Most Recent Platinum

[Lordguwa]

platinum #579 Awesome Pea (vita)

completed in 10 hours and 40 minutes

platinum rarity 67.68% common

 

next game will be marvel's Avengers (ps4). game was previously chosen several times before being changed to something else. 

Edited January 10, 2022 by Lordguwa

[sealightbreeze]

[voodoo_eyes]

#580 - Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassin

 

 

This was better than I expected, evn though it's quite simplistic. Would've enjoyed it more, if it was less sci-fi oriented and more mystery cue searching stuff.

 

Enjoyment: 7

Difficulty: 2.5

[IesuHado]

Platinum #178 

Warriors All Stars

Platinum Star
Collected all trophies.

Enjoyment: 10/10 

Difficulty: 3/10  (Personal Opinion)

Would I recommend it?: YES! (only if you like the genre and in this case Koei Tecmo franchises) 

 

Heya all! It´s been a while but recently I been playing other stuff and not in the mood of getting plats since I´m not a completionist at all (sorry not sorry haha). Today I bring you my last plat and 100% for now comming for the game: Warriors All Stars...... Yes the guys behind Samurai and Dinasty Warriors.

 

Gotta say this type of games is not for everyone, you must like the genre and characters to go for this one cause if not them my friend this will be really boring and repetitive for you. The gameplay is the same as the recently warriors games, only two atacks and the super atack + the rush atack. Every character have his own charisma and weapon from the series they are original from.

 

The maps are really bland but they are inspired in the franchises of the characters so you will be happy to see some easter eggs. Story is pretty generic save the world stuff with a lot of endings and routes to choose. Music is pretty good for the game it suits and languaje is in nihongo ?? and thats how it have to be cause is perfect lol.

 

Trophy list is easy honestly the only thing is that you will have to repeat a lot of the same stuff and that can be the game breaker for people who doesn´t like the game but want to do the 100%. Honestly it took me time casue work and real life stuff but this one can be as fast as you can spend the hours and mark the battles you do so you can know which ones to do next.

 

Thanks for reading all I hope to see you all soon!! ?

 

 

 

[Viper]

 #262

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai HD Collection 

The Ultimate Warrior

 

Ask any Dragon Ball fan what their favorite DBZ game is...and you're likely going to get one of two answers. Tenkiachi....or Budokai. I've always been the former...Tenkiachi 3 remains one of, if not my favorite fighting game of all time. I had played this a bit in the past, I was living with friends back in 2006 and they played the hell out of Budokai 3. But once Tenkaichi 2 came out that became my franchise (Tenkaichi 1 wasn't very good). 

 

So I decided to play Budokai 3 on my PS2 again to put some actual time into it, see if my opinion would change or not. Obviously the big thing working against it would be lack of nostalgia and no one else to play it with. But then I remembered this collection and figured...might as well get trophies for it!

 

So since I was already playing Budokai 3 when I ordered this, I started with that on this collection, then went back to Budokai 1. With Budokai 2 being famously missing from this collection for some reason. Budokai 1....I did not like, at all. I beat the entire game just today and it definitely suffers from "great idea in a first game that's massively improved in it's sequels". The fighting mechanics would feel familiar if you played B3 first, but less refined and most characters have very similar moves that are just named something different. And I found combos just really difficult to pull off for what should be very simple button combinations, the AI is programmed to block the whole time, so you can never just enjoy the battle. 99% of the game is super easy though....it's the mind numbingly horrible Advanced World Tournament that raised my blood pressure through the roof. In this mode the AI is only programmed for two things....blocking everything and knocking you out of the ring. Even using the Kid Gohan exploit you find online, and using the 30 second clock exploit it took me more time here (which was my last trophy) then playing all of story mode. Speaking of story mode, I know it's a PS2 game...but man are the graphics jarringly bad, MUCH improved in the sequels. And the cut scenes are pretty bare bone (though fully voice acted) a lot of the energy attacks just look wrong (Kamehameha being yellow for example) and are poorly animated...you can't even barely see auras around the characters. 

Budokai 3 on the other hand was a massive improvement and an all around solid game that still holds up today. However, the World Tournaments are still a pain because, in this game, the AI is programmed for one thing and one thing only....FUCKING DRAGON RUSH! For those that don't know, Dragon Rush is a mini-cut scene during battle you can't escape from where, you have to press one of the face buttons in a rock, paper, scissors like mini game...if you choose the same button as the AI, you win the defense. If not, and choose wrong 3 times in a row...it causes massive damage and wastes a lot of time...and the AI will do this constantly, and because its the computer they can make the button press what ever they want anyways! It becomes mind numbingly repetitive after awhile. And a major thing that brings this game down below Tenkaichi 3 for me...is while it is solid and a lot of fun, the combat gets repetitive, you see everything pretty quick, Tenkaichi 2 and 3 always felt like I was getting a fresh and intuitive battle, where I have to model my strategy after what my opponent is doing.  Budokai is definitely a game made to play with friends to get that same level of randomness only a human player can give you. Dragon Universe was also more fun here, though mostly told through static text based images. But flying around an open map (which is very small by todays standards) was a lot of fun. 

 

Overall, I have more respect for B3 now. But Tenkaichi 3 is still my go to.

