are more in my current wheelhouse though - 3D platforming was never a huge genre for me (In the PS1 / PS2 era, I was the guy yelling at clouds about how all my favourite games were going 3D and getting 'ruined'?), and while Tomb Raider was certainly a good game within that genre, the more survival, action shooter / Uncharted-inspired style of the new trilogy is just more my specific flavour.

 

In terms of the actual games though, the high watermark across all of Tomb Raider, for me, is definitely the two 'Lara Croft' games - they are really their own thing, and not directly comparable, but I loved the hell out of both Guardian of Light, and Temple of Osiris  - and I'm really disappointed there hasn't been any word of another entry in that strain of the series!

 

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Btw, it's a big anniversary for Tomb Raider this year, just thought I'd mention that since Square Enix don't seem to give a fuck themselves </3

 

Huh - yeah, certainly haven't heard of any kind of celebratory stuff going on - seems a bit weird for such an iconic franchise with so many good entries. I mean, Christ, Sonic is getting a lot of fanfare for it's anniversary, and it has never been good, so... ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 hours ago, JoesusHCrust said:

Fanks for sciencing my suggestion Doc. A great write-up. Comparing to other 'detective' games, ROTOD is so much better than any of it's competitors. I too was thinking of L.A. Noire when I was playing Return.... but the latter is so much better than the former - amazing given the simplicity of the game. How good were the graphics too? How can such basic graphics look so amazing and be so evocative? The game needs a very high level of detail to work and to achieve that in '1-bit' is quite incredible. 

 

Absolutely - Its amazing to think that Lucas Pope was able to envision that aesthetic, but still be confident enough that it would be able to feature the kind of detail and subtlety that a game of that genre would require in it!

 

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Did you manage to complete the whole game without using a guide? If so, you're a puzzle master! The game is hard!

 

I did... though full disclosure, I did come up with a minor way to sort of cheese it.. a little bit.

 

What I started doing was writing down some of the ones I was certain about, on a notepad, but not inputting them to the game. That way, if I came to any that I was truly stuck, or really couldn't confirm if it was one of two people

Spoiler

The women who escaped together, for example - I could figure who they were, but not which was which

I had some 'known' ones I could input first, so I knew I had 2 correct in there, which meant I could check ones I wasn't too sure about, and the right one would fill in the book.

 

A little bit of a cheese I suppose - but I don't feel like it lessened my enjoyment of the game - and I was scared to actually look anything up in a guide, as even accidentally seeing an image could potentially unravel the whole game!

Edited June 28, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[DrBloodmoney]

 

⚛️!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!⚛️

 

 

The next 5 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be:

 

 

Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden
Fallout 4
Invisible Inc
Space Overlords
What Remains of Edith Finch 

 

 

 

Subjects in RED marked for ❎PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT❎

[Care of @YaManSmevz & @GraniteSnake  ]

 

 

 

Can 'Current Most Awesome' game, Prey, cling to its title once again?

 

Is last-in-show Kick-Ass: The Game going to have any competition for 'Least Awesome Game' ?

 

Let's find out!

[rjkclarke]

14 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

I must say - the time has probably passed for me on trying any of the new WWE games now - finding time to fit in a game I'm not so sure about in the sea of games I have now is probably not gonna happen realistically - though the one game that I still hear consistent positive stuff about is the FirePro Wrestling games - don't know what you guys think of those? One of my more Wrestling-fan buddies seems to have spent hundreds of hours on the new one, and is very positive on it!

 

 

I think that's probably the best approach, time is so precious, so you might as well spend it doing something you are probably guaranteed  to have a worthwhile experience with. I've gotten to the point with wrestling games when I only buy them when they are heavily discounted, that way it's tough to really feel that ripped off. At least that's how I justify it anyway.

 

I'd also love to know what the PS4 version of Fire Pro Wrestling is like, I've not played that yet either. I've played Fire Pro Returns for the PS2, which was brilliant, so if it's anything like that I can see why your friend has sunk so much time into it. They are one of those strange mixes of fairly simplistic gameplay, but also having quite a bit of hidden depth to them, add to that incredibly accessible customisation options which basically allow you to easily make your own roster of wrestlers that YOU want, adds so much replay value to it. I'm hoping the PS4 version is still keeping that sort of thing alive.

 

14 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

I liked Anniversary to a point certainly - and lord knows, I had sunk hundreds of hours into the original games it was pulling from on PS1 at the time they were released - but I think it suffered a little in my experience because I didn't play it until the PS3 release, and I did so directly after Legend. The difference in controls and pacing etc is pretty stark, and so it always felt a bit lesser by comparison.

 

 

Must admit, as much as I liked the boobs-and-badass Lara, I do prefer the tone of the new trilogy over the old ones - it's really a case of personality - there was never much character to the old Lara, she was more of a cypher - ultra-capable, never faltering, never out of her element -  with the stories more dependent on the antagonists to drive them forward. The new ones are less bad-guy dependent for the driving force of the narratives, and more of a journey for Lara herself.

It does help that those games are more in my current wheelhouse though - 3D platforming was never a huge genre for me (In the PS1 / PS2 era, I was the guy yelling at clouds about how all my favourite games were going 3D and getting 'ruined'?), and while Tomb Raider was certainly a good game within that genre, the more survival, action shooter / Uncharted-inspired style of the new trilogy is just more my specific flavour.

 

In terms of the actual games though, the high watermark across all of Tomb Raider, for me, is definitely the two 'Lara Croft' games - they are really their own thing, and not directly comparable, but I loved the hell out of both Guardian of Light, and Temple of Osiris  - and I'm really disappointed there hasn't been any word of another entry in that strain of the series!

 

 

I do know what you mean about Anniversary, I said I thought it was the most authentic Tomb Raider experience in that trilogy, which I stick by, but it isn't the most fun to play. In fact. I almost think it sort of hamstrings that trilogy, they had to really contrive a few plot elements to really connect everything together. There is such a HUGE disconnect, between the balance of puzzles combat and exploration that Legend has, to the more grounded roots of Anniversary. I like it for what it is, but it almost feels like it's own separate thing. Perhaps it should have been. 

 

I prefer Lara from the new trilogy too, which seems to be a fairly unpopular opinion, but I'm full of those so I won't lose any sleep over it, ( I barely sleep anyway ) she feels like an actual human. I do think it's a crying shame we never got a motion capture performance from Keeley Hawes, as she can convey an incredible amount of emotion, with just facial expressions, so I'd hope that would translate well to cutscenes.

However, I think Camilla Luddington does an incredible job as Lara, I think she really excels at all the story beats they throw at that version of Lara. She isn't perfect, she knows it - and more importantly, we know it. I think the overarching plot of the recent trilogy is a little messy, but how they developed that version of Lara over the three titles was so well achieved I thought. Some of those scenes in the oil fields in Shadow of the Tomb Raider are fantastic, the way she just let's out so much pent up primal rage, aggression and sadness all at once were incredibly powerful I thought. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of the actual tomb raiding essentially becoming optional in the more recent titles, but it's a fairly small gripe, it's not going to stop me doing them, although I can only really level that criticism at the first title in the reboot trilogy.

 

I've yelled at plenty of gaming shaped clouds in my time... Haven't we all? Usually about tonal shifts or gameplay tweaks that fundamentally change a series.  I was one of those people avoiding Resident Evil 7 because it was first person... I think I remember bitching about Thief: Deadly Shadows being third person back in the mid 2000's. Without realising you could switch between third and first person. To quote Moss from I.T Crowd... " Egg and my face, were in alignment"

 

You know, I really need to play those Lara Croft titles... I've not played them outside of Lara Croft GO, but that's its own thing entirely. I own them too I think. I've just never really gotten around to playing through them. I guess I'll add those to the list too.

