elpoko Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 Thanks for including my suggestion - Void Bastards. While I agree for the most part with your assessment I can't agree with your placement on the leaderboard. As you say it has tons of personality, style, humour and fun none of which Darksiders or Assassins Creed 2 possess (maybe I'm being a little harsh on Darksiders as it does have some personality). For me fun trumps everything and Void Bastards is just a big ball of the stuff. Also I can't belive I didn't make the connection between your name and Philip K. Dick maybe because it's not one of my favourites, if you had called yourself Palmer Eldritch, Timothy Archer, Perky Pat or some such thing I would have got it much faster. I really enjoy his work especially his later work - Valis, The Divine Invasion, A Scanner Darkly and We Can Build You is a real personal favourite. If you are a sci-fi fan can I recommend The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, Under the Skin by Michel Faber and Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. I look forward to your next update. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 7, 2021 Author Share Posted May 7, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, elpoko said: Thanks for including my suggestion - Void Bastards. While I agree for the most part with your assessment I can't agree with your placement on the leaderboard. As you say it has tons of personality, style, humour and fun none of which Darksiders or Assassins Creed 2 possess (maybe I'm being a little harsh on Darksiders as it does have some personality). For me fun trumps everything and Void Bastards is just a big ball of the stuff. Hey I'm with you on the fun, but for me Void Bastards is just a bit too thin to make it further up that list - it's a hell of a good time while it lasts, but it doesn't really last all that long, and by my 5th or 6th full run, I'd seen everything it had to offer really. Still, a great game, and I'd say 21st out of 80 isn't bad by a long shot - given that if i had to draw a line through the list and say "everything above this line is highly recommended," that line would be around the 45th-50th place on the current list! Remember - this list is only stuff I both liked enough to buy, and liked enough to 100%, so a high place on that list is a pretty serious endorsement from me ? Edited May 7, 2021 by DrBloodmoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraniteSnake Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 Loved your review of SOMA! I played it in ‘safe’ mode which diluted the experience for me gameplay-wise. The story was fantastic though! It’s nice to see it so high up on your rankings. I’ve played 6 out of the 10 games you’ve just reviewed so it was an interesting read all round ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 7, 2021 Author Share Posted May 7, 2021 Just now, GraniteSnake said: Loved your review of SOMA! I played it in ‘safe’ mode which diluted the experience for me gameplay-wise. The story was fantastic though! It’s nice to see it so high up on your rankings. I’ve played 6 out of the 10 games you’ve just reviewed so it was an interesting read all round Glad you enjoyed - these mini reviews started out as a couple of sentences, but they seem to be getting longer and longer each round ? Guess I'm just having too much fun reliving and remembering the old games again ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 8, 2021 Author Share Posted May 8, 2021 (edited) ⚛️!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!⚛️ The next 10 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be: Beyond Eyes Chasm CuboidDemon's Souls Dokuro LEGO The Lord of the Rings (PS3) Mahjong Royal Towers Prey Type:Rider Zombie Apocalypse Subjects in RED marked for ❎PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT❎ [Care of @Copanele , @Soraking1991 & @FilmFanatic ] Can 'Current Most Awesome' pack leader, Dark Souls, fend off yet another round of challengers? Is current 'Least Awesome Game' Watchmen: The End is Nigh going to have any competition for its prised bottom step? Let's find out, Science buddies! ?? Edited May 8, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 I’m interested to hear what you have to say about Chasm and Dokuro. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 (edited) !!SCIENCE UPDATE - SPECIAL REPORT!! The first new game to be S-Ranked since beginning this grand endeavour has finally arrived, and so a special episode is in order! Just a single review and ranking here, to keep the science train ticking over between big updates ? Twin Mirror Summary: Twin Mirror is the most recent game from DotNod (developers of Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2,) and it is an odd one. It's markedly less ambitious than those games in terms of scope and themes, but clearly more ambitious in terms of technical prowess. The protagonist, Sam Higgs, is a reporter. Or, at least, he was, until two years prior to the events of the game, when an an article he wrote exposed poor safety practices of the mining corporation that was the life-blood and primary industry of his Appalachian home town of Basswood, setting off a chain of events leading to the mine's closure, and the economic depression of the town. The local economy collapsed, Sam became a social pariah, what we are told was an underlying mental health issue with Sam became more acute, his relationship with long-term girlfriend Anna broke down after an ill-advised proposal from Sam, and he left town in shame. At the outset of the game, Sam is returning to the town for, ostensibly, a brief visit, to pay his respects to his old best-friend and co-worker at the local paper, Nick, who has died in a car crash. At the insistence of Nick's daughter 'Bug', he begins investigating Nick's death, which she is convinced can't have been the accident it has been reported as, and throughout the game, uncovers a plot involving a drug ring, an opioid crisis enveloping the town beneath its parochial veneer, and corruption in the police and local business owners. It's a decent, if predictable and short mystery. On the visual front it is really nicely done (if this is the technical quality we can expect from future, DotNod fare, the Life is Strange 3 is something to look forward to.) Lighting and facial-tech are vastly superior to Life is Strange 2, but this was clearly at the expense of game size. (Also - and I wouldn't usually mention this, but in this case it was a serious issue - there seems to be no obvious reason on screen for why the game would routinely get my PS4 Pro's fan going like a goddamned jet engine. Seriously - I had to play the majority of the game with over-ear headphones, and even then, it was difficult to hear the dialogue over the racket. I regularly clean out my fan, so my PS4 is not the issue - it runs other games without this problem, so I can only assume it is a problem of bad optimisation of this specific game.) The game tries to address a lot if different aspects of mental health (I played this game primarily as part of the 'Trophies for Mental Health (Event)' event currently ongoing, and have a much more detailed review of those specific aspects of the game in that thread HERE), but for those who just want the TL;DR summary - suffice to say, I think in covering those areas it largely failed. The protagonist's mental health aspects are pretty clunky handled, and in steering away for anything super specific, it pretty much fails to address anything. On the gameplay side, the game is pretty competent - controls fairly well, has a reasonably - if never terribly impressive - breadth of branching paths. The town of Basswood is filled with fairly well drawn, if archetypal and slightly stereotypical characters, but for the most part, DotNod does a decent job of showing there is more to everyone than what you'd initially think. The writing is competent for the most part, but dialogue is often terribly on-the-nose, and DotNod's fairly well established habit of hitting the player over the head with a sledgehammer and telling them what characters are feeling, rather than showing it with their actions and facial expressions is still here - and markedly more off-putting now, given that the improved tech and visuals now clearly have the capability of showing more with facial expressions than they ever did. It is no longer as necessary for characters to be so clunkily and unnaturally expositional, and so it's disappointing that they still are. Most of the game is in exploring and choice-based dialogue, and that is perfectly fun and fine, but every time the game deviates from that - whether it's in puzzle-solving, Arkham-Batman-style detective-vision reconstructing of a crimes, or the ludicrous and giggle-inducing 'nightmare' sections in which Sam has to do some really silly