AJ_Radio's Disappointing Backlog and Wishlist

[AJ_Radio]

Platinum #263: Grand Theft Auto III (December 8th, 2020)

 

 

Difficulty: 5/10

Excitement Rating: 5/10

Estimated Time to Platinum: 20+ Hours

 

Hardest Trophy: Is That All You've Got? ( Achieve 100% completion )

 

This game needs no introduction at all.

 

 

Here is the father of open world games. The one to start it all, or so they say. 20 years ago in 2001 this game was released to great controversy. Rockstar Games throughout its history has done a stellar job in keeping overly sensitive politicians and soccer moms at bay to deliver a legendary track record of awesome games.

 

For all the glory and fun Grand Theft Auto III was back in the day, it did not age well at all. As a matter of fact, I found this game completely cumbersome and an utter chore to play from start to finish.

 

From the start, I had to keep track of the vehicle side missions. This included the Ambulance side missions and the Vigilante and Firetruck missions. The trophy list encourages cheating, because trying to blow up 2000 cars legit is bordering a little on insanity.

 

I had to start an entirely new playthrough from scratch which resulted in several months hiatus from Grand Theft Auto III. For the 100 percent, you have to do 20 Vigilance and Firetruck side missions on every island. There are three islands in the game, so you can do the math. The problem I had was I finished up all the main story missions on the first island, which resulted in the Mafia grabbing hold of shotguns which automatically blow up cars. And because I still had to do Vigilante and Firetruck missions on the first island, this resulted in dozens of deaths. Instead of playing against near impossible odds I just decided to start a new playthrough. Neither Vice City nor San Andreas have forced me to do certain missions first before moving on, but because this is a pretty old game dating back to 2001, I can't say I expected a whole lot.

 

The controls have aged badly. Just moving and taking control of cars is a true exercise in patience. Doing the various rampages usually ended up in me dying repeatedly, so I basically used the health and armor cheat to have a better fighting chance. A gang of bad guys can mow you down in literally a few short seconds, even with full armor and health. Grand Theft Auto III is incredibly cheap, from how vehicles handle, to the unfair unique jumps, to fetching a checklist of vehicles, to collecting no less than 100 hidden packages cleverly tucked away in the vast open world.

 

There is no open world map when you pause. Both Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and San Andreas have a map at the pause menu showing you your location. But not Grand Theft Auto III. Can't say I expected much, given that this game is 20 years old now. It was annoying, so I had to study every island to learn where I needed to go.

 

Music wise, the soundtrack was just okay. Some reggae, some gangsta rap, some rock, but I ended up listening to the 1980s era music station the most because it had the best music. Nothing nearly as good as the music offered in Vice City or San Andreas.

 

The voice acting is sub par. This was before Rockstar Games hired Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Samuel L Jackson and other famous actors to play a part in a Grand Theft Auto title. The recorded sounded as if it was done on low budget. Certainly far below what we've come to hear in modern gaming, Rockstar has come a long way in the past 20 years.

 

Story? Nothing too memorable. You're basically a mute protagonist who is doing a series of jobs for criminals, a hitman in a sense. Several missions are missable and without backups the only way to replay them is to start a new playthrough. A bit annoying since I had to track down and check off what missions I completed. I had to print off a 100% checklist of everything I needed to do in Grand Theft Auto III.

 

Without cheats, Grand Theft Auto III would be a 7 - 8 out of 10 for me in difficulty. It is definitely the cheapest GTA game of them all (we don't count the games before GTA III). There are several moments where I wanted to hit my controller in frustration, namely the rampages and finding some of the hidden packages which required a YouTube guide. Driving cars back to the docks was a little hectic since you need to keep them from blowing up. This would also be in Vice City and San Andreas but the game mechanics were handled much better in those. The final mission is basically storming a base full of bad guys with rifles with pinpoint accuracy. To think that people beat this final mission back in the day without cheats is really something. Games have gotten so much easier than what they used to be.

 

My final words are Grand Theft Auto III is just merely okay at best. This was not my introduction to the GTA series, Vice City was, so I don't have the nostalgia that many other people do. The game didn't age well, and graphically it looks like a stain on a perfectly white carpet.

 

Do I recommend? Not really. If you're determined to do all the PS2 era GTA games, then play this. If you're not, don't play it at all. You will just get angry and frustrated.

Edited May 23, 2021 by AJ_Radio

[AJ_Radio]

 

100% Game #15: Arcade Archives: Sunset Riders

 

 

Difficulty: 2/10

Excitement Rating: 8/10

 

This was a huge hit in the arcades back in the early 1990s. I didn't get around to this until several years later, I did however play the actual arcade cabinet, at a restaurant that is now long gone.

 

Japanese developers always had a bit of an interest in western culture. See Hideo Kojima in what he did for Metal Gear Solid. Anyway, Sunset Riders is basically a shoot em up with a western theme to it. It plays much like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, X-Men and other arcade titles of the era.

 

Very easy 100 percent, but you still need to set a certain score in HI SCORE MODE which prevents this from being entirely a cakewalk.

 

Hopefully we will see more classic Konami titles in the future, that aren't just on Arcade Archives, because I feel that is a bit cheap.

 

100% Game #16: Arcade Archives: Robo Army

 

 

Difficulty: 2/10

Excitement Rating: 7/10

 

A pretty obscure arcade beat em up from SNK.

 

These games ARE HARD. Anybody that knows old SNK arcade games knows they are incredibly cheap. In comparison, Konami was a bit more fair. but the main intention was to suck kids out of their quarters, because that was how the arcades worked back then. With SNK, they are downright brutal.

 

I had to set everything to Easy and max out lives in the settings. Even so I still died lots, because enemies somehow manage to get to me even when I'm on my defensive game.

 

Not much else to say. It's your average beat em up arcade game. Bought it purely to see what this was. Thankfully there is no actual trophy list with a platinum, because I probably would of thrown in the towel on it.

[adam1984123]

Your take on gta III is pretty much how I feel about these old games - loved them at the time, but they have ages poorly and border on unplayable; for me anyway. I have that old gta trilogy and have never started them. When I read things like this, I think I'm glad I didn't. 

 

So many people say resident evil 4 is great, but the controls are so horrid, I just can't enjoy it and get into it. 5 is just good enough to play for me. 