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by Viper

[Phlegeth]

#57

Giganto!!!
Collect all the trophies

 

This was a cute little platformer.  It's a kid's game so it was a tad on the easy side.  The "hardest" part were the bees in the second map.  And the whole goal of collecting eggs could've been better.  You have to grab an egg and then march it back to the start of the map.  Really annoying in the glacier where you have to climb a mountain while avoiding slipping on the ice.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Makai_Sleuth

[reaperveteran86]

Platinum #240:

More Dark (EU)

Platinum Demon - 96,93%

Your typical easy Ratalaika platinum. This time in the form of an one screen puzzle Jump n Run.

 

Platinum #241:

Root Film (EU)

Root Film Master - 70,51%

Mystery VN about a film crew that gets involved in murder cases. It has some nice twists, but some of the murder motives were a bit dumb/far-fetched in my opinion.

 

Platinum #242 (and 100%):

The Messenger (EU)

I am The Messenger - 36,39%

Fun throwback to 8 and 16 Bit Action Jump n Runs like Ninja Gaiden. Whoever desinged the power seal and vodoo mask challenges owes me a new wrist.

[BlinkWinkel]

(post deleted)

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by BlinkWinkel

[DrBloodmoney]

  486

 623

 

 

Access Denied

 

Access Denied, by Stately Snail Games is a bit of a conundrum for me, as it is a pretty disappointing game, but in a genre I like a lot, and which is, as far as I can tell, rather underserved on Playstation consoles.

A narrative-free, semi-abstracted puzzle-box game, the player is presented, without context, with a series of elaborate looking 3D puzzle-box contraptions they have to solve, in order to move onto the next one. No instructions are given, and little help is given via UI, and so tinkering with the contraptions and investigating them is the key to solving them, with the player having to experiment, see what different inputs do, and establish how to complete each one. 

 

Visually, Access Denied is extremely simple, with each device simply sitting on a desk workstation in some kind of cluttered Engineering Laboratory, and, to give the game some credit, while there is little in the way of variety, (and, it must be said,  a general blandness across the board,) the backdrop is fine, level change animations are okay, and the actual contraptions look pretty good. 
Since solving them requires spinning them around and investigating each device from all angles, and since each one is unique, there is a level of detail that works well enough for specific, contextual clues to be hidden in plain sight, and the textures and models are adequate to the task - though never more than that.

 

The Puzzle Box genre is, as I say, usually a pretty simple one visually - the nature of the genre virtually necessitates it - however, while that does excuse the basic visuals of Access Denied to a point, it doesn't really excuse the lack of personality or the overall blandness. Games like the excellent iOS franchise The Room, (or, indeed, VR Puzzle box game Statik - reviewed next!) prove - there is considerable room to excel visually, and to inject a distinct personality, even within that minimalist genre. Access Denied never does, nor seems to ever really attempt to. 

 

Audio is pretty poor across the game. The music is pretty rote, and oddly ill-fitting - it feels like it is conveying a timed element and sense of high tension that simply isn't present in the actual puzzles. There is no voice work to speak of, and while the foley work and indication sounds that emanate from the contraptions when certain actions are taken are fine and get the job done, they are never stand-out or particularly interesting.

 

The real fundamental issues with Access Denied, however, are not visual or auditory - they are mechanical.

 

Firstly, in terms of controls. The game just never feels quite right. The contraptions are spun, but only on a rotational X-Y plane, and the isometric view on them means this feels a little clunky. With no way to rotate on the Z-axis, it feels like the player never quite gets the a wholistic view on the device being investigated. Interface with the boxes is via a hovering mouse control, and while this is really the only viable method for this game on console, I never once felt like the control scheme really worked. Several times, I hit switches and thought they had no effect, as it turned out the cursor wasn't quite aligning perfectly with the input. 
I've said this before, but it's worth reiterating: more than any other genre, Puzzle Game controls MUST be above reproach! Puzzle games are the one genre where the player MUST be confident in thier inputs, as nothing sours people on a puzzle game faster than trying something, having it not work, discounting it as a solution, only to discover much later it was the correct solution, but the controls simply failed to have it register. 

All the time spent playing Access Denied, I felt like it would be much, much better suited to the touchscreen interface of an iPad. (Full Disclosure - I played Access Denied on a PS5. I am not sure if the Vita version uses the touch screen. If it does, that would likely solve this issue!) 

 

Luckily, however, the control problem didn't last long. It is fairly quickly alleviated, by the game's much larger issue...
... it is incredibly short and incredibly simple. 

The puzzles in Access Denied are just not challenging. I am rarely the person to call out a game for being "too easy" - I generally find such complaints tiresome and not a little braggadocios on the part of the complainer - however, in a Puzzle Box game, being 'stuck' is the entire point. The genre is predicated on (and incumbent upon) giving the player "eureka moments" as they finally see the solution to a section that has been hidden in plain sight... 
...and that is not possible if there is no struggle whatsoever. 

