Games You've Beat in 2013

[toxicitizen]

Trials Evolution: Gold Edition.

 

Man, going back to Trials was fucking brutal after having played a lot of Joe Danger recently. You can't rely on checkpoints when going for gold medals because every retry counts as a fault and at first I kept wanting to press A to boost up steep hills. This game is so much damn fun, though. It's hard to get frustrated at it even when faced with repeated failure.

 

So, I beat the Evolution campaign and earned the Trials trophy, which triggered the end credits. I got all the gold medals on the earlier sets of levels but holy shit the last few get crazy difficult. Once you beat it, you unlock the ability to earn platinum medals on all the tracks but man, getting gold was challenging enough. I can't imagine pulling too many of those off. I'm actually kinda shocked that the game awarded me two of them right away.

 

The game also includes all the levels from Trials HD. I completed them up to the extreme ones.  Those are just fucking impossible at my current skill level. 

 

But yeah, I really loved the game. I'll probably keep playing it on and off until Trials Fusion comes out. Which is probably not going to be anytime soon.

[CorgiShinobi]

Oh, so hey, I got that Killer is Dead game and beat it.

 

Honestly, what the game comes down to is, "Do I like Suda 51's style?" If not, this is going to be one of those average games because the story just barely makes sense and the characters are either annoying or one-dimensional. You're going to get more personality out of the victims and villains, which isn't necessarily bad since the game focuses on them.

 

The rest is up to your preference. The game, much like other Suda 51 games, does the occasional "4th wall" moment where the main character knows he's in a game. Yeah, in my opinion, it's not as cool as it was back in No More Heroes. Suda tries to throw in symbolism, but it feels more lazy or an excuse simply to have a game that plays rather fun and nothing else. Sometimes the fights don't play as well due to all the different mechanics at work in combat, but it's the one memorable thing about the game.

 

I've only completed the game on Normal, so there's always the higher difficulties. Not too motivated, even with some of the trophies hanging around. Like I said before, sometimes the fights can feel broken. The final boss for example, much like with other bosses too, is that even when the health bar is empty, you have to go through certain motions before the battle can progress. I don't mean just the Killer move, but a certain scenario will have to play out.

 

I guess i could also talk about the beauties, a.k.a. the Gigolo missions. You really only have to do enough to get all of your sub-weapons, and a little more for the trophies. Scarlett is a little different in that you do her challenges, which are actually good. Otherwise, unless you love to see suggestive video game sex, there's nothing more. I just wish they wouldn't bug you on your missions, and if you leave them alone for too long, they'll start to complain all the time.

 

MONDO YOU MAN WHORE!

[MetalCaveman]

Gears of War: Judgment. It was fun. better than Gears 3 IMO.

 

 

I wonder if the sequel will mention/focus on what happened to Sofia, would be interesting.

 

[toxicitizen]

The Last of Us.

 

Shit, man. What a game. Ending kinda feels like a gut punch but, like, a warm and fuzzy gut punch. This is definitely my GOTY so far and, honestly, I doubt anything else coming this year will top it. 

 

I kind of want to make a "Citizen Kane of gaming" joke here but I feel like the fact that people say shit like that seriously is funnier than anything I could ever come up with. Anyway, now I actually kinda hope that Naughty Dog's PS4 project isn't a new Uncharted game. If this is what happens when they're allowed to do whatever they want, then I want more of it. 

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

If this is what happens when they're allowed to do whatever they want, then I want more of it

 

 

What makes you think the Uncharted games aren't "whatever they want?"

 

I assume we'll see the same cycle of a new IP series every generation.

[Hot Heart]

Now we have to ask you the all-important question...

 

 

How many of the doctors did you kill?

 

[toxicitizen]

What makes you think the Uncharted games aren't "whatever they want?"

 

I assume we'll see the same cycle of a new IP series every generation.

 

Because when a series is as successful as Uncharted, there's always going to be publisher pressure to make sequels over trying new things. I would also expect a team to want to make something different when they've been doing the same thing for an entire generation. Naughty Dog used to be a one team studio but expanded after Uncharted 2, probably as a compromise between the two. Of course, this is all assumption on my part. You might well be correct that they wanted to make U3 as much as they wanted to make TLoU. I'm slightly skeptical, though. I felt like U3 was missing something.

 

Now we have to ask you the all-important question...

 

 

How many of the doctors did you kill?

 

Lol.

Just the one that pulled the scalpel on me. I didn't see the triangle prompt right away, though, so I almost shot them all. But man, the music playing during that run for the elevator had me expecting to be gunned down in a cutscene every time I turned a corner.

 

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

U3 was not U2 but then again no games are. I thought that U3 really wrapped things up for Scully's and Drake's relationships so I can definitely see them as wanting to make that game.

