DrBloodmoney's Super Scientific Ranking of Games!

[The_Kopite]

13 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

 

That's an awesome story. I love that video games essentially have the power to do that sort of thing.

 

Strange to think of FFXIII being a gateway drug to the series for some people, but in reality its probably quite common, all the Lightning avatar's all over the place probably cement that.

 

I can't say I've played every single Final Fantasy game myself, but I do consider myself a big fan of the series. Probably the most glaring one I haven't played is IX actually, I've owned it on several consoles and still just never gotten around to it, but I do plan to soon. As the good Doctor said above, even if XIII was the worst one its still worth playing.

Yeah it is odd, and from someone who has played and completed every mainline FF game apart from V, XI and XIV, getting my wife to potentially judge a whole franchise through XIII was pretty weird, but it worked out well lol 

 

I would highly recommend you play IX, you will really enjoy it and it has wonderful aspects to it whilst paying homage to the earlier FF's. I do have the avatar of Vivi for my PSN as a tribute lol

[rjkclarke]

41 minutes ago, The_Kopite said:

Yeah it is odd, and from someone who has played and completed every mainline FF game apart from V, XI and XIV, getting my wife to potentially judge a whole franchise through XIII was pretty weird, but it worked out well lol 

 

I would highly recommend you play IX, you will really enjoy it and it has wonderful aspects to it whilst paying homage to the earlier FF's. I do have the avatar of Vivi for my PSN as a tribute lol

 

I could think of worse ones to start her off with haha. Type-0 for example,  I think you have to really love Final Fantasy to find much joy in that game. I still like it, but its a tough one to like. Although to be fair I literally only bought it to get the demo for FFXV. Maybe XII might be a weird place to start too thinking about it, because its so unlike all the others, although its one of my favourites personally.

 

I'll definitely take that recommendation on board for FFIX, thank you, I look forward to it. Everyone seems to rave about IX so its poor show of me not to get to it. Its definitely on my list of things to start soon. I really have no idea why I haven't played it. Ironically its been installed on my console since the day the PS4 version released lol. I'm going to play it even if I don't end up getting the platinum, I imagine that jump rope trophy will require a bit of patience.

 

[The_Kopite]

23 minutes ago, rjkclarke said:

 

I could think of worse ones to start her off with haha. Type-0 for example,  I think you have to really love Final Fantasy to find much joy in that game. I still like it, but its a tough one to like. Although to be fair I literally only bought it to get the demo for FFXV. Maybe XII might be a weird place to start too thinking about it, because its so unlike all the others, although its one of my favourites personally.

 

I'll definitely take that recommendation on board for FFIX, thank you, I look forward to it. Everyone seems to rave about IX so its poor show of me not to get to it. Its definitely on my list of things to start soon. I really have no idea why I haven't played it. Ironically its been installed on my console since the day the PS4 version released lol. I'm going to play it even if I don't end up getting the platinum, I imagine that jump rope trophy will require a bit of patience.

 

Yes Type-0 was certainly not one of the greats by a long way haha. Being a massive FF fan, I can take positives from any FF which helps but yeah it wasn't bad, just not fab. 

 

As for FFIX, yes the jump rope trophy is a platinum breaker in itself for a lot of people. Well look you haven't played it yet, but it means you've got a fantastic game to look forward to and that's always an awesome thing, especially being able to go through it for the first time. For me it's my 3rd favourite FF so it definitely gets high praise from me and it's well regarded generally like you stated. Whenever you do play it in the future, let me know what you think of it ?

[rjkclarke]

11 minutes ago, The_Kopite said:

Yes Type-0 was certainly not one of the greats by a long way haha. Being a massive FF fan, I can take positives from any FF which helps but yeah it wasn't bad, just not fab. 

 

As for FFIX, yes the jump rope trophy is a platinum breaker in itself for a lot of people. Well look you haven't played it yet, but it means you've got a fantastic game to look forward to and that's always an awesome thing, especially being able to go through it for the first time. For me it's my 3rd favourite FF so it definitely gets high praise from me and it's well regarded generally like you stated. Whenever you do play it in the future, let me know what you think of it 

 

Which is your favourite one? I've never really thought about ranking them too much in my own head. I know what my favourite is, which is FFX. Outside of that its a tough call ranking them I'd definitely find it tough haha. I like FFXIII-2 way more than I expect most do to be honest. I don't think it would ever win any game of the year awards or anything of that nature, but there is so much about it that I really love.

 

That's absolutely true yeah, you're right.  I haven't even played it yet and I've managed to remain spoiler free on it for the last twenty years, so that's another bonus - it will all be new, even though its one of my best friends favourite games and I'm sure he's dying to talk about it whenever the subject of Final Fantasy comes up lol. Stop getting me excited haha, I should finish Vampyr first. When I get to FFIX, I'll definitely make sure to let you know what I think, I'm sure it would be a fun discussion.

[The_Kopite]

1 hour ago, rjkclarke said:

 

Which is your favourite one? I've never really thought about ranking them too much in my own head. I know what my favourite is, which is FFX. Outside of that its a tough call ranking them I'd definitely find it tough haha. I like FFXIII-2 way more than I expect most do to be honest. I don't think it would ever win any game of the year awards or anything of that nature, but there is so much about it that I really love.

 

That's absolutely true yeah, you're right.  I haven't even played it yet and I've managed to remain spoiler free on it for the last twenty years, so that's another bonus - it will all be new, even though its one of my best friends favourite games and I'm sure he's dying to talk about it whenever the subject of Final Fantasy comes up lol. Stop getting me excited haha, I should finish Vampyr first. When I get to FFIX, I'll definitely make sure to let you know what I think, I'm sure it would be a fun discussion.

My favourite FF is VII, followed very closely by X. 3rd is IX, 4th is IV and 5th is VI. Final Fantasy is one of my 3 favourite gaming franchises so I'm very passionate about it lol 

 

XIII-2 is an interesting one, in that it did some things much better than XIII yet some things a bit worse imho. What I can't dispute is one of my favourite songs comes from that game - Noel's Theme - that is sung in a later part of the game (can't remember where exactly) but it is such a almost haunting and soothing song at the same time that I just stopped and let the song loop and loop lol 

 

Wow that is highly impressive to not know anything of the story of IX, that will really heighten the experience for you and benefit your playthrough for sure. It's so hard nowadays to achieve that for any game so kudos to you. IX again has some fantastic music (they all do - one of the many strengths of the whole series).

 

Excellent to hear, looking forward to your thoughts on IX in the future! ?

[rjkclarke]

12 minutes ago, The_Kopite said:

My favourite FF is VII, followed very closely by X. 3rd is IX, 4th is IV and 5th is VI. Final Fantasy is one of my 3 favourite gaming franchises so I'm very passionate about it lol 

 

XIII-2 is an interesting one, in that it did some things much better than XIII yet some things a bit worse imho. What I can't dispute is one of my favourite songs comes from that game - Noel's Theme - that is sung in a later part of the game (can't remember where exactly) but it is such a almost haunting and soothing song at the same time that I just stopped and let the song loop and loop lol 

 

Wow that is highly impressive to not know anything of the story of IX, that will really heighten the experience for you and benefit your playthrough for sure. It's so hard nowadays to achieve that for any game so kudos to you. IX again has some fantastic music (they all do - one of the many strengths of the whole series).

 

Excellent to hear, looking forward to your thoughts on IX in the future! 

 

 

That's definitely a nice top 5, I can't speak for IV as I've not played that, but again I've heard so many good things. VI and VII seem like they should be near the top of everyone's FF list really. I find they are all quite interchangeable just because of how good they are.

 

XIII-2 is definitely a weird one, I'm not the biggest fan of its story. I really love the gameplay, and the fact it was like an RPG equivalent of a collectathon. I felt a strangely satisfied feeling from getting all the fragments and things in every area. The soundtrack is 100% my favourite thing about it. I still listen to it very often. I'm fairly sure I know the Noel theme you mentioned, is it the one where you find out the back story between Noel, Yeul and Caius? Where everything is incredibly melancholic? If so I did exactly the same thing as you, I just sat there for a bit and drank in the atmosphere. I'm fairly sure I wrote a huge chunk of a university essay about that piece of music. Got to give a shout out to the New Bodhum piece as well, I got a bit choked up in a nice way when I heard one of the buskers in Lightning Returns singing it.

 

I guess I know which game I'm starting soon then now, talking about it has got me bitten with the Final Fantasy bug again haha! 

 

[The_Kopite]

2 hours ago, rjkclarke said:

 

 

That's definitely a nice top 5, I can't speak for IV as I've not played that, but again I've heard so many good things. VI and VII seem like they should be near the top of everyone's FF list really. I find they are all quite interchangeable just because of how good they are.

 

XIII-2 is definitely a weird one, I'm not the biggest fan of its story. I really love the gameplay, and the fact it was like an RPG equivalent of a collectathon. I felt a strangely satisfied feeling from getting all the fragments and things in every area. The soundtrack is 100% my favourite thing about it. I still listen to it very often. I'm fairly sure I know the Noel theme you mentioned, is it the one where you find out the back story between Noel, Yeul and Caius? Where everything is incredibly melancholic? If so I did exactly the same thing as you, I just sat there for a bit and drank in the atmosphere. I'm fairly sure I wrote a huge chunk of a university essay about that piece of music. Got to give a shout out to the New Bodhum piece as well, I got a bit choked up in a nice way when I heard one of the buskers in Lightning Returns singing it.

 

I guess I know which game I'm starting soon then now, talking about it has got me bitten with the Final Fantasy bug again haha! 

 

Yes a lot of FF fans would probably lambast me for having VI down in 5th on my list lol but there you go, I came to play I-VI when I was a bit older (first FF was VII) and ended up playing the GBA versions and DS version of III, so obviously VII, IX and X are more special to me as a result, but they are all fantastic games in their own right.

 

Yeah that sounds right to me regarding Noel's Theme. Very melancholic and that moment when the song plays just made me put the controller down and just soak it in. That lasted a while lol as for the game itself, yeah I personally don't think they needed to bother making XIII a trilogy, but XIII-2 has it's good moments definitely and the gameplay was fun and it was nice it was far more open than XIII. Was nice to play as Serah too after XIII and develop her character.

 

Haha, well then my job is done ?

[Arcesius]

You know, @DrBloodmoney, having played a couple of the currently leading games, and agreeing with your placement... I wonder if I should give Prey a chance ? that one seems to be tough to dethrone!

 

Then again, it has been recommended to me together with Dishonored as a better entry in a list of games similar to Bioshock and - truth be told - I tried Bioshock Remastered for the first time last year and didn't like it all that much...

 

 

In any case... I'd love to see Nex Machina reviewed ? I know that you think positively of it, but I'd like to have a more in-depth analysis! 

[DrBloodmoney]

29 minutes ago, Arcesius said:

You know, @DrBloodmoney, having played a couple of the currently leading games, and agreeing with your placement... I wonder if I should give Prey a chance that one seems to be tough to dethrone!

 

Then again, it has been recommended to me together with Dishonored as a better entry in a list of games similar to Bioshock and - truth be told - I tried Bioshock Remastered for the first time last year and didn't like it all that much...

 

well... certainly I think there is a lot of crossover of fandom between the Prey / Dishonoured genus and the Bioshock one - but I think there is a false idea that Prey is a natural evolution of Bioshock. They certainly share DNA, but really, that's because they have a common ancestor - in System Shock. 

 

It really depends on what aspects of Bioshock turned you away from it. I'd say Dishonoured, and Prey especially, have some of what made Bioshock the game it was, but they have equally as much Thief and Deux Ex in them, so if those games were in your wheelhouse, then I'd say your good. Theres even a few aspects in common with some of the more esoteric FPS games of the PS3 era - The Darkness / Syndicate / The Riddick games etc.

 

 Certainly Dishonoured pretty much requires a love of stealth mechanics in some form, though Prey is a stranger beast in a sense - it's so variable and so malleable that it is tough to nail down exactly who would like it, as it can be played so many ways. I've done playthroughs as a stealth assassin, I've gone full BJ Blastowiz, I've played it like a Bioshock, and I've done it like a Deus Ex hacker, and every time it's felt like a different game.

 

Really, I'd say you have to try it - and give it an honest good go to see - but then obviously I'd say that, now wouldn't I ??

 

 

 

Quote

 

In any case... I'd love to see Nex Machina reviewed I know that you think positively of it, but I'd like to have a more in-depth analysis! 

 

Absolutely - I shall add it to the priority list, post-haste! ?

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[DrBloodmoney]

 

 ?? NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! ??

 

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

 

 

 

Arcade Archives: Crazy Climber

 

Summary: 

The next in a considerable selection of Hamster posts of retro arcade games to be ranked, Crazy Climber, from 1980, is a vertically scrolling obstacle-avoidance game, in which a climber attempts to reach the top of a skyscraper, avoiding threats from opening/ closing windows, thrown plant pots, a giant (pre-Donkey Kong) ape, an angry bird (no, not that kind - this one flies, rather than catapults!), and various other deadly obstacles.