 

The game also stumbles in this regard, by having no real difficulty curve. There doesn't seem to be much of a ramp in difficulty as the game progresses. Beyond the first few very rudimentary levels, all levels feel similar in challenge - Box 4 or box 5 do not feel particularly easier than boxes 19 or 20.
This issue is - it should be stated - partly down to the genre itself. Because the nature of Puzzle Box games requires that each box is different, there cannot be the compounding effect that narrative puzzle games use to give a consistent difficulty ramp. In a puzzle box game, the player's journey will be staccato - they progress in bursts, with the player being 'blocked' periodically, as they find something they just can't figure out - but generally, these should happen fairly frequently, and more towards the end. In Access Denied, they almost never happen, and the occasions they do, they seem entirely random... almost as if the actual numbering of the box levels has simply been randomly assigned, rather than someone actively attempting to put more complex boxes towards the end and simpler ones towards the start.

 

Overall, Access Denied was a pretty disappointing experience. The puzzles are too easy, and not particularly enjoyable or intuitive to control. The game looks okay at best - think Artifex Mundi, but without the variety or imagination. The sound is pretty basic, and while I am not necessarily looking for long or complex narrative in a Puzzle Box game, the sheer lack of context in Access Denied is jarring, even within that genre. 

If anything, Access Denied serves as evidence of the reason the Puzzle Box genre is underserved on consoles - part of the fun of the genre is the feel of tinkering and toying with a mysterious physical object - and without a touch-screen or similarly tactile input, that becomes difficult to replicate.

If only there were a game in this genre that used the PSVR...

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

 

[DrBloodmoney]

  488

 625

 

 

Shady Part of Me

 

A narrative Puzzle Platformer and first game from 7-person French developer Douze Dixièmes, Shady Part of Me keeps the dial firmly on the 'puzzle' end of the puzzle-platform spectrum, taking a single core mechanic - the duality of the central character, and the ability to independently control both her, and her shadow - and wraps it in a loosely allegorical narrative about the duality of the principal characters personality.

 

The girl in question begins the game in some kind of mental health facility, from which she wants to escape, and her shadow takes the role of primary confidante and imaginary friend - both encouraging and soothing the girl. Throughout the game, however, the relationship between the two morphs and changes, with each side of the girl coming to represent different aspects of her personality - the real-self and the 'shady-part-of her', with both seeming somewhat beholden, yet resentful of the other in different situations.
It's a dichotomy that works generally, and the slightly vague elements of the overall narrative do help this split to function as the game's central mystery and point of intrigue. Because we know little of the world in which the girl inhabits - less even than she seems consciously aware - much of the relationship the girl has to the world around her is conveyed to the player via the changing nature of her interactions with her shadow. 
That narrative device is quite interesting, and does help to keep what is a fairly simply story interesting throughout the length of the game. While the story is left open to some level of interpretation, the emotional elements are clear and well defined - not least by the good vocal work of both the girl, and her shadow - both voiced by Hannah Murray (most famous, probably, as Gilly in Game of Thrones.)

 

Mechanically, the game is playing with concepts that have been approached by other games - the idea of puzzles requiring control of two characters have been done before, (Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons being a good example) and the idea of light in a 3D realm creating barriers / platforms for a shadow character in a 2D one has been approached too - most notably in early PS4 indie game Contrast - however, Shady Part of Me does manage to take these elements and stamp them with its own distinct personality and style. Unlike something like Contrast, Shady Part of Me is not an open world, but very much a level-based progression, with the game breaking down into discrete, individual puzzles. While these do flow seamlessly from one to the next in a playthrough, it allows individual puzzles to be returned to from a menu, and be treated as whole and distinct.

 

The puzzles are generally pretty good, and follow a smart design. The girl herself moves within a semi-3D environment (think Little Nightmares' diorama world,) and is able to move in the Z-Axis to some extent, while the Shadow is confined to the 2D-plane that the girl can create by the moving of object etc.  The flow of the game follow a well worn format, in the sense that simply solving them for progress is often clever, but never outrageously taxing, but some collectibles scattered throughout the game, (in this case, origami birds, which can exist in either the 'real' world or the shadow one,) require some more difficult or less intuitive solutions to find, and to collect.

 

Aesthetically, the game looks good - there is a sketchbook, pencil-drawn quality to the 3D world, and an almost sepia-tones colour-palette that looks really quite charming in spots, but is only ever a creepy noise or a moving shadow away from eerie or frightening. The shadow elements are, of course, silhouette, but nicely animated, and the game does a good job of giving subtle clues as to solutions using non-critical objects in the environment and their shadows, giving a 'key' through which the player can assess the different light-sources in a given area, helping to work out a method for solving the trickier puzzles.  

 

Audio is pretty good - as said, voice work is well done, and it is the highlight of the audioscape, though that is not to say the score is lacking. While not overly stand-out or memorable, the music does a good job setting tone throughout the narrative, and creaks and audio stings do a good job too - these are sparingly used, and so when they are made use of - either for scares, puzzle clues or simple flavour - they work effectively.

 

Shady Part of Me is a very effective and satisfyingly well constructed set of puzzles, with interesting and well thought out mechanics, a clean, well established set of rules and controls, a nice visual style and narrative, and a good flow of difficulty from beginning to end.
The game is not likely to truly tax puzzle-savvy players, but nor is it a walk in the park, and does get pretty tricky towards the end. Some of the bespoke solutions required to find all collectibles can be quite clever and occasionally difficult, and the level-select feature and good collectible tracking make finding these a joy, rather than a chore. 

