Most Recent Platinum

[rjkclarke 5,048]

Platinum #342

The Wolf Among Us (PS4)

 

 

Full Moon
Earned every Trophy in every episode of The Wolf Among Us.

 

 

The Wolf Among Us – this will be on the shorter side compared to some of my more recent reviews. Don’t all celebrate at once haha. So without further ado, time to delve into the world of Fables, with The Wolf Among Us.

 

Did you say short? Yes, I did. This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy my time with this game – I very much did. A whole lot actually. The thing is Telltale games lives and dies by their story content – and as I’m not really in the business of spoilers, I’m pretty limited by what I can actually discuss. Let us be real here, at least eighty percent of most people’s enjoyment from Telltale games comes from the narrative content. So I’ll leave the – to be fair, admittedly enjoyable task of seeing that, to the dwindling number of people who this game would be new to in 2022. For what it’s worth I think the narrative itself is excellent. So if you do, you’re in for a treat from a story and atmosphere perspective.

 

I feel like I should probably clarify before we get into this, that I have a fairly complicated relationship with Telltale Games. I suppose the upside to this, is that I don’t have any real indifference towards their games. I tend to either really like them – or find them a pretty miserable experience. I genuinely don’t understand how people can do multiple stacks of these games. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a criticism, it’s just not something I could do, sometimes I can barely make my way through one. I have to really be in the right mood for them.  Looking at you Telltale’s Game of Thrones, you take revelling in misery to an entirely new stratosphere.

 

I digress though – time to move this back towards The Wolf Among Us, the thing that we’re all here for. I think more than anything Telltale really thrives when they have strong source material to work from. This is something that more often than not compliments the very specific art-style and animation type that they use. Say what you like about Borderlands as an intellectual property, but you can’t deny how seamlessly Tales from the Borderlands both fits in with the Telltale stable as a whole and also compliments Borderlands own very specific art-style. The same can often be said of the Telltale games that take the form of comic book adaptations.

 

Which leads me nicely onto Fables – the graphic novel series that The Wolf Among Us is an adaptation of. I was aware the game was an adaptation, but not something I was remotely familiar with. To that end I went in with essentially no expectations. Coming out the other side of it, I really feel like I need to see everything that universe has to offer, well done game. In the future I suspect I might be seeing Bigby, Snow White, Beauty and Beast on some pages in front of me in the not so distant future.

 

Chotto matte? (sorry I’ve been playing too much Yakuza lately, just substitute that with “Wait a moment”) did you just say Beauty and Beast? Yes, you heard right, that Beauty and Beast. You know, the Tale as Old as Time, Be My Guest kind. I’m sure you get it now – The Wolf Among Us is littered with familiar fairytale characters. It’s also the game that made me desperately long for a friend I never knew I wanted – Bufkin, come on, you’re seriously telling me you wouldn’t want to have a flying turquoise heavily drinking monkey for a pal? That sounds awesome to me. To paraphrase the words of the late great John Wetton of Prog-Rock band Asia, if you don’t think that about Bufkin then “You’re lying to yourself.”

 

One of the strongest areas of The Wolf Among Us and honestly something I expect is implemented much better in Fables itself is the way in which The Wolf Among Us completely subverts many of the preconceived ideas about the fairytale characters you already have going in, about the characters with which you interact. It’s one of the things I found most compelling about the entire experience, was the anticipation of who you’d see next,  and how the inevitable interesting unexpected take on the new character would end up playing out.

One of my personal favourites was how The Woodsman or Woody to his friends (or long time rivals,) was explored. I thought the way in which they handled some of the back-story for the character, like the real story behind Little Red Riding Hood and why he was actually there at the house, was both pretty hilarious and very interesting in almost equal parts.