 

 

[AJ_Radio]

8 minutes ago, adam1984123 said:

Your take on gta III is pretty much how I feel about these old games - loved them at the time, but they have ages poorly and border on unplayable; for me anyway. I have that old gta trilogy and have never started them. When I read things like this, I think I'm glad I didn't. 

 

So many people say resident evil 4 is great, but the controls are so horrid, I just can't enjoy it and get into it. 5 is just good enough to play for me. 

 

 

 

The thing to consider too is gaming at this time was still very niche. Your audience was still your average computer geek and your cast of kids/teenagers. A lot of games in the PS2 era catered to teens, notably Prince of Persia, Devil May Cry and Grand Theft Auto.

 

Prince of Persia was another series that was difficult for me to get into because of how bad the controls were. I actually never played Resident Evil 4, but Resident Evil on the PS4 that is a remaster of the Resident Evil on the Gamecube doesn't play all too bad. The main issue is the camera, which was a recurring problem in many PS2 era titles.

 

Everything is streamlined, so when we go back to old games like GTA III it's hard to ignore the dated mechanics. It took me several months to finish it, because I was frustrated with the game the first time around.

[You]

3 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

Music wise, the soundtrack was just okay. Some reggae, some gangsta rap, some rock, but I ended up listening to the 1980s era music station the most because it had the best music. Nothing nearly as good as the music offered in Vice City or San Andreas.

 

 

 

It has RISE FM and MSX FM, which in turn makes GTA3 the best GTA game ever invented! lol

 

Seriously though, it kinda sucks GTA3 was the only game to have any trance / rave style of music.

[AJ_Radio]

16 minutes ago, enaysoft said:

 

It has RISE FM and MSX FM, which in turn makes GTA3 the best GTA game ever invented! lol

 

Seriously though, it kinda sucks GTA3 was the only game to have any trance / rave style of music.

 

Vice City and San Andreas take place in the 1980s/1990s respectively. I did enjoy the House music in San Andreas. You go to GTA V's music and...... I didn't think it was all that great.

[masdawg1988]

4 hours ago, enaysoft said:

 

It has RISE FM and MSX FM, which in turn makes GTA3 the best GTA game ever invented! lol

 

Seriously though, it kinda sucks GTA3 was the only game to have any trance / rave style of music.

 

I still occasionally listen the MSX FM mixes! As an Australian teenager at the time, MSX FM was pretty much my introduction into Drum and Bass music.

I agree it's a shame there's no real DnB station on any of the other games. I understand the decades the other games were set in, but at least on GTAV? Something like the Hospital Records station in the Forza games would be amazing!

 

Not sure if you remember the PSP/PS2 "stories" games, but there was also MSX '98 on Liberty City Stories.

 

Also, if you are interested, MC Codebreaker during the GTA4 era was trying to get Rockstar to add another MSX-style radio station to the game, but Rockstar said they had no interest in doing so, so Codebreaker recorded a mix and it was released as a "mod station" you could listen to.

If you search YouTube for "Blueprint X" you will find it straight away.

[You]

26 minutes ago, masdawg1988 said:

 

I still occasionally listen the MSX FM mixes! As an Australian teenager at the time, MSX FM was pretty much my introduction into Drum and Bass music.

I agree it's a shame there's no real DnB station on any of the other games. I understand the decades the other games were set in, but at least on GTAV? Something like the Hospital Records station in the Forza games would be amazing!

 

Not sure if you remember the PSP/PS2 "stories" games, but there was also MSX '98 on Liberty City Stories.

 

Also, if you are interested, MC Codebreaker during the GTA4 era was trying to get Rockstar to add another MSX-style radio station to the game, but Rockstar said they had no interest in doing so, so Codebreaker recorded a mix and it was released as a "mod station" you could listen to.

If you search YouTube for "Blueprint X" you will find it straight away.

 

Oh wow, this is all news to me. I had not played the Liberty City stories. I played Vice City and thought um, game feels better, but the locations and music were not so memorable to me. And then San Andreas, well I hard to force myself to finish the game. Not played a GTA game since then.

 

I was also quite a fan of Drum and Bass but before that up in the north we had rave events like Dizstruxshon and Uprising and MC Codebreaker actually sounds quite like a guy called MC Domer, and Rise FM is quite like what a lot of DJs like Topgroove and Kenny Sharp had been playing.

 

I've probably listened to mp3s of both Rise and MSX about a 1000 times each over the past 20 years lol

 

I remember back on PS2, getting 100 in a row taxi missions complete once by alternating the radio between Rise and MSM and getting good enough to deliver passengers so I had oodles of time to stop by at garages to repair my taxi. At about 102 in a row, I accidentally slipped and press triangle and square at the same time when I was trying to reverse and I got out my car. I was livid! lol

 

Happy days.

 

BTW you probably know, someone recut all the tunes to both Rise And MSX using the original tunes but of course with no MCs on either track.

It was SOOO weird to hear some of these tunes individually in their entirety, only 2 decades hearing the beginning and end to those tracks was so surreal.

 

[edit] BTW, did you ever play a game called Cool Boarders 2 on Playstation 1? The USA soundtrack is awful, but the european one has an incredible Drum and Bass soundtrack. That OST along with GTA3 I regularly listen too. You should check it out on youtube if you haven't already. In my opinion best Drum and Bass OST on a game ever.

Edited May 23, 2021 by enaysoft

[AJ_Radio]

Platinum #264: Grand Theft Auto Vice City (December 16th, 2020)

 

 

Difficulty: 5/10

Excitement Rating: 8/10

Estimated Time to Platinum: 30+ Hours

 

Hardest Trophy: Take the Cannoli ( Earn the Godfather criminal rating )

 

My real introduction to the Grand Theft Auto series, and a game that brings a lot of fond memories from my youth.

 

 

Let me take a moment and say there was a lot of technical shit I had to do to earn the platinum in this one. So I will start with what many regard to be an infamously bad trophy. Take the Cannoli.

 

It is literally next to impossible to get this trophy legit. The best legit way to earn this trophy is to reach a rocket launcher spawn and continuously shoot down police helicopters, which add a few points to your criminal rating every time they are shot down. The problem is because the points are so little, and the rating for Godfather was set so high, you could very well spend a couple hundred hours or more shooting down helicopters to even get close to Godfather. It just isn't a feasible method. So I had to make two choices. Ignore the main story and use the Sea Sparrow method, or constantly spam a cheat code at the Tommy Vercetti estate to blow up a bunch of vehicles for hours and hours. I picked the Sea Sparrow method.