This was the first game from Douze Dixièmes, and shows some good chops - I'll be looking out for whatever they do next, and for a first game, I can think of no more ringing an endorsement!

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

 

[DrBloodmoney]

  489

 626

 

 

Carrion

A Pixel-art Metroidvania-lite from Phobia Game Studio, Carrion is a game that flips the Sci-Fi "experiment-gone-wrong" genre on it's head... by having the player take on the role of the experiment itself! 

 

Escaping containment in an underground facility owned by the fictional 'Relith Science' the player controls an amorphous entity akin to The Blob, as they move around the facility areas, smashing doors, squeezing through vents and ducting, takes over areas with its rampantly expanding mass and slaughtering the facility workers as it runs amok. The goal is to collect splices of the creature's own DNA, removed for study in various research stations, allowing it to gain mass and power, and opening up new methods of exfiltration and attack as it gains strength, with a view to eventual escape from the labs themselves.

 

Narratively, Carrion is pretty slight, though it does provide some. Occasional sections of the game allow flashbacks, wherein the player is shown the origins of the creature's confinement - it's discovery, its original host, and the steps Relith took to originally contain it - and these (un-narrated) sections do provide enough insight to give some context to the game. However, the real draw here is not in fine nuance, but in wanton chaos. 

 

The movement of the creature within the facility is interesting - as the creature can move swiftly across any surface - wall, floor or ceiling - the effect is to make the flat-frames 2D facility feel more like a top-down, any-directional floor map. The facility is designed to make sense as a 3D side-view (the flashback sections, wherein the player controls a human form prove this well,) however, for the majority of the game, gravity is barely a factor.
The creatures movement is something of a double-edged sword, in the sense that while it looks great in motion, (and it does, with tendrils and tentacles firing out to grip ledges and ceilings that look both physically possible and gross as hell!) and moves around with an uncanny speed and frightful force, the actual fine-control is somewhat lost. The player is able to control an extendable knot of tentacles with the right stick, which can be used to grab scientists or doors or operate switches etc. however, this more specific control is pretty finicky to master, and can really get frustrating - particularly towards the latter half of the game, where enemies are more powerful, and where more fine control is required for the operation of levels and specific buttons to progress. (It's worth noting that this game was originally a PC release, and I would imagine mouse control is far more suited to it. Controlling this tendril with the analogue stick is adequate for direction, but gauging and controlling differences in distance is difficult with the small swing of an analogue stick.)

 

The game functions, as said, as a Metroidvania of sorts, with the whole map being interlinked, and areas gated by the acquisition of new powers, however, that is not to say the game is non-linear. In fact, there is a very specific and set 'path' through the game, with little allowance for variations in which area to progress to, and so this element is a little lost. Because the whole map feels open, but each power only allows access to one new area at a time, and because areas do have fairly similar aesthetics, the result is that the game doesn't seem so much 'open' as it does 'confusing'. 
Early in the game, I found myself quite often going along a path for quite a while, before realising I was heading back in a direction I had already been. Because there isn't really much in the way of side content, or reasons to backtrack, this feels a little unnecessary - I can't help but feel the game might have done well to simply close off previous areas until the very end of the game, where there is (finally) a reason to go back to each previous level for a narrative reason.

 

The game looks pretty great - the pixel art is not outstanding, but is nice - akin to something like Lone Survivor or Claire - however, the creature movement looks so rad and the game moves at such speed that it really elevates the experience. This, unfortunately, does lose some of its impact in the back half of the game though, where the difficulty ramps up, and the chaotic, uncanny movement of the creature must be slowed down, and areas approached much more carefully to avoid death at the hands of the more powerful human enemies.

 

This is actually something worth noting with regards to virtually all fronts of the game - it is better in the first half than the second. Bumbling and sliming your way around the facility is tremendous fun when you feel like an overpowered creature wreaking havoc and vengeance - a pixel-art game equivalent of old 50s Sci-Fi B-Movies - however, in the second half, where the puzzle elements become more prevalent, the enemies become more powerful and the layout more complicated, the fun seeps away, and the control issues move to the forefront. 
There is a narrative aspect in which this becomes incongruous - playing as the creature loses some of its impact when a single human with a gun can wipe you out in a few seconds. Mechanically, it becomes tiresome quite quickly, when you are forced to repeat an area several times, simply because the game is asking a speed and accuracy of you that is not easy to achieve with the analogue stick controls. It's hard to feel the cool aspects of the early game - where you feel like an overpowered, destructive force - when you are forced to hide in a duct, and only slip out to 'stealth' around, picking dangerous humans off one by one. There is, I'd imagine, a way to do this really effectively (let's face it, the Arkham games do this under-powered-but-overlording mechanic routinely with their 'Predator' sections,) however, in Carrion, the poor controls make it never much fun, and generally a burden.

 

Sound-wise, the game is pretty good - there are some great, disgusting 'crunches' when humans are thrown around, (or eaten!) and gun shots and general foley sound pretty good. Music is mostly dark, ominous tones, but relatively effective, if never stand-out. 