Edited June 28, 2021 by rjkclarke

[DrBloodmoney]

 

 ?? NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! ??

 

 

Hello Science-Chums and Science-Chumps, as promised (and in some cases requested), here are the latest results of our great scientific endeavour!

 

 

 

Abyss: The Wrath of Eden

 

Summary: 

A fairly odd entry in the Artifex Mundi stable, Abyss: Wrath of Eden is one of only a handful of their games to be very clearly inspired by another game - in this case Bioshock.

The aesthetic is very, very clearly taking cues from Irrational's game, from the underwater city with faded, art-deco grandeur - and it looks nice - though the narrative is certainly more Artifex Mundi that Irrational, and relatively middling as they go. Not really a great idea to invoke another game so heavily in an Artifex Mundi game - especially one as artistically excellent as Bioshock, and it does suffer terribly by comparison.

 

A fairly short game by Artifex Mundi standards, it has a decent number of puzzles, but they aren't as varied as in some of their offerings.

The hidden object scenes are solid, but again, fewer in number than elsewhere.

There is no boss fights, or gimmicks here, and there is a decent bonus chapter.

 

 

The Ranking:

Not a particularly strong entry from Artifex Mundi.

 

Better than Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink, but no quite as good as Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride, this one finds it's spot just below the former, and under lacklustre vita RPG throwback Adventures of Mana.

 

 

 

 

 

Fallout 4

 

Summary: 

Fallout 4, releasing in 2015, was the first of the big Bethesda open-world RPGs to launch on the PS4, (a port of Skyrim would follow a year later,) and, in terms of gameplay and presentation, it somewhat splits the difference between Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas.

Inheriting the broad feel and flavour of Fallout 3, yet adding some of what made Fallout New Vegas distinct - nuanced companions, factions etc. - it certainly does feel like an evolution for the series, though the additions made - while having some impact - are not the changes that are the most impactful.

 

Yes, the addition of voice work from the primary character is a welcome (and overdue) addition, and the crafting mechanics (while both rudimentary in implementation, and notably underused in the actual gameplay, to the extent that they barely need to be touched if the player chooses not to,) are a surprisingly deep and nuanced rabbit hole, the most impactful and meaningful change in Fallout 4 is not an addition, but a subtraction:
Fallout 4 is missing almost all of the truly game-breaking and fun-destroying bugs and glitches present in the previous entries on PS3. 

 

Don't get me wrong - the game is still somewhat riddled with the 'open world jank' Bethesda games are known for - but these issues are generally kept in the realm of occasional graphical or clipping issues. There is far less in the way of genuine slowdown, hard crashes, unfinishable quest-lines and the other genuine hampers to enjoyment that the previous games suffered. Companions are, finally viable in a real way, and can be engaged with fully, without having to evaluate the benefit of their presence against the decrease in performance they entail.
The player is free to lose themselves in the world, without a constant feeling that they need to save every few minutes, for fear the game will catch on fire, or fall over at any minute.

 

The game looks decent - as with all Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, the graphics are fairly pedestrian and workman-like (a sacrifice made in favour of the massive size of the games,) but there is some artistic flair on show, and the aesthetic does what it needs to. The UI is still a bit of a mess, though the integration with a (free) iPad app, allowing the player to off-load the Pip-boy interface to a tablet on their lap, as opposed to menu-hopping on screen is a nice addition, and one I made a lot of use of.

 

On narrative, there has been a broad consensus that the writing in Fallout 4 is weaker than previous entries. 
It is something I have equivocated on, as there is something to the complaint, but generally, I feel like it breaks down to this: the actual, driving, main narrative of the game is where it is weakest. There are some aspects of the main narrative I like a lot. The setup of the game, for example, in which our protagonist starts out pre-apocalypse, and the neighbourhood is seen before the blasts is fun, and the fact that the protagonist, this time, is not 'born into' the post-apocalyptic world, but rather, frozen beforehand and unfrozen into it, means that his / her (in my case her) constant questioning of the world around her makes much more sense than it did in previous games. She only knows as much as the player knows, which makes sense, as it is narratively true. 
Those are useful and smart changes, but, broadly, I agree that the main quest-line that she is on is the weakest aspect of the writing in the game, and weaker than the equivalent quest-line in either previous Fallout game. 

However, I don't agree that the writing is weaker across the board. Side quests (which are, let's face it, the main thrust of these games,) are as rich and nuanced as in both previous games, and the addition of usable companions and a player voice, allows for a much more filmic and interesting narrative take on the world.
The fact that companions are - finally - a viable option to use in a Sony Console Bethesda game coincides with those present being among the better ones to grace the series, and for the first time, it feel like a meaningful difference is made to the flavour of certain quests based on who the player chooses to bring along with them.

 

The game is an iterative step - there are few brand new aspects to the franchise on show - but the biggest is probably the crafting mechanics. These are a little strange in some ways. There is a huge amount of interesting and oddly complex stuff that can be built - lighting from generators, switches, mechanisms etc. mean the player can lose entire evenings crafting specific stuff. (If you ever fancy a fun half hour, check out some videos on YouTube of the craziest Fallout 4 builds done by people and prepare to have your mind blown! - spoiler alert, most of these are done on PC, where mods can increase building sizes, building area etc., but still...) However, the actual interface and building tools and mechanics are very awkward and unwieldy, and do dampen the experience a bit. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the 5 hours or so I spent turning the Red Rocket Gas Station into a giant Basketball court for... no real reason other than my own pleasure, but it is a bit of a downer. Also, this mechanic is really not weaved into the main game in any real way, and so tends to have the feel of a bolt-on mod, rather than an integrated new addition to the series.

 

Some aspects have been significantly improved. While I have never (and still would not) recommend it, playing Fallout 4 like a first-person-shooter is, finally, a somewhat viable option. I still think using the VATS strategic 'pause and select' method of combat is the best option, and the primary one, but for weaker enemies simply aiming and firing is much more feasible than previous games. 

 

I also like the location - Washington DC and New Vegas of the previous games were iconic, but the Boston setting here is no slouch, and the proximity to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology  provides not only an iconic real-life landmark, but also the bedrock of a narrative that - while a little hot and cold on the main thread - allows for fascinating and interesting stuff on the side-lines. Creeping around the campus and the surrounding buildings was a huge highlight of the game for me - though that was nothing compared to the biggest laugh I have had in all of Fallout history: when, after creeping into a bar in the game, noticing it was an oddly familiar layout, then finding the corpses of Cliff Clavin and Norm Peterson, and a bunch of baseball memorabilia! (What can I say - I'm old, but my taste in comedy is even older - Cheers remains one of my favourite sitcoms of all time!)

 

All in all, a worthy, if not massive leap forward, in the Fallout series. Still retains all the best parts of its predecessors, and adds a little, though the new stuff is among the waker aspects. I never felt truly wowed by the game, as I did with Fallout 3, but that is a difficult feeling to match given I knew what to expect this time around, and I was very happy to find that the game ran - if not well - at least less unacceptably.

 

 

The Ranking:

Narratively, Fallout 4 is a little weaker overall than the previous two entries, but the fact that it is missing the most crippling of bugs and glitches (not eradicated by a long shot, but reduced to the level of 'acceptable in the context of the size') more than compensates, and virtually guarantees that it will rank higher than both those games. 
In a perfect, glitch-free world, I would imagine Fallout 4 would most likely rank the lowest of the three (and if this list was PC based, that would likely be the case,) however, in Sony-Land, we are very far from that world. 