sections based on pseudo-psychological ideas to 'win-back' control of his own mind from his panicked state - it trips all over itself, and lands on it's face. The game is fairly fun for a single, blind playthrough, but my second one - as a trophy mop-up and in which I did mostly different choices - didn't really result in a markedly different story - just some altered dialogue. I enjoyed it for what it was, but couldn't shake the feeling this was something of a testing ground for the improved tech, which will go on to be used in future, better DotNod fare. Ranking: Beats similarly story-driven Supermassive failure Hidden Agenda, but doesn't beat their much more successful Until Dawn. While its admirable qualities lift it above other well-meaning but flawed fare such as Lords of the Fallen and Dragon's Crown, the fun factor on show in Plant's vs Zombies beats it out, and stops it from moving any higher. Edited May 10, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DrBloodmoney Posted May 11, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 11, 2021 (edited) ?? NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! ?? Hello Science-buds and Science-bud-esses, as promised (and in some cases requested), here are the latest results of our great scientific endeavour! Beyond Eyes Summary: Beyond Eyes is a game crafted on the basis of a single high-concept idea - and a laudable one - and while it broadly succeeds in that regard, it doesn't really try to do much else. The entire concept of the game is to try and show what the world is like for a blind person, to sighted players. The player controls Rae, a naive, blind young girl, who wanders out from her family garden to find her errant cat, and in doing so, has to navigate and negotiate an unfamiliar township, using only ambient sounds and smells. The way this notion is presented is extremely clever, and works very well, using an art-style that is the biggest draw of the game. The game is absolutely gorgeous - the world is a pure white void beyond the girl's audible range, and as different sounds give her indicators of her surroundings, the world is filled in, in a painterly, pastel-shaded water-colour style that is never anything less than beautiful. One-off sounds, such as a child laughing, will fill in for a moment, then fade as the sound does, while fixed things, like bushes rustling or her footsteps on gravel, concrete, grass or wood, will remain permanently, as Rae learns the layout of her surroundings. Since Rae is only really familiar with the things she encounters routinely in her life, the other interesting dynamic of the game is used - the changing of the environment to match Rae's understanding. When you first hear a sound, from a distance it will fill in with what she imagines it to be. What might appear to be one thing, as Rae interprets it, will melt away, revealing something else - the actual source of the sound - as she gets closer and her understanding of it changes. A washing-line laden with clothes flapping in the wind might melt away to reveal a scarecrow's flapping jacket upon closer inspection, or a woodpecker tapping on a tree turns into the clicking of a traffic-light cross-walk. It's a neat gimmick, and pretty effective, though it is used more often in the early parts, and rather sparingly later, as the simplest of mechanics is replaced with slightly more gamified (and slightly less engaging) ones. All of this makes a game in which the only real interaction is walking around a pretty enjoyable and engaging affair, and the short length (clocking an at around 3 hours for a blind -no pun intended! - playthrough,) means it doesn't really wear out its welcome. There is pretty limited replay value here though. The mechanics are great at conveying the point the game intends, but with little story or peril, no choice or branching paths, and lacking the visual spectacle or literary grandeur of something like Dear Esther, a second playthrough offers little that wasn't gleaned the first time. The Ranking: The look of the game, and the noble and somewhat successful nature of the concept jump this one above the lower portion of the current list, jumping past games with good visuals and nothing much else, such as Need for Speed: Rivals and The Order: 1886, but the shortness of the game and minimal interaction and threat, works against it. A sweet, but ultimately frivolous, story is not offset by any meaningful puzzles (as could be said about something like Rain,) and keeps it far below that game. Ultimately, the limited nature of the game and lack of repeatability means it can only move so high up, and despite the bare-bones offering of Tetris, the inherent awesomeness of its core-game blocks Beyond Eyes moving above it. Chasm Summary: Chasm is a bit of a strange beast. I can't quite recall another game that is so mechanically solid, yet conceptually misguided. Chasm is not a bad game at all. A pixel-art, side-scrolling, platforming-heavy metroidvania, it never stands out from the crowd on any technical or artistic aspect, but doesn't fall down on any of them either. The platforming is good, the controls work fine and feel of the game is smooth and satisfying. It has a well laid out UI, a nice, district look to each biome, a good cross-section of monsters to contend with and actually, pretty good, fun boss fights. The weapon variety, while small, is a nice addition, and the difference in approach required when using a dagger vs. a mace, or a sword vs. a hammer are welcome. Art-wise and level design-wise, the game is okay - solid, occasionally infuriating, but fine for the most part - but never more than that. There is a clear and obvious reason: Chasm is procedurally generated. Why? ...I'm not really sure. It makes very little sense to me. I'm no game designer, but I have to assume that making a game procedurally generated and variable has to require a huge amount more work than making the very same game but with a single, crafted world would... right? It has to have taken a lot more work to get that working here. Procedural generation, also, for all its benefits in some games, is inherently less likely to result in truly interesting level design, since every individual 'jigsaw piece' has to be designed to allow connection to many others, and so the game gives up more bespoke and interesting level design in favour of variability and repeatability. Thats a compromise well worth taking in a rogue-like, but... Chasm is not really a rogue-like. Unlike something like Dead Cells or Rogue Legacy, where you will likely be making dozens, if not hundreds, of runs through the various biomes, in Chasm, the player (even the completionist looking to milk every trophy) is only likely to play through the game at most two or three times. In Chasm you save regularly. There is no permadeath (as a default.) You aren't constantly restarting from the beginning like you do in those games. Yes, you might die several times, and have to repeat a particular 'spelunk' into the eponymous chasm from your little village that acts as the game hub, but since the variation is set by a randomly generated seed at the beginning of a new game, those repetitions will always be in the same seed and static. I am really baffled as to why the decision was taken to make this procedurally generated at all. The option to play on 'permadeath' does exist in the game (trophy hunters will have to play it once for the platinum) but it can be played on easy mode, and, frankly, it should be. Why? Because of the other major problem that Chasm has generated for itself by straddling the gulf, with one foot in the Rogue-Like pool, and one foot out: Its length. A run through of Chasm lasts about 4-5 hours. That is an absurdly long playthrough for a permadeath Rogue-Like, but an awfully short one for a regular platform-based metroidvania. If a full run was an hour or so, a-la Dead Cells, Rogue Legacy, Spelunky, or any of the hundreds of great Rogue-Likes Chasm had at its disposal to use as guidance, I could see an argument for playing with Perma-death on all the time, or making it the default (or only) way to play. However, at the length it is, it is just not practical - and the designers clearly agree - hence the marginalisation of the permadeath 'Mortal' mode. All in all, Chasm has plenty of charm, looks nice, occasionally bordering on very nice, and has enough meat to it's gameplay to justify the couple of playthroughs required for the platinum. It makes a real mistake trying to play-act as a rogue-like though, and hampers its design in the attempt. While adopting all the downsides of Rogue-Like genre, it fails to take advantage of any of the upsides. The Ranking: Without any single aspect dragging it down, Chasm moves up the list past other games with more obvious flaws, but it's lack of any single great hook keeps it a long way from the top. A