Games You've Beat in 2015

[IDDQD]

 

A color filter can give a game a really unique visual identity when used properly (like in DXHR) but, as it tends to do with everything, the internet just goes full retard and indiscriminately shits on the entire concept without any consideration to how well it was actually used. Same thing with lens flare and chromatic aberrations. Both effects can add something when used properly, but as soon as they're there some people will just complain no matter what.

I don't want devs to hold back their artistic vision to cater to graphics snobs, those assholes can usually mod that shit out anyway. Besides, I'm not convinced a perfectly clean picture looks necessarily better. Imperfections like chromatic aberration can actually help add a subtle illusion of photorealism to it. I mean, I never really noticed it in Alien: Isolation unless I was actively looking for it, but I thought the game looked better for its inclusion.

Yeah, totally. In Alien Isolation that filter fit perfectly, because it gave it an extra-retro look, like it was displayed on actual CRT monitor. Though I'm gonna be one of those people and say that sometimes effects like these are unnecessary and are put in the game solely because they are a novelty. For example, I don't think fantasy games, like Lords of The Fallen or Bloodborne needed the same chromatic-whatever effect, because what's the purpose? On the other hand, it's not something worth making a big fuss about, so yeah, whatever. As long as they don't put some technicolor disco vomit on the screen, I'm good with such novelties.

 

Anyway, don't worry, Human Revolution didn't lost it's touch because of that grapical change. It was simply toned down a bit, but it's still there. From what you can hear in one of the creators's commentaries scattered around the levels (another good reason to play Director's Cut, by the way), this was a very important part of visual design, so I guess they wouldn't get rid of it completely.

 

As for the other graphical improvements:

Mind elaborating on that?

I think character models are slightly better and you can spot some new textures here and there, but most of the work was put into lightning engine and colors, giving the game more natural look and better contrast in lot of areas, which in the vanilla game were soaked in that orange tint. Some shaders also seemed to look better, but I'd have to check out the original to make sure about that. Overall, graphics in DC are much more sharp and polished.

[TheMightyEthan]

Never Alone.

 

All the Inuit culture stuff was neat, but the game itself wasn't very good and it kind of ran like ass.  It's basically a puzzle platformer with super clunky platforming controls.  Of all the times I died or missed a jump I only felt like it was my fault maybe 25% of the time.

[Mister Jack]

A friend of mine bought Mortal Kombat X for the PS4 and we spent yesterday going through the story mode, so I guess in that sense we "beat" it.  It's hard to talk about without giving stuff away so I'll put my opinion in spoilers.

 

 

The new characters work out better than I expected for the most part, and I can't really think of any newcomers that I felt were wasted character slots. However, several of the classic characters are killed off during the story including Baraka, Mileena, and even Quan Chi, so when we get the inevitable MK XI it's going to feel weird without them  The characters killed in MK9 are still dead, too, and with Quan Chi's death any hope of reviving them is probably gone for good with the exception of Jax, who was lucky enough to get resurrected before Quan Chi bit the dust. The story itself was cheesy as ever, but I always thought that side of Mortal Kombat was kind of endearing, like a kung-fu B-movie or something.  I was also happy to see Johnny Cage and his family replace the late Liu Kang and Kung Lao as the heroes of Earthrealm, since Cage was my favorite character in MK9.

 

 

Oh, it also bears mentioning that this game probably has the goriest fatalities in the history of the entire franchise.  I thought it couldn't get any bloodier after Noob Saibot in MK9, but they outdid themselves with this one.  I love it.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Mister Jack

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I finished the story of Lego City Undercover yesterday, it was my first lego game and was great fun. I was only at around a quarter completion and while I'm not going to try and 100% get everything I will definitely play through the main missions again now I've got all the abilities and have a run around the city and complete the more obvious things.

 

I was surprised how much there was to do - loads of side missions like races, speed free running etc. and almost every building has some way you can interact with it, to climb or find a way inside and the map was cool, there's mini versions of different US cities and it really is open world you can go everywhere right off the bat.

 

What are the other lego games like? I know they get decent reviews but I don't really know what sort of gameplay they have, and are all the different franchises the same genre?

[TheMightyEthan]

I don't know how to tell you what it's like, but Lego Marvel is great.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I played Papo & Yo today. I liked it, but it didn't resonate with me to the extent I thought it would. Not much else to say about it really.

 

I also beat a few other games in the recently so I may as well mention them. Finished more games this last month or so than probably all of last year. Possibly spurred on by me wanting to get a PS4.

 

I don't think I mentioned I finished unfinished swan. That was OK, I'd certainly had enough of it by the end so I was glad it was short.

 

First off I played ICO for the first time. I really enjoyed it though the monsters were in it more than I expected. Any more and it would have really ruined the game for me. One thing I found a strange choice was, the game had a timeless feel to it like any legend should, including most of the technology - but then they put in iron pipes and one or two of the lifts had a really industrial feel to them and it really jarred with the rest of the feel.

 

I beat Uncharted 2 and 3 back to back. I definitely preferred 2, I hate to say it but it felt more cinematic and on a much grander scale, the set pieces were much better (I really didn't like the ship junk yard, for example) 3 felt a lot smaller and shorter by comparison and ended very abruptly when I only felt like I was about two thirds of the way through.

 

On the 3DS I finished Professor Layton and the Azran Legancy. It's the last of the six mainline games so I'm done with the series now. It was certainly a roller coaster ride and there were a few plot twists in there that I didn't expect at all. It was kind of like Sixth Sense where I want to go through the entire series and see if what I know now ties into all the games (definitely won't be doing that though - I don't think the games are really replayable as much as I enjoy them) I also preferred the selection of puzzles this time and didn't seem to get as frustrated with as many of them. Sad to think there's no more of them to come.