It would, even in that instance though, not rank massively lower. Fallout 4 is still a rich, interesting, massive and very fun game, and one a player can easily lose themselves in for a hundred hours or more, and still feel like they have a ton left to see and do.

 

Above Fallout 3, I can see Fallout 4 beating out Assassin's Creed II and Singularity based on writing and narrative, and both Dear Esther and Observation on sheer size and scope and breadth of things to do and to discover, but in hitting up against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, it runs into a problem. 
MW2 is such a blindingly polished presentation, and the combination of both competitive and cooperative multiplayer means it has a longevity that, while not necessarily rivalling Fallout 4 for everyone, does compete. With such a brutally polished game, running so well and so fluidly, it become hard to justify Fallout 4's jank-fest beating it.

 

Therefore, Fallout 4 takes a nice, high spot, just below Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

 

 

 

 

 

Invisible Inc.

 

Summary: 

Klei, as a developer, are an oddity. 
They have released a number of games on Playstation consoles - Shank and it's sequel, Mark of the Ninja, Don't Starve and Invisible Inc. - and while they all share something of a common visual style (Don't Starve being the closest to an outlier in this regard,) they vary wildly in genre.

 

Klei are, to my mind, the Stanley Kubrick of videogames.
Kubrick made one Horror movie - The Shining - and it was one of the best of the genre. 
He made one Hard Sci-Fi - 2001: A Space Odyssey - and it was one of the best of that genre.
He made one Comedy - Dr. Strangelove - and it was one of the best of that genre.

 

Kubrick's legacy, unlike most directors, was not iterative improvement within one genre, it was simply to make his one masterpiece in each one, then move on. It's a risky proposition - most Jack-of-all-Trade directors end up suffering the inevitable second part of that phrase: being Master of None. Being a Jack of all Trades and Master of All is so rare as to be virtually unheard of.
The same applies, even more so, to game developers. Most developers, even the greatest ones, are famous for working within a specific game type. The ability to genre-hop, yet still consistently match, or outclass games from genre-exclusive developers is wildly anomalous in this industry.

 

Klei is that anomaly.

With Shank, they approached the 2D brawler, and entered it with a gameplay and artistic flair that was admirable, and could stand tall among its peers.
Don't Starve is a survival game, a genre which is not my particular cup of tea, but the game itself cannot be faulted in its implementation - certainly its wild success and the extreme longevity of its continuing player-base can attest to its quality.
Mark of the Ninja is a stealth platformer, and - spoiler alert - is destined to do very well in this ranking when its time comes, as it is one of the best entries in that genre I have ever played.

 

Then there is Invisible Inc. 
Invisible Inc is, undoubtedly, Klei's masterwork.

 

A rogue-like, turn-based stealth strategy game, Invisible Inc is playing in a niche sub-genre of a niche genre. It is understandable that the game is less widely played than it should be, but to me, the notion that anyone with even a passing appreciation of the craft of good game design might have allowed this one to slip past them is borderline criminal.

The game operates on a mission based structure, with missions selected by the player from random pools of available ones, based on RNG, player input from previous missions and time available. There are multiple categories of mission types, each with subtly different win conditions, and each is procedurally generated, within one of 4 specific biome types (based on different Mega-Corp companies.) 
The missions takes the form of turn based 'rounds' in which player controlled agents, (up to four, depending on recruitment, and on who is still alive to be deployed,) sneak into facilities, steal data, avoid (or kill, or stun) enemies, and complete discrete tasks based on the mission parameters. Each mission takes a set amount of time in game, and with a constantly ticking clock, the whole game is a race to prepare your unit and individual agents enough to be ready for the final missions - at the end of Day 4 (if the dlc is turned off) or Day 7 (if the dlc is on - which it should absolutely be. Note - the DLC is excellent, and baked into the PS4 version as standard, use of which is simply a toggle.)

 

That might sound like a lot of variability already, but it barely scratches the surface of how many different systems are in play in any one game of Invisible Inc.

I have yet to use the word I am about to use in any previous write-up, and I am well aware of the impact my use of it is likely to have on the review. Some might see it as simple exaggeration, or over-praise of a niche game as compensation for its small audience, but rest assured, it is not.
I don't use this word lightly: Genius. 

 

Invisible Inc's gameplay, and balancing, is, I say without hyperbole or evasion, a work of genius.

I know, I know... 
...but, hear me out.

 

I am no game designer, but I would imagine that one of the most difficult things to do in videogames is to properly balance a fighting game. The intricate interplay between characters, and the requirements for each character to work in a bout with each other character, without any single character being massively over-balanced is a hell of a task. Many fighting games fail at it, and even the best ones generally manage it only by virtue of a huge amount of work and delicate rebalancing post-release. 
In a fighting game though, the balancing is (generally) one of 1v1 bouts. In invisible Inc, there is so much more. There are 20-odd agents with unique skills, a wealth of additional skills and augments accessible that interconnect with the base ones, a large variety of enemy types, different weapons, different gadgets, a multitude of interweaving objectives, time constraints, power limitations, a currency and economy system... plus the large variety of mission types, biomes to draw from. Then, to top all that off - every single mission is procedurally generated.

The idea that a game with that many variables in play, never once presented me with a map that was impossible, yet equally, never presented one that felt anything less than difficult, is absolutely, unequivocally astounding.

No matter how a player decides (or is forced to) play, it feels balanced. They never feel over powered - in fact, they almost always feel underpowered, but with just enough available to you to scrape by with skilful play.

The RNG aspects of what missions / agents/ powers etc are available to you, force you to constantly be adjusting and adapting your style of play to the challenges present, and no play through is ever the same as before. Even within the runs, as the missions change, so must you, and that makes every little thing feel significant, and every new idea or trick you can come up with valid.

Right from my first experience with the game, to this day, I am still discovering new tricks, new gadgets I had not used before, and new ways to use them to pull off the seemingly impossible. The game is so well balanced - with the player always skirting a knife edge between success and failure, that every little tiny thing in a map matters. A simple repositioning of a door several block to the left or right would entirely change how the player can approach an objective. A single extra gadget or augment can open up such a wealth of new approaches, that it boggles my mind as to how the game still keeps its edge. The game is the closest I have ever felt to playing against an intelligent AI, who keeps learning what I am doing, and figuring out ways to counter me. I know it isn't, and that is simply the result of good design, but, the actual act of playing Invisible Inc does not feel like playing against a CPU, it feels like playing against another player. That is only something achievable with a level of balancing that is virtually unheard of in game design.

On the presentation side, the game looks great. It is a tactical strategy game, so of course, the most important aspect is a clean, crisp aesthetic that allows the player to see all the information they need, and that is done well here, however, that is not to say that artistic flair isn't present. Characters and environments are highly stylised and have Klei's signature, hand-drawn animation aesthetic. 

Movements are cool and confident, and have quick, smooth animation style Klei do best, evoking the cartoon style of Samurai Jack.

 

Sound design is excellent, with little stings giving the player information on their state of alertness and danger well. Voice work is top notch, with the few speaking roles performed very well, and adding significant flavour to the dystopian cyberpunk neo-corporate world.

 

The narrative in the game is certainly not the draw - as in most rogue-likes, this is a gameplay-forward game, and what story there is, is purely in service of that, however, for the genre, there is a surprising amount of lore and what few cutscenes there are, are well animated and fun to watch.