 

So essentially, after you do the first story mission (cannot be skipped), you must already make preparations. After doing a backup save, you have to play the Cone Crazy side activity, which is driving around a bunch of cones without touching them located on top of a parking garage. You have to reach a certain time, but that's not all. You have to play this activity several times over, getting a better time record in subsequent runs. There is a money glitch involved with this activity which doubles the reward you get. You have to earn millions of dollars, so this will take a while.

 

Afterwards, you have to glitch your way to the other side of the map in Vice City. Normally you can't do this because you have to play at a certain point in the story to even access the other parts of Vice City. But you have to jump and glitch your way through a certain gated entrance to a marina of boats, and make it to the other end. You have to go downtown and reach a helicopter. Then, you have to collect no less than 80 hidden packages. Yes, 80. This helps greatly towards the 100 hidden packages since you are required to get them all for the platinum. But..... you have to be careful not to have your helicopter blow up when you collect your hidden packages. Getting 80 of them alone will take a number of hours. Reaching 80 hidden packages will spawn a Sea Sparrow helicopter at the Vercetti estate. Technically this is not Tommy's estate, as you have to reach a certain point in the story. But you still have to go there to grab the helicopter.

 

When you finally done all that, you should have a rifle that allows manual aim that contains at least 101 bullets. Once you gotten that, you have to fly your way to the Film Studios in north Vice City. Again, this area is technically blocked off due to the lack of progression in the story, but you can fly practically anywhere after you finished the introductory story mission. Once you're in the studios, find a wooden crate that is located not far from a truck (Packer), and fire approximately 101 bullets. This has to be exact, because the glitch that allows your criminal rating to go up exponentially will not work. After that is done, you have to line up the Sea Sparrow helicopter so it is facing the truck. Then keep the fire button down with a rubber band on your controller and let the game do its thing overnight.

 

If none of this made sense, this YouTube video will explain it all:

 

 

OKAY that was a LOT to breathe in there, so I'll finally talk about the actual game.

 

I just love Vice City. The era, the setting, the characters, the story, the themes, the allure. Voice acting was stellar. Ray Liotta (Tommy Vercetti) and Burt Reynolds (Avery Carrington) really did an outstanding job in their roles. The other actors all did a fine performance. Unlike Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City sported a group of memorable characters with a fairly decent story to boot.

 

The controls were a lot less cumbersome. Vehicle handling felt a lot better, whereas in Grand Theft Auto III I had to use the vehicle handling cheat to do some rather infuriating checkpoint races. Apart from what I had to do to earn the Godfather criminal rating, the only cheat I used in all of Vice City was the cheat to keep your vehicles from blowing up, aka the health cheat. Everything else from the weapons to the armor and health I had for Tommy I did legit with what the game offered me. Yes, the controls are still dated and definitely aren't anything as good as the controls you get in today's games. But even with a one year gap between Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City, Rockstar Games made a substantial number of improvements.

 

Vice City was another laundry list of tasks with a checklist in order to obtain 100 percent completion. But it wasn't anything too bad because I am very familiar with the game. I played a great deal of this back in the day on the PS2. Vice City was in fact the first game I ever got for the console, so that definitely explains why I have nostalgia for it.

 

The soundtrack..... Jesus Christ. The 1980s soundtrack is simply phenomenal. This is where I really wish I could say I lived in the 1980s, because I missed out on so much. I consider the 1980s to have some of the best and most memorable music to ever grace mankind. The New Wave craze and the early Hip-Hop music instilled a sense of childhood innocence and the reminder that this was a simpler time. Flash FM is my favorite radio station followed by Wildstyle and VCPR. Rockstar knocked themselves out by having people play DJs and radio hosts. The radio commercials were funny and hilarious. If radio sounded this good today, I'd probably still be listening to it. 

 

Overall a great game with poorly aged graphics, poorly aged controls, and a horrible trophy that soured a bit of my experience going for the platinum. If you ask me, Vice City was the game that really got people hooked with Grand Theft Auto. Looking back, it's not hard to see why. It was a truly monumental game that broke ground and set new standards, in a time when violent video games was still a hot topic for debate in the political realm. It may not play as well as Grand Theft Auto V or any of the newer open world games, but Vice City was the trail blazer.

Edited May 26, 2021 by AJ_Radio

[Guest]

1 hour ago, AJ_Radio said:

Platinum #264: Grand Theft Auto Vice City (December 16th, 2020)

 

 

Difficulty: 5/10

Excitement Rating: 8/10

Estimated Time to Platinum: 30+ Hours

 

Hardest Trophy: Take the Cannoli ( Earn the Godfather criminal rating )

 

My real introduction to the Grand Theft Auto series, and a game that brings a lot of fond memories from my youth.

 

 

Let me take a moment and say there was a lot of technical shit I had to do to earn the platinum in this one. So I will start with what many regard to be an infamously bad trophy. Take the Cannoli.

 

It is literally next to impossible to get this trophy legit. The best legit way to earn this trophy is to reach a rocket launcher spawn and continuously shoot down police helicopters, which add a few points to your criminal rating every time they are shot down. The problem is because the points are so little, and the rating for Godfather was set so high, you could very well spend a couple hundred hours or more shooting down helicopters to even get close to Godfather. It just isn't a feasible method. So I had to make two choices. Ignore the main story and use the Sea Sparrow method, or constantly spam a cheat code at the Tommy Vercetti estate to blow up a bunch of vehicles for hours and hours. I picked the Sea Sparrow method.

 

So essentially, after you do the first story mission (cannot be skipped), you must already make preparations. After doing a backup save, you have to play the Cone Crazy side activity, which is driving around a bunch of cones without touching them located on top of a parking garage. You have to reach a certain time, but that's not all. You have to play this activity several times over, getting a better time record in subsequent runs. There is a money glitch involved with this activity which doubles the reward you get. You have to earn millions of dollars, so this will take a while.

 

Afterwards, you have to glitch your way to the other side of the map in Vice City. Normally you can't do this because you have to play at a certain point in the story to even access the other parts of Vice City. But you have to jump and glitch your way through a certain gated entrance to a marina of boats, and make it to the other end. You have to go downtown and reach a helicopter. Then, you have to collect no less than 80 hidden packages. Yes, 80. This helps greatly towards the 100 hidden packages since you are required to get them all for the platinum. But..... you have to be careful not to have your helicopter blow up when you collect your hidden packages. Getting 80 of them alone will take a number of hours. Reaching 80 hidden packages will spawn a Sea Sparrow helicopter at the Vercetti estate. Technically this is not Tommy's estate, as you have to reach a certain point in the story. But you still have to go there to grab the helicopter.