 

I think of all the Telltale games that I’ve played up to this point; The Wolf Among Us probably contains the art-style that feels the most at home as both a comic adaptation and as a video game. It is absolutely gorgeous. A little personal bias might be creeping in as I love cel shading, perhaps, but there really is something to be said about how good it can look. The Wolf Among Us is one of the most fitting examples of cel shading done both well, and feeling right for the source material.  From looking at a few panels of Fables panels, it’s also clear to see how much effort went into making the characters look quite close to their comic book counterparts. None more so than protagonist Bigby I’d say.

 

This game really does look and feel like an interactive motion comic, which is an area of the game that I think really shines. Say what you will about the way in which Telltale choose to tell their stories – for my money, I always think it’s a case of “Free will is an illusion,” I usually don’t expect to be able to affect the narrative myself in any real way.  So in Telltales case I usually just make my decisions, make my peace with the fact that they might not matter as much as I want them to and just enjoy the ride. Could it have less QTE’s? Yes, but then I’m really not their biggest fan anyway, and to be fair to The Wolf Among Us by Telltales usual standards at least, is actually very light on action scenes, so even if they aren’t quite your thing, you don’t encounter them too often.

 

Not every single thing hits the mark visually – I don’t know what Toad Junior looks like in the graphic novel. However, the version in The Wolf Among Us made me want to turn my eyes into a paddling pool to be filled with bleach. Okay, okay, maybe not that extreme, but he did creep me out quite a lot, and that definitely wasn’t the intention. Poor guy – he shouldn’t take it personally, I used to be am terrified of E.T so it’s a me thing.

 

On an auditory level The Wolf Among Us is exceptional – on a multitude of levels too. It’s a small thing, but I think the way in which the opening theme of every episode feels exactly like the opening of a television show is such an excellent touch. I love synthesisers anyway – so the use of that in the episode openers was always a treat.

The Wolf Among Us balances the use of ambient and incidental music especially well too. It’s an element that is often done wrong, more often than right in narrative focused gameplay, sometimes the composers don’t know when to tone it down and let the events you’re seeing speak for themselves. In the case of The Wolf Among Us this isn’t a problem that you have to deal with.

Then there is the voice acting – to be perfectly honest I could probably dedicate as much of the length of what I’ve already written to just this element. But I won’t, tempting as it is. It’s excellent for the most part though, there are so many strong voice performances it will take an age to go in depth with all of them – exactly what you need, when the narrative itself is the thing keeping you playing the game. To be perfectly honest the only real criticism I have in this area is that a lot of the British characters are very much the “CORR BLIMEY MARY POPPINS” type of accent that almost none of us actually sound like.

 

Is this the shortest trophy section ever? Maybe, it is at least a little more involved than almost every other Telltale game, with a few exceptions, in that you actually have to do a few alternative paths, and interact with the environment a little bit more. Other than that it is simply a case of playing it and enjoying it as cleanup doesn’t take more than about an hour even if you miss a few things like I did.

 

If you enjoy a good narrative experience in a video game and you haven’t experienced this one yet then I can absolutely recommend this one. Just take it for what it is and see how you find it. Although I can be on occasion fairly critical of Telltale on the whole, I think this is right up there amongst the best things they have ever put out, so I definitely think it is worthy of peoples time

Edited January 8, 2022 by rjkclarke

[RoxasOnFire 628]

Plat 327 The Medium

2/10 difficulty with a collectable guide

I've gotta say,  about halfway through this game I kept saying how much I hated it like every 15 mins. It wouldn't have been so bad were the story interesting. There is one jump scare at the beginning of the game and the rest felt like it wanted to be Silent Hill. The collectables were important for lore but there were so many of them and that's how a majority of the story was told.

[ManicComputer 56]

 

 24

🎮 Path of Exile

⏳ 724 hours (probably more like 500 hours)

📅 5 months, 1 week, 2 days

💟 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛🔲🔲🔲 7/10

 

Last platinum of 2021. Never intended to get the platinum, but I noticed I was close in December and figured why not. Spent majority of time outside of game learning all the systems and using their ridiculous trade system. Very tedious, but when you get a build that works it can be very fun. Was looking for a game I could play in-between other games similar to Diablo III or Dark Souls and it filled that role for a bit. Enjoyed my time getting the platinum, but happy to be done with the game. 