 

As said above game is quite difficult - though this is entirely by design. It is very notable how the game manages to keep the player feeling just a little out of their depth at all times, always one wrong move from total annihilation - but that only heightens the feeling of elation upon finishing a successful mission. 
There is - crucially - a rewind functionality built into the game, and this ability to roll-back turns, (which can be set to allow anything from 0 - iron man mode - to 99 (basically infinite) roll-backs, allowing entire missions to be reset and retried,) is not only brilliant from a gameplay point of view - affording a very difficult game an approachability for new players - but also as a way for experienced players to experiment with different gadgets and play-styles within a discrete mission. 

 

I really cannot fault the game on any reasonable level. There was not one failure I had where I didn't feel it was my fault, and where some rewinding and experimentation proved it to be possible, and often resulting in my learning some new trick that could be employed in future runs. The agents I thought were my favourites, and weapons, and gadgets were constantly shifting - and the reason is, each is incredible when used effectively, and each can be used effectively in different ways. 

 

There is one area - and one only - in which I can find some complaint - there is a minor, but notable, memory leak issue. There is (on PS4) some issue with the coding that means playing for several hours in a row will result in the game slowing down or hitching up slightly. It is a very unfortunate issue, however, I found it to be entirely alleviated by simply quitting the game after every couple of missions and relaunching - the load times are short, and that process took around 30 seconds, and never caused any problem. Hardly a benefit, but for a game this good, not an abject hindrance either. Since most missions take between 20-40 minutes, relaunching after 2 or 3 is not a massive issue.

 

All in all, Invisible Inc is an absolute marvel of game design, and a towering achievement. Taking a simple concept, it piles on more and more interconnected systems to the point where most games would collapse under their weight, but each one is so astonishingly well realised and so meticulously finessed in relation to every other one, that it results in a game so variable, satisfying, rewarding and infinitely replayable that it blows almost all other games that boast of 'repeatability' out of the water.

 

A triumph from top to bottom.

 

 

The Ranking:

At the top of the current list, there is one aspect of gaming that it is very clear I put a lot of stock in - variability and viability of multiple play-styles and approaches. While they are of many different genres, the one thing Prey, Dark Souls II, Dishonoured, Transistor, Dead Cells etc. all have in common, is that they are highly play-style dynamic.  Each can be replayed, with a different approach, and result in a wildly different experience.
Even the games that earned their spots among the top brass primarily on other factors (Mass Effect 2 / This War of Mine / The Last of Us) have something of a variability of approach to their name. It is one of the most consistent ways for a game to endear itself to the science.

 

There are games up there that I adore, and replay often, and really, there is no game in even the top 30 now, that I would not recommend to anyone as a fantastic game. I say this as caveat, because I simply cannot see any way in which most of these games can compete with Invisible Inc. On replayability, on cerebral challenge, on variability and on astonishing finesse of game design, it is virtually unparalleled.

 

Yes, the narrative aspects of Invisible Inc are fairly pedestrian - I am never going to well up with sorrow the way I did playing This War of Mine - or in triumphant catharsis as with the end of Mass Effect 2. There is no real emotional side to Invisible Inc. The narrative that is most interesting in Invisible Inc is the internal, dynamic one - your personal story of which agents survived, which died, and how, and what they did and why.

 

Narrative is enough to carry some games very very high on this list, provided there is at least adequate gameplay to back it up, however, gameplay has to take priority.
The gameplay here is simply so astounding, as to carry it past those games purely on its merits alone.

 

The only true question left, then: does Invisible Inc beat out Prey for the top spot?

 

Prey has probably the most varied gameplay I can think of in terms of a narrative focussed game. The game can change wildly depending on the approach, and the ability to mess with the narrative - doing things out of order, or killing people or ignoring people and the narrative warping to fit the new mould is impressive. The fact remains though - there are some minor flaws. The combat is a little flat on occasion. Stealth is a bit more viable than other approaches.

The variation of play-style in Prey is incredible, but the actual environments are static - and learnable. There is no randomisation of enemies or corpses of the crew etc. That is very nit-picky, as it does not lessen the experience at all, but in the case of Invisible Inc, that game not only features an even more impressive breadth of variation, but is also procedurally generated. In Prey, you chose your play-style based on preference. In Invisible Inc, you are dynamically forced to experiment, and have to vary it all the time, to suit the challenge presented.

Plus, for all the variability, the balancing in Prey not on the level of Invisible Inc. There are some skills and powers that are over-powered / under-powered. Never enough to be problematic, but visible, and in a match-up, they have to be considered.

 

As a result - after 9 solid rounds as the king, Prey is usurped!

Invisible Inc sneaks, stuns and hacks its way up the list, slipping past everything to take the crown as the new 'Current Most Awesome' Game!

 

Now go fucking play it - you probably own it already - its the PS+ game you forgot about!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Space Overlords

 

Summary: 

Oh, from what high highs to low lows this ranking process can swing!

 

Going from writing about Invisible Inc, to writing about Space Overlords is liable to give me some kind of cranial whiplash.

 

An action-puzzle(?) game from first time (and I can only assume, if there is any kind of karmic justice out there, only-time) developer 12-Hit Combo, Space Overlords is one of the most disastrously misguided, woefully dull, technically inept, and artistically barren pieces of hot-trash I have ever had the decided misfortune to accidentally mistake for a game and load up on my Vita.

 

Drawing on the kind of 'over-the-top' carnage that some franchises - such as the Earth Defence Force games - have managed to harness and (almost) turn into playable games, Space Overlords is clearly an attempt to take the 'I am the God of Hellfire' chaotic feeling of those games, or the Godzilla games of the PS2 era, add some lite action puzzle mechanics in the form of timers and some mild rock-paper-scissors destruction mechanics, and turn a series of small, discrete levels into something worthwhile.

 

It fails.
Miserably.

 

Each level takes place on a spherical plane - a planet, in the style of Mario Galaxy, or y'know other actually playable games - and is filled with a smattering of different buildings and defences, which the player - as a big giant space robot - needs to destroy within a time limit in order to... well, something I guess. I never really figured it out - and I platinumed the freakin' thing. 

The manner in which the player does this is by stomping around, clipping into the environment, trying to find the buildings on the map-free spherical plane, and mashing the same button over and over, and watching the giant space robot flail around until things explode - with an unsatisfying particle effect, the only interesting thing about which is that it will, rather frequently, hard-lock or crash thier Vita.

 

Each level is broadly the same - occasionally some mechanics are varied up - there may be death rays that follow you around and force you to move slightly to the left or right as you plod around the same sphere over and over looking for one tiny needly in a boring haystack, and allowing you the privilege of moving on to the next identical level.

 

Sound is sub-par and tinny, the aesthetic is chunky, artistically barren and somehow dirty to look at, and variety is non-existent. 

 

The game is remarkable easy for the most part, though does occasionally veer into wild (and I assume unintentional) levels of difficulty with no warning - there are maybe 5 levels across the 40 or so that are truly difficult, but they are so random in their placement in the overall flow, that I can only assume it was an accident, and the timer (the true enemy) was simply set too low and never bothered to be reviewed or corrected.

 

There should, theoretically, be something fun about playing a massive force of Space-Based Carnage, wreaking havoc on whole planets (certainly, as poor as most Godzilla games were, there was some fun to be had in that chaotic catharsis,) but there is none here. The game is simply incapable of functioning well enough or looking good enough for that to happen. Nothing has any feeling of impact or weight, nothing explodes with any satisfaction, you simply plod around, hitting the square button until almost everything is dead, then plod around for ages, hoping you can find the last few buildings needed to be destroyed before the timer runs out.