 

Playing much like future, more popular classic, Frogger, but with vertically moving obstacles rather than horizontal ones, the game is simple to grasp conceptually, but gets pretty difficult very quickly, and requires quite a lot of multi-directional awareness and quick reflexes. It does suffer a little from slightly finicky and occasionally unresponsive controls, and the climber's ability to straddle two different 'lanes' on his climb up the building, while adding a level of nuance, can sometimes mean it takes a bit of playing to establish which obstacles will hit you in which positions. Once you learn the mechanics though, its a fun time, and does have the retro-arcade "just one more try to beat my high-score" compulsion that is the biggest draw of these older games.

 

The game looks - obviously - very basic, but is colourful and bright, and does the job. In-level, there is no music, which is a little strange, just the sound effects, though - as with most Arcade Archives games - they are well suited to playing your own music in the background, so it could be argued that is a good thing - you can have the volume up for sound effects, and play your own music / podcast at the same time.

 

The Ranking:

Not on the level of the original Pac Man games, or Dig Dug, but markedly more fun than A-Jax. I think even EA's limited Tetris offering has more going for it, but it finds a spot beneath equally high-score based, but more personality-fuelled, Joe Danger, but above middling pixel-art horror Claire.

 

 

 

 

Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink

 

Summary: 

This latest Artifex Muni game to be ranked is certainly on the lower end of their fare. Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink is one of the few to (as yet) not receive any sequels, which says a lot from a dev who likes to sequalize as much as Artifex Mundi do.

 

The art is good, and I'm personally a far of the steampunk aesthetic, but the story is simple and rudimentary even by Artifex Mundi standards, and the variety of puzzles is pretty lacking. The hidden object scenes are also bit too easy - providing little challenge. 

 

This one has a bonus chapter, but a pretty short and less interesting one.

 

The Ranking:

Rates far below current Artifex Mundi highlight Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek, but a little above Dark Arcana: The Carnival, due to the better artwork and lack of irritating boss fights.

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

 

Summary: 

Dark Souls II is my favourite of the trilogy.
There, I said it - You knew it was coming, but now it's official!

 

Is there a huge amount between them? Absolutely not. I'm actually not sure I can think of another trilogy in all of gaming where as equally strong an argument could be made for each entry being the best - or the worst - and the fact is, all three games are absolute titans in terms of artistic design, gameplay, challenge, tone, tenor, pacing, lore and world-building.
Every Souls-fan has his or her picks for the best of the series, but almost every one of those opinions - mine included - is almost immediately followed with a hasty "they're all great though!"
Essentially, preference boils down, not to specific faults or specific great strengths, but to the specific tastes of the player, and for mine, Dark Souls II was just the one that hit the nail the hardest.

 

I'm not going to dwell particularly long on the aspects of the series that are great across the board, as I have already brought these up in the Dark Souls and Demon's Souls reviews. 
Dark Souls II retains all of the phenomenal art design, sombre, deliberate tone and compulsively repeatable game loop - and all those aspects benefit from the years of refinement here. 

Graphically, the game steps beyond its predecessors, and the variety of art design across the many biomes is arguably the most varied of the whole series. The reintroduction of a 'hub' area, in Mejula, brings all the good aspects of the Nexus from Demon's Souls - including the Emerald Herald, replacing the Maiden in Black from Demon's Souls and bringing back the welcome comfort of a familiar NPC to level with - but with the in-world, contiguous aspects that made Dark Souls great.

 

For a world design and layout point of view, Dark Souls II is arguably the outlier. Dark Souls and Dark Souls III are Ant-hills - with each biome or area piled on-top of one another, creating interlinking shortcuts and convoluted inter-dependencies and routes. Dark Souls II is more of a a spider's web - with a hub area - Mejula - acting as the centre of a grand tapestry, and various main routes creeping out from it, becoming more varied and more interesting as you work your way further and further out into the unknown, each culminating in one of the games main bosses. 
While some people argue that this lack of interweaving convolutions makes the world less interesting, I think it makes Dark Souls II feel much grander and more expansive. That each biome gets progressively more strange and distinct as you progress outwards, feels like pushing into new lands, as opposed to into a new 'level'. 
In Dark Souls, I feel like I'm exploring a kingdom. In Dark Souls II, I'm exploring a whole country. 

The addition of fast travel means that this expansiveness never suffers from back-track fatigue. The game is bigger, and allows players to progress in more varied directions - the world design means that if you are stuck on one section or boss, you can switch to trying progress on one of the other main 'spokes' out from the Mejula hub area, and still have a plethora of potential game to sharpen your skills on before coming back to tackle it. 

 

The weapon sets are markedly more varied and the breadth of different animations expansive, (and feature my personal favourite weapon - lost in subsequent games - the mighty Twin-blades!)

Then there is the subject of difficulty.

Dark Souls II is somewhat easier than Dark Souls, but I believe that it is more purposeful and deliberate in its difficulty. 

There are fewer enemies that can be cheesed and less scope for farming enemies and allowing the player to massively over-level. A new mechanic whereby the same enemy, killed a certain number of times in the same area will stop respawning means that infinite farming is not possible, but on the flip-side, particularly tough areas giving players serious problems for run after run will, eventually, become more manageable. It means that eventually, the game will allow the player to progress past the troublesome area, but not at the cost of them over-levelling and making the rest of the game too easy. 
A 'Bonfire Ascetic' mechanic, allowing the player to reset that counter in a specific area, at the cost of bumping the area up one level, (from NG to NG+ or beyond,) allows some farming, but only for those with the stomach for increased difficulty across the whole area. It's a brilliant addition of a risk/reward system, and an inspired one.

 

Bosses are some of the most controversial in the Souls series here. There are far, far more of them than in either of the other entires. Yes, some of them are weaker and easier to fight than others (and I would certainly concede that any list of the least interesting bosses to fight across all three games would likely heavily feature some from Dark Souls II) - but so would any list of the most interesting ones.

 
Coming off of Dark Souls and Demon's Souls, it was seen by some contingent of the community as sacrilege that there are bosses in there that could often be beaten on the first or second try, but I think to highlight those is a misnomer - for two reasons. 

Firstly, there are so many bosses here - many of whom are optional - that some are necessarily less of a challenge. In Dark Souls, every boss was a really tough fight the first time round. Here, some are significantly easier, however, there are still more great, difficult, interesting battles with bosses than I think are present in either of the other two games. There just happens to also be some easier ones.

Secondly, there are significantly fewer ways to 'Cheese' bosses here. Yes, the game is slightly easier on a 1:1 basis with Dark Souls, but the fact that there are less ways to game the system, means that the difficulty feels more fair, and more deliberate. 

 

There is the one aspect I only ever mention in these reviews if it is particularly significant - and it has arguably never been more so than here - Dark Souls II features the best DLC in the entire series. About few DLC's can it truly be said that a player HAS to install them prior to playing, but here, they absolutely must. There is a reason I have titled this entry Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin. The Scholar of the First Sin edition of the game on PS4 includes these as standard - and it is the version to play, 100%. 
Adding a massive lore addition, modified ending, additional end boss, and featuring three full new areas, all three of which are good, and one of which - The Crown of the Old Iron King - I believe has a shot at 'best area in the whole series.

Finally, I will mention that - for all the controversy around the game being 'easier' that arose in the early days of Dark Souls II - I really do think such arguments are overblown.

The game is slightly easier, but it is only slight. What all the hardcore players seem to have forgotten is, they had all been playing Dark Souls and Demon's Souls for years by the time this came out. It may have gotten easier, but that isn't all due to design. It's also because of us. We all - for want of a better term - got gud.

Expecting the game to keep pace with us is not a reasonable ask. New players coming in still need to be able to approach the games - and I'd still argue Dark Souls II is plenty challenging to the newcomer  - and other games have proven the folly of trying to increase the difficulty of sequels to meet the user-bases' skill level...
...It hasn't been ranked yet, but when Hotline Miami 2 comes around, that will be the subject of a long discussion!

 

 

The Ranking:

No discussion on the majority of the list - Dark Souls is current No.3, and Dark Souls II is a more awesome game in my book, so the only games with any hope of stopping it in its tracks are Mass Effect 2 and Prey.

 

I said in the Mass Effect 2 ranking that I believed there was a FROM game that could outshine it, and this is the game I had in mind. 
There is no specific, single aspect that Dark Souls II does so much better than Dark Souls that makes the difference, but all the aspects discussed above, along with the general refinements combine and culminate in a final product that just overwhelms Mass Effect 2. 

The much larger, more varied art design and world of Dark Souls II is able to unseat that game in a way Dark Souls' more limited world couldn't. 

 

On Prey though, the same arguments as to why it beat Dark Souls still stand. It's a tougher fight, as Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin is, in my opinion, the best Souls-Like game out there, but given that I believe Prey to be the best Immersive Sim, we are in a stand-off between the kings of their respective genre's and it has to come down simply to taste. 

While I have returned to Dark Souls II often, it is a game that demands and accommodates repeatability as an integrated gameplay mechanic. Prey is not really - at least, it is not designed with 'NG+++++'-style mechanics - and yet it has pulled me back for a full playthrough over a dozen times now. 
For a game like Prey to do that arguably takes more than for a Souls-Like.

 

In the end - and I have truly wrung my hands on this one for a long while - I believe Prey still edges out DSII, and it retain's its current No.1 place. 
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin takes it's deserved spot as current No.2 most awesome game. 
Bear Seek, Seek Lest.

 

 

 

 

LEGO: Legend's of Chima (Vita)

 

Summary: 

The first of the LEGO games on Vita to be ranked here - Legends of Chima: Lavel's Journey is one of the few LEGO games not based on an existing franchise, but an original story using one of the modern lego 'biomes' that are the new normal for the kids blocks nowadays.

 

The story is fine - never great, but has the right flavour and tone for the younger crowd - and reminded me a lot of the world of Kung-Fu Panda (which I am rather overly familiar with due to it being on of my six-year-old, Bloodmoney Jr.'s, current favourites.) The story is set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, in a Sino-Mystical world, in which a young Lion named Lavel must unite a bunch of different tribes to fight off the crocodiles who are hatching a ploy to unleash a forbidden magic and take over.

 

The Vita Lego games are a different flavour to the big-boy console versions - far more linear, and more focussed on platforming, and lacking the multiplayer that can be the biggest draws of the games. Visually, they are much less grand, however, as Vita games go, they can still be impressive at times, and Chima is one of the best looking of the Vita fare I've played.

Unfortunately, the fact that it is an original story does hurt a little from my point of view - as one of the biggest draws of these games, I think, is the inherent comedy of LEGO parodies of famous material. Without that, this one has to fall back on a story that is Saturday-Morning-Cartoon-Adventure rather than funny, and while that might be great for the young-uns, it has less to keep an old fart like me going.

 

The game is a good length, has pretty decent puzzles and fairly well done visuals, design and animations - the real problem is the lack of investment in the word (and the incredibly annoying voice-work of the main character) but these aspects are basically par-for-the-course in a game with a tween-age audience.

 

 

The Ranking:

A technically good and artistically competent entry in the vita strain of LEGO games, but the biggest inherent problem of the LEGO Vita games (the lack of co-op play) does mean they will all likely have trouble in comparison to the big-boy console versions. Here, the lack of personality or comedy does nothing to alleviate that, and so it cannot be placed higher than even lower-grade big-boy console LEGO entry The LEGO Movie: The Videogame. 

Below that game, similarly Vita-only Dokuro, while having significant faults, does have a length and level of artistic originality that can also outdo this particular Vita LEGO game.
Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery, however, cannot - in its compromised state - beat it. If the fully 5 episodes had been released, Id imagine it would handily beast LEGO: Legends of Chima, but with only the first couple of episodes, it never got to fully realise its potential, and at least here, the kids can see the end of the story before the credits.

 

 

 

 

 

Metro 2033: Redux

 

Summary: 

You know what's fun about doing these reviews? When you say something like "I'm actually not sure I can think of another trilogy in all of gaming where as equally strong an argument could be made for each entry being the best" in one review, then almost immediately be confronted with a counter argument two reviews later!

The Metro games are an excellent trilogy, and one that I personally believe gets better with each subsequent outing, but that is not so say the starting point wasn't already great.

 

Primarily FPS games with a heavy focus on story (drawing from Dmitry Glukhovsky's excellent dystopian sci-fi novels), Metro borrows heavily from the Horror and Survival Horror genres in its mechanics, to create a very creepy, deliberately paced, atmospheric and extremely claustrophobic and effective game.

Set in a Russian vision of a post-apocalyptic future, in which the remnants of humanity survive in a complex network of tunnels that formed the old Metro system, the games used an almost overwhelming level of 'realistic' mechanics piled on top of one another to make survival in the harsh environment both scary, difficult and satisfying. Players are not simply shooting their way through the various mutated creatures and evil factions of men, they are also constantly having to manage radiation levels, gas mask integrity, air supply, weapon modification and maintenance and bullet rationing (which combines with currency management, as better grade bullets are also the basis of the game economy, and can be either fired into the head of an enemy, or traded at a shop.)