 

When you finally done all that, you should have a rifle that allows manual aim that contains at least 101 bullets. Once you gotten that, you have to fly your way to the Film Studios in north Vice City. Again, this area is technically blocked off due to the lack of progression in the story, but you can fly practically anywhere after you finished the introductory story mission. Once you're in the studios, find a wooden crate that is located not far from a truck (Packer), and fire approximately 101 bullets. This has to be exact, because the glitch that allows your criminal rating to go up exponentially will not work. After that is done, you have to line up the Sea Sparrow helicopter so it is facing the truck. Then keep the fire button down with a rubber band on your controller and let the game do its thing overnight.

 

If none of this made sense, this YouTube video will explain it all:

 

 

OKAY that was a LOT to breathe in there, so I'll finally talk about the actual game.

 

I just love Vice City. The era, the setting, the characters, the story, the themes, the allure. Voice acting was stellar. Ray Liotta (Tommy Vercetti) and Burt Reynolds (Avery Carrington) really did an outstanding job in their roles. The other actors all did a fine performance. Unlike Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City sported a group of memorable characters with a fairly decent story to boot.

 

The controls were a lot less cumbersome. Vehicle handling felt a lot better, whereas in Grand Theft Auto III I had to use the vehicle handling cheat to do some rather infuriating checkpoint races. Apart from what I had to do to earn the Godfather criminal rating, the only cheat I used in all of Vice City was the cheat to keep your vehicles from blowing up, aka the health cheat. Everything else from the weapons to the armor and health I had for Tommy I did legit with what the game offered me. Yes, the controls are still dated and definitely aren't anything as good as the controls you get in today's games. But even with a one year gap between Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City, Rockstar Games made a substantial number of improvements.

 

Vice City was another laundry list of tasks with a checklist in order to obtain 100 percent completion. But it wasn't anything too bad because I am very familiar with the game. I played a great deal of this back in the day on the PS2. Vice City was in fact the first game I ever got for the console, so that definitely explains why I have nostalgia for it.

 

The soundtrack..... Jesus Christ. The 1980s soundtrack is simply phenomenal. This is where I really wish I could say I lived in the 1980s, because I missed out on so much. I consider the 1980s to have some of the best and most memorable music to ever grace mankind. The New Wave craze and the early Hip-Hop music instilled a sense of childhood innocence and the reminder that this was a simpler time. Flash FM is my favorite radio station followed by Wildstyle and VCPR. Rockstar knocked themselves out by having people play DJs and radio hosts. The radio commercials were funny and hilarious. If radio sounded this good today, I'd probably still be listening to it. 

 

Overall a great game with poorly aged graphics, poorly aged controls, and a horrible trophy that soured a bit of my experience going for the platinum. If you ask me, Vice City was the game that really got people hooked with Grand Theft Auto. Looking back, it's not hard to see why. It was a truly monumental game that broke ground and set new standards, in a time when violent video games was still a hot topic for debate in the political realm. It may not play as well as Grand Theft Auto V or any of the newer open world games, but Vice City was the trail blazer.

This game is simply magical, it is one of those unsurpassed works of art. I have unspeakable childhood memories involving this game, I played much more than GTA SA, of hundreds of platinum this is in my top 3 for sure, my #150 at the time.

[AJ_Radio]

100% Game #17: Woah Dave!

 

 

Difficulty: 8/10

Excitement Rating: 9/10

 

A platformer with Atari 2600 style graphics with a challenging trophy list.

 

You control a little character named Dave. Gameplay is on a single screen level where various enemies try to stop Dave. The main goal is to collect as many coins as possible without losing all of your lives. If you lose all of your lives, the game is over.

 

A very simplistic platformer, but a bit addicting. In Classic Mode there are two types of enemies, monsters that evolve out of eggs, and UFOs that threaten to lower platforms. In Deluxe Mode there is a new monster (a Black monster that drops a lot of coins when killed), a UFO that can be taken over and controlled for a limited time, and a giant UFO that is seen as a boss enemy. There are various different types of single screen levels, and different characters to choose from. Skulls drop on the ground and are used to throw at monsters and UFOs to collect coins. Woah Dave! blocks are simply like the old POW blocks from Super Mario Bros, every enemy is killed on the screen. There is another type of block in Deluxe Mode that will return platforms to their former position.

 

There is always lava on the bottom of the screen. On Normal difficulty the lava slowly burns away the bottom platform until it is depleted, after which the lava will rise. On Bonkers difficulty, there is no such platform and the lava rises right when you start. UFOs spawn much sooner and everything spawns much faster on Bonkers difficulty.

 

I found Classic Mode the best to go for the 1000 coins trophy because it is more straightforward. Getting this trophy was very difficult and was what caused me to hang up this game for nearly a year. @greenzsaber's 1000 coins strategy was excellent, being able to control one section of the level was paramount.

 

The game gets a lot more difficult in the later phases, once you collect 300 - 500+ coins eggs and skulls drop much faster. I found Normal difficulty to be slightly easier in the later phases. Bonkers proved too hard.

 

A fun little indie game that is addicting and satisfying. Proof that you don't always need graphics.

 

100% Game #18: Flower (PS3 & PS4)

 

 

Difficulty: 3/10

Excitement Rating: 6/10

 

An old exclusive that became available on the PS3 back in 2009, that has since been ported to Vita, PS4 and Microsoft Windows.

 

I feel this is a bit of a predecessor to the much acclaimed Journey. The games were designed to be relaxing and soaking in the environment, rather than just being fun. I have no experience with Journey although I may play thru it one day.

 

I already played Flower on the PS Vita back in late 2017, so for completionists sake I decided to do the PS3 and PS4 versions of the game. Flower is/was crossbuy, meaning you get the other versions for free.

 

The game puts a lot of emphasis on scenery. Everything is crisp. This was definitely a work of art that goes away from traditional art and traditional gameplay. There is no story, no real characters, you're controlling a single petal of a flower as you awaken flowers in the surrounding areas.

 

Controls are motion based, meaning you tilt your controllers. The PS4 version is a notable improvement as I found the PS4 controller a bit more responsive in tilting and controlling the petal as opposed to the PS3 version which was slower. I managed to chalk up the 100 percent on the PS3 version in a few short hours because I knew my way around.