[Starrk_01 2,759]

Plat #202: Zone of Enders: The 2nd Runner HD Edition (PS3)

 

1st platinum of the new year! Much better story wise than the first Zone of Enders. Dingo is just a more likeable character than Leo from the first one. Camera still sucks, but at least you don't have to play hard mode for the S ranked trophy. I was surprised getting S rank was so easy compared to the first Zone of Enders.

[DARKSCORPONOXR 227]

milanoir... not as tough as i thought, but some parts are a bitch...

[johnnyjh 245]

#Platinum Number 134 Castle of no escape 

[Ode2Destruxion 150]

#57

Golden Force

OK, so I'm not the greatest gamer but every Platinum that I've attempted to get so far, I have been able to achieve - even if it has taken me to the edge of madness (I'm looking at you Crash Bandicoot 4). I don't look at trophies until I've completed the game first and enjoyed a normal playthrough.

 

So you can understand my confusion when I completed Golden Force only to look at the trophy list and see that three trophies + the platinum had been achieved by 0.0% of players. I thought it's either incredibly tough or bugged.

 

I trawled the net for hours looking for any clue as to what the answer was but nothing was forthcoming so I started my journey through the trophy list.

 

The requirements were tough but what was worst of all was that the game is so broken and glitchy that you are fighting to workaround the glitches just as much as you are trying to complete the game.

 

You need to complete each world to 100% which includes getting a decent no-hit combo, collecting a certain amount of gold and completing each level in a fast time. These can all be done in separate runs but you need the S rank in each discipline. This was a tough challenge but I worked my way through.

 

The first two worlds had 0.2% player success, which jumped to 0.4% after I achieved them so only one other person had gone before. When I got to World 3 I found there was a level which didn't have enough gold to achieve the S rank, thus making it impossible to 100% the World. This was also the same for two levels in World 4 so I was locked out of the trophies for World 3 and World 4 completion plus all Worlds complete.

 

I was so annoyed that I'd spent so much time going for these and that it was going to be the first platinum I couldn't get, so I set about my mission contacting the devs. I couldn't find any details anyway but I eventually found the publishers on Twitter and they passed on my messages to the devs.

 

I thought the game had been left for dead but a couple of months went by and I noticed there had been an update! I scurried on very excited and found the three offending levels now had more gold and I could achieve an S rank!

 

So I unlock World 3 and 4 trophies and shock/horror the all Worlds trophy doesn't pop - I'm still locked out of the platinum! Back to Twitter and another message to the publishers.

 

Then... 2 weeks later, I see another update! The notes simply say "Quick fix for the last trophy that doesn't unlock". Hallelujah! I load up the game and finally get the Platinum!

 

Although I don't know if my badgering had any affect, I like to think it did. Either way, this Platinum has been a hell of a journey but my persistence has got me there in the end and I'm happy to finally put the game away for good.

[MarcusPunisher 3,028]

Night in the Woods

5.98% - Very Rare

I've played this game before on Steam about a year ago when it came out and I absolutely felt in love with it. Buying it again and platinum it for this special occasion was a no brainer for me then as it also pushed me to discover pretty much everything about this game and in some cases push my limits in some dawning minigames (looking at you guitar rhythm game lol).
Despite the world of Night in the Woods being set in mammal setting like Zootopia, the writing makes these characters come off more human and relatable. It is the journey that we can see our main protagonist dealing with mental issues that are hard to describe and are handled in this game very respectably. It is also the cast of characters that are fleshed out through their own mini stories and depending on with who you hang out with, you can learn more about them. I usually look for potential issues as I believe no story is perfect, but I failed to find any major criticism that is not a nitpick, which can also stems for my personal bias and connection to these characters so keep that in mind. While the story is definitely the front and center of this game, the actual gameplay is not bad either for what it is going. It is a basic platformer where its design looks so simplistic, yet so charming to look at. The gameplay lets you explore the town for other conversation and if you do the work, it feels very rewarding at the end (please, listen to Selma's poems every day lol).