 

A complete waste of time - that this was a PS Plus game is a sick joke. No one should ever play this game. I have already spent more time playing it - then writing this - than Space Overlords ever deserved to be thought about, by anyone. 

I played it, so you don't have to.
Thank me later.

 

 

The Ranking:

Not even the crap-fest that was Kick-Ass: The Game can compete with this garbage. That game made me laugh. This one didn't - it was too woeful even to be funny. I should never have finished it - Lord knows, if I hadn't been working from home with my Vita at my side while on boring conference calls, I never would have.

 

Anyone who knows me at all, knows I hate being negative about any game.
I say that to emphasis the following statement: Fuck this game.

 

It is the new 'Least Awesome' game - with a motherfucking bullet.

 

 

 

 

What Remains of Edith Finch

 

Summary: 

Most Walking Sims are rooted in hard reality - Gone Home, Dear Esther, Firewatch - and some add a smattering of sci-fi to the mix - Everyone's Gone to the Rapture, Tachoma, Ether One. 

It is, strangely, relatively rare for a Walking Sim to delve into the 'Magical Realism' genre - a land filmicly occupied by the likes of Tim Burton, Guillermo Del Toro, Spike Jones et al - which is why What Remains of Edith Finch, from developer Giant Sparrow (of The Unfinished Swan fame,) remains a curious oddity in the genre.

 

Throughout the 3-4 hour game, the player, armed with a journal written by the eponymous Edith Finch, arrives on an island off the coast of Washington state, and explores the beautiful, bizarre and architecturally magical ancestral home of the Finch family - a clan who believe (possibly correctly) that they are cursed - each member being destined to die young, in odd or strange ways.

Throughout the game, the player essentially watches, and lightly participates in, the unfolding stories of various family members last moments, and explores and uncovers the ways in which the concept of the curse impacted each generations lives and outlook, and the ways in which different family members either came to accept, or fight against, or blind themselves to it.

 

The narrative is a fascinating one - each member of the Finch family is unique and interesting to learn about, and the home the player explores is incredibly rich and detailed. Graphically, the game looks great, and really rewards the player for inspecting every crack and crevice of the bizarre construction. Each individual character tale, into which the player dives, is rendered in it's own unique style, giving the whole game a consistent and relentless freshness, and each one is - crucially - very well written and performed. 

 

Because the game is dealing with both discrete, individual stories of each character, and a broader, overarching narrative in the form of the 'present-day' player exploration and interlinking narrative, there is significant potential for one to overshadow the other, but the game does a remarkable job of weaving the disparate short stories into an overarching tonal discussion on the meaning of life, the impact of death, and the interplay between human foreshadowing of disaster vs. disaster itself. Those are heady, weighty subjects, but the magical-realism of the tone of the game means that, despite some stories being genuinely sad, the player never feel downtrodden by the morbid themes, and instead is presented with an odd hopefulness in the face of the curse.

 

Stylistically, and artistically, the game is fantastic - these are the strongest arrows in its quiver, even more so than the excellent writing. Most games that do 'art-style-hopping', going from one look to another to another within the same game tend to fail in at least one of the styles - where one is significantly better or worse than the others - but here, each one feels so well done and realised that, were the entire game done in that style, it would be perfectly acceptable. Getting a mix as broad as this, is, therefore, icing on a very tasty cake.

 

There is very, very little in the way of 'gameplay' beyond simple exploration - this game is operating much more in the Dear Esther framework than, say, the Gone Home one. There are essentially no puzzle elements in play - but it is worth noting, this game actually felt far more interactive than that game, despite being demonstrably less so. That can only be a testament to the fantastic art design and narrative - I was so fascinated by what I was being presented with, throughout the entirely of the game, and it varied so much, that I wasn't even able to notice that very little was actually being asked of me as a 'gamer'.

A wonderful entry in the Walking Sim genre - I find it very easy to understand why some people use this game as both the yardstick by which to measure other Walking Sims, and as the prime example when justifying the genre's existence to the more 'arcade-rulez' crowd.

 

 

The Ranking:

Personally, the actual story of Edith Finch - while interesting, fascinating, nuanced and well realised - never quite felt as magical or wondrous as Giant Sparrow's previous effort The Unfinished Swan, it did hook me from start to finish. 

 

In terms of Walking Sims currently on the list, the obvious comparisons are Dear Esther and Firewatch. 

 

Walking Sims essentially work on four very specific aspects - narrative, dialogue, performance and art.
While I freely admit there is more in Edith Finch to chew on artistically than either of those games, and in terms of narrative I think Edith Finch beats both games as well (though only just in Firewatch's case,) in terms of performances and dialogue, as good as Edith Finch is, is cannot beat either one.

 

That leaves us in something of a stalemate. I think the length, more than anything else, does hurt Dear Esther in this match-up a little - it is by far the shortest of the three, and it's tone and length mean it also suffers a little in terms of variety of art on show. What is there is beautiful, but there just isn't much of it.

 

In the end, I find Edith Finch to fall above Dear Esther, but still just slightly below Firewatch. The interplay between the two characters in Firewatch and the performances are just a little too good for any of Edith Finch's discrete scenes to match. 

 

Below Firewatch, SOMA - which has some similarities to a Walking Sim, though is far more puzzle orientated - has a little to much going for it (and significantly more length) and so it retains its place above Edith Finch too, but Limbo is outdone by Edith Finch's phenomenal emotional investment and incredible art design.

 

 

 

 

 

So there we have it folks!

Thanks to @YaManSmevz & @GraniteSnake for putting in requests! 

 

 

What a round!

After nine full rounds as No.1 Prey is finally usurped by Invisible Inc which is the new  'Current Most Awesome Game'!

And - just as astounding -  Kick Ass: The Game the king of the crap-pile for 6 full rounds, finally finds a new game to take the shitty crown of 'Least Awesome Game', in stinker Space Overlords!

 

 

 

What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the sweetie... or the pocket lint?

That's up to randomness, me.... and YOU!

 

Remember:

 

SPECIAL NOTE

 

If there are any specific games anyone wants to see get ranked sooner rather than later - drop a message, and I'll mark them for 'Priority Ranking'! 

 

The only stipulation is that they must be on my profile, at 100% (S-Rank)....

 and aren't already on the Rankings! 

 

 

 

Catch y'all later my Scientific Brothers and Sisters! ☮️

Edited June 30, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[YaManSmevz]

Oh, how I have waited for this day!

 

The funny thing for me with Fallout 4 is that while I was constantly finding things to gripe about, after a while it became evident that I just couldn't put the damn thing down. It reminds me of that old joke about the food at a restaurant not only being bad, but in such small portions.

 

"Fallout 4 is an awful game."

"I know! And there's not nearly enough time for all the cool stuff you can do!"

 

As a Fallout virgin, I was not privy to how lucky I was to start off in this franchise with relatively few bugs, and the few I encountered were a minor nuisance at worst. Also that big, beautiful, endlessly explorable world (plus DLC!) more than made up for the flimsy main story, and while I felt the game took an odd joy in toying with completionists (100,000 tickets?? It really has to be that many??), I am proud to have completed it and not only had a lot of fun, but plan to revisit to get in some more crafting, try different builds, play as a female protagonist, and see all the extra stuff I missed!

 

Later, though. MUCH later. It was definitely a lot!