 

Overall, Carrion is an interesting one - a great, and pretty original premise, which is tremendous fun as a chaos-sand-box in the early game, but who's controls and gameplay layout do hamper the game in the latter half. 
The puzzle and metroidvania trappings are fine, but are little more than that - trappings - and actually, the Metroidvania powers element doesn't really function as intended, as it is somewhat backwards. Really, the game would work a lot better if it was difficult in the early game, but as powers are gained, the player feels more powerful and more able to deal with the challenges the game throws at them, but in Carrion the opposite is true. In the early game, the challenge is so slight that the player gets to feel all-powerful, but as the challenge ramps up, the powers the player gains do not keep pace, and so by the time the player finishes the game, they feel far less powerful than they did at the start - a mechanical flaw that works in direct opposition to the narrative.

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

 

[DrBloodmoney]

  490

 627

 

 

Hoa

 

Hoa, from Skrollcat Studio is a hand-animated indie Puzzle Platformer, in which the player takes the role of the eponymous Hoa - a young member of a faerie tribe empowered to be curators and tenders of the natural world - who returns to her home after having been smuggled away during a time of upheaval and tragedy, and sets about restoring beauty and harmony to the world around her.

She does so, via simple platforming and light puzzle-mechanics, traversing each level to first discover a creature or guardian (who generally recall the past that Hoa herself does not, and the events that precipitated her hasty and secretive departure, filling in the backstory to the narrative to the player,) then collecting various shining orbs. These orbs, when delivered to the level guardian will enliven the area, grant Hoa a new ability, and open the pathway to the next area.

 

Visually, Hoa is - quite literally - one of the most stunningly beautiful games I have ever seen.

Rendered in a hand-animated, Studio Ghibli-inspired art-style, the game looks utterly gorgeous. The natural environments and backgrounds are sumptuous and beautiful, and character designs - from Hoa herself, to the beetles and birds and insects she encounters, to the robotic creatures and the giant stone statues she meets - are uniformly imaginative, impressive and genuinely delightful. 
While stylistically, there are other games which have aped the best of Studio Ghibli - most notably, of course, the Ni No Kuni games, which are directly tied to it - but nods also go to SpiritFarer, Forgotten Anne or even Breath of the Wild - I don't believe any have ever managed to capture the essence of the best of Ghibli with quite the deft artistic touch that Hoa does. The entire game has the feel of the latter half of (personal Ghibli favourite) Castle in the Sky, and manages to imbue even the more mechanical or unnatural forms with an organic, flowing majesty and haunting, ethereal sadness. 

This is a game in which a single screenshot - taken at literally any point during a playthrough - looks like a work of art. Take a screenshot anywhere and frame it, and I'd be happy to hang it on my wall! (Note - I played the PS4 version of the game, having accidentally purchased that version rather than the PS5 one, and the game still took my breath away. I can only imagine what a native 4K version would look like!)

 

Audio follows the path tilled by the visuals - there is no spoken dialogue in the game, but the music is soaring, triumphant and beautiful - a classical-style soundtrack befitting the best of Ghibli's animated classics. There is an occasional issue with the contextual cues the music takes - the swell and timbre of the score is tied to specific actions and locations in the game, and rises triumphantly as Hoa, for example, moves upwards in a level. Quickly turning around and going back - or falling - can occasionally trip it up, resulting in a hard cut from loud and majestic to relative quiet, however, this is a small price to pay for a score that - when it works - feels especially perfect from moment to moment as the player traverses the short game...

 

..."the short game," I did say.
That brings us to the single, major downside to Hoa, however - its length. 
Hoa is, unequivocally, a fantastic artistic experience, however, it is very, very short, and very, VERY simple. There are games out there where similar issues have been present - Gris is one that quickly comes to mind, where the artistic vision and the audio are transcendent, but the gameplay lacks challenge or length - however, even in that company, Hoa stands out as being acutely, noticeably thin on the mechanical side.

 

There are 6 main levels in the game - each gorgeous and a wonder to explore - but that exploration takes very little time. In the first 3 or 4, in fact, there is so little actual challenge or gameplay, that Hoa genuinely struggles to feel like a puzzle platformer - it is closer in nature, in fact, to a Walking Sim. Now, I am a fan of Walking Sims, and this is not a deal-breaker for me - however, Walking Sims generally have some tension, omnipresent threat or true mystery involved narratively in order to keep the proceedings feeling propelled. In Hoa, the narrative is only explained in small vignettes, and in pieces, and so it is not until late in the game that the player is even aware of the 'threat' element in the narrative. For the first half, really, the visuals and music have to be as good as they are - since they are really the only driving force behind the game.

By the time the player reaches the final few levels of the game, it does begin to introduce a level of mechanical complexity and challenge that one might associate with the very early levels of a relatively easy Puzzle Platformer, but this is really the apex of challenge Hoa ever reaches - indeed, when the game ended, while I was very happy with the narrative hooks, and the visuals and audio had been beyond reproach, I had the feeling that the mechanical gameplay elements were only just beginning to flourish.

That is a shame - particularly in light of what the final level of the game is. That final level is really quite fascinating, and does some simple, but very effective toying with the player inputs that show, without question, that Skrollcat have some excellent ideas in the Puzzle Platforming arena - Hoa just isn't long enough or challenging enough to really showcase them. 
The game is an art-piece, and proves their considerable talents there, but the final level easily confirms they have what it takes in the gameplay side too - they just need a longer, meatier game to put those chops to use!