 

The combination of mechanics can be overwhelming at times, but that mostly only serves to heighten the tension, and can result in some really nail-biting sections of gameplay, as you sneak around, hearing the sounds of your enemies around you, but knowing you lack the ammo to fight, or the air supply to take your time.

The game is oppressively dour and claustrophobic at times - this a not a fun, post-apocalyptic romp like Horizon Zero Dawn - here, the horror of man's last fight for survival against a doom of their own making is treated as a serious, terrifying and deeply sad thing - and the story (mostly) has the chops to see that through.

Cut scenes are reasonably well done, and written well - and the world-building and art design is top-notch, though there is some serious uncanny-valley issues with character models, particularly with children. The performances in the voice work are also pretty patchy. The main voice-over of protagonist Artyom is excellent and evocative, and some principal characters follow suit, but the less prevalent characters tend to be on the weak side, and it is fairly obvious that a lot of characters have the same voice actors. Again, children's performances are very weak, and drag down the realism immensely.

 

The game can be frustrating at times - enemies can be hard to predict due to some inconsistencies in their behaviours - not in a good way - and the game does have its share of glitches. Sometimes, you seem able to stand right in front of an enemy who is blind to your presence, other times they have x-ray vision and spot you through walls. It doesn't happen all the time, but enough to drag the game down a little - and this was corrected considerably in future entries in the series.

 

Overall, the game is very effective - deeply sad and often scary, and has a slow, deliberate pace that is unusual in FPS games, and hard to nail without becoming tired. Here, it works, and the excellent source material - treated well - shines through, glossing over some considerable technical cracks.

 

The Ranking:

The good aspects of the game - the atmosphere, world-building and tension - carry it pretty far up the list. I don't think, for all the atmosphere, the story quite reaches the heights of Telltale's The Walking Dead, and on world-building, while it is very strong, Final Fantasy XIII arguably does more, and has no starting point - Metro 2033 has an excellent novel upon which to build its world, FFXIII did its work from scratch.

 

Metro does, however, manage to combine a lot of very complicated mechanics into a final product in a much more competent way than Obsidian did with its similarly mechanically dense Alpha Protocol, and so Metro 2033 finds its spot above it.

 

 

 

MotoGP 13 Compact

 

Summary: 

An interesting concept - the MotoGP games released these 'compact' versions for a while, offering a cut-price, scaled down version of the main game as a low-price entry point / expanded demo, to allow players to sample the game without stumping for the full price tag.

Essentially boiling down to just a basic championship, with no career mode, and a low-capped levelling system, with all aspects available from the outset, its a neat idea, and one I haven't seen done too often. The closest comparable thing I can thing of os MLB's Home Run Derby games, though here, there is more meat on the bone, and actually, plenty to whet the appetite for the full game if you enjoy it.

 

Controls-wise the games are pretty good, though visually, the compromises made for Vita are significant in comparison to the big-boy consoles, and load times are lengthly. The races are fun, though often very easy - most likely as a result of the smaller nature of the games. The full sized games can get very tricky later on, but here, this is just an early flavour. 

 

Sounds are fine, though engine noise is a bit tinny, even with headphones. The feel of the bikes is okay, and the colour-varying driving line is a good addition, and helpful in learning the turning speeds etc.

 

A decent, if short taste of MotoGP on the vita, but nothing that will keep you going beyond the short, simple trophy list. If you are a fan, it provides a good flavour of the full version, though as far as I can tell, there is no 'on-ramp', and progress here does not feed into the full version if you decide to stump up the money for the full game.

 

 

The Ranking:

Short but not bad, the limited nature of the game does keep it fairly low on the list. For a game with only a few hours of mild entertainment, I still think the same amount of time with Zero Zero Zero Zero is a better, more varied time, but I'd rather do a championship here than play through the same amount of time of Chronovolt, so it finds a spot just above that game.

 

 

 

 

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

 

Summary: 

The first of the 3D Prince of Persia games, in 2021, The Sands of Time occupied an odd space. At the time, it was one of a crop of very technologically and graphically advanced games, and had the gameplay and story to match, however, it occupied that same space now that Hitman: Blood Money does to some extent - unkind years and subsequent, stronger entries in the series have dulled its once shining crown significantly. 

 

It should not be overlooked how innovative The Sands of Time was in 2003. Taking a beloved 2D franchise and shifting it into 3D was a dangerous endeavour, and one that harmed more franchises than it helped, but Prince of Persia did it with aplomb. The movement, platforming controls and feel of the game were all great, and for the most part still feel great now. There is a slow, heavy feel to the wall-running, climbing and jumping when compared to more modern Ubisoft fare, (like the Assassin's Creed games that were heavily inspired by, and subsequently devoured, the Price of Persia series,) but there is still something to be enjoyed in the more difficult, less hand-held platforming on offer here. 

 

Combat is rudimentary, but still fun, and much more challenging that any AC game. The story - involving the unleashing of a chrono-based malevolent force, allowing time manipulation, gives justification for the game's signature mechanic - a time rewind - meaning very long, complicated platforming sections are still fun, as failures can be 'rewound' and replayed to some extent, as long as our eponymous Prince still has enough 'time-juice' at his disposal. 

 

The game certainly feels like a throwback nowadays -  the movement feels very stilted by modern standards, and the visuals, while splendid in 2003, look very blocky now. that particular era of lower-polygon 3D is arguably the era that has - visually - held up the least well. Where the pixel-art of the 8-bit and 16-bit eras and the ultra-low pixel arcade era still work, by virtue of being their own things entirely, the 32-bit 3D era just looks like a low-rent versions of current gaming visuals, and suffers a bit by comparison.

 

The Sands of Time does suffer a little by comparison, also, to its own sequels. While story-wise, I would argue this is the simplest and strongest entry in the Prince of Persia franchise, in terms of gameplay and visuals, it is markedly weaker than the 3 subsequent games in this particular Persian strain.

 

 

The Ranking:

Comparison points are similarly once-great but aged poorly Hitman: Blood Money, and distant relative Assassin's Creed II.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was the first step in a lot of the mechanics that would eventually lead to AC II, but those mechanics would have significant refinement for the better before that game came along, and the much grander world and story of ACII means it remains much higher on the list. 
Hitman: Blood Money has certainly been even more thoroughly usurped by its subsequent series entries, but I'd still argue there is more to that game nowadays than there is to The Sands of Time, so it remains higher placed.

 

The inarguable originality of The Sands of Time, however, and its clear and abiding influence on games - on everything from Assassin's Creed to Mirror's Edge and a whole plethora in-between - cannot be ignored, and the fact that it is still a damned good time, almost 20 years later is a testament to good design, and it finds a spot still fairly high up, between Driver and the original Trine.

 

 

 

 

      &     

Shadow of the Colossus(PS3)  &  Shadow of the Colossus Remake (PS4)

 

Summary: 

☢️☢️SCIENTIFIC NOTE☢️☢️
As I indicated at the outset of this grand task I have set myself, in most cases, where  a game has two versions, or a remake, and I have played both, I am simply considering them to be one single entry, as the differences between the two are largely semantic, or simply a case of a slight graphical update or inclusion of all previously separate dlc etc, and they would naturally end up sitting side-by-side on the list anyway. However, in a couple of cases, I feel like the differences between originals and remakes are so grand and sweeping, that a seperate ranking is required - and chief among those examples is Shadow of the Colossus.
I've decided that the vest way to approach these two for ranking is to review them together, comparatively, and rank them individually.

 

 
So, my journey across the lonely beautiful plains of the forgotten lands with the Wanderer began in 2006 with the release of the original PS2 game.

Shadow of the Colossus is a true original in gaming - one of only a select few games that can really say that. When it originally released on the PS2, there genuinely was nothing else like it.

Yes, the art-style and tone had a lot of similarities to previous Team Ico outing (and namesake) Ico, but the scale, the concept, the grown-up themes and the ambitious hubris was on a whole different level. The game is essentially a "boss-Rush" - the enigmatic Wanderer rides into a forbidden land with a dead girl, Mono, and places her on an alter in an ancient temple (The Shrine of Worship.) A disembodied, booming voice then guides him in his task - defeating 16 colossi (giant - seemingly gentle until provoked - creatures of varying animalistic forms) across the vast, empty lands, each of which, upon death, imbues the Wanderer with more and more dark power, strengthening (and visibly corrupting him) on the promise that doing so will revive Mono.
 
I was blown away back in 2006 - by the scope and the art design and music and by the feel of the game - but I don't use the word "hubris" above without reason. Back then, those things were a marred by significant technical issues. The PS2 was in its twilight years, and the system was simply not equipped to cope with the game - draw distance and anti-aliasing fog was obvious and over-the-top, slowdown was obvious, and the frame-rate, in some instances, woeful to the point of almost unplayability.
 
Cut to 2011, with the re-release for PS3. That transported the game to a new system that could run it smoothly, and provided a welcome new way for many new people to experience a game who's audience had been limited due to the timing of its original release. (Like God of War II, for example, Shadow of the Colossus was a classic, but released on 'Old-Gen' hardware - the PS3 was already launched by the time it debuted on PS2.)  Even in 2011, the visuals were beginning to look a bit ropey. The art design, score and gameplay could carry a lot of it, but having the game on PS3 really served to highlight where the original vision of the game had been compromised to fit it on the PS2.
Textures were often sub-par, the draw distance lower than it should be, fogging and blurring were a distinct issue.
 
Those issues combined with the new problems that were introduced accidentally, (according to Bluepoint who handled that port as well as the rebuilt PS4 version,) where the increase in frame-rate to an acceptable level actually made the game artificially harder (gripping constantly shaking Colossi became a factor, as the shaking was tied to the frame-rate.)
It made some parts, particularity the Hard mode time trials, far more difficult than they were ever intended to be. Frustrating, rage-inducing, and reliant on far more luck than they should have been, with the effect of diminishing the powerful and evocative story. When the game is remembered most as an irksome slog through finicky and obtusely difficult time-trials, the power of the concepts and the impact of the overall feel of the game are diminished.    

Frankly - it would have been an awful tragedy if that was the abiding legacy of Shadow of the Colossus. It would have soured, forever, the memory of it, and the frustration would have loomed, overshadowing all the things so fantastic about the game.

 

Then, though, came the Remake.

 Bluepoint's 2016 Remake of the game on PS4 is an absolute triumph.
 
Everything is improved. Every problem from the PS2 version, and the PS3 version was corrected.
 
Visually, the game is achingly beautiful. The vast, empty landscapes are a spectacle to behold, and finally the simple act of riding Aro (The Wanderer's horse, and the only other living creature he really interacts with, and to who a uniquely close bond is formed throughout the game) around them is given the breathtaking spectacle that was the original intent. 

Every Colossus looks great, and terrifying and sad.
 
The score and sound design remain largely unchanged, but have been remastered beautifully.
 
The controls have been improved, to the point where the loose, unusual control scheme now feels deliberate, rather than accidental. It is designed in such a way as to ensure that even an expert player who has mastered the game still feels a little out of control and desperate, and it still looks like The Wanderer is only just managing to take down these colossal creatures, but now when you fail or fall, it feels like your own fault - or at least, the fault of the Colossus - and not the fault of the game.
 
It is certainly an easier game to platinum on PS4 - the improvements in the game technically are a large part of that, but also the improvements in the gameplay loop (NG+ started at any time / Hard mode available whenever you want / Hard mode NG+ available after Normal NG etc,) as well as just a much more enjoyable trophy list.
Gone are the 'collect every fruit' and the 'collect every lizard' trophies - two trophies that turned a wonderful game into a multi-hour, painful slow trek around a collectibles map for little gameplay benefit - and instead, each trophy now is simply for playing the game as one would anyways. Ironically, this is the version that would probably have best supported such trophies, as simply being in the world and riding around is finally the self-contained reward and pleasure it was always intended to be, but still, the removal of these trophies allows the true path of the game to shine brightest.)
 
 
On the subject of remakes, I think this game has to rank among the very best ever undertaken.
 The past few years have seen a number of these 'from the ground up' remakes - Final Fantasy VII & Resident Evil 2 & 3 for example - and while I am an enormous fan of those games (and their remakes) and want to take nothing away from them,  I think it is notable that in those cases, the gameplay had to be changed quite dramatically in order to make the game feel modern.
Here, the gameplay is essentially unchanged.
 Yes, part of that is that those games are a little older (the originals being PS1 games, rather than PS2,) but they are not so different. We are still going back almost 2 decades to original release.
 In Shadow of the Colossus' case, unlike those others, simply remaking it in a new engine and with modern graphics has turned a game from 17 years ago into a game fitting the 2020 landscape.
 