 

I perked up a bit when I saw you were tackling Ms. Finch! That was my first walking sim, and even though I had no experience in the genre (save maybe Mist or something from when I was a kid) I could tell from the jump that this was one of the good ones. You hit the nail on the head, the mood never dips even in spite of the heavy subject matter, and the variety of the art styles was neck and neck with the quality of the styles themselves. I absolutely adored that game, and it will be a confusing moment should I ever encounter somebody who didn't at least kinda like it.

 

As for Invisible Inc, well the joke's on you - I bought that months ago and have ALREADY been bullying myself to bump it up the backlog and get playin!

 

As usual, thanks for all the science words?

Edited June 30, 2021 by YaManSmevz

[DrBloodmoney]

1 hour ago, YaManSmevz said:

Oh, how I have waited for this day!

 

The funny thing for me with Fallout 4 is that while I was constantly finding things to gripe about, after a while it became evident that I just couldn't put the damn thing down. It reminds me of that old joke about the food at a restaurant not only being bad, but in such small portions.

 

"Fallout 4 is an awful game."

"I know! And there's not nearly enough time for all the cool stuff you can do!"

 

As a Fallout virgin, I was not privy to how lucky I was to start off in this franchise with relatively few bugs, and the few I encountered were a minor nuisance at worst. Also that big, beautiful, endlessly explorable world (plus DLC!) more than made up for the flimsy main story, and while I felt the game took an odd joy in toying with completionists (100,000 tickets?? It really has to be that many??), I am proud to have completed it and not only had a lot of fun, but plan to revisit to get in some more crafting, try different builds, play as a female protagonist, and see all the extra stuff I missed!

 

Later, though. MUCH later. It was definitely a lot!

 

Haha, I know - I think this requested review has been the longest in the making, just because it would have felt so out of context without the previous games already reviewed!

 

I know what you mean about the experience - there's definitely some games (usually open world ones) where you can sped ages picking apart what is annoying about it, or not up to scratch in some areas, yet there is some intangible X-factor that just keep the game enjoyable anyways, and keeps drawing you back. TBH - Mass Effect Andromeda is kind of like that for me right now - full of stuff to make fun of or complain about, yet still keeping it's hooks in me!

 

Oh, God, that 100,000 tickets trophy was an absolute clown shoe!

I ended up doing that one by constructing rows of the basketball machines, with heath-Robinson contraptions around them to constantly keep a series of basketballs on a loop, dropping through the hoop, then rolling around tracks, up elevators and back in again. Ended up with me just walking back and forth, collecting the tickets as they each reached the capped amount per machine!

 

At first, that seemed like a cheese or an exploit, but actually, given that 100,000 is such an absurd number playing regularly, I actually suspect the dev was trying to force people to experiment with that kind of thing, as a way to show off what you could do with the crafting!

 

[YaManSmevz]

3 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

Haha, I know - I think this requested review has been the longest in the making, just because it would have felt so out of context without the previous games already reviewed!

 

I know what you mean about the experience - there's definitely some games (usually open world ones) where you can sped ages picking apart what is annoying about it, or not up to scratch in some areas, yet there is some intangible X-factor that just keep the game enjoyable anyways, and keeps drawing you back. TBH - Mass Effect Andromeda is kind of like that for me right now - full of stuff to make fun of or complain about, yet still keeping it's hooks in me!

 

Oh, God, that 100,000 tickets trophy was an absolute clown shoe!

I ended up doing that one by constructing rows of the basketball machines, with heath-Robinson contraptions around them to constantly keep a series of basketballs on a loop, dropping through the hoop, then rolling around tracks, up elevators and back in again. Ended up with me just walking back and forth, collecting the tickets as they each reached the capped amount per machine!

 

At first, that seemed like a cheese or an exploit, but actually, given that 100,000 is such an absurd number playing regularly, I actually suspect the dev was trying to force people to experiment with that kind of thing, as a way to show off what you could do with the crafting!

 

I totally understand! Fallout is a lengthy franchise to review to say the least, and the groundwork was definitely necessary. You've educated me on the lead up to FO4 which certainly helped my perspective.

I did the basketball glitch with the overlapping machines after I realized what a sorry pittance you got from all the other games (and how many rockets I'd need to take the route with that bandit game). Personally, I didn't feel any cheaper doing that than when I built hundreds of weight benches for the Benevolent Leader trophy or scum saved with five cages to get tame animals or trying to get an active audience for an impromptu battle between two settlers (hell, insert inane trophy here). It's difficult to put into words, but I feel with several of these trophies it's kind of understood that you're going to cheese some of them, lest you risk losing interest entirely! While again, I'm happy to have gotten that coveted S rank, I suspect this is one of those games I would've enjoyed a great deal more if I didn't care about trophies!

[Platinum_Vice]

*child tugging on your trenchcoat*

Mister, mister, I have a request!

 

The Banner Saga.

 

Wait, that's not eligible... Bloodborne!

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by GonzoWARgasm
I am dum dum

[DrBloodmoney]

5 hours ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

Wait, that's not eligible... Bloodborne!

 

Flagged with your name! ?

 

[JoesusHCrust]

I dunno mate. Invisible inc. is hard as fuck and I'm not a skilled gamer! You're selling it and it does sound great but I don't want another unfinished game on my profile!

 

You wrote something that got me thinking. You said that you place a premium on gameplay, and it made me realise that I don't think I do. All of the games that I've really enjoyed playing have been games with a huge amount of exploration, but rather low difficulty and limited gameplay depth. Games like the Bethesda RPGs allow you to lose yourself in an alternative world without the stress of actually having to put any effort into the game! This for me is a major draw, and something largely lacking in PS4 generation games where large and easy RPGs have been pretty rare. 

 

 

[DrBloodmoney]

3 hours ago, JoesusHCrust said:

I dunno mate. Invisible inc. is hard as fuck and I'm not a skilled gamer! You're selling it and it does sound great but I don't want another unfinished game on my profile!

 

You wrote something that got me thinking. You said that you place a premium on gameplay, and it made me realise that I don't think I do. All of the games that I've really enjoyed playing have been games with a huge amount of exploration, but rather low difficulty and limited gameplay depth. Games like the Bethesda RPGs allow you to lose yourself in an alternative world without the stress of actually having to put any effort into the game! This for me is a major draw, and something largely lacking in PS4 generation games where large and easy RPGs have been pretty rare. 

Sure, I can dig that - I mean, I wouldn’t say I put a premium on the difficulty of a game - I’m certainly not a big advocate for the masochistic type genres - the Devil May Crys and the Ninja Gaidens and the really brutal stuff that sells itself primarily on its difficulty (the Super Meat Boy and Crypt of the Necrodancer fare).

I can respect those games, certainly, but there is a reason they aren’t on my profile - it’s because, as much as I hear people talk about them often, I never hear anyone say anything about them besides how brutal they are.
I must have read a thousand posts about Super Meat Boy, on this site alone, but every one is about how hard it is. Not once have I ever read anyone say it’s actually fun to play!

 

Certainly Souls games and some roguelike games fall somewhere on that spectrum, but the challenge is not the thing that draws me to those games - it’s gameplay and variation of approach that does it for me, for sure, and the ability to be lost in a well realised world and obtuse and fascinating lore.

 

On Invisible Inc, I will say - in terms of difficulty, I think it is totally overblown in how it is viewed.

People like to use the platinum rarity as a yardstick for difficulty. I know that can be somewhat accurate - sometimes - but it is a bit of a bug-bear of mine, as most of the time, it is just not reflective of reality.