I mentioned before that I had accidentally purchased the PS4 version of the game, rather than the PS5 version. For a game of this level of artistic mastery, I would normally feel okay with then re-purchasing the better version, and replaying, however, with Hoa I haven't. That is simply because, as gorgeous as it was, I have difficulty justifying the additional purchase, given just how short and simple the actual game is - and that does speak to something. Gris, for example, I would pick up a PS5 up-scaled version of and replay in a heartbeat, despite the relative ease. With Hoa, that purchase becomes harder to justify due to length.

 

Overall, Hoa is a game that is incredibly easy to recommend - the art along is well worth the price of admission, and the music more than supports it - however, it does have to come with the relative caveat, that a player - of any skill level really - is very unlikely to get much more than 4 or 5 hours out of it... and they will have plenty of brain-space available to appreciate the art, as they won't need to tax it much to progress through the levels.

 

In the end, it is really down to the player to ask "am I in this thing for the challenge, or for the beauty of it?" 
If you can accept a game that is ONLY the latter, then this is the one - I'd wager that, in that regard, Hoa stands without equal! 

 

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

[EAFC_Rico]

 #75 - Theme Park Simulator

 

 

Difficulty - 0/10

Enjoyment 0/10

 

My bad here. Didn't read into the game or trophy list. Was expecting a game where I can build my own theme park and run it as I would like. I was VERY VERY wrong. The less said about this game the better.

 

 #76 - The King of the North Pole - Santa's Workshop (PS4)

 

 

Difficulty 0/10

Enjoyment 5/10

 

A little fun one. Already had the PS5 platinum and just realised there was a separate PS4 list so I thought I may as well get that done too. 

Edited January 11, 2022 by RicosTrophyHunt

[X_Wizi_X]

#181 Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (PsVita)

 

 

Master Thief
Unlock all trophies for Sly Cooper's final outing. . . final? Really?

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by X_Wizi_X

[SirDave1988]

 # 128 + 100%

 

LEGO Batman 3 : Beyond Gotham (PS4)

 

 

World's Finest
Collect all of the Trophies

 

aka LEGO Collectables : The Musical

 

First plat of 2022!

 

Like all the other LEGO games I've played prior to this, it is reliably entertaining for the most part, but man, so many collectables, almost to a fault. I suppose though that you definitely get your money's worth with the amount of content in it.

 

I definitely enjoyed the amount of work that went into this LEGO title though, with great voice acting, tons of officially licenced music and good graphics for the most part. Bit burnt out though, was planning on doing 2 more LEGO titles this year, but I think I'll give it a break for a bit haha.

 

Difficulty - 4/10

Rating - 5/10

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by SirDave1988

[Ozetkiller]

#758

 

 

DIRT LEGEND
Collect all other Trophies

[DoctorDrPepper]

Platinum #1000

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Living Legend

 

That's a milestone right there.

[Slava]

#17 - MIRROR'S EDGE

 

Over the Edge 

 

Do you have games that you love but wouldn't rate higher than 8/10? Mirror's Edge is that game for me, and it pains me to say that I actually enjoyed it a little less than I did 10+ years ago when I first played it on PC. I can see the flaws more clearly now. But let's start with the best part.

 

The core gameplay mechanics of Mirror's Edge are what makes this game great. How many first-person parkour games are there now? How many were there in 2008? The game definitely stands out among other first-person titles. You play as Faith, a runner who boasts an impressive moveset. You run, jump, slide and perform other trickier moves on the way to your goal. Each level is like an obstacle course where 95% of objects are interactable. The walls are like a second road - you can climb them, do a wallrun, or even a walljump. There are also fences to jump over, poles to grab and swing from, pipes to slide under, and other stuff. The controls are pretty simple. Once you learn to chain the moves and keep your momentum, the game becomes super enjoyable and exciting. Sometimes you encounter objects Faith doesn't always react to even if you do everything right and look directly at them (the direction of you camera does matter), or ledges she won't climb because her pinky is touching a railing, or geometry you get stuck in, but these places are few and far between.

 

These environmental obstacles are not the only thing that stands in your way. The cops don't like you and will try to stop you by shooting you in the face. You have a few ways to deal with them: avoid and run, neutralise them in close-quarters combat, or take their guns and shoot back. In most cases you'll be safe if you just run past and disappear behind the next corner. But some parts of the levels don't let you escape quickly. You'll have to climb a long ladder or a pipe, or wait for an elevator to arrive (which is one of the places used by the game to hide loading screens). That's where the flow falls apart and you must stop and take action, otherwise the machine gun wielding enemies will shred you in 2 seconds. After a couple of those fights you'll realize that the combat doesn't work too well.

 

Jumping on top of an enemy from above and doing a wallrun kick are the quick and efficient ways to deal with the enemy, but you don't always get an opportunity to perform these moves. Doing a gun grab is a timing mini-game (or rather a micro-game) which is risky because you'll be screwed if you mistime it. You can always press the slo-mo button to increase your chances, although you'll remain vulnerable to other enemies during the 2 seconds of the animation. You don't get any invincibility frames. By the end of the second playthrough (the first one was non-violent), my tactic of choice was to single out one guy, steal his gun, shoot the next one, grab his gun, repeat until I was safe enough to continue.