That all the bones of it have existed - in basically the same form - since the original release, the art, the feel, the music, the gameplay, the melancholic plot and the deliberate pace, is nothing short of incredible.  It is an astonishing testimony to just how ahead of its time the original Shadow of the Colossus was - and to the incredible work Bluepoint can do. They have to be considered, at this point, the greatest remake/remastering studio of all time.
 
 
If it's not obvious already, I enjoyed my time with this version immensely. This will be the Shadow of the Colossus I remember from now on.
Gone is the frustration of previous versions. This is the game as it always was in my mind, and now, that version exists on my console.
 Bluepoint have done a great service to this game, and to me personally.
This thing I so love, now exists as I always wanted it to - untempered, unadulterated and uncompromised, with a technical prowess to match it's artistic one.

 

 

The Ranking:

The PS3 version, while having most of the things that make the Remake great, is hampered by technical issues, and it would be silly to try and pretend that the mere existence of the Remake doesn't hurt its place on the list.

While the music, tone, story, and design is enough to carry it relatively high, the poor original control scheme and frame-rate issues (and resulting accidental difficulty,) coupled with the shadow of its remake, stops it from reaching the upper echelons, and it finds a spot just above recently ranked Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

 

The remake, however, is a different story. By correcting virtually every issue the original game had, and lovingly improving and polishing its best aspects with a truly phenomenal remake, it becomes a powerhouse. Adding a much better control scheme and trophy list, and knowing exactly were to keep all the best elements, the Remake is able to shine among the brightest games on the list, finding it's spot just below BioShock, but above Dishonoured on the current ranking.

 

 

 

 

Skeleton Rider

 

Summary: 

A relatively simple, monochromatic take on Trials / Joe Danger style 2D gameplay, Skeleton Rider doesn't do much to stand out from the pack.

The sketchbook visuals could be an asset with the right spin, but the lack of personality means they just seem bland. Like the every part of the game, they aren't bad, but never rise to good, and the whole thing feels aggressively generic.

 

There is a solid base of a game - plenty of levels, and a timed element meaning players can repeat levels to get a better score if they desire, but I doubt that would be enough to keep a player coming back for long. It certainly didn't pull me back. Lacking the smooth frame-rate that the genre demands (and with little excuse for this, given the basic visuals,) and with levels that are fine for the most part, though in latter stages do seem bizarrely fascinated with the idea of forcing the player to fling themselves into the void, hoping there is a platform somewhere off-screen, the game just never gets a genre foot hold. There are just better entries out there.

If challenge and precision is wanted, there are many Trials games out there to be conquered. If an easier, more fun or chaotic time is wanted, Joe Danger and it's sequel have infinitely more personality and are a ton better looking - and are available on Vita.

 

Any way you slice it, Skeleton Rider would have to do a lot to be anything other than an 'Also-Ran' - and it doesn't really even do enough for that, and just becomes a 'Never-Was.'

 

 

The Ranking:

Falls way below fellow Trials-a-like Joe Danger, we are down the list pretty far due to lack of originality, personality or lasting or repeat appeal.

Kung Fu Rabbit is equally as generic in many ways, but that game, while unoriginal, is less shameless a rip-off, and does have some nice visuals to it, so Skeleton Riders keeps sliding down below it.

Pound for pound though, I think there is a bit more fun and excitement, and less problems, here than in Zombie Driver HD, so Skeleton Rider jumps, spins, wheelies and face-plants into the ground, just ahead of that game.

 

 

 

 

⚛️⚛️BONUS GAMES!:⚛️⚛️

1 additional game S-Ranked this update!

 

 

 

Metropolis: Lux Obscura

 

Summary: 

An interesting concept, Metropolis: Lux Obscura has one of the oddest implementations for a comic-book to videogame transfer in term of genre. Where most comic book adaptions become either Action FPS games (The Darkness), or 3rd person combat games (Arkham Asylum / Watchmen / Spiderman / Deadpool) and some become branching narrative adventure games (The Walking Dead / The Wolf Among Us,) Metropolis gets a combination of choose-your-own-adventure motion comic and match-3 puzzle game.

 

An odd choice, but actually, it works pretty well - for 3 reasons:

Firstly, Metropolis, while I've never been a huge fan story-wise, has always had brilliant artwork, and the motion comic aspects of the game lets that really shine. The stills looks great, and are given an excellent motion-treatment.

 

Secondly, the stories of Metropolis are simple noir-tales, and never particularly interesting. They are heavily stylised, but tend to feature less than amazing dialogue (and here is no exception,) but making the narrative highly variable (as it is here) goes a long way to keeping it interesting despite these flaws.

 

Thirdly - and most importantly - the Match-3 game included in this game is a very good one. It's a version that involved 'shifting' as opposed to swapping, and allows the player to move pieces anywhere across horizontal or vertical lines, shifting every piece it passes. This allows for a far more strategic and interesting game than, say, Bejewelled's or Treasures of Montezuma's more fast paced and frenetic but far less complex mechanics. Each puzzle here takes the place of a fight against a different enemy, each of which has a different attack pattern and frequency, meaning there is a macro level of strategy to the pice matching in addition to the micro level within the puzzle itself, and meaning different matches require different strategies. matching different symbols does different things. Some are attacks, others increase multipliers, others heal or hurt your own character. 

 

It's never a terribly tough game, but it requires thought, and the Match-3 game is far better than it needed to be. The story is throwaway for the most part - and short, but highly variable, and the art keeps it fresh.

 

The biggest downside to the game is actually it's short length. I would me more than happy to just play that particular Match-3 game far longer than the platinum of the game allows, and really think they missed a trick here, by not including some kind of non-story, endless puzzle mode. If they had, I could see myself playing this one for a dozen more hours at least.

 

 

The Ranking:

Surprisingly competent Match-3 and good art catapults this one way above the only other comparable genre puzzler Gem Smashers, though lack of any 'endless' or 'arcade' mode hurt replayability, and stops it form being able to compete with more replayable puzzlers like Plants vs. Zombies or Cuboid.

 

The lacklustre writing keeps it lower than Twin Mirror and (similarly gigantic-boob displaying) Dragon's Crown, but it still - surprisingly - edges out much more ambitious Lords of the Fallen and Freedom Wars, which, while infinitely more complex and lengthier, never have any particular aspect that is as much fun as the match-3 puzzles on show here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there we have it folks 

 

Thanks to @Copanele & @Soraking1991 for putting in requests!

 

An exciting round! - Prey still cling onto  'Current Most Awesome Game' despite another serious bout with new No.2 spot Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin!

 

 Watchmen: The End is Nigh remains the current 'Least Awesome Game', again!

 

 

 

 

What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the sexy lingerie... or the burlap sack?

 

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! ☮️

[DrBloodmoney]

SCIENTIFIC NOTE
I am going to, in future, start putting these review posts up in two parts, separating the posts, as I am finding that - like the most recent one - the posts are getting above the character limit that the forum allows for editing posts. I am unable to go back in and correct any minor spelling errors in the posts at their current length!

 

So, sorry about any spelling errors you find - I probably know about them, but the Forum software won't let me fix them!

 

Also - I'm getting worried now that at some point the main thread post with the list on it might hit that limit, and I'll be unable to update it ??

Not really sure what I can do about that, short of cutting out the explanation of the thread above it, but I guess I'll just have to deal with that if it happens.

If anyone out there knows what the character limit cut-off that stops editing being allowed is, please let me know so I can try and see if there is a danger and figure out a solution!

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[Copanele]

Ah, the one that I've been waiting for  nice list as always. Won't quote it because my god you wrote like Shakespeare with a vengeance so, bolded caps lock list incoming!

 

Dark Souls II  - ah yes, the "black sheep" of the series (lel, Sekiro is not even close to being as good as this game). Yeah, it's a trope to say that "Dark Souls x is my favorite, but ALL of them are good", because...well it's the truth! Praise Miyazaki and his holy guidance, cause this series is amazing.

I do get all the points there, all the beautiful arguments but...my god don't fire arrows at me, the DLC SUCKED! Ok maybe not the Iron King DLC but...all I can remember is me angrily shaking my fist at some satanic reindeers in Frigid Outskirts. Or the omg imma poison yo ass while ghosts haunt you in Sunken King DLC. I dreaded those DLCs only because I felt like fkin Doomguy in them, compared to Artorias of the Abyss and Ringed City DLC where it was the same tough but fair stuff.

Bosses were great though (not the reskinned ones, fuck those). Fume Knight and Sir Alonne were amazing. Better than anything in the main game.

 

Also covenants were super fun in this game. Covenant of Champions redid the infinite spawn at the cost of the world being tough as shit. It really had some great ideas! But it also had the windmill elevator into volcano so... yeah DS2 was fun!

 

Prince of Persia - Sands of Time - now, here imma use a quote, god have mercy on my soul I need to erase a lot:

11 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

It should not be overlooked how innovative The Sands of Time was in 2003. Taking a beloved 2D franchise and shifting it into 3D was a dangerous endeavour, and one that harmed more franchises than it helped, but Prince of Persia did it with aplomb.

There was actually a predecessor - Prince of Persia 3D. It looked like this:

 

I do not recommend anyone to even dare touch it  if the graphics weren't enough to convince. This game was...oh boy let's just pretend it was never made. But you bet i will eagerly wait for opinions for the next ones in the series, especially Warrior Within. That is the PoP that people either loved or hated. Kinda like DS2 ?

 

Shadow of the Colossus - I just want to say one thing, that I really did not like about this game: YOU CANNOT THROW AGRO INTO OBLIVION YOURSELF! God this game frustrated me so much. And that's all because I can already see some Playstation pitchforks aimed at me!

 

As usual, fantastic stuff to read. Makes the work day go by faster!

[DrBloodmoney]

1 minute ago, Copanele said:

Ah, the one that I've been waiting for  nice list as always. Won't quote it because my god you wrote like Shakespeare with a vengeance so, bolded caps lock list incoming!

 

Dark Souls II  - ah yes, the "black sheep" of the series (lel, Sekiro is not even close to being as good as this game). Yeah, it's a trope to say that "Dark Souls x is my favorite, but ALL of them are good", because...well it's the truth! Praise Miyazaki and his holy guidance, cause this series is amazing.

I do get all the points there, all the beautiful arguments but...my god don't fire arrows at me, the DLC SUCKED! Ok maybe not the Iron King DLC but...all I can remember is me angrily shaking my fist at some satanic reindeers in Frigid Outskirts. Or the omg imma poison yo ass while ghosts haunt you in Sunken King DLC. I dreaded those DLCs only because I felt like fkin Doomguy in them, compared to Artorias of the Abyss and Ringed City DLC where it was the same tough but fair stuff.

Bosses were great though (not the reskinned ones, fuck those). Fume Knight and Sir Alonne were amazing. Better than anything in the main game.

 

Also covenants were super fun in this game. Covenant of Champions redid the infinite spawn at the cost of the world being tough as shit. It really had some great ideas! But it also had the windmill elevator into volcano so... yeah DS2 was fun!

 

Hahaha, dude, I loved the Scholar of the First Sin dlc so much! That Iron King stuff was just so perfect I thought - but this only highlights the greatness of the series as a whole - the games can (and did) support a billion threads of discussion over which was best!

 

 

1 minute ago, Copanele said:

Prince of Persia - Sands of Time - now, here imma use a quote, god have mercy on my soul I need to erase a lot:

There was actually a predecessor - Prince of Persia 3D. It looked like this:

 

I do not recommend anyone to even dare touch it  if the graphics weren't enough to convince. This game was...oh boy let's just pretend it was never made. But you bet i will eagerly wait for opinions for the next ones in the series, especially Warrior Within. That is the PoP that people either loved or hated. Kinda like DS2 

 

Uh oh - gaming blind spot alert - I've never even heard of this entry! Thats.... some look it has... ?

... I might have to try and seek that one out.... just because I hate myself that much ?

 

 

 

1 minute ago, Copanele said:

 

Shadow of the Colossus - I just want to say one thing, that I really did not like about this game: YOU CANNOT THROW AGRO INTO OBLIVION YOURSELF! God this game frustrated me so much. And that's all because I can already see some Playstation pitchforks aimed at me!

 

It's tough for me to properly quantify the effect the original game had on my tastes - it shaped my gaming desires more than most other games combined, and so when the Remake came out and made the game look and feel like I always imagined it did, but could never actually see on the screen, it did something to me I think!

 

It's certainly an acquired taste, but for me it represents something that very few games can capture - ennui. Actual, poetic aching of the soul. That is a completely personal and ephemeral thing of course, and impossible to use as an argument either for or against - it is simply unquantifiable - but it is there for me, and carries that game to a loftier place than most.

 

 

 

1 minute ago, Copanele said:

As usual, fantastic stuff to read. Makes the work day go by faster!

 

Thank you my friend - I appreciate it ☺️

[Slava]

Yeah, I was about to mention Prince of Persia 3D. Haven't played it, but I've heard that game is ass. Maybe it's a good thing it was forgotten ?