 

In this case rarity of the platinum is completely out of whack with the difficulty- probably due to a combination of it being a PS+ game, and quite a specific style of game, that does take some practice.

 

I think if it didn’t have the ‘rewind’ roll-back mechanic, it would legitimately be an 8/10 or even a 9/10 in difficulty. But it does have it - and that allows anyone who is willing to play around with it and take the time to experiment to get that platinum.

 

Personally, I don’t really like to ‘judge’ difficulty in terms of a numerical scale, but, with the roll-back, I’d say Invisible Inc is no more than a 5/10 really. It’s one of the best examples of how rarity cannot be used as a defacto difficulty gauge.
 

Sekiro - a game that is somewhere in the 27% area in rarity, I think is massively more difficult - it doesn’t allow for variation of build or speccing different ways, and requires the player to either master a very specific single way of playing, or go home.

 

Invisible Inc, on the other hand, in the 0.5% range, but given that it allows for a near infinite level of customisation, speccing and multiple methods of play, and infinite variations, combined with the ability to literally re-roll every turn, constantly and without punishment, means that while it can take a bit of time to really understand the basics of all the mechanics, the actual path to platinum is far easier - it gives you all the tools you need, not only to practice infinitely without punishment, but also to retry as often as you need.

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[DrBloodmoney]

 

!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!

 

 

The next 5 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be:

 

 

Arcade Archives: Mat Mania Exciting Hour
Ratchet & Clank 2
Superliminal 
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Surge

 

 

 

 

Subjects in RED marked for PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT

[Care of @grayhammmer , @JoesusHCrust , @totakos1 & @Slava (who confused the hell out of my spreadsheet by changing his name recently! ?) ]

 

 

 

Can newly crowned 'Current Most Awesome' game, Invisible Inc, maintain the title?

 

Is new last-in-show Space Overlords going to have any competition for 'Least Awesome Game' ?

 

Let's find out!

[Copanele]

5 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Can newly crowned 'Current Most Awesome' game, Invisible Inc, maintain the title?

 

Is new last-in-show Space Overlords going to have any competition for 'Least Awesome Game' ?

 

Let's find out!

Damn, I missed the last episode when these games were promoted!

Need to catch the re-run  

[DrBloodmoney]

Just now, Copanele said:

Damn, I missed the last episode when these games were promoted!

Need to catch the re-run  

Haha, man - the most exciting episode - a new champion, and a new chumpion in the space of two reviews 

 

I almost got the Bends from the rapid change in pressure ?

[Slava]

1 hour ago, DrBloodmoney said:

@Slava (who confused the hell out of my spreadsheet by changing his name recently! )

 

Haha, sorry ?. 

 

I also missed the new champion and the new biggest stinker. I usually don't bother reading about games I've never heard of, so I skipped both Invisible Inc and Space Overlords. I'll fix my mistake ASAP.

[DrBloodmoney]

9 minutes ago, Slava said:

I also missed the new champion and the new biggest stinker. I usually don't bother reading about games I've never heard of, so I skipped both Invisible Inc and Space Overlords. I'll fix my mistake ASAP.

 

My friend, if you do nothing else, don't dismiss Invisible Inc!

 

It's an astonishing game - absolutely tip-top!

[JoesusHCrust]

I reckon we're going to have a scientific disagreement over TESV:S! It'll go down in history as one of the great scientific debates (probably). Whilst Skyrim is the weakest of the Bethesda Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim being the correct order, of course) It's still an amazing game. Definitely top 5, but I predict it coming in closer to 30 in your rank. We'll see though!! 

[DrBloodmoney]

10 minutes ago, JoesusHCrust said:

I reckon we're going to have a scientific disagreement over TESV:S! It'll go down in history as one of the great scientific debates (probably). Whilst Skyrim is the weakest of the Bethesda Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim being the correct order, of course) It's still an amazing game. Definitely top 5, but I predict it coming in closer to 30 in your rank. We'll see though!! 

 

Well, I never played Morrowind - I hopped on TES with Oblivion.

 

If Oblivion was eligible, I suspect it would beat out Skyrim, but given that it was trophy-free, the only comparison points will be Fallout games really - we'll just have to see how the science works out - but I certainly enjoyed Skyrim enough to platinum (actually, almost platinum - stupid Deadric Artifacts!) twice....

Edited July 5, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[Together_Comic]

On 7/2/2021 at 11:34 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

I can respect those games, certainly, but there is a reason they aren’t on my profile - it’s because, as much as I hear people talk about them often, I never hear anyone say anything about them besides how brutal they are.
I must have read a thousand posts about Super Meat Boy, on this site alone, but every one is about how hard it is. Not once have I ever read anyone say it’s actually fun to play!

 

Well let me be the first then to say that Super Meat Boy is really fun to play ?. That methodical attacking of the problem until the problem becomes routine and you can move onto attacking the next problem is a really cathartic and interesting game play loop to me. That being said, I do think it is impossible to talk about this game without referencing the difficulty, because that at its core is what makes it engaging to begin with.  If you strip away the difficulty, it becomes something akin to 36 fragments of midnight, which while I'm sure some people enjoyed, doesn't seem to me to be all that compelling of a game. 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Together_Comic

[DrBloodmoney]

16 minutes ago, Together_Comic said:

 

Well let me be the first then to say that Super Meat Boy is really fun to play That methodical attacking of the problem until the problem becomes routine and you can move onto attacking the next problem is a really cathartic and interesting game play loop to me. That being said  I do think it is impossible to talk about this game without referencing the difficulty, because that at its core is what makes it engaging to begin with.  If you strip away the difficulty, it becomes something akin to 36 fragments of midnight, which while I'm sure some people enjoyed, doesn't seem to me to be all that compelling of a game. 

 

Haha - fair enough - though I can't imagine that is true about 36 Fragments - that game is not a platformer, it's more akin to something like Desert Golfing.

There was a game I remember playing called Save the Ninja Clan, which from what I could tell was essentially aping the Super Meat Boy style, minus the brutal difficulty - and to be honest, I found it okay - never terrible and often fun enough - but its a tough sell for me to imagine playing a game of that style for the hundreds of hours something like SMB seems to ask of players.

 

Never say never of course, and it's a nice platinum to have for sure - but I have to admit, while I certainly give props to folks who get that platinum, for someone like me who has very little patience for games that I feel are taking liberties with my time, a game would have to really really appeal on a game design and stylistic level to make me willing to engage for that kind of time.

 

For someone with a more cultivated, less messy profile, getting that plat can be a really nice cherry on top, but with a profile as all-over-the-place as mine, it's a harder proposition to consider spending hundreds of hours going after one game just to prove a point to myself - especially since the rest of my 'not-particularly-challege-orientated' profile would immediately undo said point ?

 

That said - it is on vita, and I am running out of decent vita games to take on offshore trips, so you never know... could become a long-term 'chip-away at it' kind of game 

Edited July 5, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[Together_Comic]

29 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

Haha - fair enough - though I can't imagine that is true about 36 Fragments - that game is not a platformer, it's more akin to something like Desert Golfing.

There was a game I remember playing called Save the Ninja Clan, which from what I could tell was essentially aping the Super Meat Boy style, minus the brutal difficulty - and to be honest, I found it okay - never terrible and often fun enough - but its a tough sell for me to imagine playing a game of that style for the hundreds of hours something like SMB seems to ask of players.

 

Never say never of course, and it's a nice platinum to have for sure - but I have to admit, while I certainly give props to folks who get that platinum, for someone like me who has very little patience for games that I feel are taking liberties with my time, a game would have to really really appeal on a game design and stylistic level to make me willing to engage for that kind of time.