The platinum while looking simple at first glance requires to pay attention to what sketches are being unlocked in the diary, as that one is required for a trophy and not everything is possible to do on your first playthrough. There is also an added game from your laptop that can be difficult for other players when you are going for the true ending and mini game rhythm games that require at least good score, which was definitely difficult for me 😂. This and the fact that there is only one save file so you have to erase that if you potentially miss something requires a lot amount of attention as I mentioned before. If you keep that in mind, you won't have that much trouble going in. 
Overall, this is one game that I really cherish ever since I played it the first time as it spoke to me personally on many levels. Special notion also goes to the music that perfectly captures the atmosphere of a weary Fall where the game is set and I listen to in on many occasions from my playlist. This score and level design was made by Alec Holowka, who sadly passed away from suicide after being abused by a social media backlash. I'm not gonna spend time on that, as the situation still makes me angry to this day, but I am glad that he was able to leave something behind that spoke to many people, cause it sure as hell spoke to me. I will always be grateful to that and celebrate the game in his name. I can't recommend it enough, even if you are not going for the platinum, it is worth experiencing if you are into these types of games. Well, as they would say in this game.....THAT'S A WHOPPAH!!! 

 

[totakos1 340]

 
 

         Platinum #91 

Watch dogs legion- Completionist 

Enjoyment: 8/10 

Difficulty: 3/10 

Hours to platinum: 50

[breakdance1989 864]

PLATINUM #113 - Super Street: The Game:

 

[ZoKu08 2,926]

Battlefield 2042

#264

 

Future Imperfect

Collect all other trophies.

 

3.24%

Ultra Rare

[Marvy_G23 431]

Brilliant Etoile
Congratulations! You collected all trophies.

[voodoo_eyes 14,176]

#579 - Five Dates

 

This one was better than I thought ot would be. Definitely one of the better FMV games out there. The acting might be the best out of all of the ones I've played actually.

THere are still a few things that I didn't quite enjoy though. Some of hte characters, and some contradictions during the conversations.

 

 

Enjoyment: 6.5

Difficulty: 2

[Lightsp33d1987 1,390]

 

[Mizz 937]

plat 4:

black ops 1 

[RoastedPeanut 1,963]

Platinum #177

 

 

Wake from Dream

Collect all trophies

 

So glad I picked this up in the latest sale and it's also my first platinum of 2022. A really, really fun rouge-lite! Sure, compared to some games it was rather barebones and basic, but I still had a blast with it. It took me 25 hours to platinum in the end. As much as I enjoyed it, I won't be continuing with it as it doesn't really offer much in the way of post game content, but the time I put in for that plat was well worth it

[x7251 528]

 #60 - Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

 

 

[Lordguwa 4,273]

platinum #576 Jak 2 (vita)

completed in 3 days and 22 hours

platinum difficulty 5/10 (multiple frustrating sections compared to the ps3/ps4 version). impossible/10 without debug and cheats with the precursor orb

platinum rarity 11.86% rare

 

i had to do a last minute game change. decided to test my vita and complete jak 2 instead of the planned game. looks like i'm going to try and include more vita games onto my profile at times. headed back onto lost grimoires 3 (ps4).

[Nelson_ 5,061]

 #325 - Date A Live Ren Dystopia

 

 

[alexandra-jane09 793]

#64

 Party Complete

 

 

You've Earnt All Trophies

 

First Platinum trophy of 2022 goes to this game, an addictive game for sure but the difficulty spike went up as you progress, particularly with levels 34, 59 and the final Level [ 60 ]where you needed to get combinations of decorations in mirror image formations in batches of 12 x 4 and 14 x 4 respectively for the penultimate and final levels.  Definitely easier for those who are very fast [ even with the Alarm Clock powerup it can be difficult - a very useful power up nonetheless] or if they are doing it co-operatively.  