 

I found one particular trophy annoying, the one for flowing through the fifth level without getting hit by any power lines. I managed to screw up a dozen times on the PS4 version whereas it took me around two tries to pull it off on the PS3 version. That's randomness for you I guess. I found a YouTube video that made sense and I got the trophy right afterwards.

 

For what it's worth, Flower is a relaxing game and one that offers a bit of a unique style in its gameplay. The graphics are lush and colorful as a game of this sort should be. Maybe, just maybe I might play Fl0w and Journey, but no guarantees.

[kkulifay]

Didn’t you plat Black Flag recently? Did you do a review on that? I must be blind because I was looking for it and can’t find it. I’m working on it now and wanted to read your take. I remember you said to knock the multiplayer trophies out first, which was great advice. 

[AJ_Radio]

38 minutes ago, kkulifay said:

Didn’t you plat Black Flag recently? Did you do a review on that? I must be blind because I was looking for it and can’t find it. I’m working on it now and wanted to read your take. I remember you said to knock the multiplayer trophies out first, which was great advice. 

 

Yes I did. I'm over four months behind on this thread so the next game I will cover is GTA: San Andreas, since it's next up on the list of games I completed.

[DrBloodmoney]

1 hour ago, AJ_Radio said:

For what it's worth, Flower is a relaxing game and one that offers a bit of a unique style in its gameplay. The graphics are lush and colorful as a game of this sort should be. Maybe, just maybe I might play Fl0w and Journey, but no guarantees.

 

Fl0w is purely an interesting oddity, it was at the time, and even more so now - and actually not that peculiar or interesting now, given that the whole "interactive screensaver with a little more depth than you might expect" type game is not as unique as it was when Fl0w was released. 

I'd argue Proteus took that ball and ran with it in a much more interesting way.

 

 - but Journey is well worth a play, and I think still holds up, and it's point that it makes with it's ending is pretty evergreen.

 

If you do go back to both, I'd recommend doing Journey first - as I have a strong suspicion that Fl0w might put you off trying Journey, and that would be a mistake.

[AJ_Radio]

22 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

Fl0w is purely an interesting oddity, it was at the time, and even more so now - and actually not that peculiar or interesting now, given that the whole "interactive screensaver with a little more depth than you might expect" type game is not as unique as it was when Fl0w was released. 

I'd argue Proteus took that ball and ran with it in a much more interesting way.

 

 - but Journey is well worth a play, and I think still holds up, and it's point that it makes with it's ending is pretty evergreen.

 

If you do go back to both, I'd recommend doing Journey first - as I have a strong suspicion that Fl0w might put you off trying Journey, and that would be a mistake.

 

It'll likely be several months from now at least if I decide to buy and play them. My backlog is big enough as it is already, although both Fl0w and Journey are pretty tempting. I heard a lot of great things about Journey back in 2012 when it released. I suppose it's better to play it late than to not play it at all.

[AJ_Radio]

Okay so I’ve been slacking on my own thread lately. Going to catch up to the latest game I’ve completed and update my backlog once that’s done.

[AJ_Radio]

Platinum #265: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (January 12th, 2021)

 

 

Difficulty: 4/10

Excitement Rating: 9/10

Estimated Time to Platinum: 30+ Hours

 

Hardest Trophy:Bike or Biker ( Complete BMX or NRG challenge )

 

 

What can I really say about this game that hasn't been said countless times?

 

This game still remains my favorite in the franchise. If Vice City introduced me to Rockstar Games, San Andreas was the GTA title that really pushed forth my love and appreciation of Rockstar Games, at least for a long time.

 

The voice acting is stellar. Samuel L Jackson and others did a spectacular job in their respective roles. Personally, I'm not as much fond as Carl Johnson as I was for Tommy Vercetti, but the man who voiced him did an adequate job on his own.

 

Let me just say I absolutely fucking love the music. Even the country station, which I'm normally the first to say I can't stand country, was good. I was exposed to all the bullshit country music growing up but here there are some real classics. The rap stations? Pretty self explanatory. 2Pac and Big Daddy Kane were fun to listen to, along with Eazy E, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg & Dr Dre, and countless others. A slew of hip hop legends each with their own style. I was born 20 years too late, because this generation of music I feel is vastly superior to the utter bullshit that passes for music today. Alternative/punk rock, classic rock, house/techno and some groovy funk and soul music all get their own stations. Rockstar Games really did a kickass job in delivering a memorable soundtrack that accurately depicts the early 1990s.

 

The setting and atmosphere are top notch. Los Angeles in the 1990s was well known to have a lot of crime and violence, and here in San Andreas Rockstar more or less nails down that era as like in real life, the prominence of hoods and street gangs was becoming a real problem. The story of Carl Johnson is he is a young man trying to get by in a rough neighborhood, but after his brother Sweet is thrown in jail he finds himself fending on his own, relying on people whom he would normally not associate with.

 

At the time, San Andreas had a big open world. Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas are all shoved into it, but none of it feels simply bloated or tacked on. Each city feels unique and distinctive, and having been to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas plenty of times in real life, Rockstar Games really accurately portrayed them as they should be for their game.

 

I spent a lot of hours on this back in 2004 - 2005, still being the young impressionable teen that I was and being awed with what GTA San Andreas delivered. Nowadays it may not look like much, but back in the mid 2000s we were going crazy over this. San Andreas was my real introduction to old school rap, notably Tupac Shakur and Big Daddy Kane. I started looking up Samuel L Jackson's other work since I was so impressed with his performance. None of the characters in the game gave what I call bad acting. OG Loc was downright hilarious and laugh out loud funny. There are a number of quirky characters that Rockstar Games was known for placing in their titles. Even Kent Paul and Ken Rosenberg gave me a few laughs.

 

All in all, this was perhaps a nostalgia trip than anything else. The gameplay in many respects hasn't exactly aged like fine wine. Movement is choppy and controlling a car is nothing like in modern games today. Game developers were still focused on evolving the gameplay and pushing forth innovation. Yet San Andreas was a true milestone in Rockstar Games history, before they became all about the money. Looking back, it's easy to see why so many people loved this game.

 

If one had to pick one game from the PS2 era, it would be either GTA San Andreas or God of War. I love both, but I can't say I really love the latest entries from either franchise.