 

For someone with a more cultivated, less messy profile, getting that plat can be a really nice cherry on top, but with a profile as all-over-the-place as mine, it's a harder proposition to consider spending hundreds of hours going after one game just to prove a point to myself - especially since the rest of my 'not-particularly-challege-orientated' profile would immediately undo said point 

 

That said - it is on vita, and I am running out of decent vita games to take on offshore trips, so you never know... could become a long-term 'chip-away at it' kind of game 

 

I wasn't trying to compare the gameplay of 36 fragments, but more of the overly simplistic style of game that isn't super compelling and that was the first that came to mind, but fair enough. 

 

I do think that if we ignore the iron man trophies than super meat boy is actually an extremely good game that I would recommend to anyone and is very doable. The 106% is probably at around 40-50 hours and comes with a really fun time.  On this site and for trophy hunters in general though, the plat has become sort of a badge of honor and I'm sure that is what a lot of people think about when they start it up.  Heck,  it factored into my decision to give it a go and I like platformers more than most. So I definitely see where you're coming from otherwise.  

 

Whether you play it or not, I look forward to what science will show us ?

[DrBloodmoney]

34 minutes ago, Together_Comic said:

 

I wasn't trying to compare the gameplay of 36 fragments, but more of the overly simplistic style of game that isn't super compelling and that was the first that came to mind, but fair enough. 

 

I do think that if we ignore the iron man trophies than super meat boy is actually an extremely good game that I would recommend to anyone and is very doable. The 106% is probably at around 40-50 hours and comes with a really fun time.  On this site and for trophy hunters in general though, the plat has become sort of a badge of honor and I'm sure that is what a lot of people think about when they start it up.  Heck,  it factored into my decision to give it a go and I like platformers more than most. So I definitely see where you're coming from otherwise.  

 

Whether you play it or not, I look forward to what science will show us 

 

Absolutely mate - I appreciate all the input - this is a thread for talking about how much we love the games we love - and I want everyone to input with the games they love too - whether that's in the form of recommendations, corrections or just yelling at me that my science is wrong ?

 

I certainly don't discount the idea of SMB - and I also can fully accept having a game I'm not skilled enough to finish on my list - I've got plenty of those already, so what's one more on the pile??

 

I'm starting to think Curse of the Dead Gods is the latest one of those actually - a shame, as I'd like to apply the science, and it's a game I'd recommend, but boy-oh-boy, I seem to be just incapable of some of those challenges in it ??

Edited July 5, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[Arcesius]

On 7/3/2021 at 6:34 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

I can respect those games, certainly, but there is a reason they aren’t on my profile - it’s because, as much as I hear people talk about them often, I never hear anyone say anything about them besides how brutal they are.
I must have read a thousand posts about Super Meat Boy, on this site alone, but every one is about how hard it is. Not once have I ever read anyone say it’s actually fun to play!

 

I'll agree with @Together_Comic here... SMB is, without a doubt and having played quite a few platformers, one of the most satisfying platformerst to play. The difficulty of that game comes from going for the platinum, the game itself isn't really hard. 

 

Of course on this very site people only mention how hard it is.. but that's because people here discuss games and trophies interchangeably (which is a big issue in my opinion). The trophies are hard. The game is not. And it is one damn good platformer. 

 

The best platformer I've played on the PS4, however, is the other masterpiece by Edmund Mc Millen... The End is Nigh. Harder game than SMB, easier platinum.

 

As for Crypt... Yeah, it's without a doubt one of the best games I've ever played. It's unique, it's addicting, and I could listen to the soundtrack day in, day out ?

[DrBloodmoney]

20 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

 

I'll agree with @Together_Comic here... SMB is, without a doubt and having played quite a few platformers, one of the most satisfying platformerst to play. The difficulty of that game comes from going for the platinum, the game itself isn't really hard. 

 

Of course on this very site people only mention how hard it is.. but that's because people here discuss games and trophies interchangeably (which is a big issue in my opinion). The trophies are hard. The game is not. And it is one damn good platformer. 

 

Agreed 100% on that - the idea that a game is worse or better by virtue of easy or difficult trophies is asinine - I've had much more fun with the new Ratchet and Clank (the thread of which is literally nothing but people bemoaning the easy trophy list) than I ever did with, say, Arkham Knight, which is seen as a somewhat 'prestigious' S-Rank due to a few stupidly tricky challenge trophies tacked on at the tail end of it's life-cycle!

 

 

Quote

As for Crypt... Yeah, it's without a doubt one of the best games I've ever played. It's unique, it's addicting, and I could listen to the soundtrack day in, day out 

 

Haha, now, there's a game I will not play on console - full disclosure, I know it's a good game, I've played some on Mac, and it's fun and has a hell of a soundtrack - but as far as I'm concerned, any game which everyone going for the platinum seems to pretty much agree that a keyboard plug-in to a console is a requirement, just to make it realistically possible, is simply not a console game - and any argument otherwise will not fly with me. ?

 

It's actually one that - and I know this might draw ire with this, but what the hell, this is my checklist - I don't really 'respect' people getting the platinum in.

 

Super Meat Boy, I see as a challenging platinum that people can go for, and get with enough skill and practice, but without necessarily sacrificing playing other stuff.

From what I understand about Crypt, from a platinum point of view, the level of dedication required to get it virtually forces forgoing all other games for literally months, if not years.  

That, to me, is not dedication - it's obsession. It's not being a fan, it's having a fetish.

Totally fine if people want to do it, but not for me, and not something that draws my respect - only my sympathy!

Edited July 6, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[Arcesius]

1 minute ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Haha, now, there's a game I will not play on console - full disclosure, I know it's a good game, I've played some on Mac, and it's fun and has a hell of a soundtrack - but as far as I'm concerned, any game which everyone going for the platinum it seems to pretty much agree that a keyboard plug-in to a console is a requirement, just to make it realistically possible, is simply not a console game - and any argument otherwise will not fly with me. 

 

Oh, I agree. It's a game made for PC. I actually bought a KB-adapter, and especially in double-tempo it feels somewhat "easier" to play with KB. It's just difficult to keep up the pace with one finger only, and when you have characters that die if you miss a beat... 

 

However, there are at least 4 platinum achievers that played with the controller exclusively. 

 

And hey, you can use a dance-pad, too! 

 

 

 

 

1 minute ago, DrBloodmoney said:

It's actually one that - and I know this might draw ire with this, but what the hell, this is my checklist - I don't really 'respect' people getting the platinum in.

 

Super Meat Boy, I see as a challenging platinum that people can go for, and get with enough skill and practice, but without necessarily sacrificing playing other stuff.

From what I understand about Crypt, form a platinum point of view, the level of dedication required to get it virtually forces forgoing all other games for literally months, if not years.  

That, to me, is not dedication - it's obsession. It's not being a fan, it's having a fetish.

Totally fine if people want to do it, but not for me, and not something that draws my respect - only my sympathy!

 

It is an obsession to some degree, as it is to - for example - try to maintain a 100% account, getting plats in games you don't like, etc... But yes, the amount of dedication required to get this game done is only matched by something like 100% in DJ Max Respect (the latter actually takes close to 2000 hours, in contrast to Crypt which "only" takes roughly 1000 hours to finish). Personally, I just cannot prioritize finishing a videogame over anything that goes on in real life. I'd love to finish it some day though, seeing it as the only unifinished game on my profile... well, let's say I might be a bit obsessed as well ?