[MadDoggMajima 94]

Happy 2022! I know I'm somewhat late to say that, mostly because... because... hey look, 4 new platinums!

 

 PLATINUM #17 - Spyro The Dragon (PS4) - Gnasty's Demise

 PLATINUM #18 - Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (PS4) - Ripto's Remorse

 PLATINUM #19 - Spyro 3: Year Of The Dragon (PS4) - Party like it's 2024

 

 

...and with only 1 hour, 27 minutes and 36 seconds having passed after my time zone rang in 2022 comes my first platinum! It's the original Spyro trilogy, and the franchise that put Insomniac Games on the map.

 

THE STORY: 

• SPYRO 1: After being called 'simple' on live television, the dastardly Gnasty Gnorc transforms every dragon in the Land Of Dragons into crystal, with the young Spyro being the only one spared, who now has to free the rest of his species while putting a stop to Gnorc once and for all. Damn, I feel like I'm writing a blurb on the back of a game case. A simple story overall, but I suppose that's to be expected.
• SPYRO 2: Right after the events of the first game, Spyro intends to take some R&R in Dragon Shores, but instead ends up in Avalar, where he has to help The Professor, Hunter and Elora take down Ripto (who Hunter may or may not have accidentally summoned to Avalar in the first place, whoops), who wants to rid the world of dragons.
• SPYRO 3: After the dragons produce a copious amount of eggs, the Sorceress, along with her minion Bianca are stealing them, and Spyro has to go after them. 

 

THE GAMEPLAY: Being a dragon, your main moves as Spyro are the abilities to breathe fire and glide (you later gain the ability to headbutt, swim, climb and more in 2 and 3), and each level is a mostly-linear world for you to explore. Beginning with 2, each world even has its own inhabitants you can talk to and complete quests for, with some amusing cutscenes before and after you complete the level (which weren't in 3 for some reason). The main collectable is gems, in which there are a few hundred of in each level, in addition to the Dragons in 1, the Orbs in 2, and Eggs in 3. While the first game has its crystallized dragons out in the open, 2 and 3 bring in minigames throughout the levels which you can complete for their collectables (ex. skateboarding, hockey, puzzle-solving, minibosses). I honestly don't like these kinds of minigames in platformers, but they weren't too bad (aside from that stupid Twin Dragons boss in 3 - two fast-moving dragons that regenerate health that you have to take down in a single life, took my more tries than I'm willing to admit). There are also flight stages that involve you finding and destroying certain objects within a time limit - they're a fun challenge in 1 and 2 but they were really dumbed down and linear in 3 (Sparx even TELLS you what order to do them in, something you had to figure out for yourself before then!). 3 introduces partner characters that have their own stages, though they are all really clunky to control, especially Sgt. Byrd. 

 

THE GRAPHICS/PERFORMANCE: Toys For Bob did a fantastic job on these remakes, as they're incredibly expressive and colorful, especially when it comes to the in-game cinematics. I am a bit disappointed this never received a patch for 60FPS, I had to turn motion blur on because without it the game felt really choppy.

 

THE TROPHIES: Getting the platinum for the first two games basically requires you to 100% them along with a few specific things in some levels, but not the 3rd game, oddly enough, as that game's trophies only require you to complete certain objectives. I know the 3 remake had a different dev team (Sanzaru Games), so I suppose that's the reason why.

 

MY SCORE: I'd give the Reignited Trilogy a 7/10! A well-made reimagining of a trilogy of PS1 classics that were fun to revisit. By the way, if I were to rank the trilogy from best to worst - 2, 1, 3. Not to say 3 was bad, I didn't like the level design as much and the partners were a bit annoying.