 

I have played The Sands of Time, though. Did it in 2010 (I remember because I posted my first YouTube video with a fight montage from the game that year), and it played completely fine, I didn't think it aged too poorly back then. Maybe if I replayed it today, it would be a different story. But I've seen some opinions that The Sands of Time is bad and is barely playble today which boggled my mind. Glad to see the objective scientific analysis agrees with me, and this game lands in the top 30% in 2021.

 

Also enjoyed Metro 2033 back when I plyed it on PC around the same year. I remember that it felt slightly different from other shooters I've played, can't put it into words very well. The gunplay felt a little weak compared to them somehow. It was either the guns, or the overall animations and physics, or the way enemies reacted to being shot, or all of the above, I don't know. But this wasn't something significant. I also remember having trouble with the stealth in this game. Even after I figured out that enemies could hear when I walked on glass (or something like that, I hope I remember correctly) they were still noticing me. Nevertheless, still a good game IMO, an 8/10, or at least a strong 7. 4A deserves praise even for the atmosphere that they crafted in the game alone.

 

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by Alderriz

[DrBloodmoney]

22 hours ago, Alderriz said:

Yeah, I was about to mention Prince of Persia 3D. Haven't played it, but I've heard that game is ass. Maybe it's a good thing it was forgotten 

 

I definitely wish I could go back into the post and edit it to acknowledge this game, but the stupid Forum software won't let me ?

 

22 hours ago, Alderriz said:

I have played The Sands of Time, though. Did it in 2010 (I remember because I posted my first YouTube video with a fight montage from the game that year), and it played completely fine, I didn't think it aged too poorly back then. Maybe if I replayed it today, it would be a different story. But I've seen some opinions that The Sands of Time is bad and is barely playble today which boggled my mind. Glad to see the objective scientific analysis agrees with me, and this game lands in the top 30% in 2021.

 

I think Sand of Time - and loads of games of the Era - have aged the fastest and the least well of really any gaming era - it's a shame, but it is what it is. I'd be very quick to argue against anyone saying it is unplayable now though - you can still see the great aspects, you just need to blur your vision a little!

 

 

 

Quote

Also enjoyed Metro 2033 back when I plyed it on PC around the same year. I remember that it felt slightly different from other shooters I've played, can't put it into words very well. The gunplay felt a little weak compared to them somehow. It was either the guns, or the overall animations and physics, or the way enemies reacted to being shot, or all of the above, I don't know. But this wasn't something significant. I also remember having trouble with the stealth in this game. Even after I figured out that enemies hear when I walked on glass (or something like that, I hope I remember correctly) they were still noticing me. Nevertheless, still a good game IMO, an 8/10, or at least a strong 7. The atmosphere that 4A crafted in the game deserves praise alone.

 

 

Yeah - gunplay has never been the strongest card the Metro games have - TBH, I think the latest one, Exodus, is the best one of the three, and even it is still behind a lot of other games in that regard, but the games have so much else to offer that their peers don't even touch, that they are all still well worth a playthrough

Edited May 19, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[The Devils Reaper]

@DrBloodmoney Hey mate, no request here, just wanted to compliment you on how well-written all of your reviews/rankings are.  You even make artifex mundi games a fun read ? 

 

Having that vocabulary and ability to articulate/express yourself in the way you do would be such a nice skill to have. I envy you, good sir!

 

Awesome thread ?

 

[DrBloodmoney]

51 minutes ago, The Devils Reaper said:

@DrBloodmoney Hey mate, no request here, just wanted to compliment you on how well-written all of your reviews/rankings are.  You even make artifex mundi games a fun read  

 

Having that vocabulary and ability to articulate/express yourself in the way you do would be such a nice skill to have. I envy you, good sir!

 

Awesome thread 

 

 

I appreciate that mate, thanks ☺️

[DrBloodmoney]

 

⚛️!!SCIENCE UPDATE!!⚛️

 

 

The next 10 (somewhat) randomly selected games to be submitted for scientific analysis shall be:

 

 

Assassin's Creed Revelations
Critter Crunch
DeathSpank
Dishonored 2
Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood
Funk of Titans
Grand Theft Auto IV
Kick-Ass The Game
Mahjong World Contest 
Nex Machina

 

 

Subjects in RED marked for ❎PRIORITY ASSIGNEMENT❎

[Care of @GloriousFury9414 , @BRKs_Eagle & @Arcesius ]

 

 

 

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

 

Is last-in-show Watchmen: The End is Nigh going to ever have any competition for 'Least Awesome Game' ?

 

Let's find out!

[DrBloodmoney]

 

 ?? NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! ??

 

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

 

 

 

Assassin's Creed Revelations

 

Summary: 

The conclusion to the 'Ezio Trilogy', bringing the story of the character who has remained the signature protagonist of the series, even now, 12 main entries later, to a finale, Revelations was both a fitting end for Ezio, and a clear spring-board for the globe-spanning future the series would have. 

 

Revelations - on the technical side at least - is far more of an iterative step forward from Brotherhood than that game was from its predecessor. Yes, there were a plethora of subtle, but clear, improvements in things like animations, controls, graphics and mechanics, (particularly free-running mechanics, which get arguably the biggest leap forward of any technical aspect in this entry,) but the immediate impact and 'wow' factor when viewing the game side-by-side with its prequel was certainly less than before. 
This meant, at the time of release, Revelations was viewed as something of a 'lesser' entry. The game was never considered bad - or even particularly lacking - but did suffer a little from 'repetition fatigue' in the user-base, fuelled by a voracious release schedule (Revelations debuted only a year after Brotherhood - which was, in turn, just a year after ACII.)

I, however, did not feel that way, and looking back now, those arguments feel less and less relevant.

 

Where the technical improvements may be subtle, stylistic and narrative improvements were bolder and starker. With the mechanical aspects down cold by this point, Ubisoft were able to spend time adding an artistic flair to the game that had been less of a focus up to this point. 

Cut-scenes are finally, in Revelations, given the cinematic and artistic nuance to make them compelling as narrative, as opposed to simple exposition. 
Voice work and sound design are markedly improved, and the musical score has evolved from a workman-like competence to truly spectacular at times. (Anyone who can view the introductory cut-scene and argue that the artistry has not improved markedly is lying to themselves.)

 

There are some additions to the gameplay mechanics on show here - not as many new ones as Brotherhood introduced though, and running more hot-and-cold. 
The 'purchase the world' mechanic whereby Ezio can invest in and renovate businesses and buildings around the city, (Constantinople this time around,) to slowly build up the local Assassin's Guild is still present, and fleshed out with the addition of territorial conquest of city areas. Enemies can also now 'take back' hard won territory. That is a decent concept - not original, and done in many other open world games - but here is it more a hassle than it is fun.

A new 'tower-defence' style battle mechanic is well-meaning, but awkwardly implemented, and never much fun to engage with. Too easy to be challenging, but too finicky and simple to be fun. It can be ignored for the most part, but is still a bit of a whiff - and was dropped from the series after this entry.

 

The actual narrative is much grander in some aspects than in ACII or Brotherhood - interweaving Ezio's final story with that of the original series' protagonist Altair, in a set of interspersed missions set 400 years prior - and yet far more focussed in others.

Ezio's journey is, here, much more personal and - in some ways - small. Ezio is no longer 'Forest Gump'ing his way through the great events of real-life history, but rather on a personal journey, discovering the secrets of his ancestor, the legend of the order he has dedicated his life to.

 

Ezio himself is a much more compelling character this time around. He was fun to play as when he was a young, brash, charismatic playboy-come-assassin, but that was a fairly tried-and-true, and well worn territory for games. Here, he is much more nuanced, and complex. 
Older and wiser, this is an Ezio who has all but set aside his young self, in dedication to a cause greater than himself. His devotion to the Creed is absolute, and a source of both pride and haunting loneliness. 
There is something incredibly compelling about his interplay with book-shop owner and romantic interest Sophia. While world-weary and aware of the obstacles presented by his sworn allegiance to a higher purpose, this older Ezio still retains the charisma and charm of his young self, and has a clear longing for companionship. This, offset by his awareness of the danger his own attention can bring to those around him, means the performance he is given, as his natural charm is filtered through a wiser, more humble and conflicted older man, is excellent. The budding romance (with a somewhat age-appropriate and less Bambi-esque woman than in previous entries) is clearly something he desires on a non-superficial level, but is tempered by his own wisdom and nobility. 
It is played fairly well, and Sophia remains a stand-out love interest across the series.

 

The modern-day sections of this game are a bit of a let down -  Desmond (never a particularly interesting character in the series anyway,) is in a coma, and essentially fighting to wake up. This battle takes the form of strange, esoteric 'puzzle platforming' sections - though there is not much puzzle, and not much platforming to them really. It makes for a narratively interesting, but mechanically tedious affair - only made worse by some of the dlc sections, which double down on these mechanics to disastrously boring effect. These sections are, however, in contrast to previous entries, less compulsory, and do fill in enough narrative info on Desmond to keep a completionist or lore-loving player engaged long enough to get back to the main focus of the game - Ezio.

 

I've made no secret of the fact that I believe the most important element of an Assassin's Creed game - and the biggest factor in determining a good one from a bad - is the location. I will put up with a lot of mechanical or technical flaws if I enjoy spending time in the world, and here, that is a true strength. Revelations' rendering of 16th century Constantinople is fantastic. More fun, full of life, varied and beautiful than the Roman setting of the previous two games, the map is laid out well, and simply exploring the city is a joy in-and-of itself.

 

The game's structure is tighter and more focussed this time around - with a clear, 'objective-based' task being Ezio's charge - and individual missions themselves are pretty much on-par with Brotherhood. There are occasionally still frustrating sections - particularly around stealth 'follow' type missions, but the improved free-running mechanics lessen this effect a bit.

 

The excellent Multiplayer is back - with a little more to it, but a little less focus with regards to the trophies. Not much is changed, but mechanical refinements do help to make it a fun one to return to, though I do think that the map set - while larger and generally better looking - are a little less fun pound-for-pound.

Overall, I think that Revelations is the best of the Ezio trilogy. Where it loses a little shine in some less-than-great additions to the formula, all the good elements are retained, and more refined than ever.  Ezio is markedly more interesting and compelling as an older, wiser protagonist, and artistically, the game is a cut above all its predecessors.
It's a fitting end for a much-beloved - and deservedly so - character. 

 

 

The Ranking:

Better than Brotherhood - which is already quite highly ranked - I think the refinements and artistic improvements, coupled with the fantastic location and inherent compulsion of playing as a more rounded, older character is enough to jump this one up over the excellent Resident Evil 2 Remake, which was the barrier for Brotherhood. 

 

They even give the fascinating world of Horizon: Zero Dawn a run for its money - but where Revelations falls down a little is in the Desmond story. Between the primary story of Ezio, and the secondary story of Desmond, there is a marked gulf in enjoyment. In Horizon, both the main 'Aloy' story, and the discovered 'progenitor' story, are equally compelling, and of extreme high quality, and so, on balance, it retains its spot above Revelations.

 

 

 

 

Critter Crunch

 

Summary: 

A beautifully hand-drawn, deceptively complex, and, (yes, I'm going to say it,) hard-as-a-motherfucker! colour-match, combo puzzle game.

 

Critter Crunch works as a kind of amalgam of Puyo-Puyo and Three's, where you control a big, cuddly creature at the bottom of the screen, who can pull small creatures from a variety of 'lanes' above him, then spit them out into the mouths of larger creatures to 'feed' them. Feed two small creatures to a big one, and it will explode, taking out all adjacent, similarly coloured creatures.

Like all great puzzle games, the concept is simple, but allows for a huge amount of strategy - creating good combos, where one feed will cause a chain reaction, feeding more creatures and popping many more to maximise a high score is key.The lanes slowly (at first) work downwards towards your creature, with a game-over screen as their reward if they get there.

 

The game is excellent - compulsive and nuanced, and gets extremely difficult in the back half. Early on, you can skate by on instinct, but to master the game, a level of pattern recognition and combo building that is pretty unforgiving is required - meaning the lengthly game has a lot of longevity.

 

It looks great, has some fun (if infuriating after a while) music, and absolutely drips with charm. The hand-drawn animations are on a the level of Rayman Origins - of course, there are far less here - less variety and less scope for it - but what is there is great.

 

The game controls well, feels good, and is taxing both mentally and in terms of reflexes in a way that the charming visuals don't necessarily suggest. This is no throw-away kids game, veteran puzzle players will be challenged plenty here.

 

There are a ton of modes available, including both competitive and co-operative couch (or online) multiplayer.

Anyone who is interesting in Tetris / Puyo-Puyo / Dr.Mario / Puzzle-Fighter style games should definitely give this one a look!

 

 

The Ranking:

Comparison points are tough to come by on the current list, as most 'similar' games, eg. Gem Smashers, have ranked well below where this one should, and will.