[AJ_Radio]

Platinum #266: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (January 15th, 2021)

 

 

Difficulty: 4/10

Excitement Rating: 6/10

Estimated Time to Platinum: 8 - 10 Hours

 

Hardest Trophy:

 

 

Probably the easiest ultra rare platinum I have gone for.

 

You are in a spaceship trying to.....spread love? The story made absolutely no sense, but it's largely irrelevant.

 

You control a spaceship. Your goal is to capture a number of friends in the form of bunnies, all crying for help as the hostile creatures of space try to bring your ship down. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime was designed around co-op, but from experience I can definitely tell you this platinum is easily possible solo. You have weapons, shields and your engine. Each of these, including the Yamato cannon can be upgraded with gems, which give them enhancements.

 

When you capture 5 out of 10 friends, a heart shaped portal opens up and you can reach the next level. But why do that when you have to rescue all your friends for the platinum? Rescuing friends also helps you upgrade your ship, which becomes of vital importance in the later zones even on Easy difficulty.

 

I had some fun with this game, but nothing was too memorable. There was nothing that I felt was annoying or difficult, although a couple trophies were very much luck based. This is an easy platinum, no more than a 3 or 4 out of 10 in difficulty despite the fact that it is an ultra rare. This is definitely a game that many people picked up and stopped playing because of its niche status, and also because it was a PlayStation Plus title.

 

If you want an easy ultra rare for your trophy collection, you can't go wrong with Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime.

[AJ_Radio]

100% Game #19: Red Dead Redemption

 

 

Difficulty: 5/10

Excitement Rating: 10/10

 

The game. The legend.

 

The first trophy I earned on my account was back in January 2013. My second model PS3 Slim felt fresh and snazzy. Red Dead Redemption would be the first game I would add to this account, followed by LA Noire.

 

From 2013 to mid 2015 my account was mostly one I just logged on to have some fun. In February of 2013, Jagex would announce that Old School Runescape would be officially released. I played that game from March 2013 until September 2015, finally deciding to call the game quits after over 3000 hours invested into it. That isn't to say I didn't touch Red Dead Redemption for so long. In early 2013 I did the main story, saw John Marston get killed at the end, and ended the epilogue with Jack Marston. The bulk of my time was spent on RDR Online, pouring hundreds of hours into it. The Xbox 360 version in comparison was a bit better, as it had higher resolution and the online felt better thanks to Xbox Live Gold membership.

 

Fast forward to 2016, and I was already going for platinum trophies in games I enjoyed. Since I loved this game so much back when it came out, I felt it would be a shame if I were to leave it without a platinum trophy. So I did some boosting with a fellow friend on PSNProfiles, earning the platinum trophy in December of 2016. Because of bad internet, I decided to leave the rest of the online DLC alone, even though I did a chunk of them at that point.

 

Over four years later, in 2021, I wanted to go back and finally wrap up the online for good. I took advantage of an active boosting group on the PS App. To my amazement I got everything I needed done in a little over a week. It was perfect timing on my part, because I had a group of very reliable people that were helpful. There were 16 of us in a free roam session doing Kingpin on a Saturday morning, each of us taking turns and communicating to each other that we got the trophy.

 

As far as the game itself, it needs no introduction. We all know what it is, so I don't need to discuss what made it awesome.

 

My last PS3 game I will be boosting is Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Sadly, it's not nearly as active as Red Dead Redemption, then again, the online isn't nearly as good either. Regardless, very proud to have this game fully complete, and while it was a little fun communicating with fellow boosters, it invokes a lot of stress within me, so it's something I tend to avoid for the most part.

[AJ_Radio]

Platinum #267: Just Cause 4 (February 10th, 2021)

 

 

Difficulty: 4/10

Excitement Rating: 5/10

Estimated Time to Platinum: 40+ Hours

 

Hardest Trophy:All the Right Moves - Film every Wingsuit Stunt

 

 

Not a very enjoyable experience.

 

Just Cause 4 picks up where Just Cause 3 left off. Rico Rodriguez travels to Solis to find the entire area controlled by the Black Hand, who have the ability to control the weather. Yes, the extreme weather actually serves as plot points throughout the story, and Avalanche Studios just didn't do the story justice.

 

This game is a prime example of where I feel open world games begin to feel more like algorithms, instead of an adventure for you to explore and discover new opportunities.

 

The biggest improvements over Just Cause 3 lies in this games performance. Just Cause 4 runs and loads much faster than its predecessor did. In doing so, they scaled back the graphics a bit. While Just Cause 3 basically chugged like a slow steam engine on my PS4 console, Just Cause 4 in contrast runs rather smoothly and is at times seamless. There was still the occasional glitch, and there were two separate incidents where my character Rico got stuck in the environment, forcing me to restart the game. I was happy to see Just Cause 4 actually play properly.

 

Unfortunately, that is where my liking for this game comes to an end. The open world structure, while it is big and vast, is rather dull and lifeless. One of the main goals of the game is to take over territory from the Black Hand to hand over to the Army of Chaos, a band of ragtag third world country like rebels trying to oppose the dictatorship. They honestly look more like your common street gang than a real rebel force. Early in the story you meet Luis Sargento, commander of the Army of Chaos, Javi Huerta, an archeologist uncovering the history of Solis, and Garland King, a Hollywood style filmmaker wishing to see Rico do an assortment of stunts. You end up doing a whole bunch of side missions for these three people, including a crapload of collectibles in the form of stunts.

 

The main story formula is garbage. Before you can continue with a main story mission, you have to spend a couple hours or so gradually taking over territory in Solis from the Black Hand. Sadly, generating chaos in this game doesn't work like in Just Cause 2 and Just Cause 3. Whereas in past games you had to blow up a number of destructible objects such as transformers and fuel tanks, in Just Cause 4 taking over a base is more along the lines of hacking a terminal console, and freeing a bunch of prisoners helping them escape. You're taking over a base so the Army of Chaos moves in and takes control of it. You're not so much of a one man army anymore as you were in past games. How they changed it up just felt boring to me. Taking over bases was very rinse and repeat. In Just Cause 3 it was more fun going after those destructibles.

 

You will be taking over a bunch of bases and territory before you can start a main story mission. There aren't many. I didn't find the characters all too engaging. Tom Shelton makes a return, and I just found him annoying. At one point you meet up with Lanza Morales, a character who worked on Project Illapa, and Cesar Pedrone, a complete coward. There are three major weather effects that you have to shut down and keep away from the Black Hand before you can conclude the story. The major villains have precious little screen time, so I couldn't connect with them at all. 