really well-running vita version gives it the fuel it needs to move a little higher than it would if on PS4 alone (having a good version on that under-served platform is always a good way to get some awesome-points on this list!,) but that means that when it get's to a match-up with similarly Vita-friendly Freedom Wars, that games length, sense of humour and repeatability simply overwhelm Chasm's offering. Cuboid Summary: A very simple, yet often alarmingly tricky, 3D puzzler, Cuboid has the distinction of being the very first game I purchased on the PS3 store! The rules of the game are simple - flip a 1x2 block cuboid around on its faces, to negotiate a set maze, and reach the end point without falling off the edge. That's basically it. There are some additional obstacles thrown in as you progress - the usual fare, teleporters, switches, breakable -temporary' platforms etc. - but really, the strength of the game is in it's simplicity - you know how to play the second you see it, and the devil is in the detail of how you do it. And make no mistake - it can be a devil! The concept might be simple, but this game I found incredibly difficult at times - the whole game is about spacial awareness and 3-dimensional thinking (areas I, in my 'real-life' use daily in my job as an industrial designer) and I still found the later puzzles in Cuboid to be no joke! The look is pretty simple and the music and sound design pretty lacklustre, which harms it a little, although, like the picross games discussed in the last round, it is unlikely anyone is playing with the sound on, as this is another great 'podcast' game. Simple and engaging, the game is long enough to keep you going for a good chunk of time, but could have easily supported more. I'm certain that if this came out now, rather than a decade ago, it would have benefitted from having additional levels added as dlc packs, which would have increased the longevity immensely. The Ranking: Simple and effective puzzles land this pretty much smack-dab in the middle of the current list. More engaging than modern, flawed puzzler Gem Smashers. Does a little more visually that EA's very minimalist Tetris offering, and given that that game had an absolute classic to work with, and fluffed it, it beats out that game too, but isn't doing quite enough to out-do a classic like Dig-Dug. The minimalist look of this one has nothing to really outdo even the modest package of that game, and on merit, Dig Dug is the superior game. Demon's Souls Summary: The King's Field games were a bizarre, interesting but generally ropey series of games enjoyed by a tiny cult following. The Dark Souls games are a powerhouse franchise of brilliant, best-in-genre and almost universally acclaimed and acknowledged masterpieces. What was the spark that turned FROM's output from one to the other?Demon's Souls. Demon's Souls had arguably one of the most interesting post-launch stories in gaming, managing, over the course of around 5 years, to go from a curiosity - "That weird, super-hard action JRPG kinda-thing" (as the friend who bought me my copy for my birthday called it - primarily doing so as a half-antagonistic challenge/goof, knowing, as he did, my penchant for 100%ing my games and inadvertently beginning a love affair with Soul-Like games that persists to this day!) - to what is roundly considered the catalyst for one of the great sea-changes in modern mainstream gaming: the rebirth of the 'brutal difficulty as an asset and a selling point' to console, and becoming a lasting classic - only further cemented by the (I'm told excellent) Bluepoint remake on PS5. As a game in the Souls-Like genre (which, of course, it started,) Demon's Souls has some interesting factors that set it apart from the Dark Souls franchise that followed it. For the most part, I think the changes that were made in those later games were improvements, but Demon's Souls still has its place among them. The Hub-style world that it uses, in which each biome is entered via a transportation stone, rather than them all being seamlessly interconnected does make the whole game feel a little smaller (and more game-y), but what it lacks in cohesion, it makes up for in the familiarity a hub brings. There is something nice and familiar about having a 'home' to return to after each outing, and seeing it grow with NPCs as you save them (or not) and the interaction NPCs can have there is meaningful and interesting - something Dark Souls lacked, though did return to some form of in Dark Souls II & Dark Souls III. The bosses and are uniformly excellent - beautifully designed and interesting to fight, and the biomes are all distinct and well laid out, with a ton of nooks and crannies to be explored. Every one is... not beautiful exactly, that is decidedly the wrong word... but beautifully designed, and art design across the environments in general is top notch, and a clear indicator that FROM had the chops to go on to craft even bigger and more astounding worlds in future games. Art design on NPCs and the protagonist are markedly less so here, however, and everyone is a little bland looking - with a few notable exceptions, for example, The Maiden in Black, who is your principal guide and upgrade shop. Voice acting and animations are fairly basic, but get the job done, and there is some limited, but memorable dialogue. Who has played this game, and doesn't remember the line "Soul of the mind, key to life's ether. Soul of the lost, withdrawn from its vessel. Let strength be granted, so the world might be mended. So the world might be mended." The actual fighting mechanics in Demon's Souls are solid - they would be refined quite a bit in future games, but the animation-priority combat was already pretty good, and one of the big draws of the game. There are a few elements of gameplay design that were dropped from the games after this one due to lack of user-friendliness, and it's not difficult to see why - the healing mechanic of using consumables is prone to require grinding in a way the estus flack alleviated, (though Bloodborne did, for some reason, decide to bring this mechanic back for one more outing), and the inclusion of both an equipment load and item load does tend to over-burden (see what I did there) the game with a bit more busywork than it needs and necessitate a bunch of mindless back-and-forth with the game's storage hub - Stockpile Thomas. "Stay Alive... I need yer business!" Also, the inclusion of the 'crystal Lizards' mechanic - while interesting in concept - is not a good idea in my opinion. These creatures, which have a very limited spawn number, and are difficult to kill before they disappear forever, hold the keys to almost all the final upgrade weapons. Tying these upgrade materials to their limited and time-sensitive nature tends to encourage guide use in players who fear missing out on these materials, and can have the effect - if not using a guide - of having the player have missed all the best materials without ever even knowing it. The esoteric online elements that Dark Souls games became known for are all present here - and have remained virtually unchanged, which is an amazing thing really - that they were so good at the very first try is a triumph of FROM's design, and willingness to go weird rather than commonplace, making the less obvious choice and having it pay off. I could go on and on about Demon's Souls, but the main factors are these: It was the first (really) Souls-Like, not the best one, but still incredibly good and wildly interesting, and the mere fact that a game like it - which at the time, was basically genre-defying - managed to exist and penetrate the market in the way it did is a testament to it's fabulous design and gameplay prowess. The Ranking: Obvious comparison points are Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and I don't think Demon's Souls manages to outshine either of them - which is understandable, given that they are both children of it's awesomeness, but benefit from years of subsequent refinements. In the end, Demon's Soul's (few) less well refined qualities drop it a few notches, below massive, polished city-builder Cities Skylines, and wildly addictive and unbelievably well put together indie hit Hotline Miami, but it's originality and part in defining an entire new genre means it still holds it's own against far more polished, but ultimately less original or repeatable Horizon Zero Dawn. Dokuro Summary: Dokuro is one of those situations where I suspect I am going to take some flack from people - or at least, be going a bit against the grain - as I believe that the game is fairly well regarded, but I really did not get on with this one at all. The game is, on paper, a puzzle platformer - far more in the puzzle camp than the platformer one, here - and that is generally my jam. If this list hasn't quite proven it yet, one thing that