 

The game has a more serious flaw in my opinion, and it's the story. I did not care about what happened in it.

 

Mirror's Edge is set in a big city. Its shiny highrises are the place of an opressive regime, its sprawling street are under total surveillance. Citizens have traded their personal rights (some unwillingly) for technological comfort and almost non-existant levels of crime. The only people who dare break the law are called "runners". They help deliver sensitive information to people rooting for change. It's a great setting.

 

Two things happen in the beginning of the game: Faith suddenly gets hunted by cops who become much more active in the city, then Kate, Faith sister, who's also a cop, gets framed for a murder of a Mayor candidate. You start the search for people who killed him, meet a few characters, and uncover the truth. As I've said above, I didn't care about any of that. Kate appears for 2 minutes, which is also the first time Faith spoke to her in years. Other than the blood relation, the plot doesn't provide you with a reason to care about her. The man running for mayor is even worse. First time you see him he's already dead. He was briefly described as a person who was about to bring some positive change with his political program. That's it. The "big reveals" that follow these events didn't do anything for me either. "So you were a bad guy all along? Wait, who were you, again? Ah, right. Another person who had 2 minutes of screen time". By the end of the story I only connected with two characters: Faith nad Merc, Faith's mentor. Faith is the main character, she obviosly has the biggest amont of screen time, while Merc always gives you directions over the radio, supports you, guides you in every sense of the word, does everything to keep you alive.

 

I played through the story years ago, and didn't remember much. Now I know why - there's nothing really to remember other than a couple of plot twists. Even the ending is a bit anticlimactic. It feels like there was a room left for a sequel that never happened. In the end, the gameplay was what kept me moving forward both times, not the next plot point.

 

The voice acting is not great either. Faith's VA did a good job, Merc's too. Celeste, on the other hand, was pretty bad. She didn't sound like a runner, she sounded like a model who gave the character her appearance and was dragged to voice her lines. Other characters' voice work ranges from "whatever" to complete cartoon caricatures.

 

The good thing I can say about the cutscenes is their style and direction. They are animated in 2D. A simplistic but unique look gives these cutscenes personality. There are some cool shots to be seen as well. Nothing to complain about in that regard. There are also mid-chapter in-engine cutscenes which are usually short and do their job of connecting scenes together. 

 

One important aspect the game excels at is the music. The soundtrack by Solar Fields is amazing, it accentuates the world's athmosphere. From the chill and serene ambient music that plays during the slower parts to the enthralling and energetic electronic beats that play during action-packed chases and fights, Solar Fields nails pretty much everything. I listened to this OST outside of the game many times after beating it originally. And I rarely listen to full game soundtracks. That says something. The title screen song by Lisa Miskovsky is great too, as well as its remixes by famous DJ's.

 

The visuals are another strong point of the game. When it comes to design and colour palette, this game is certainly unique. You'll be able to recognize it by one screenshot out of hundreds samey-looking action games. Bright white colour of the city buildings often fills neg parts of your screen while glass surfaces of skyscrapers reflect the perfect blue sky. The contrasting yellows, oranges, and lime greens come to the rescue and complete the picture while also making it easier to navigate. The biggest part of this visual language is the red colour which is used to show you interactable objects leading you to the next destination - usually a red door. I like this "runner vision" system. It's very helpful on your first playthrough. It also made it possible to remove all HUD from the screen. In this game, nothing distracts you from the environment. There's only a dot at the centre to help ypu with the precision of your moves.

 

 

 

(the screenshots are from the PC version, they're also not mine)

 

I also like the architectural design in the game, interior and exterior. The clean and modern look gives this near-future metropolis a lot of character and detail. The office buildings, the malls, the skyscrapers are filled with interesting things to look at. Some structures you see inside serve no purpose other than to look cool. Even the paintings you find fit the style. What's absent from the screen is any hint of greenery (the only decorative plants you see are also white, and most likely fake) or humans (other than a few NPC's you get to see in the distance here and there). The devs clearly wanted to give the city a cool but lifeless vibe, and I think they nailed it. It would be cool to see people working inside office building you visit, although I understand the decision of not including them. It's too much work for something you're supposed to zoom past.

 

In terms of graphics, the game does hold up on PS3. The framerate is stable, the textures are nice and shiny, all signs you see are readable. The only thing that holds the visuals back is the resolution and lack of anti-aliasing. The sharp contrast of some edges makes the pixels stand out.

 

After you beat the game, it offers you two more modes: chapter speedruns and time trials. In both of them you goal is to optimize your routes and run without making any mistakes to the end of the stage/chapter. While the campaign gives you freedom to take a path you like, these modes want you to find and learn the best possible one. The time trial stages are small, so the time constraints are unforgiving. If you want to earn 3 stars on a stage, your run must be perfect.. The chapter speedruns are more lenient. You can take a slower path and make mistakes a couple of times. But at the same time, those mistakes add up quickly.

 

Should you choose to go for the platinum, you'll have to beat the game twice, collect 30 hidden bags, beat all chapter speedruns, earn 50 out of 69 stars in time trials, and perform some specific moves. The speedruns were the hardest part for me, mainly chapters 7 and 9. Most chapters took 5-10 tries. But these two had obligatory combat parts that screwed me over dozens of time on top of other mistakes. That said, this platinum is not as hard as the rarity may suggest, in my opinion. I'd say I've done harder things for trophies before.

