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Games You've Beat in 2015


TheMightyEthan
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Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - New 'n' Tasty.

 

I went into this one really wanting to love it and, at first, I really didn't. I realize now that trying to play a puzzle platformer notorious for its difficulty while sleep-deprived was a terrible idea. Thankfully, that didn't turn me off the game entirely, so I gave it another shot after I slept a bit and I ended up loving the hell out of it!

 

I've never played the original, nor any of the other Oddworld games, so this was my first experience with the series. And man, they just don't make games like this anymore. This game just overflows with so much creativity, pretty much everything about its art design feels so unique and downright weird. I dunno, I'm having a hard time putting it into words but it was almost nostalgic, in a way. It kinda made me feel like a kid again. I'm really glad I picked it up and I really hope it sold well enough for them to remake Abe's Exoddus next. If they do, I'll be there day one.

 

In the meantime, I have to go back and replay the game to save all 299 Mudokons. Because if you miss even a single one, you get the bad ending. Normally, that would irritate the shit out of me but I'm not even mad. I'm actually glad to have an excuse to keep playing it.

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Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.

 

It's more of the same, really. Which is to say it's very, very good. The two main things people have criticized are the level design (levels tend to be bigger and more open) and the way the story limits which characters/masks you can use on any given level. Neither of those things got in the way of my enjoyment, so overall I'm pretty satisfied with it. I'd even argue that the bigger emphasis on plot made for some truly memorable missions, to an extent the original never quite managed to pull off. I still have no idea what the fuck was going on the entire time, though. And holy shit, that final mission was something else.

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You guys have been inspiring me to take another stab at P4G. I got to the part where that annoying girl and that annoying guy and I, all fell through a TV screen and then we talked to a bear. So far I haven't had much control over my character for more than 60 seconds. How much longer till the game gets a little more actiony?

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Two hours does require a good bit of patience when you get started, but keep in mind Ethan just said he finished a single playthrough at 95 hours, so it's not like you're being cheated out of actual gameplay like in The Order.  You just have to hang on until the long-ass intro is over.

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Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD.

 

It's alright. Definitely way better than you'd expect any handheld spin-off to be, that's for sure. After playing that Arkham Blackgate game last year, I was prepared for this one to be painfully mediocre but it actually feels and plays like a proper mainline AC game. Just on a smaller scale, with less content and lesser presentation. And that's where I thought the game suffered the most.

 

The story is kind of terrible. There's no proper introduction to who Aveline is, what her deal is or why she's an assassin. Missions just kinda start happening and for the first couple hours I wasn't quite sure what was going on or if the main plot had even started. I mentioned in my impressions of ACIII that I never felt like Connor belonged to or actually gave a shit about about the Assassin brotherhood and this was very similar, but somehow worse. The only other assassin in the game is Aveline's mentor and he's kind of a gigantic asshole for no discernible reason. Seriously, every single scene he was in just made me dislike him more. Whenever he said something, I instantly disagreed regardless of what it was about because, hey, fuck you, asshole!

 

But overall, it's still Assassin's Creed so the gameplay was as compelling as it's always been. And it was kinda nice to play an AC game that didn't require me to invest 30+ hours into it. I did most of the side-missions but I was still able to power through the entire thing in a single week-end. And, more importantly, next time I feel like playing another AC game: it's fucking Black Flag time!

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I mentioned in my impressions of ACIII that I never felt like Connor belonged to or actually gave a shit about about the Assassin brotherhood and this was very similar, but somehow worse.

 

 

As someone who beat AC3 recently I can tell you that this is actually part of the story. He doesn't really feel a connection the same way old black dude did. Do you not remember how often they'd argue with each other?

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Yeah, in my original post my issue wasn't so much with Connor himself or his attitude but rather with how the Assassins as an organization didn't really have much of a presence in the events of ACIII. Like, the Ezio trilogy feels like a golden age for the brotherhood by comparison.