it is guaranteed to show before it's done is - I have a real soft-spot for puzzle games. I play quite a few of them, and the puzzle-platformer is one of my favourite genres, but my familiarity with them does tend to make me recoil that much more at some of the problems they can have, and in Dokuro, almost every one of the negative aspects that can drag a bad puzzle platformer down are on show. Essentially, Each of Dokuro's puzzles involves manipulating an environment to remove or alleviate the dangers that an auto-walking princess would encounter, and allow her to safely traverse the room. The eponymous Dokuro has various tools at his disposal - switches, levers, boxes he can push etc. as well as the ability to morph into a larger, stronger 'prince', who has the additional ability to carry the princess across more timing-based dangers or steps that she would not traverse on her own. The auto-walking Manhole-esque mechanic in which the player is given a more passive role in protecting an npc is not inherently a bad one, (see, for example, Echochrome) but it is one that is ripe for frustration if implemented poorly, and here, it is. The Princess is - let's not sugar-coat it - a stone cold-moron, apt to wander directly into spikes or fall down a hole without stopping... ...sometimes. Sometimes she sees the danger and stops and waits for you to do something about it, other times, she takes her cue from Lemmings, and just proceeds to kill herself. It's inconsistent, and inconsistent mechanics in a puzzle game are a death-sentence for its appeal. Even greater an issue is the games controls. They are very stilted and very stiff. Everything about controlling Dokuro feels laboured and finicky, to the extent that it becomes quite difficult to correctly gauge some of the more precise jumps, or to shift the block into just the right spot, to complete the puzzles. That is not fun. There is a fair level of difficulty to some of the puzzles in the mid-to-late-game, which would be a good thing if that difficulty stemmed from the puzzles themselves, but it doesn't. For the most part, the actual solutions are pretty easy to work out - where the difficulty (and frustration) lies, is in trying to enact them. The solution is often very clear, but the clunky controls and very rudimentary combat makes it frustratingly difficult to pull off, meaning the game is less of a workout for the brain, and more of an exercise in patience. There is nothing worse, in a puzzle game, than knowing the answer, but repeatedly failing to correctly implement it, and almost all of Dokuro's difficulty stems from that. A good puzzler should be about solving the puzzles. The controls and game mechanics should be in service of that goal. Here, unfortunately, they hinder it. There are boss fights here and there, but given the very stilted controls and poor combat, the less said about those the better. To give the game its due, it looks really nice, which a sketchbook art-style, good UI, nice implementation of the minimal dialogue, and some cute, well done animations in cut-scenes. It is also a sizeable game, and runs as well on Vita as anywhere else, so that's a plus. Dokuro is trying to do well, and that is admirable, and it does lots of good things around its game to add charm, but the game itself is lacking. Lacking good controls, lacking the good kind of difficulty and unfortunately, lacking fun. The Ranking: Not a complete whiff, so moves up past the true stinkers, but as a puzzle game with some personality, but very little else besides a good chunk of problems, it is unable to pass similarly afflicted LEGO Movie: The Videogame (PS3). That is also a long game filled with rather easy puzzles, but in that case, controlling it is fun. Here, not so much. LEGO Lord of the Rings (PS3) Summary: A high point in the LEGO games, this one is arguably the peak point in terms of length across the whole franchise (certainly of the ones I've played, and excluding, I believe, non-standard entries like Dimensions,) and while featuring all the good parts of LEGO games done well - fun co-op play, good simple puzzles, the inherent comedy of doing like-for-like recreations of real-life movie scenes with LEGO characters - it almost begins to suffer by overabundance. Almost. The game is absurdly long for a LEGO game, and while I think all the good parts keep it fun for the most part, I do think there is something to be said for not over-egging a game that is best in co-op, as finding time for 2 people to play couch co-op is more difficult than finding time for one person. The single player is still fun though, the semi-open world is huge and looks great here, and the comedy moments hit more than they miss. Personally, I think LEGO games lost a little of their charming ridiculousness and hilarity with the introduction of voice-work, although this is arguably at its most justifiable, as the Lord of the Rings films, while I like them much, much more, are less iconic scene-to-scene than, say Star Wars, so it could be argued there is more of a necessity to have voice work just so the audience knows what's going on, given that they might not instantly recognise the scene they are parodying. No LEGO game is ever really bad, but this one doesn't come close, and is probably the high-water-mark among the chunk of them I've played (and the good lady Ms. Bloodmoney agrees!) The Ranking: Comparison point is obviously LEGO Movie: The Videogame, and this entry is markedly better. In addition to being longer, more fun, having more scope for exploration and featuring much more variety, it also lacks the negatives that game had. There are significantly less bugs, the game looks much better and more polished (which is impressive, given that it was 2 years, and a console generation before that game,) and where that games comedy was a pale imitation of a good movie, the parodies here are generally well done, and actually pretty funny. Barrels past that game, and sprints past a lot of flawed games above it, it's pleasant gameplay and well done, intentional humour even hoisting it above Until Dawn's knowing (though not always intentional) comedy stylings, but is unable to pass the completely intentional and genuinely well implemented comedy offered by Lollipop Chainsaw. Mahjong Royal Towers Summary: ☢️☢️!!WARNING!!☢️☢️ Okay - I need to level here, (and offer a word of warning to others!)- I bought two of these (this, along with Mahjong World Contest) in a pack, and, it turns out - I'm a dupe, and the creator of these games is a stone-cold grifter! I thought I was buying a Mahjong game - I used to play mahjong with my grandparents and sister when I was a kid, and remembered it fondly, and thought these would be a Vita version of that. Silly old me for assuming a game called 'Mahjong' would be, well... Mahjong! They are not. These are just children's pair-matching games, using Mahjong tiles as the symbology. As I found out later, the term 'Mahjong' has been adopted by a whole host of these pair-matching games, and has almost become the new definition of the term - that's how prevalent they are, at least in the West. Finding an actual Mahjong game is much more difficult that just finding these types of games. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a pairs-matching game, but I do think it is false advertising to call them 'Mahjong' - it would be like creating a game called 'Chess' and it was actually Connect-4 with chess pieces drawn on the tiles! Anyways, rant over - I still got the S-Ranks, so, taking the games as what it is, here we go!: A pretty basic pair-matching game on Vita. Reasonably good touch input helps the game, and the package is simple, but clean and polished. The backgrounds behind the pair-matching puzzles can be a little busy and colourful, and could do with being a little more washed-out to draw the eye to the puzzle tiles themselves, but they serve the purpose. The Ranking: Has enough passive, relaxing fun (and Vita touch functionality) to carry it above the two ultra-turds on the bottom of the current list, and enough to take it above not-really-a-game Paint Park Plus, but rampant false advertising, dully easy puzzles and lack of style or flair combine to ensure it can't even limp past decidedly poor Grin offering Terminator Salvation. Prey Summary: There are two things anyone familiar with my posts on these forums likely knows about me: 1. I write too much. 2. I love Prey. Prey is Arkane's take on Sci-Fi, and the game where they took everything they had already built and finessed to a keenly sharpened blade with the Dishonoured games, shook it all up and added a little System Shock into the mix, and let it all breathe on a brilliantly designed, mysterious, perfectly crafted and - most importantly - alien infested space station. There is something so well designed about Prey. During my first play-through I was