 

After I finished the main story I had to do cleanup and do a crapload of stunts. The Luis Sargento side missions were pretty formulaic, you basically play as a hitman to protect your fellow rebel band of fighters. The Javi Huerta side missions were fairly okay, as I'm sort of a sucker for ancient history. You help uncover ancient sites. The Garland King stunts were by far the most aggravating.

 

There are over 400 stunts you have to do for the platinum, which includes vehicle, speed and wingsuit stunts.The vehicle and speed stunts were so similar to each other I barely found a difference. Unfortunately, the stunts range from ridiculously easy to frustratingly hard. There was one particular vehicle stunt that was located far above the ground next to a set of windmills. I had to use a range of mods and tethers to get a car through the ring checkpoint. Some wingsuit stunts were very annoying, with a couple of them located inside a tunnel where I had to glide thru the rings while risking being hit by cars. Very stupid and no rhyme or reason.

 

Vehicles still handled poorly. How you can fuck up controlling a motorcycle is beyond me. They were shit in Just Cause 3, they were shit in Just Cause 4. Controlling a big airplane is even worse. Utterly terrible controls, just turning one was an exercise in patience.

 

The DLC was merely okayish. The second one ended up being my favorite. The third DLC introduces some more stunts you have to perform.

 

A rather mediocre experience overall. Just Cause 4 isn't terrible as some people state, but it doesn't do anything that we haven't already seen in past games and in other open world games. The graphics are average, the story is rather forgettable, there were only a couple good characters.

 

Definitely pick this one up at a severe discount if you plan on playing this. Otherwise, don't bother.

Edited June 30, 2021 by AJ_Radio

[AJ_Radio]

Platinum #268: Assassin's Creed Revelations (February 21st, 2021)

 

 

Difficulty: 4/10

Excitement Rating: 7/10

Estimated Time to Platinum: 30 - 40 Hours

 

Hardest Trophy:

 

This is the original PS3 version of the game that I added to my account back in 2015. Didn't quite like this game initially as much as Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, so I left this game to move on to other titles.

 

After doing the PS4 version back in 2017 I mostly left the PS3 version behind, because of the online trophies and DLC. After doing Red Dead Redemption to 100 percent completion early this year I decided to finally finish off Assassin's Creed Revelations.

 

For what it's worth, I highly consider this to be the weakest of the Ezio trilogy. The change of scenery from Renaissance era Italy to Ottoman occupied Constantinople turned me off a little. The present day story wasn't as good, as it was basically Desmond Miles in a coma after the conclusion of Brotherhood. A lot of the same stuff as before with the same game engine. But it's still not a bad game, not by a long stretch.

 

The controls are a bit dated. Running and jumping is just as annoying as it was in Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood. Combat is your relatively simple dodge and counterattack.

 

The missions are very much the same as well. Mostly decent story missions with some annoying 100 percent sync requirements. Unfortunately you can't fail an optional objective unless you want to restart the entire mission, a flawed game mechanic that would be changed for Assassin's Creed III and Black Flag. The characters this time around weren't quite as memorable.

 

Online was easy and straightforward, far easier than Brotherhood's multiplayer and a lot shorter than Black Flag's. This was the last game in the Assassin's Creed franchise to not have Wolfpack, so I definitely had to boost with other people to get the online done.

 

Not the best, not the worst, certainly a middle of the road Assassin's Creed game. It is the conclusion to Ezio Auditore, still the most celebrated Assassin. I definitely have a sense of nostalgia for the older Assassin's Creed games, so I wouldn't be surprised if I may play this game someday in the future.  

[AJ_Radio]

100% Game #20: Jurassic Park: The Game

 

 

Difficulty: 2/10

Excitement Rating: 5/10

 

Pretty average for a TellTale game.

 

The shoddy performance on the PS3 console really drained my excitement for this game. For all the things I heard about TellTale, I don't think anything really understands why their games never worked all that well on a PS3. Granted, the console was hard to code for, but still.

 

Gameplay wise, not my favorite TellTale title. It borrows heavily from the Jurassic Park movie franchise, which I'm sure we've all seen at one time or another in our lives. An exotic location featuring a park full of live dinosaurs. All is good, until the dinosaurs break loose.

 

This is your standard modern style point and click. TellTale Games prior to The Walking Dead have a lot of missables, so I basically followed a guide for all four parts of Jurassic Park: The Game. There are several QTE (quick time events), unless you know what's coming you may have to repeat them a number of times. Some of the characters had their charms and quirks.

 

Nothing too difficult. A particular QTE in part 4 involving Yoder took me several attempts to get right, but other than that there's nothing that is too hard for the average person. This is one of the older games in the TellTale library that I feel deserves a re-release on current gen consoles.

Edited June 30, 2021 by AJ_Radio

[AJ_Radio]

Platinum #269: Prince of Persia (March 3rd, 2021)

 

 

Difficulty: 4/10

Excitement Rating: 7/10

Estimated Time to Platinum: 12 - 20 Hours

 

Hardest Trophy: Combo Specialist ( Find every combo in the game )

 

The final Prince of Persia game I had left to finish the entire series trophy wise.

 

You are the Prince, whose actual name is unknown.You come across a woman like Elika, who has mysterious powers. As with all Prince of Persia games, there is heavy platforming, but one notable gimmick is you can never truly die, as Elika saves you every time you fall. You journey to a land of mystery, that is rife with corruption.

 

I remember hearing a long time ago that Nolan North wasn't all too thrilled with the role he had in this game. Ubisoft wanted him to resume his 'Nathan Drake' like personality, as once you are truly accustomed to that Uncharted character, you will always note his voice. Playing as the Prince, he offers a good dose of humor and quips, with Elika taking a more serious approach, treating him as many wanting to be rescued maidens would.

 

I already mentioned there is a lot of platforming. Yes, the selling point of Prince of Persia from the very beginning has been the platforming, and for the 2008 reboot it is much the same here. Platforming takes the forefront, with combat and puzzle solving taking less significant roles. The combat is pretty basic and is easy to get accustomed to, but there are loads of combinations, most of which I would of never found out on my own without a trophy guide in hand. Enemies for the most part are black colored blobs that can greatly harm the Prince.