The limited offering of EA's Tetris cannot compete with the plethora of modes, variety of art and overall charm of Critter Crunch at all. Those aspects are also enough to carry it above great retro games with bare-bones release packages like the retro Pac Man and Dig Dug games.

 

Metropolis: Lux Obscura's match-3 puzzles are great, but the game lacks the challenge and longevity that this game has in spades.

 

Similarly PS3 downloadable, and aesthetically pleasing, Shatter lacks the variety of modes (and multiplayer), but its phenomenal soundtrack and incredibly well implemented mechanics, coupled with it just being, on merit, a more awesome fundamental game, keep it higher than Critter Crunch. 

 

Between those games, it really comes down to feel - and I believe that the longevity and excitement of Critter Crunch is enough to out-do the good elements of newer entry Concrete Genie, but not quite enough to make it more awesome than the plentiful offering of Sonic and SEGA All Starts Racing, and so it finds its place!

 

 

 

 

 

Deathspank

 

Summary: 

Ron Gilbert's Hothead games turn their hands to the hack-n-clash action RPG with Deathspank - a satirical and goofy take on the genre that is filled with Gilbert's infectious, "Oh-Dad" sense of humour, his keen eye for spearing genre tropes, and his love of wacky, colourful, and heavily-stylised visuals. 

 

The mechanics of Deathspank are far from original - this is a relatively simple 'quest' that the eponymous Deathspank is on, with simple combat mechanics, missions that primarily follow the basic 'go-here', 'kill-this', 'collect-that', 'take it back here' structure familiar to anyone who has played the early portion of any MMORPG - but it clearly knows that. 

Mechanically, where it is at its most effective is in the pacing and the variety of loot. The game moves at a pretty steady clip, with each new area lasting around an hour or two, with a smattering of missions gull of silly jokes - most of which are at least mildly funny, and a few of which are very good. The variety of weaponry available is also impressive - it's rare to go longer than 20 minutes without finding some new weapon to add to your armoury, which keeps the player's loot-obsessive compulsions well fed.

 

Artistically, the game is quite interesting - all character and enemy models are in 3D, but the world is constructed as if made of cut-out paper - a-la Tearaway. It gives a whimsical and pretty effective signature art-style to the whole affair. 

 

Deathspank himself is a fun character to play - essentially a more self-aware version of Captain Quark from the Ratchet and Clank series - his over-the-top self-confidence, and grandiose voice-work is consistently funny - as is the writing. It's mostly tongue-in-cheek and silly, rather than pointed satire, but is light and breezy, and can catch you off guard with a really funny line delivery once in a while.

 

The game is pretty short - clocking in a five or six hours, and moves too quick to ever get boring. While not particularly difficult, it is challenging enough not to completely walk through. Frankly, this is a good choice, as the one thing that a game that uses humour as its main draw does not benefit from, is repetition. These jokes are good the first time, but that would fade fast upon repeated restarts or retries.

 

Deathspank doesn't offer much beyond its humour, but what it does have is more than enough to sustain its length, and Gilbert's comedy is - as always - winning and charming.

 

 

The Ranking:

The sense of humour and art-style are enough to place above Joe Danger, but the art-style - as fun as it is - isn't enough to outdo that of Beyond Eyes, and it's short length and lack of repeatability don't give it any more ammo against that similarly afflicted game - and here seem a little less deliberate.

 

 

 

 

Dishonoured 2

 

Summary: 

Dishonoured 2 is a slightly odd sequel in some ways. 
There are games that completely re-write the entire conceptual basis of a series with their second outing (sometimes to their benefit - Assassin's Creed to Assassin's Creed II for example - and sometimes to their detriment - *cough* *cough* Jak II *cough*,) but in most cases, a series' first sequel is an iterative step - small refinements, smoothing out issues, making minor technical and mechanical improvements.
Generally, from one game to the next, the net effect will be small, but as a franchise matures, those small steps will compound, and a third or fourth entry in a series, held up against an original, will be a stark contract - recognisably of a genus, but benefitting from years of refinement, reinforcement and rework across the intervening steps. 

 

Dishonoured 2 is not re-writing the formula - this is very clearly a sequel to Dishonoured's impressive first outing - but it is improved, refined and expanded to such a degree, that it leaves the player wondering if there were 3 or 4 games secretly released in-between. The game takes such large steps in almost every area (all of which were already great in the original game,) and presents itself with such a confidence, that it seems baffling that this is only the second game. It would be like going from an original iPhone to an iPhoneX, without there being any in between. 
Yes, it still looks like an iPhone, but how did it get so far so fast?

 

Picking up a new story some years after the end of the original game, Emily Kaldwin, (the young Princess and living McGuffin of the first game,) is all grown up and in charge of the Kingdom, with dutiful protector (and original game protagonist) Corvo at her right hand. Unfortunately, her Aunt has been watching a little to much Game of Thrones, and decides to take over the kingdom's rule by force, and along with a group a group of nefarious witches, magically imprison the courtiers, along with...

...Okay. Here is the biggest, most pronounced and most inspired difference between this game and the original.
The player chooses, right at the outset, who is getting imprisoned, and who is going to be the protagonist of the game for the next 20-odd hours. Corvo, with a more refined but familiar skill tree of powers from the first game, or Emily, with a brand new one.

It's a great idea, and an ambitious one on Arkane's part. If there was any complaint levelled against the original game, it was that with only 9 levels, the game was not as 'big' as it could have been. Personally, I think such arguments were facile, as the replayability of said levels was massive even with a single protagonist and skill-tree anyway, but here, with two separate characters and two separate sets of powers, the 10 new levels are effectively 20. Combine that with the already present High Chaos / Low Chaos mechanics, the variety inherent in a multi-dimensional level design and the personalisation available in skill-tree speccing, the compounding replayability of each level increases on an almost logarithmic scale.

 

The differences in powers of the two characters are not small - Corvo's will feel familiar, but the new powers Emily has are markedly different. Her 'Far-Reach' power is similar enough to Corvo's 'Blink' to grant her a similar level of movement and stealth, but powers such as 'Domino' (wherein multiple enemies have their fates tied together - killing, hurting or pacifying one, will affect all,) Mesmerise (a hypnosis) or Doppelgänger (you get it,) are brand new and encourage (and demand) new play-styles, allowing for enormous differences when used in combination.

 

Level design has been expanded dramatically. The majority of the game takes place in a new city - Karnaca - with a distinctly Mediterranean flavour to offset the Dickensian London vibes of Dunwall. This city, not being plagued by rats, it markedly more busy and alive, with civilians all around, lending a different bent to the outdoor areas, and the art-design follows suit. The architectural and artistic complexity of the levels is maintained and expanded, but always remains true to the feel of the surroundings. 

As in Dishonoured, every level is meticulously crafted, (and the complexity increased to a level that is able to accommodate the addition of all Emily's new powers and allow scope for her to breathe and flex on her own merit, in addition to Corvo's more familiar style,) but even more so than in the original game, each area has specific nuances that grant them unique obstacles and opportunities. 
The Dust District has vision-obscuring sandstorms that affect both the player and the NPCs.

One level grants a unique 'vision of the past' mirror, allowing the player to flip between two time periods of the same area, and view one from the other.

One level plays with the actual assassination mechanics by having the target employ body-doubles, forcing the player to put their detective hat on to figure out who is the real target.

 

A special mention must also go to The Clockwork Mansion level - a location filled with levers that change the physical layout of the space in multiple ways, all of which are dramatic, yet worked out so perfectly that the player can actually access the 'behind-the-scenes' areas, and see all the hydraulic and mechanical apparatus powering the metamorphosis.  Not only did Arkane work out the working physics of the place, but actually made the level work in every conceivable permutation, and allowed the player to explore every nook and Heath-Robinson cranny of both the level, and the level-behind-the-level. This is not a 'magical', video-game transformation, it is put together as if real, and worked out to a level virtually unprecedented in games. 
The effect is staggering when first experienced. It would be like going down a pipe in Mario, and only then realising that Nintendo had employed real plumbers and engineers to work out, not only how they all connect together, but why, and had made it all a realistic, working water-system, that also just happens to be a great level. 

I am not employing hyperbole when I say this: I genuinely believe The Clockwork Mansion to be the greatest single level ever created in any videogame, in any genre. 

 

On a technical level, the game is coming from an already impressive starting point. Most areas are somewhat improved, but there was little wrong in that regard in the original game, and this one is no different. Levels are larger and the scope for manipulation far greater, and so simply maintaining the high level of mechanical integrity is a triumph in itself, but there are significant improvements in almost every area - animations, smoothness of control and movement, physics, hit-detection etc. Areas such as enemy AI and open combat are a markedly improved over its predecessor.

 

Voice-work, sound design, music and UI have not changed dramatically, but are still impressive. An indicator of whether the player is still able to achieve a 'perfect' unseen, bloodless run is a welcome addition for those looking to achieve a perfect, ghostly run.

 

Overall, Dishonoured 2 manages something that few sequels manage - it makes a massive step forward, refining a great formula to a level most franchises take three or four iterative steps to reach - but does it in a single bound, bypassing any kind of 'franchise-fatigue' and striding with a confidence usually reserved for long-established IP.

 

 

The Ranking:

Being a better version of Dishonoured, but not quite pipping Prey in terms of Immersive Sims, Dishonoured 2 is already guaranteed to be breathing the rarified air of the very upper tier of the current list.

The art design, world building, breathtaking variety and subsequent longevity of the game are enough to overwhelm the two games with better stories but less varied gameplay - BioShock and The Last of Us, and the narrative and polish power it up past the two smaller games riding on their own variety - Dead Cells and Transistor.

 

The combination of factors, and virtual absence of any faults is enough to squeak past the fantastic original Dark Souls, but in Mass Effect 2, finally, there is a game long enough, varied enough, and featuring a world (well, in that case, a universe,) too interesting and varied and nuanced for all of Dishonoured 2's greatness to combine to best.

Dishonoured 2, therefore takes a well deserved spot, as the new No.4 most awesome game!

 

 

 

 

Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood

 

Summary: 

A new high-watermark in the currently ranked Artifex Mundi stable, Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood does exactly what all Artifex Mundi joints do, but in just right combination of elements to ensure it is one of the best.

 

A good story, great art - blending the creepy horror of the original Enigmatis with the mystical nature-based side that permeates some of their other fare - a good array of puzzles, (including a few that are more unique, or at least less common across their stable,) good hidden object puzzle scenes and no irritating 'boss fight' sections.

 

Voice-work and animations are on-par with most Artifex Mundi fare - i.e. not particularly good - but that is not much of a factor, given that it is to be expected.

 

Collectibles include some of the type I like - the fading in and out ones, and the game is a good length as these go - and includes a pretty good bonus chapter.

 

 

The Ranking:

A high point for Artifex Mundi, beating out its prequel and managing to climb a little higher than some of the much, much more ambitious, but ultimately very flawed fare such as Need for Speed: Rivals and Hidden Agenda, but the limited nature of the games mean - even at their arguable best - they can't seem to quite outdo very-flawed, but great looking, The Order:1886.

 

 

 

 

 

Funk of Titans

 

Summary: 

A conceptually fun but stylistically dull, mechanically simplistic and technically questionable auto-running platformer, Funk of Titans has a silly and fun hook - and little else.

 

Perseus (the Greek son of Zeus,) here shown as a Funk loving, Afro-having, Handlebar-moustache-wearing badass, is out to defeat the gods of Pop, Rock and Rap, so Funk can reign supreme, and he'll do it by completing a bunch of auto-running levels, then having a QTE-heavy dance-off.

Obviously.

The inherent ridiculousness of the premise - which I like a lot - would likely be the games strongest card regardless of the quality, but here, it's pretty much the only one - which makes it all the weirder that the developer fails to lean into it in any meaningful way.

 

The levels, split across the three worlds of Rock, Rap and Pop, are all rather bland and same-y, and never seem to have any particular stylistic aspects to tie them to the musical genre they represent. The bosses at the end of each world do show some rudimentary elements of their signature musical styles, but these are pretty basic, and - even more bafflingly  for a musically themed game - the music is pretty bad across the board. 

 

The game is pretty basic as runners go - basically a collect-a-thon with a few slightly varying paths in each level, and a small array of the usual obstacles - enemies, jump pads, walls for wall-jumping etc, and is relatively competent, though there are some issues with enemy hit-boxes not really aligning to the character models, meaning some frustrating compensation is required.

For a musically themed game, also, the dev missed a trick - in that the musical rhythm seems to have no bearing on the level tempo. For a game based around music, one would assume that a certain rhythm-based element would be in play - i.e. jumping /attacking etc on the musical beat would be the way to succeed, but here, the music seems incidental to the level pace.

 

The game has some pretty long load times, and a fair few bugs - resulting in quite a few crashes on Vita too - not unique to this game, but a bit of a drag considering the long load times.

It's a pity really - I really do like the concept, and don't dislike auto-runners if they are done well. I can't help but see the whole game as a missed opportunity, and if a better developer could take a stab at the same core concept, something really great might come out of it, but here, not so much.