[toxicitizen]

I guess. I mean, I can imagine that you don't make something like Uncharted without loving the hell out of your characters. I just can't help but feel cynical towards short dev cycles.

[Mr. GOH!]

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.

 

I appreciate what it tries to do, but it falls short in so, so many ways. The story is creepy; I'd give it about 7/10 as a horror narrative, and the writing quality is fantastic for video game prose. The game, though, the game! It just is not there. The gameplay consists of walking, hitting obvious buttons, and running from monsters maybe four times.

 

Furthermore, the environments are repetitive and ugly. What a missed opportunity for environmental storytelling! Even with limited resources and ugly assets, Fallout 3 was far better at telling stories through area design.

 

All that said, I completed it and did not hate it. It overstayed its welcome just a tad. If you like horror and have 4 or 5 hours to kill, it might be worth it. Wait until it's really cheap in a Steam sale, though.

[Thursday Next]

Killzone: Mercenaries. Completed the main campaign last night. It was pretty tough for me, but then I'm not the greatest gamer ever. The challenge mode is brutal, that's gonna take some time to get through, but it never feels unfair. Also love that there are multiple ways to handle most sections, with stealth or guns blazing being equally valid options.

 

This game is great all round. Tight controls, online is slick, looks fantastic, story line is ok. But, you know, it's an FPS not war and peace... A really great FPS regardless of platform.

[CrowKnow]

Saints Row 3 and Driver San Francisco

 

SR3 was a blast, dialogue was great.  Ended up playing all of the side missions though they definitely dragged on towards the end, especially the Genki Bowl stuff since you had to unlock it all sequentially. Looking forward to eventually playing 4 and probably 2 before that.  

 

Driver was good,  the climax wasn't amazing considering all the build up but, it was good enough.  May have just been me but, by chapter 2-3 all the dares/challenges/collectables became extremely repetitive.  The shift mechanic by then also became kinda stale as you were either a) not able to use it b) shifting into cars in the other lane to take out cars in yours.  Ended up putting the game on hold for a few months and just got back into it focusing only on the gold/story missions.  

[Mr. GOH!]

The Last of Us.

 

I respect the ending, though I found the last encounters to be fairly easy. 

 

Any plans for a sequel? 

 

 

Ellie has GOT to know Joel is lying. If not, she'll find out when the Fireflies come calling.

 

[Hot Heart]

 

Ellie has GOT to know Joel is lying. If not, she'll find out when the Fireflies come calling.

 

 

 

I'm thinking she does. That hesitation before "OK" is her accepting what he must have done

 

[Mr. GOH!]

GTA V. Fun game, but it feels like the characters' journeys (especially Franklin's) aren't over.

 

 

I chose C, because fuck Devin Westin. If I replay the others just to see them, will I be stuck watching the credits again?

 

[TheMightyEthan]

GTA V. I liked it a lot. One thing I thought it lacked though was a sense of moving up in the (criminal under-) world that previous GTA's have had.

 

[Strangelove]

Also GTAV. I guess Ill go back to KHHD, at lest till Beyond comes out.

 

Shit, this game may have longer ending credits than AC3....

Edited September 26, 2013 by Strangelove

[Luftwaffles]

Shit, I'm only 50% of the way through. 

[TheMightyEthan]

I beat the game at 70%.

 

Also, Strangelove, I skipped the credits and had no obvious negative consequences.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I don't think I could skip the credits even if I knew there was no benefit to watching them, I just couldn't take the risk that something won't happen. I always just move my stick around to stop it sleeping and don't press any buttons. Some have cool interactive credits, but generally I'm just wasting my time and I know it, and even worse sometimes they're so long they actually start to annoy my and taint the good feeling of finishing the game.

[Strangelove]

Yeah, I dunno, I couldnt skip them in the first few seconds, so I didnt try until a half hour later. Oh well. I finished at 60%.

Also, I never got any rampage missions. Its supposed to be a skull on my map right? Is it because I didnt do the right "?" missions? Or maybe I didnt do enough. I only started 2. Didnt finish them either.

[TCP]

How long did it take you guys to get to the end of GTAV?

[TheMightyEthan]

It took me about 40 hours.

 

I waited 15-20 minutes before skipping the credits, cause normally I'm paranoid about it too.

[Mr. GOH!]

Strangelove: There's a "?" mission that unlocks the subsequent rampage mini-missions. But this convo should be in the GTA V thread.

[TCP]

Finished GTA V last night.

 

 

Did anyone even pick option A or B? I sort of expected option C to end with Franklin dying, which I was OK with, I thought Michael and Trevor were better characters. Hopefully if they do some DLC taking place after the game they use option C as the canonical ending.