 

Traps are plentiful throughout the land. Areas are swarmed with block colored blobs and corruption until you can get Elika to heal the land, who turns it from a swarm infested misery to a lively, lush healthy green. The blobs aren't just enemies you fight on a platform, they are also along the platforming paths you must parkour from one area to the next. Running into these blobs will try to engulf the Prince, whom Elika saves you. However, you will have to retrace your steps from where you last were. This game is generous with giving you "checkpoints", so you never have to repeat too much.

 

A collectible in the form of Light Seeds is necessary to progress the story. Despite the linear story and progression, Prince of Persia 2008 offers open world exploration. You will need to retrace and revisit areas you've previously been and healed to grab all the Light Seeds, as not all abilities are available until later on.

 

Magical plates are one notable addition in this entry of Prince of Persia, that adds more platforming and parkour to the mix. Overall, nothing was too difficult here, although I ran into a glitch of sorts in the Epilogue DLC which made me delete and reinstall the entire game, which is utterly cumbersome on the old PS3 console. Enemy variety was lacking, with the bosses being the most challenging and exciting.

 

It's a little difficult for me to place this particular entry in the franchise. It is notably more modernized than the PS2 era Prince of Persia games, all of which I had issues with controls. While many people didn't like Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, I actually enjoyed it. Prince of Persia 2008 to me is roughly in the middle. Not my favorite, but definitely not my least favorite in the series.

 

Not too hard of a game, but some platforming sections, particularly those in the Epilogue DLC, will take several attempts. It's enjoyable, linear and is straight to the point, with no unnecessary padding like all modern day Ubisoft games have.

Edited July 19, 2021 by AJ_Radio

[AJ_Radio]

100% Game #21: Arcade Archives - Art of Fighting

 

 

Difficulty: 6/10

Excitement Rating: 4/10

 

I will have to admit, I missed out entirely on the era of arcades due to being far too young to take advantage. The only arcade cabinets I actually played were ones at movie theaters and pizza places, when arcades were quickly on their way out in the late 1990s, early 2000s. Art of Fighting I had never seen anywhere, this must of been a game that was only available in some places. Compared to Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken and Virtua Fighter, Art of Fighting is far more niche.

 

Take it from me. This game is hard. The Arcade Archives version is already bad enough, even with modern conveniences such as settings you can easily tweak. You will not get these conveniences in the Art of Fighting Anthology collection. SNK games are known for being cheap and downright brutal. 

 

For an old game from 1992, Art of Fighting has pretty good graphics and the fighting looks pretty solid, but that's about it. This isn't Street Fighter 2 that appealed to a mass audience, nor is it Mortal Kombat that was violent yet easy to get a hold of. Even on the Arcade Archives version, I struggled with getting all the trophies. Art of Fighting 2 was a lot worse, which I will talk about when the time comes for me to cover it.

 

A fighting veteran who used to visit these forums once said this was one of the hardest fighters he ever played. He is not kidding. Art of Fighting, solid graphics, good music, but a hell of a game to try to get through.

[AJ_Radio]

Platinum #270: Middle Earth: Shadow of War (March 19th, 2021)

 

 

Difficulty: 3/10

Excitement Rating: 7.5/10

Estimated Time to Platinum: 25 - 30 Hours

 

Hardest Trophy: Such Great Heights ( Reach the rank of Captain in Online Conquest )

 

 

This was a game that sat collecting dust on my bookshelf for a few years until I finally chose to tackle it for myself. I paid the full $60 for the game back in late 2017 when it released, and another $20 - 30 for the Season Pass deal which included both story DLCs. Amidst the controversy regarding the lootboxes, I decided to hold this one off for quite a long while. The game in its current state is much better than it was a few years ago, thanks to changes to completely remove the lootboxes out of the game to try to speed up game progress, which I generally despise.

 

We all know J.R.R. Tolkien's work, so I'm not even going to go into any detail regarding the universe this game takes place in. Story wise, it picks up right where Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor left off. Talion and Celebrimbor move on in their quest to stop the threat that is Sauron. We know all of the rings, which Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy covered in great detail. For this game specifically, a new ring is forged to try to fight Sauron and his forces. Throughout the adventure, Talion finds himself allying with unlikely friends and being cut off from those he put his full trust in. 

 

The Nemesis System that was introduced in Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor has been expanded upon in Shadow of War. New races are now part of the system, including Ologs, giant humanoid beings with exceptional strength. In addition to your Captains and Warchiefs, you have Overlords, who are the leaders of a particular region and fortress. Taking over a fortress and claiming it as you own takes a lot of work, as you need to brand Captains and Warchiefs respectively to give yourself an edge. You can set up a series of attacks against the fortress to reduce its defenses. On the flip side, you may also have to defend your fortresses. Warchiefs represent the tools you need to make offensive attacks or have better defense as long as you have the supplies.

 

There is more going on in this game than there was in its predecessor. A band of humans have taken up arms, and you will be helping out a lot of them as opposed to helping out the odd human. Characters such as Gollum make a return, and there are several new faces that you will be interacting with. For Talion, stopping the Uruk threat is top priority.

 

You have multiple regions this time around, each with their fortresses and band of Captains/Warchiefs/Overlords. An important turn in the story involves the Nazgul, but I don't want to reveal too much because I would be mentioning spoilers.

 

Shadow of War stays faithful to the Nemesis System and retains many of the game mechanics that Shadow of Mordor introduced. Dominating and mounting a Caragor, then killing a Uruk soldier in stealth never gets old. There are new beasts as well. The developers did a fine job working on this game, even if many people were turned away from the controversy regarding the lootboxes.

 

The two DLC story packs were nothing outstanding. They were adequate. Eltariel has powers of her own that give her an edge over the Uruk. Baranor however has no such powers. His story was a bit more difficult for me because you have to play thru it while only having one life. It's not as daunting as it sounds, as Baranor himself gets a series of upgrades and weapons that allow him to kill Uruks and Ologs alike with ease.

 

An enjoyable experience while it lasted. Act 4, The Shadow Wars, was significantly shorter than I expected, as you have to defend a series of fortresses against Uruk threats. The multiplayer in this game isn't true multiplayer, as you are simply going up against opposing player fortresses based on your rating. There were no trophies for this game that were as daunting as The Hunt is My Mistress from Shadow of Mordor, which is a good thing.

 

Is this series finished? Who knows. All I know is I enjoyed my time with it.

Edited July 20, 2021 by AJ_Radio