There is some fun and a whimsey to the whole affair, but this game is about music, and the music, along with most other elements, veers wildly in quality - from middling to outright bad.

 

 

The Ranking:

The fun of the concept is enough to lift it above artistically barren and technically ropey fare such as Zombie Driver HD and Skeleton Rider, but a good concept is only worth so much when every other thing about the game betrays it.

 

Unoriginal, but technically competent, Kung-Fu Rabbit and even semi-original, but dull and less-competent, Arcade Archives: Renegade each have more to offer in terms of fun, so Funk of Titans finds its distinctly un-funky place, way down near the bottom of the current list.

 

 

 

 

Grand Theft Auto IV

 

Summary: 

There have already been a few games on this list where I know ahead of time that I am going against a prevailing opinion - Jak II, Dokuro etc. - but I have a suspicion that few are likely to inspire ire in some people more than this one. This is going to be a hard one to rank for one simple reason:

GTA IV is an objectively great game... that I personally don't like very much.

 

I can appreciate many of the great aspects of the game. Coming from a position of incredible strength built up across the PS3 GTA Trilogy (GTAIII, Vice City and San Andreas), each of which I enjoyed immensely, it is impossible not to conclude that GTAIV was a triumphant step forward in graphics, world-building fidelity, realism, storytelling, (though San Andreas was no slouch in that department either,) and in Rockstars ability to incorporate vast swathes of interlinking systems, mini-games, narrative, side-content and humour to craft an incredibly detailed and compelling world.

 

Why, then, didn't I like it?

 

Put simply, by improving virtually every aspect of realism in the design of GTAIV, something was lost: The fun.

That might seem an overly simplistic way to put it - and it is - but it is the only way I can think to put it that makes sense. 

 

Take, for example, the controls. The jump from PS3 to PS4 was Rockstar's catalyst for crafting a much more realistic and animation heavy feel to controlling GTAIV's protagonist, Nico, as compared with CJ of San Andreas. Gone was the very 'game-y', 'arcade-y' quick-turns and quick-sprinting of that game - here, Nico takes his time to turn around, or to pull out a gun, or to do anything really. That makes for a far more realistic looking and playing game (and the animations and the graphics were gorgeous for the time, for sure,) but it makes everything feel more of a chore, and less of the chaotic fun I loved about the previous games.

Driving has all the same issues, and more - the driving model adopted in GTAIV is much more realistic than in previous entries, and as a result, much heavier feeling, slower, and just less fun to engage with. Crashing a car and having to switch vehicles in no longer a quick, fun notion - it's looks much more realistic, takes a long time, and is generally about as fun as getting out of a real vehicle and into another one in real life. Crashing a motorbike and flying off is not a funny, zany laugh-fest that you pick yourself up from and carry on, it's basically instant death.

Just like real life. You know what the problem with real-life is? Doing crazy stuff isn't fun.

The very idea that I would rather take a cab in the game to get to the next mission than drive myself would have been unheard of in previous entries. Here, it was the norm.

Yes, often I would let the cab ride play out, leaving the camera on 'cinematic' mode, so I could drink in the majesty of the city they had meticulously crafted, but that majesty was never enough to make me actually want to engage with the controls of the game any more than I had to.

 

Rockstar's abiding curse - beginning with GTAIV - has always been their almost masturbatory obsession with their own animations - everything takes much longer to do in their games than in others, because they are so in love with the animations that they create, (which are, to be fair, generally great,) that they baulk at the idea of letting the player skip them. (I'm sure I'm not the only person to master the art of getting off your horse close enough to a carcass in Red Dead Redemption, that the 'skinning' animation couldn't happen, and John Marston would just pick up the damned hide without having to do the same long, protracted, un-skippable theatrics every time.)

For better or for worse, that mentality has permeated all Rockstar games post-GTAIV, but in subsequent games, a much more appropriate balance between fun and realism has been struck. (GTAV will likely never be ranked on this list, as the multiplayer virtually guarantees that I wont get the S-Rank, but suffice to say - all the issues I had with GTA IV were basically alleviated, and I enjoyed that game vastly more than this one.) Here, their first foray into this style was just not refined enough yet, and it suffers for it.

 

The story of GTA IV, is I have to say, a very strong one. More nuanced than any previous GTA game, and with more to say satirically about American culture, which has always been the heart of the GTA games. Nico is a strong lead, and his main story path is told well, although the more serious tone on display here doesn't really resonate with the variety of over-the-top or silly antics that are off to the side. When Nico keeps saying that he want's out of the criminal underworld, it makes him mowing down twenty pedestrians a bit more incongruous than when, say, GTAV's Trevor does it - though this has kind of always been an issue with open world games in general.

 

The other factor to bring up here is the Multiplayer. The single player is vast, and more than enough to keep players interested, so for most of the audience, the lacklustre multiplayer can be largely ignored, but for a completionist, it is an unholy travesty.

The trophy requirements are outrageous, given the limited fun to be had, and since the mechanics of the game are so heavy and plodding, engaging with only those aspects, without a narrative to drive them, just feels bad. The fact that I even have this platinum at all is a stark reminder to me of the lengths I once would go to to finish a game. Nowadays, I would never put myself through the amount of grinding it required, across a variety of game modes, none of which I found very much fun to control.

 

All in all, the game is impossible not to appreciate, particularly for the time, but I'd be lying if I said I had enjoyed it all. The game is long, and very varied, and I liked quite a few parts of it, but even over the few hundred hours I put in, I never once found the controls to be anything but a burden, or the focus on realism to have enough good aspects to offset the downsides. I appreciate that this game led to their games I did enjoy more - Red Dead Redemption and GTA V, but here, their proving ground works better for me on paper than in my hands.

 

The Ranking:

For all GTA IV's merits I cannot ignore the purpose of my list. This is not a ranking of technical achievement, importance in the gaming landscape, or popularity, all of which would feature GTA IV quite prominently - it is a ranking of how awesome I found the game to be, and I didn't find it as awesome as many others did.

 

As open world games with a focus on driving go, I still think it has more going for it than Mafia II, but ranks far, far below Driver San Francisco in terms of fun, despite its graphical prowess.

 

I am willing to concede that over the course of my time with it, I had enough fun to take it above a game like Detroit: Become Human, given all its good qualities, but I cannot say I enjoyed the driving anywhere near as much as the driving in Split/Second, and as good as some of the other aspects of the game are, GTA games are driving games primarily. That is, after all, what you spend the most time doing.

 

It's a tough call, but in the end, I am comfortable placing it just below Split/Second, but no higher than that - and so there is stays. Still in the top half of the list, but a long way from any of the upper spots.

 

 

 

 

Kick Ass: The Game

 

Summary: 

OPEN ON AN EXECUTIVE AND A GAME DEVELOPER 

 

"We're going to make a PS3 downloadable game tie in for our movie - and we want you to make it!"
*eyeroll* "Good idea... that alway's works out..."
"What do you mean?"
"Well... look, I shouldn't be cynical. There have been some great ones over the years. I apologise. Let's start over. What do you have in mind?"
"Well, did you play that Watchmen: The End is Nigh game?"
"...uh... yeah... but that was a piece of shi-"
"Okay, okay, so, what if we did some parts of that game - you know -the boring visuals, the terrible, simple combat, and the complete lack of originality..."
"...um..."
"And we crossed it with this other game I found!" *hold's up a copy of Zombie Apocalypse*
"...Wait...no...you don't unders-"
"We'll make it top down, like this one..."
"Do you really think tha-"
"Yadda yadda, don't worry kid, only sort of top down... Don't worry, the camera will float all over the place, so you'll never be quite sure..."
"...I don't-"
"Shhh! And we'll make all the character models both too big for their polygon count, but too small on screen..."
"Too small on th-?"
"Pfft, don't worry about it. Only sometimes. Only at times, and, and! We make the levels both overly simple, yet oddly difficult to navigate due to the isometric view, and make it virtually impossible to gauge whether you are within hit range of the enemies..."
"Are you serio-"
"And... Shhh! And... wait... We'll make it so you can choose different characters... but they all play exactly the same! We can have unlockable arena modes, where you get to take the sub-par combat, and apply it to a version of the game with, somehow, even less story..."
"Seriously, you need to get a grip on y-"
"And guess what?"
"...what?..."
"After you slog through the whole thing - all 8 soul-destroyingly dull levels of it over a 5 hours stretch that feels like a year spent with a kernel of corn stuck in your tooth..."
"Dude... why are your eyes so wide...?"
"You get to the final boss..."
"Seriously, are you on crack?..."
"And you don't even fight him!"
...

...
"That's the worst idea I've ev-"
"Wait, don't interrupt! We'll also make it super cheaply, and cut as many corners on the technical side as possible, so that even though it looks like dogshit, and plays like dogshit, and feels like dogshit, and nothing about it is remotely complicated... wait for it..."
"Oh God, plea-"
"It will still hitch and slow down all the Godamned time!"
...
"Seriously, think about it! It will constantly freeze, and slow, and crash, and chug, even when all that is happening on screen is the same 2 combat moves, over and over, and the exact same piece of irritating music playing again and again and again and again, to simultaneously make your brain start bleeding out of your eyeballs, and to remind you of the pretty good movie you could be watching instead of having such a terrible time with our excuse for a game!"
...
"So whaddaya say kid? You in?"
...
...
*sigh* "Fine. I need the work. Gimme 15 minutes and a buck fifty."
"Sold!"

FIN.

 

-The preceding one act play was found, scrawled on a half a roll of toilet-paper, in a bathroom stall, next to the body of the late Dr.Bloodmoney (RIP).
He, tragically, took his own life.
We may never fully understand his reasons, but the coroners report did highlight the fact that his PS3 was loaded and running in his home, with a splash screen of Kick-Ass: The Game repeating on a loop. 
"This was not the first person driven to suicide by this game," said coroner noted sombrely, shaking his head wistfully, "And likely not the last. When will these game developers learn? They need to do better. For all our sakes."

 

The Ranking:

In memory of Dr.Bloodmoney (RIP), we can think of no more fitting a tribute than to continue his life's work, committing Kick Ass: The Game to its rightful place on his 'Scientific Games Ranking', in the only spot it could possibly go.
At the bottom, even beating out Watchmen: The End is Nigh, for 'Least Awesome Game'.

 

 

 

 

Mahjong World Contest

 

Summary: 

So, for Mahjong World Contest, essentially, refer back to the review of Mahjong Royal Towers, as this game is virtually identical. 

 

Another mis-sold (or mis-bought, depending on whether you want to blame me for my ignorance, or the developer for lying about it being Mahjong!) pair-matching game using Mahjong tiles as the symbols, Mahjong World Contest should really be considered DLC for Royal Tower (or vice-versa.)

 

Not inherently un-fun, but rather basic, and not doing much outside of the basic game to keep anyone playing, and doing literally nothing different from its sister-game.

 

The Ranking:

Surprise surprise, this has to be placed right next to Mahjong Royal Towers. Whether it goes above or below is not particularly relevant at this low level on the list, but by virtue of being ranked second, it draws the short straw, and get ranked just below. 

 

 

 

 

Nex Machina

 

Summary: 

After Housemarque's runaway success with Resogun, and their moderate success with Alienation, they released two arcade style games almost right on top of each-other - Matterfall - a 2.5D take on Strider-style platforming published by Sony and exclusive to the PS4, and Nex Machina, a self-published, twin-stick, sci-fi arcade shooter, appearing on both PS4 and Xbox.

 

In some senses, Nex Machina is a return to a signature style for Housemarque. Their output is varied - even more so now that bigger budget and more high-profile Returnal has hit the PS5 pretty hard recently (or so I've heard - alas, a PS5 console still eludes me!) - but their most consistent genre is the twin-stick shooter, and boy, do they know how to put one together! 
Nex Machina is certainly the most story-light, and arcade-heavy of the lot, eschewing the limited storylines of Dead Nation and Alienation, for a much more 'pure' score-based experience, and upping the difficulty quite considerably in the bargain.

 

The elements that made Resogun the game that it was have clearly been an influence on Nex Machina. The particle effects, the busyness of the on-screen action, the colourful, neon-chrome look and unrelenting pace of the game are all Housemarque tropes now, but certainly have a Resogun flavour to them.

Many of the smart elements to keep what is essentially only a five level game interesting and challenging over dozens of hours are all lifted from that mould: A vast array of difficulty levels, a huge swathe of 'feats' to be completed like a checklist of awesome, level specific challenges with smart, online leaderboards are enough to ensure any kind of high-score enthusiast is going to be plugging many hours into the game trying to work up those rankings, and a trophy list that is notably well done - encouraging engagement with every element, yet not requiring every single feat or challenge to be done, meaning the player is free to choose which ones suit them best, and not get bogged down on one specific area giving them issues.