 

 

Same, Agent 9, same.

 

 

 

 PLATINUM #20 - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5) - Be Yourself

 

THE STORY: I'm going to go on a spoiler-tangent for this, so if you haven't played this game yet, ignore your temptations for more words to read and don't click the box!

 

Spoiler

The second game of Insomniac's Spider-Man series is a story that follows Miles Morales as he comes to terms with becoming the next Spider-Man. With Peter off on vacation during the Christmas break, Miles is put in charge of New York superhero duties, until the totally-not-evil energy company Roxxon moves into Harlem (along with their boss Simon Krieger who looks like the lovechild of Geoff Keighley and Simon Cowell) with the promise of a totally-not-unsafe-for-human-exposure resource called Nuform. The Underground, along with the leader 'The Tinkerer' plan to blow up Roxxon's plaza and their Nuform reactor as a middle finger. Miles finds out that the Tinkerer is actually his friend Phin, who is getting back at Roxxon because they had killed her brother. Oh yeah, and Mile's uncle is the infamous thief known as The Prowler. Small world, huh? Miles has to convince Phin that what she's doing is wrong, and will end up destroying all of Harlem in the process, and the game ends with Phin sacrificing herself to save Miles after Roxxon Plaza is destroyed and he gets absolutely wrecked on Nuform.

 

The moral of the story? Never trust an energy company whose name ends with '-on' and has their own private military. Merry Christmas! 

 

Obviously the story isn't as strong as the first game, but it has its moments. 

 

THE GAMEPLAY: To quote every game critic in 2018 - it makes you feel like a Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The controls while slinging and swinging around New York feel as smooth as ever, and the combat expands on the first game with 'Venom', which allows Miles to unleash powerful, energy-fueled attacks, and they're fun to pull off. Of course, you have your collectables scattered throughout the city, including Underground Crates, music samples you can capture to create your uncle's mixtape, time capsules, and postcards left by your father that end in a pretty bittersweet message. You also have your unlockable suits and gadgets, including

Spoiler

an outfit based off the excellent Into The Spider-Verse, which includes a modification that changes your animations to have a limited frame rate to match said movie, and it looks really cool!

 

 

THE GRAPHICS/PERFORMANCE: Even if this is a cross-gen title, it looks damn good on PS5 - I'd recommend the performance RT mode which enables some graphical enhancements while retaining a smooth 60FPS. 

 

THE TROPHIES: A fairly quick platinum, all things considered. The game is real short in comparison to the first game, so completing it twice for the New Game+ trophy wasn't an issue, and finding the collectables throughout the map was fun. 

 

MY SCORE: A great game to tide us Spidey-Fans over for Spider-Man 2 next year, although it's short length was a real issue - the game felt like it ended before it even got started IMO. So if you've noticed I've been on an Insomniac Games streak, and I'm continuing it with a game I said I would play this year - and you'll never guess what it is- yeah it's Rift Apart. Miles Morales gets a 7.5/10!

 

[percy547389126yv 5,655]

#1,046 Vita version of Kissato

[xGabren 49]

           #6 Naruto Storm 4

    

  With this, I finally finished the Storm Saga. It was, hands down, the best anime franchise I've ever played. The games had awesome boss battles, top tier soundtracks, good animations and an enjoyable battle system. 

      Naruto Storm franchise : 9.5/10

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by Saintbr360

[Lordguwa 4,273]

platinum #577 Lost Grimoires 3: The Forgotten Well

completed in 4 hours and 15 minutes

platinum rarity 87.43% common

 

going to cook some pizza. then begin Birthday Of Midnight (ps4). thinking about the 5th short game will be a vita game again.

[RicosTrophyHunt 644]

 #74 Masters of the Multiverse - Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart

 

 

Very fun game as expected as all the R&C games usually are great. A bit short which was a bit annoying but hey ho!

Edited January 11, 2022 by RicosTrophyHunt