 

Even if you don't want to bother with trophies, I recommend to play this game. Doesn't have t be on PS3, you can play it on PC and experince it in all its beauty.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Slava

[balu2424]

Platinum #260: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice EU-Version

Difficulty: 3/10

 

[Elvick_]

Platinum #226

Spider-Man Miles Morales [PS4]

Be Yourself 
Collect all Trophies

 

was dreading the NG+ and it was as annoying as I remembered to do, not being able to skip like half the cutscenes. :/ But it was fun to play again, definitely missed the PS5 version’s instant loading. Don’t have much to say really I covered it in my other post on PS5 version many moons ago. Though I had more glitches on this version. Overall nothing too bad though.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Elvick_

[Cellcrash1991]

 #60 - Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3

 

I Am More

Unlock all Trophies

 

I first started this game in 2017 but for some reason, I quit after the prologue. One of my resolutions for this year is to really make my backlog smaller this time (instead of bigger, like the past few years ?) so after 4 years, 6 months and 4 weeks I finally have this platinum! 

This game was CI Games' first attempt to make Sniper: Ghost Warrior a triple-A title. After the release they said:

 

Quote

 

By positioning the game in a AAA category, it took us away from what we could have done great. Instead we spent too much effort trying to catch up with other AAA titles in terms of their production values and features. That was a big mistake."

 

 

And that's something you'll notice when playing the game: very long loading times (when changing regions), a very short story, a couple of bugs in the gameplay and I even experienced some blue screens (i think 4 or 5) which forced me to reboot the game. The game also froze on me which forced me to reboot the Playstation itself, but that happened only once. 

 

Despite all that I had a good time playing this game and it certainly didn't feel like I had to drag myself through it.

 

The missions you do are short but fun and possibly with a lot of action in it, depending on how you play the game. (as a sniper, as a ghost, or as a warrior)

After you complete the main story you still have a lot to do in terms of "points of interest", which are tiny missions such as "rescue the prisoners" or something like that. A point of interest can also be a fast travel point or contain a collectible or a weapon you can use when playing the story. That is why I did the points of interest before playing the main story.  

You unlock those PoI's when they're in 300m range around you (or your drone) so you have to walk/drive around the map to unlock them. 

 

It's a mediocre game at best but it sort of grows on you when you play it. 

[MilanYildirim]

#243. Watch_Dogs

This game makes me realize how dumbfuck Ubisoft is. When l bought this game on release, l hated it so much because it was a rip off. Now, after almost 8 years going back made me realize game is actually not that bad when you do not have any expectation. Dumb ubisoft could have done better with this game if they did not lie to us.

[breakdance1989]

PLATINUM #114 - Metal Slug Anthology:

 

[RedRodriguez87]

NA

 

#363: Oh my wings!

 

ANOTHER beautiful blue plat, but that wasn't the only reason I got it. I am fascinated with media/franchises that are a hit in their mother countries but just barely make a splash over here, and this was one of those. It was almost a thoroughly enjoyable experience for its sale price, but then it had to get all weird with it's RNG collectibles near the end, so for anyone curious, just be aware of this.

 

 

 

#364: The Artist of Denska

 

A game a forum user described as being born from different ideas that the devs tried to form a game around. And I can definitely see that possibility.

 

Gameplaywise, it's not a bad experience; it plays good, looks really nice, has some creative visuals and design choices which I really did dig (those facial animations are just an odd choice I can't help but love). It's also just long enough to justify its lack of content, though I do wish those last minute choices where fleshed out a bit more.

 

The one negative I had, and what put me off the game for a while, is the story. The overall plot is a cliched but harmless one about bringing a abandoned town back to life, but coupled with it is a story about bullying, and the harmful cycle it perpetuates. This is the worst part of the game, because it provides an double-whammy failure of tropes oft found in bad bully stories.

 

1) Putting the onus on the bullied to turn the other cheek.

2) making the bullies shallow and stereotypical.

 

I had alot to say about this, but I'd rather get over it, so I'll try to keep it simple. Writers, both on this game and in general, if you are going to go the complex route of "bullies come from broken homes and are human too", then don't half-ass it. Show an actual human side to these bullies, don't just tack on a tragic sad backstory onto a one-dimensional asshole. I'm not gonna empathize or even think about what they endured if their most noteworthy accomplishments before the "suddenly friends because the plot demands it" moment are physically and verbally abusing the MC (including but not limited to kicking him while he's down) .

 

I wanted to make a stint of how 90% of reviewers were just fellating this games' storytelling, but I'll just to chalk it up to paid hype of some sort.

 

 

 

#365: Platinum Trophy

 

Now here's a massive downgrade from an awesome first installment. Ironic, seeing as to how most call Kung Fu Panda 2 an even better film than the first. Still, it wasn't the worst experience (I'd say a framerate that wasn't absolute shit would've made all the difference) and the trophies are easy, so whatever.

 

[Fr_0zt]

 #199 AC Valhalla (+100%)

 

 

Living Legend

 

 

Fun = 8.5/10

Difficulty = 3/10

Time = 125/ 150 (Plat/ 100%)