 

The game plays fantastically - incredibly fast and chaotic, but with razor sharp controls and Housemarque's knack for knowing exactly how much chaos the player can keep track of, without it becoming too overwhelming is on full show. Each of the five levels is distinct and great looking, with new enemy varieties introduced in each one, and all culminate in an end boss - all of which are unique, and demand a different play-style to beat. 

 

There is a randomised element to the order of power pick-ups, which keeps the game nice and varied (though not entirely, as there is a finite number, and each perfect run should result in an identical set-up by the time the final boss is reached, as every power-up is available in every run,) and a single death will result in the loss of one power-up, requiring a corpse-run to regain it. That is a neat element, but there is a slightly awkward element to it - if a full 'continue' is used after running out of lives, the player losses all power-ups. If this happens anywhere but the first level, it guarantees that no matter how well the player does after this, they are still guaranteed to reach the final stages at a disadvantage. On low level difficulties this might still be feasible, but on later ones, this might as well be suicide, and it does beg the question - why even have a 'continue' option at all at these difficulties?

 

There is couch co-op here, and it is well implemented, though - full disclosure - whatever element it was that made the good lady Ms. Bloodmoney fall so hard in love with Dead Nation was clearly not present here, as she was far less enamoured with this one. 
It may have been the lack of story or the different setting (she is a horror-gal through-and-through, and a big Zombie fan - less so of sci-fi,) but I don't think that was the only reason. The fact is, Nex Machina in on another level in terms of speed and unforgiving difficulty, and it means that co-op, while still a fun experience, is much more demanding, and doesn't lend itself to chatting while playing. The game requires your full attention from the breathless first second to the last, and a lightning trigger-finger at all times. That is not a slight of course, theres nothing better than losing oneself in a zombified fugue-state of twin-stick chaos, but it means it is not as much a social experience, and not suited to a team-up of varying skill levels.

 

Overall,  Nex Machina is a wonderful game. Fast, fun, smart - the whole package. The only thing that really feels a bit of a let down is the very thing driven by how good it feels to play - there could be more of it. Given that the five existing levels are enough to keep a player going for a good few dozen hours in pursuit of the platinum, a single dlc level, or two, would go a huge way to increasing the size of the game, and it's a real shame it never got any.

 

The Ranking:

As a single player experience, Nex Machina is wonderful, and in comparison to Dead Nation, I think the five levels it has, coupled with the vast improvements in arcade fun added by the 'Feats' and challenges in the online 'Arena', beat out any five levels of that game hands down - particularly owing to the great boss-fights. However, it's tough to ignore the fact that there are only five of them.

Dead Nation has 10, plus the added Road of Devastation. That, coupled with the story of Dead Nation (such as it is,) and the better co-op experience, on balance does give that game a slight leg up, despite the less varied enemies and the older, less outstanding visual style. 

 

Nex Machina is no slouch however, and even taken as a single-player only entry, it would still place highly, and finds its spot just two rungs lower than that game, just below the awesome single--player/co-op/party atmosphere of Rayman Origins, but above the similarly single-player heavy and co-op lite, (and similarly a-little-too-short,) Cuphead.

 

 

 

 

So there we have it folks 

 

Thanks to @BRKs_Eagle , @GloriousFury9414 & @Arcesius for putting in requests - hope my reviews are acceptable, or at least sufficiently explanatory if not!

 

Prey retains  'Current Most Awesome Game' though there is a great showing from predecessor Dishonoured 2!

 

 Watchmen: The End is Nigh finally washes it's hands of the sticky medal that is current 'Least Awesome Game', usurped by almost mystically terrible Kick Ass: The Game!

 

 

 

 

What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the warm bath... or the cold shower?

 

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! ☮️

[Eagle]

On 21/05/2021 at 3:56 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

 

Grand Theft Auto IV

 

Summary:

There have already been a few games on this list where I know ahead of time that I'm going against a prevailing opinion - Jak II, Dokuro, etc. - but I have a suspicion that few are likely to inspire ire in some people more than this one. This is going to be a hard one to rank for one simple reason:

GTA IV is an objectively great game... that I personally don't like very much.

 

I can appreciate many of the great aspects of the game. Coming from a position of incredible strength built up across the GTA trilogy on PS2 (GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas), each of which I enjoyed immensely, it is impossible not to conclude that GTA IV was a triumphant step forward in graphics, world-building fidelity, realism, storytelling (though San Andreas was no slouch in that department either), and in Rockstar's ability to incorporate vast swathes of interlinking systems, minigames, narrative, side content and humor to craft an incredibly detailed and compelling world.

 

Why, then, didn't I like it?

 

Put simply, by improving virtually every aspect of realism in the design of GTA IV, something was lost: the fun.

That might seem an overly simplistic way to put it - and it is - but it is the only way I can think to put it that makes sense. 

 

Take, for example, the controls. The jump from PS2 to PS3 was Rockstar's catalyst for crafting a much more realistic and animation-heavy feel to controlling GTA IV's protagonist, Niko, as compared to CJ of San Andreas. Gone was the very "gamey" and "arcadey" quick turns and sprinting of that game - here, Niko takes his time to turn around, or to pull out a gun, or to do anything, really. That makes for a far more realistic looking and playing game (and the animations and the graphics were gorgeous for the time, for sure), but it makes everything feel more of a chore, and less of the chaotic fun I loved about the previous games.

Driving has all the same issues, and more - the driving model adopted in GTA IV is much more realistic than in previous entries, and, as a result, feels much heavier, slower and just less fun to engage with. Crashing a car and having to switch vehicles is no longer a quick, fun notion - it looks much more realistic, takes a long time, and is generally about as fun as getting out of a real vehicle and into another one in real life. Crashing a motorbike and flying off is not a funny, zany laughfest that you pick yourself up from and carry on, it's basically instant death.

Just like real life. You know what the problem with real life is? Doing crazy stuff isn't fun.

The very idea that I would rather take a cab in the game to get to the next mission than drive myself would have been unheard of in previous entries. Here, it was the norm.

Yes, often I would let the cab ride play out leaving the camera on "cinematic" mode, so I could drink in the majesty of the city they had meticulously crafted, but that majesty was never enough to make me actually want to engage with the controls of the game any more than I had to.

 

Rockstar's abiding curse - beginning with GTA IV - has always been their almost masturbatory obsession with their own animations. Everything takes much longer to do in their games than in others, because they are so in love with the animations that they create (which are, to be fair, generally great), that they baulk at the idea of letting the player skip them. I'm sure I'm not the only person to master the art of getting off your horse close enough to a carcass in Red Dead Redemption that the skinning animation couldn't happen, and John Marston would just pick up the damned hide without having to do the same long, protracted, unskippable theatrics every time.

For better or for worse, that mentality has permeated all Rockstar games post-GTA IV, but in subsequent games, a much more appropriate balance between fun and realism has been struck. (GTA V will likely never be ranked on this list, as the multiplayer virtually guarantees that I won't get the S rank, but suffice to say - all the issues I had with GTA IV were basically alleviated, and I enjoyed that game vastly more than this one.) Here, their first foray into this style was just not refined enough yet, and it suffers for it.

 

The story of GTA IV, I have to say, is a very strong one. More nuanced than any previous GTA game, and with more to say satirically about American culture, which has always been the heart of the GTA games. Niko is a strong lead, and his main story path is told well, although the more serious tone on display here doesn't really resonate with the variety of over-the-top or silly antics that are off to the side. When Niko keeps saying that he wants out of the criminal underworld, it makes him mowing down twenty pedestrians a bit more incongruous than when, say, GTA V's Trevor does it - though this has kind of always been an issue with open-world games in general.

 

The other factor to bring up here is the multiplayer. The single player is vast, and more than enough to keep players interested, so for most of the audience, the lackluster multiplayer can be largely ignored. But, for a completionist, it is an unholy travesty.

The trophy requirements are outrageous, given the limited fun to be had, and since the mechanics of the game are so heavy and plodding, engaging with only those aspects, without a narrative to drive them, just feels bad. The fact that I even have this platinum at all is a stark reminder to me of the lengths I once would go to to finish a game. Nowadays, I would never put myself through the amount of grinding it required, across a variety of game modes, none of which I found very much fun to control.

 

All in all, the game is impossible not to appreciate, particularly for the time, but I'd be lying if I said I had enjoyed it at all. The game is long, and very varied, and I liked quite a few parts of it, but even over the few hundred hours I put in, I never once found the controls to be anything but a burden, or the focus on realism to have enough good aspects to offset the downsides. I appreciate that this game led to their games I did enjoy more - Red Dead Redemption and GTA V - but here, their proving ground works better for me on paper than in my hands.

 

The Ranking:

For all of GTA IV's merits, I cannot ignore the purpose of my list. This is not a ranking of technical achievement, importance in the gaming landscape or popularity, all of which would feature GTA IV quite prominently - it is a ranking of how awesome I found the game to be, and I didn't find it as awesome as many others did.

 

As open-world games with a focus on driving go, I still think it has more going for it than Mafia II, but ranks far, far below Driver: San Francisco in terms of fun, despite its graphical prowess.

 

I am willing to concede that, over the course of my time with it, I had enough fun to take it above a game like Detroit: Become Human, given all its good qualities, but I cannot say I enjoyed the driving anywhere near as much as the driving in Split/Second, and as good as some of the other aspects of the game are, GTA games are driving games primarily. That is, after all, what you spend the most time doing.

 

It's a tough call, but in the end, I am comfortable placing it just below Split/Second, but no higher than that - and so there it stays. Still in the top half of the list, but a long way from any of the upper spots.

 

Thanks for the review! I think you can figure out that I love this game (after all, I wouldn't ask for it otherwise ), being one of the main responsibles for getting me into gaming...

 

...but yeah, it's a really divisive one, even between hardcore fans of the franchise. They really took an 180 with this entry in comparison to their previous games, marking their foray into more realistic games (reaching a really high note, or so I've heard, with RDR2, which I'm yet to play), which some hate and others love. I personally could spend hours just messing around with the physics of the game, but I understand it might be a hard game for some to enjoy, and I do recognize its flaws. I do appreciate the honest analysis, though, and will certainly continue to read this thread in the future.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Eagle

[Glorious Fury]

Thanks for the Dishonoured 2 summary, reading it through made me remember why I loved the game so much. I agree with the sentiment about the The Clockwork Mansion, it's my favorite in the entire series, and one of the most impressive levels in video gaming that I can recall. 

 

Also prefer Dark Souls 2: SOTFS to the original also. Think you hit the nail on the head, with comparing DS 2 to a country as opposed to a kingdom. I always thought the sequel had a sense of fantasy in the world, and felt the atmosphere was far more varied and alot more memorable. DS 2 isn't my personal favorite in the series, but always loved this aspect of the game as opposed the others.

 

Some real bangers in the top 5 now, gonna be tough to break into it I'd imagine!

[DrBloodmoney]

12 hours ago, GloriousFury9414 said:

Some real bangers in the top 5 now, gonna be tough to break into it I'd imagine!

Oh yeah - it’s definitely getting to be much more solid up at the top end on the list - there are certainly still a fair few serious challengers waiting to be ranked though - and I can still see a few unranked games that may well have a shot at making it all the way.
Will just have to wait and see what the science says ?

Edited May 22, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[AJ_Radio]

How doable is Nex Machina? It's been on my wishlist for quite some time, once I see it offered at a discount I may pick it up. I hope it's nothing as hard as some of the Resogun, because wow.

[DrBloodmoney]

10 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

How doable is Nex Machina? It's been on my wishlist for quite some time, once I see it offered at a discount I may pick it up. I hope it's nothing as hard as some of the Resogun, because wow.

I personally found it a little harder than Resogun - though that could be more to do with the specific style - Twin Stick Shooters are games I enjoy a lot, but wouldn’t say I naturally excel at.
 

The biggest difference in terms of difficulty between the two is really the ability to ‘on-ramp’ to the hardest difficulty.

In Resogun, I felt like doing easier difficulties was good practice for later ones, and so there was a good, steady increase in challenge and approachability.

 

In Nex Mechina though, I think practicing on lower difficulties hurts you in the later ones - habits you pick up aren’t viable on harder settings, and patterns are so different, that you end up having to relearn the levels on the harder settings from scratch.

Edited May 22, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[AJ_Radio]

3 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I personally found it a little harder than Resogun - though that could be more to do with the specific style - Twin Stick Shooters are games I enjoy a lot, but wouldn’t say I naturally excel at.
 

The biggest difference in terms of difficulty between the two is really the ability to ‘on-ramp’ to the hardest difficulty.

In Resogun, I felt like doing easier difficulties was good practice for later ones, and so there was a good, steady increase in challenge and approachability.

 

In Nex Mechina though, I think practicing on lower difficulties hurts you in the later ones - habits you pick up aren’t viable on harder settings, and patterns are so different, that you end up having to relearn the levels on the harder settings from scratch.

 

Good input.

 

The base game for Resogun isn't bad at all. The DLC however is a whole nother beast. I'm going to have to practice a lot for Commando Mode, so I'm hoping Nex Machina won't have anything that difficult.