certainly a big fan of it, but I think it was a few hours into my second playthrough (where I was doing a different set of powers) that I came to fully appreciate just how well designed the game is. There are so many different ways to deal with traversing the space station, and working out the different ways to achieve your goals based on the powers you have chosen is immensely satisfying. Can’t hack that door? Okay. Did someone email themselves the password? No? Have you tried finding a vent? No way to get there? How about creating a path with your glue gun? No glue? How about shooting a nerf gun through the security window at the emergency open switch? No nerf gun? Why not mimic a coffee cup and blast yourself through the cracked window? No mimicry? Why not get your space suit on and float around to the other side of the door? That’s fun in and of itself, and other games have done similar stuff, but I’ve never seen it done in a way that has so many options, but does it in a way that never sacrifices the integrity of the constructed world. Every option available still makes sense within the context of world you inhabit - I never feel like “oh, okay, I get it, but why would this be here?” The ventilation system makes sense. Access hatches are where they would be. That thing might be a convenient way to climb to that ledge, but it also makes sense that there would be an abstract art piece in this lobby, based on the aesthetic and the background story of the place. Symbiosis between game mechanics and story integrity is rare in games. The Bioshock franchise has always had an incredible sense of place and world, but the actual variety of choices in terms of traversal were pretty limited - most of the multi-choice stuff was in relation to combat. Actually getting from one area to the next never really had more than one or two options. On the flip-side, the Deus Ex series always has a lot of variety in the choices of both combat and traversal, but to achieve that, the devs sacrificed the integrity of the world - I constantly was asking “really? A massive air vent here? Why?” “Why are these guards just hanging out in this abandoned elevator shaft? What do they think they are guarding?” In Prey it all just... makes sense, and that means that you as the player stop thinking about the problems you face in terms of “what does the game designer want me to do?” and instead go “what would I do?” That may seem like a small distinction, but it makes the game so much more immersive. It really feels like there is multiple ways to do everything, and the devs have accounted for every single little way that I tried to do. Every time I tried something a little odd, or out-of-the-box, it was not only possible, but often worked so well that I have to assume they had considered it (or, at least, made the mechanics work so well that they could cope with anything I threw at it.) I even tried breaking the game scripting by killing characters that seemed essential to certain missions, or doing stuff ahead of when I was supposed to, or out of logical order, but the scripting kept up - it adjusted to fit what I was doing without forcing me back to what the expected path would be. The controls are great, the guns feel good, and there are a plethora of interesting powers and mechanics to play with, which is great, but that is a small thing in comparison to: The world just feels real. Every inhabitant of the space station can be found (corpse or otherwise) and accounted for, and by reading the emails and diaries, post-it notes, video diaries, security footage etc. you can follow each and every one’s story, which have been worked out flawlessly. This person is an Engineer, but the locator shows them not in the engineering bay? You can bet there is an email on some computer somewhere explaining that they had to go somewhere else right before the outbreak, or a timetable showing they were off duty that day, or a schedule showing they were off-shift. It’s stuff like that that makes it all feel way more plausible - I get the sense that if I asked the game writers anything about the background of the game or any little tertiary character, they would be able to tell me any details I want about them. They have put in the work to make my detective work feel valid. Each new area you go to feels different from the previous ones, but also fits with the overall aesthetic, and feels correct for the station as a whole - Talos 1 is neither too big (so it feels impossible that it exists or is architecturally impossible) nor too small (so it feels too limited to explore for a long game.) There are also a lot of very small things that make stuff that usually feels like superficial ‘busywork’ in lesser games make sense and feel worthwhile. For example, the ‘break down items to component elements/ 3D print new items from those elements’ mechanic means that every little item is of value. No shotgun this play-through? Those shotgun shells are not useless - break them down into component elements and use those to make yourself a med kit or some crossbow bolts. Need a new power quickly? Break that useless stuff don and make yourself something to gain a new skill! It’s never that Resident Evil thing of “I have to use this gun, because that’s what ammo I have” - you can unmake and remake the world to suit how you want to do things! The game is not perfect, If it has a weakness, it’s that the combat can be a little flat, especially in a 'Human Powers Only / No Powers' play-through, but really, all that does is encourage more stealth, and out-of-the-box thinking of a different flavour. The mechanics that made Dishonoured's stealth work are still present, if a little marginalised. I’ll also briefly mention those load time, which are too long. Not a massive problem early on, but later, when you are going between multiple areas more often, they are a drag. There’s no two ways about it, you definitely feel the length of them. In the end though, Prey remains a marvel. The fact that the gameplay that made Dishonoured great manages to combine with System Shock so well, and that transposing the mechanics for individual, distinct levels to an open-plan game, and adding so many working and variable branching story mechanics still manages to not only hold together, but make something this approachable and fun is fucking incredible. I simply cannot recommend this game highly enough. Most games are crafted in such a way that if you try something different, they say “No, sorry, that’s not the solution.” Prey says “Sure, why not?” The Ranking: Bioshock and Dishonoured are already sitting at 4th and 5th place on the current list, and Prey handily blows both of those formidable and marvellous games out the water, and it cruises past formidable 3rd place entry The Last of Us on repeatability and variation, and 2nd placed Transistor on sheer size and branching story... So all that is left is the match for glory, with Dark Souls... Well, I've thought long and hard, and there are areas in which Dark Souls has the edge, but overall, Prey's incredible scope for variation and its overall package manages to squeeze out the reigning king of Awesome! In the end, it comes down, not to the merits, as both games are Titans, but to the flaws, and Dark Souls just has a few more of them than Prey does. Dark Souls in not the very best Souls-Like in existence, (that fight may well be coming!), but I genuinely believe Prey might have a shot at the title of the best Immersive Sim. Type:Rider Summary: Type:Rider, is created by a French cultural Arts programme, and its primary goal is to educate the player, in a fun way, about the history and chronology of the printed word, via an exploration of the progression of typefaces and fonts throughout history. It does this in the form of a simple but effective physics-lite platformer, with a clean, really nice art-style, which varies across its levels to match the fonts and typefaces of the age it is representing, and requiring collectibles in the form of letters, and bonus asterisks, which reveal a text lesson about the typeface of the age. Its an area i find interesting anyways, and it does a good job of showing how the type-faces used in different era both reflected, and informed the culture of the time, and from a gameplay point of view, it is satisfying and enjoyable - never overly difficult, but tricky in parts, and very satisfying to control. The game does a great job of presenting its educational aspects in a fun way, and even if you only come at this from the point of view of looking for a fun game, you won't be disappointed, and will likely come away happy, a bit more informed, and with a deeper appreciation of the subject matter it is concerned with. A game great on Vita, but the art-style is more than capable of holding attention even on a big screen via the big-boy consoles. An unexpected treat! The Ranking: A simple and short game, lacking much replay value, but doing what it set out to do, and doing it much better than might be expected, Type:Rider jumps far past some other simple games that are less fun and engaging, and gets some bonus points for managing to be both educational, and a ton of fun. Without any obvious flaws, it outdoes quite a few bigger games with more pronounced issues, but is ultimately stopped in its tracks by the first indie game to have all the same aspects going for it - art style, satisfying controls and fun - but with more to it on top of those. In this case: Castle Crashers. Zombie Apocalypse Summary: Remember how, in discussing awesome Housemarque joint Dead Nation, I said the game might be generic on paper, but everything about it was done so well, that it never felt generic when you played it? Well, Zombie Apocalypse is the game it would have been if that wasn't true. Basically the uglier sister of Dead Nation, Zombie Apocalypse is also a top down, twin-stick, zombie-horde blasting blood-and-gore-fest with a focus on multiplayer. 