 

In AC3, Connor's enemies just happened to be Templars, there was no reason for Connor himself to be an Assassin other than it was an Assassin's Creed game. The Assassins vs Templars theme wasn't actually relevant to the plot, it was just kinda layered on top of it because it had to be.

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Been having a hard time trying to find the free time for my games lately, but I finally spent a whole day to beat Dragon Age. Finished all the side quests, killed all the dragons, and unlocked all the discoveries. My first playthrough I was a human rogue. I usually play as a mage in these games, but I really liked the rogue build, ended up going with assassin as the final tier. I liked that they offered a bit more variety in custom weapon and armor forging, too. I'm not terribly fond of how lackluster the original designs for your main character were, though. Felt like they half assed the customizations on that part. Going to go back and play through as a qunari I think.

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Taking into account the usual caveats re: vested interests and such. Battlefield Hardline. Played through on easy, collected all evidence, arrested all baddies. It's actually really rather good. There's a Batman detective mode gadget, some decent stealthiness, options to run and gun, or skip swathes of baddies at will. The whole thing plays like a TV show. To the point where when you quit you get a "Next time on..." with some clips of what's to come, and when you next start the game you get a "Previously on..." which is actually a nice refresher of the latest plot points. The cast is pretty good. Aceveda (of The Shield fame) is brilliant.

 

I think that the multiplayer sits in an uncomfortable mid point between being not as "flow"-ish as CoD/Titanfall, but lacking the scissors/paper/stone tactical play of proper BF titles. That said, "Blood Money" is a great mp mode, loads of fun to be had there. SMGs (MP5 and the criminal equivalent) are way OP.

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Resident Evil: Revelations 2.

 

Or I guess Biohazard: Revelations 2, as my copy's main menu keeps insisting. They actually put the wrong depot up for the Steam version. It says Biohazard and everything, there's even a couple of splash screens with nothing but Japanese text on them. Seriously, how do you fuck this up?

 

Anyway, I played the last episode tonight. Overall, it was pretty decent. It really doesn't compare to the mainline series in terms of visuals, production values and just overall quality, but for a 25$ spin-off it's not bad at all. I'm okay with a budget title for a spin-off but Resident Evil 7 proper better step things back up.

 

Looking back, some of the episodes were kinda meh and the episodic format didn't really work. It's obvious the game was done, so releasing it weekly was completely arbitrary. The problem is that the plot is rather poorly constructed in regards to the format. So, the first couple episodes kinda felt like two hours of nothing happening and then a cliffhanger. The writing isn't all bad, though. If you're a long-time fan of the series' lore and history, there's a ton of fan service to be found. Barry in particular might as well just have cheese pouring out of his mouth whenever he opens it. "Who's the master of unlocking now?!" he exclaims after using a crane to smash through a big metal gate. You are, Barry. You most definitely are.

 

As for the gameplay, the movement and speed felt a lot like RE6 but a little bit tighter. The combat isn't as deep as in RE6 but I didn't really mind that. RE6 got a really stupid with its combat, so I'm glad to see things scaled back a bit. No, I do not want to punch through half a dozen zombies and follow that up with a suplex drop. Also, I've seen people praising the game about the survival aspect and talking about running out of ammo, but that wasn't my experience at all. Although, to be fair, I did replay the first couple episodes a bunch of times because it had achievements tied to Playfire Rewards. So, I got a lot of practice early on and ended up with a significant reserve of ammo and supplies.

 

But yeah, this was definitely worth my 40 bucks. Especially considering Raid mode, which could potentially keep me coming back to the game for a very long time. That being said, I'm ready for the next thing now, Capcom! Feel free to announce RE7 or that HD Remaster of RE Zero that everyone knows you're working on.

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Last night I beat and platinumed The Wolf Among Us. I thought it was pretty great, I liked it more than The Walking Dead, though they used almost the same exact voicecast so once you realized that Bluebeard = Lee and Beauty = Clementine, it was kind of distracting.

 

I ripped the Crooked Man's head off at the end, and now Snow is afraid of Bigby so if they come out with a season 2 I'll probably replay the end of the last episode and just push him down the well instead.

 

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