4 player here, rather than 2, so doubly as much fun, right...? Hell no. It's much more arcade-y, much less story focussed (than even that story-light game), much more repetitive, and much, much, MUCH less fun. Eschewing story entirely, this game removes the 'traverse the city' mechanic, and focusses all its gameplay on horde survival, with 4 players (either co-op or AI) fighting off increasingly difficult waves of zombies, and unlocking new weapons as you go. That's it. There are 5 or 6 different 'arenas' which rotate with each round (day), but - given that the final round is day 55, you will be more than bored of every one of them before completing a full game once. Reaching 'day 55' might also sound like a difficult task, but don't worry - since you are able to continue without punishment every time you die, and given that the difficulty never really increases beyond around day 20, doing so is not really an exercise in challenge, just in endurance (and a test of friendship, if you have managed to rope in a friend to play with you!) The controls are fine but never exceptional, the weapon feel fine but never exceptional, the art design fine but never exceptional, the music is fine but never exceptional... see the pattern emerging here? I realise I might be getting repetitive, but - trust me - that's nothing compared to how repetitive this game is. Overall, the game is not terrible - it is functional, and has moments of fun, but in a world in which Dead Nation exists, there is absolutely no reason to play this game. I guess if you have 4 people round to the house... but even then, I'd say passing the controller back and forth between 2 pairs of co-op partners in Dead Nation would be a vastly more fun experience than a 4-player game of this one. The Ranking: Middling action and serviceable, if repetitive, gameplay pull this one above some of the lowest entries on the list, but living in the shadow of a game as towering as Dead Nation makes this already rather small game look miniscule. 4-player co-op helps this one limp past misguided movie-flavoured horror SAW, but its frustratingly repetitive gameplay and required endurance can't even outdo more middle Artifex Mundi entry Dark Arcana: The Carnival on fun. So there we have it folks Thanks to @Copanele, @Soraking1991 & @FilmFanatic for putting in requests - hope my reviews are acceptable, or at least sufficiently explanatory if not! An exciting round in the end there! - Prey usurps previous 'Current Most Awesome Game' crown wearer Dark Souls, to become reigning champion! Watchmen: The End is Nigh remains the current 'Least Awesome Game', still not seeing any real competition for the bottom rung, even from miss-sold Mahjong Royal Towers! What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the biscuit... or the soggy biscuit? 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 May 11, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleggworth Posted May 11, 2021 Share Posted May 11, 2021 Prey! Prey! Prey! Fantastic game. I played it last year and it was hands down the best game I played in 2020. Possibly top of my super scientific list if I ever came to do one. Wasn't a fan of the DLC the first time around, the rogue like elements of it just turned me off but I came back to it a few months back and loved it so still top dog in my eyes Beyond eyes sounds interesting. Fits the bill of that shorter more relaxed game I'm finding I'm needing more of these days so I'll stick that on the to buy list. Lego Lord of the Rings is easily the best one for me. Subject matter is easily my favourite so that helps but if you think that one is a bit long you should stay away from the newer ones, Marvel Superheroes 2 for instance is a 40hr game.... ?♂️ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FilmFanatic Posted May 11, 2021 Share Posted May 11, 2021 Can’t say I’m not surprised that Prey is #1 (I don’t agree of course as Dark Souls is my 4th favourite game of all time but then this isn’t my rankings ). I was looking at my timestamps for Demon’s Souls a while back and it turns out that I got and played the game the day it came out in New Zealand. I had read that it was a pretty tough but very rewarding game and that’s what made me decide to get it. I wasn’t a big gamer back then and I only really played FPSs and racing games so I found it very difficult but it was so good that I couldn’t stop playing it. If there’s one thing I agree with you on more than anything it’s that the game is very bland. Not that it really matters as the atmosphere of the game is what really draws you in. Playing the PS5 remake makes the original look even more basic but then I’ve stacked all 3 PS3 trophy lists so it can’t be that bad. The other thing I love about it is the sounds. Coming back to plat the game once I was a trophy hunter, the one thing that bought all my memories of the game back was the sound the game makes when you die. It’s probably the most iconic game sound for me even though it’s not one you actually want to hear. The other sound I’ve always liked is that a lot of the NPCs voices (not so much the named ones) sound so hollow which is an appropriate choice of word (and not an accidental one either) given that when you die you become a hollow. And yes, the remake is truly stunning. The way they’ve updated the worlds and enemies while still retaining everything that you recognise and love about the game is nothing short of amazing. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t choose a certain ring as my starting gift otherwise I would have platinumed the game the weekend I got it (I made the weekend of the week the PS5 released a long weekend) though possibly having been one of the first dozen people to plat the game would have been nice given how much I love the game and series. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 11, 2021 Author Share Posted May 11, 2021 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Cleggworth said: Prey! Prey! Prey! Fantastic game. I played it last year and it was hands down the best game I played in 2020. Possibly top of my super scientific list if I ever came to do one. Wasn't a fan of the DLC the first time around, the rogue like elements of it just turned me off but I came back to it a few months back and loved it so still top dog in my eyes All that text, and I didn't even get around to mentioning Mooncrash ? but yeah, I was big fan of that too - never would have thought Prey could lend itself to rogue-like, but it worked surprisingly well! Quote Beyond eyes sounds interesting. Fits the bill of that shorter more relaxed game I'm finding I'm needing more of these days so I'll stick that on the to buy list. Yeah, it's well worth a play - short and sweet ? Quote Lego Lord of the Rings is easily the best one for me. Subject matter is easily my favourite so that helps but if you think that one is a bit long you should stay away from the newer ones, Marvel Superheroes 2 for instance is a 40hr game.... ?♂️ I did actually play the first Marvel one, but just the vita version, and they're much shorter - will be on the list eventually, but spolier - will never rival LOTR! 3 minutes ago, FilmFanatic said: And yes, the remake is truly stunning. The way they’ve updated the worlds and enemies while still retaining everything that you recognise and love about the game is nothing short of amazing. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t choose a certain ring as my starting gift otherwise I would have platinumed the game the weekend I got it (I made the weekend of the week the PS5 released a long weekend) though possibly having been one of the first dozen people to plat the game would have been nice given how much I love the game and series. Yup, along with probably Returnal and the new R&C, Demon's Souls remake is one of the only guaranteed day one purchases for me when I eventually get a PS5! Edited May 11, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious Fury Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 Loved the Prey review/summary. Prey was fantastic when I played it through a few years back, need to pick it up on PS sometime soon and go through it again, with the DLC as I didn't play it. Think Dishonoured 2 (another game I need to play again) edges it for me as Arkane's best game though, one of my favorite games of the last decade. Will be interested where it ends up in the rankings! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 12, 2021 Author Share Posted May 12, 2021 1 hour ago, GloriousFury9414 said: Think Dishonoured 2 (another game I need to play again) edges it for me as Arkane's best game though, one of my favorite games of the last decade. Will be interested where it ends up in the rankings! Sounds to me like we will just have to find out sooner rather than later then ? I will add it to the Priority Assessment list, with your name on it! ☺️ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soraking1991 Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 19 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Dokuro Summary: Dokuro is one of those situations where I suspect I am going to take some flack from people - or at least, be going a bit against the grain - as I believe that the game is fairly well regarded, but I really did not get on with this one at all. How dare science put down my beloved Dokuro! I shall henceforth become a science denier and cast my eyes away from further scientifically accurate results! ? Nah, just kidding. It think it's a fair review. I honestly don't remember having many issues with the controls themselves, but I do remember I mostly failed the puzzles because of the time-trial-esque nature of the game where you have to solve everything before the princess decides to die, not because the puzzles themselves were that difficult. In terms of frustrating controls, a similar game that I do remember having nightmares with was htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary , especially for some of the trophies. In any case, I have a limited memory, so I may just be misremembering Dokuro, or maybe I had such a bad time that the PTSD wiped the painful memories away. Or maybe I just loved it in an unscientific way... Thanks for the review! ? Funnily enough, I played Dokuro after playing Lemmings on PS3 so I guess I had something about escorting suicidal characters in the summer of 2015 ? 19 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Prey Summary: There are two things anyone familiar with my posts on these forums likely knows about me: 1. I write too much. 2. I love Prey. 1. I wouldn't say you write too much, at least you write well and it's very entertaining to read. Plus, scientific results require detailed explanations of the process and the conclusions so I expect nothing less. ? 2. I guess I've been sleeping on Prey, huh... I was very tempted to give it a try when they added it to PS Now, might have been playing whatever else at the time and then completely forgot about it... Thanks for the reminder! It's awesome to hear read such high praise (or dare I say Prey-se?) ? To keep the ball rolling, I'd like to suggest Metro 2033 Redux to be put to the test! May the science continue! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 12, 2021 Author Share Posted May 12, 2021 (edited) 16 minutes ago, Soraking1991 said: How dare science put down my beloved Dokuro! I shall henceforth become a science denier and cast my eyes away from further scientifically accurate results! Nah, just kidding. It think it's a fair review. I honestly don't remember having many issues with the controls themselves, but I do remember I mostly failed the puzzles because of the time-trial-esque nature of the game where you have to solve everything before the princess decides to die, not because the puzzles themselves were that difficult. In terms of frustrating controls, a similar game that I do remember having nightmares with was htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary , especially for some of the trophies. In any case, I have a limited memory, so I may just be misremembering Dokuro, or maybe I had such a bad time that the PTSD wiped the painful memories away. Or maybe I just loved it in an unscientific way... Thanks for the review! Funnily enough, I played Dokuro after playing Lemmings on PS3 so I guess I had something about escorting suicidal characters in the summer of 2015 Ho boy - trust me - htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary is on my list - I got that S-Rank, so it's eligible, and let me tell you - it will be taking a good stab at clinching one of the two "crowns"... and it won't be the top one... ? You know - I really did want to like Dokuro - I took no pleasure in denigrating it, because it has so much that seems like my kind of thing on paper, but I can't deny that actually playing it I just couldn't find the fun. It's maybe worth noting - there's something that very likely did affect my opinion of it, which I did consider mentioning in my review, but I ended up cutting it out, since I haven't used this factor in any other reviews: the game I played right before it. I know that shouldn't really be a factor - I did load up and play a few levels of Dokuro for the review, and my opinion didn't change on the controls - but I suspect my recoiling at the stilted controls was made that much more pointed when I played it, because the game I played right before was Guacamele - one of the most smooth, fast, satisfying and awesome controlling platformers I've ever played, and possibly the best controlling game on the Vita. By comparison, Dokuro felt like shoving a character through molasses - and it probably felt even worse than it would have anyways. Quote 1. I wouldn't say you write too much, at least you write well and it's very entertaining to read. Plus, scientific results require detailed explanations of the process and the conclusions so I expect nothing less. Thank you very much ☺️ This whole task is fun to do, but made so much more fun knowing someone is actually reading these and following along ? Quote 2. I guess I've been sleeping on Prey, huh... I was very tempted to give it a try when they added it to PS Now, might have been playing whatever else at the time and then completely forgot about it... Thanks for the reminder! It's awesome to hear read such high praise (or dare I say Prey-se?) Absolutely - Prey is a game I'm always comfortable recommending to anyone, regardless of their tastes, because Prey lets you play in whatever way you want! Like shooters? Try Prey. Like Stealth? Try Prey. Like Sci Fi? Try Prey. Like Immersive Sims? Try Prey. Like Choice? Try Prey. Like Story and Branching Paths? Try Prey. and with the (excellent) DLC, I can even add... Like Rogue-Likes? Try Prey! It just offers so much - it's unfathomable to me that anyone could not find something to love in that game. Quote To keep the ball rolling, I'd like to suggest Metro 2033 Redux to be put to the test! May the science continue! Absolutely - I shall flag for priority, courtesy of your good self! Edited May 12, 2021 by DrBloodmoney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles-MHunter Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 Seeing Prey on the first place warms my heart. Also, you misspelled Dishonored 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 12, 2021 Author Share Posted May 12, 2021 Just now, Miles-MHunter said: you misspelled Dishonored How very dare you sir! I shall spell Dishonoured this way - the correct, Queen's English way - until the day I die, no matter what the game title suggests! ? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleggworth Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 20 hours ago, Cleggworth said: Beyond eyes sounds interesting. Fits the bill of that shorter more relaxed game I'm finding I'm needing more of these days so I'll stick that on the to buy list. On sale from today, £1.99. Great timing ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 12, 2021 Author Share Posted May 12, 2021 Just now, Cleggworth said: On sale from today, £1.99. Great timing ? A steal at that price mate - go for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: I shall spell Dishonoured this way - the correct, Queen's English way - until the day I die, no matter what the game title suggests! Well said old chap! I feel like I should change it in my own list. Feels wrong seeing it spelt like that. Edited May 12, 2021 by rjkclarke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum_Vice Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 On 25/04/2021 at 2:42 AM, DrBloodmoney said: Doc I have a request. Would you consider a spoiler box under each game in your list containing your review? Your review often reference neighbouring games in the list and it will be difficult towards the end when people like me want to read about the top 50 but will have to search through the thread to find the review. ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 12, 2021 Author Share Posted May 12, 2021 3 minutes ago, GonzoWARgasm said: Doc I have a request. Would you consider a spoiler box under each game in your list containing your review? Your review often reference neighbouring games in the list and it will be difficult towards the end when people like me want to read about the top 50 but will have to search through the thread to find the review. I know what you mean - I’m a little worried about using the spoiler boxes specifically, as they are known to be a bit buggy in the forum software, and I really want to avoid anything that might bug out the main topic post and make me unable to update it with each list update, but I will try and think of a way to make it easier to jump to the reviews ...In my master excel list I have on my home machine I do keep track of which number contains each review (Update 1, 2, 3 etc.), so maybe the simplest way will be to just put an update number next to each game on the list, and have a list of links to the specific update posts at the bottom of the main list? That way, if you looked at the list, saw, say Chasm with an (8) next to it, you could scroll to the bottom, click a link to ‘Update 8’ and that would take you to that post... I’ll need to see what works, but that seems like maybe the way to do it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 Demon's Souls is an interesting one. It came out at a time when AAA games in general still challenged the player, even if they only cared about completing the story. It takes a more keen mind to understand Demon's Souls story, it's not as painfully obvious as your average Assassin's Creed or Marvel's Spider-Man game. One of the most important games of the PS3 era, and one to spark the entire Soulsborne genre. Demon's Souls is undoubtedly a masterpiece that nobody should miss. If I had a PS5 I'd be playing the remake/remaster right now. Dokuro had the aesthetic going for it. Gameplay, not so much. The controls weren't as solid as I thought they would be, so I definitely agree with you on that. However I will say I enjoyed my time with Dokuro. Not a must play game like Uncharted: Golden Abyss or Tearaway, but a worthy game for those who enjoy the Vita handheld. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, AJ_Radio said: Demon's Souls is an interesting one. It came out at a time when AAA games in general still challenged the player, even if they only cared about completing the story. It takes a more keen mind to understand Demon's Souls story, it's not as painfully obvious as your average Assassin's Creed or Marvel's Spider-Man game. One of the most important games of the PS3 era, and one to spark the entire Soulsborne genre. Demon's Souls is undoubtedly a masterpiece that nobody should miss. If I had a PS5 I'd be playing the remake/remaster right now. Certainly with you on Demon's Souls being an unusual masterpiece - though I can't say I agree that AAA games of the era were particularly more difficult than they are now - the biggest AAA games of the 2009 were probably Assassin's Creed II, Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 2, Borderlands inFamous and Uncharted 2. Stacked up against 2020 AAA's such The Last of Us Part II, The FFVII Remake, DOOM Eternal, Ghosts of Tsushima and AC Valhalla, I don't really see a marked difference in difficulty in one direction or the other - and if anything, it would be a slight increase in difficulty. Couple that with the indie-explosion of the past decade and the beginnings of the return of the AA, A and B game, (Demon's Souls, of course, was certainly not a AAA game - Souls games wouldn't hit true AAA until the release of Bloodborne, I'd argue) and the massive ascension of the Rogue-like genre (which I think arguably owes some of its meteoric success to the rise of 'Souls-Like' as a sister genre), I'd argue that pond-for-pound, there are more "challenge as selling point" games now than there were a decade ago. Quote Dokuro had the aesthetic going for it. Gameplay, not so much. The controls weren't as solid as I thought they would be, so I definitely agree with you on that. However I will say I enjoyed my time with Dokuro. Not a must play game like Uncharted: Golden Abyss or Tearaway, but a worthy game for those who enjoy the Vita handheld. Yeah, like I said - I realised doing that review, and after glancing at the meta-critic reviews (which I do when I'm ranking these games, just to see how close - or in this case, far away! - from the general consensus my opinion falls) I was a little surprised to see how generally well regarded Dokuro is. I wanted to like it, but the controls were just too stiff. As I said to Sorking1991 - it didn't help that I played it right after playing Guacamelee - a game so fast and smooth and well-controlling, that Dokuro really felt terrible in comparison, and that only highlighted how ropey the controls were all the more. Edited May 13, 2021 by DrBloodmoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 (edited) 39 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Certainly with you on Demon's Souls being an unusual masterpiece - though I can't say I agree that AAA games of the era were particularly more difficult than they are now - the biggest AAA games of the 2009 were probably Assassin's Creed II, Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 2, Borderlands inFamous and Uncharted 2. Stacked up against 2020 AAA's such The Last of Us Part II, The FFVII Remake, DOOM Eternal, Ghosts of Tsushima and AC Valhalla, I don't really see a marked difference in difficulty in one direction or the other - and if anything, it would be a slight increase in difficulty. I have to disagree here. Look at games like Call of Duty: World at War and inFamous. inFamous has in many respects, not aged well. We all know the graphics aren't that good anymore but comparing graphics to modern, post 2015 - 2017 era games is completely futile. There's no real argument to be won there because the fact is older games like inFamous had worse graphics because the technology just wasn't there to produce too much better. Even Uncharted 2: Among Thieves looks rather dated when compared to 2020 AAA games. Gameplay wise, inFamous has several gameplay mechanics that haven't aged all too well. Just controlling Cole in general can be at times frustrating. Contrast that with Sucker Punch's newer games, and I think we can both agree they play far better from a gameplay standpoint. Now if we were to play something like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on the hardest difficulty setting or were to earn all the trophies, some of these AAA games are still very challenging and difficult. But if we're going to compare AAA games of this generation to those of the PS3 generation in terms of just playing casually and beating the story, I'm going to say the games of the PS3 generation were far more difficult. That's because there have been substantial improvements to game mechanics, how gameplay is being handled, how fluid the game actually runs, and just being a bit more solid as a game. Look at inFamous 1, then look at Ghost of Tsushima. How the games play and how they perform is literally night and day. 39 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said: Couple that with the indie-explosion of the past decade and the beginnings of the return of the AA, A and B game, (Demon's Souls, of course, was certainly not a AAA game - Souls games wouldn't hit true AAA until the release of Bloodborne, I'd argue) and the massive ascension of the Rogue-like genre (which I think arguably owes some of its meteoric success to the rise of 'Souls-Like' as a sister genre), I'd argue that pond-for-pound, there are more "challenge as selling point" games now than there were a decade ago. I've done a few of these. Super Meat Boy. Downwell. Velocity 2X. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Celeste. Furi. OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood. Resogun. All fun, challenging and immensely satisfying. The stark difference between modern indie games that are challenging and the old challenging games from decades past is the modern indie games are fair. The old challenging games, the kinds of games Angry Video Game Nerd covered, were not. I don't think you could consider Battletoads for the NES, generally considered one of the hardest 'good' NES games, to be any fair at all. Edited May 13, 2021 by AJ_Radio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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