 

Pretty pleased with myself with all that lot done. Still a scary amount of games in my backlog I haven't even touched though...

[toxicitizen]

Another 10-ish hours "speedrun" later and...



Finally got Foxiest of the Hounds! Turns out the game isn't too long if you beeline the main objectives and ignore most of the side-quests. I could've probably even cut that 10 hours down a bit since I got sidetracked quite a few times to get some Praxis kits.

I'm still not sure where I screwed up the first time. The only thing I did differently this time around was focusing on ghosting more, I never took out anyone unless I had no choice. I probably only knocked out half a dozen people or so throughout the entire game. I have to assume that's how I got screwed over last time. I must've left a body somewhere I shouldn't have and it triggered an alarm when I was too far to hear it.

Oh well, that definitely scratched the Deus Ex itch the Mankind Divided announcement gave me. The wait should be a bit more bearable now.

Edited April 19, 2015 by FLD

[TheMightyEthan]

Assassin's Creed Unity: Dead Kings.

 

I actually liked the mission designs for this more than for the main game overall.  Or rather, they were all the types of missions that I like, ones involving more stealth, assassination, etc.  Can't stand up to Freedom Cry, but I guess that's to be expected since Unity can't stand up to ACIV.

[Thursday Next]

Platinumed Danganronpa 2. Screw you rng item drop trophy bastards.

[SomTervo]

 

Welp, it's the first Souls game I've ever finished (having played DeS and DaS a lot but never having the grit to follow through), and yes it's phenomenal. It actually felt easy by the end, and I finished the last couple of bosses without dying. Go figure.

 

I wasn't sure what to expect from the ending, and I shouldn't have expected anything. These games aren't about the story, even if some story is present. There are several endings, too, with no direction on how to get each one. Basically you finish the boss for your ending, and the game just goes 'well done you, now try again' and plonks you right back at the start for NG+. No pomp or circumstance about it.

 

I immediately started a new character with a new skill build and sunk another three hours in, defeating the first two bosses with one life. Can't remember the last game that made me feel like starting over the instant I finished.

 

Negatives: there aren't many, except that the breadth of options and freedom of playstyles from Souls is very much missing. In Souls you could go range, armour, shield, agile, magic or traditional. The areas were often hugely open and would connect to two or three others at once. In Bloodborne there's basically a handful of weapons, which all play very differently, and it's all close combat. The areas are far smaller, but quite a lot denser (and I think there's more of them than Souls but about 60% of Bloodborne is optional and I missed a lot of it.) I suppose it's a nice change though, it doesn't feel like a fantasy RPG anymore, it just feels like a great dark-action adventure game.

 

 

This was also really, really good. I can't say it was great because of Telltale's penchant for not fully committing to player agency - but this game put it across far better than The Walking Dead did in many ways. For one thing, the noir crime procedural style works really well in its favour. Unlike TWD where each choice and situation is basically unique, in TWAU there's a real sense that 'asking the right questions' will get you where you need to go. Yet you'll inevitably mess up and have a lot of salty relationships by the end.

 

Some of the game choices are terrific though, and real head-scratchers. Some excellent twists and great characters and great writing. All round good times.

 

Why the hell is the performance so shitty, though? There's just no excuse at this stage. So much juddering and slow load times for really simple cel shaded graphic (albeit some nice lighting).

 

 

First off I played ICO for the first time. I really enjoyed it though the monsters were in it more than I expected. Any more and it would have really ruined the game for me. One thing I found a strange choice was, the game had a timeless feel to it like any legend should, including most of the technology - but then they put in iron pipes and one or two of the lifts had a really industrial feel to them and it really jarred with the rest of the feel.

 

I beat Uncharted 2 and 3 back to back. I definitely preferred 2, I hate to say it but it felt more cinematic and on a much grander scale, the set pieces were much better (I really didn't like the ship junk yard, for example) 3 felt a lot smaller and shorter by comparison and ended very abruptly when I only felt like I was about two thirds of the way through.

 

Pretty pleased with myself with all that lot done. Still a scary amount of games in my backlog I haven't even touched though...

 

Great to hear these opinions, Gerbil. Glad you liked Ico so much - my gf couldn't really get into it and I know of a lot of people who really didn't like it. It hasn't aged as well as Shadow of the Colossus, which is the true classic and a masterpiece on par with MGS3 and Silent Hill 2.

 

Also, yes, Uncharted 2 is the best in that series so far. That's also the only one which is a masterpiece, UC1 and 3 being nice, but very flawed adventures.

 

I'm proud of how much I've been getting done of my backlog, too! I'll be playing almost exclusively Xbox 360 games for the next month... he says in hope

 

 

Assassin's Creed Unity: Dead Kings.

 

I actually liked the mission designs for this more than for the main game overall.  Or rather, they were all the types of missions that I like, ones involving more stealth, assassination, etc.  Can't stand up to Freedom Cry, but I guess that's to be expected since Unity can't stand up to ACIV.

Yeah, I was digging the level design of Dead Kings far more, too. I need to finish it but I don't really consider DLC as part of my backlog, so it's not a priority.

Edited April 20, 2015 by kenshi_ryden

[TheMightyEthan]

I consider that type of mini-expansion DLC part of my backlog, but that one actually didn't qualify because I don't put games I got for free on my backlog (otherwise it would be full of PS+ games that I likely will never play).  There's another exception to that rule though, which is that if I got it as a gift from an actual human being who picked it for me specifically then it goes in the backlog.

[SomTervo]

That 'free or gift' aspect is a good backlog DLC distinction.

 

I've started basing my backlog commitment entirely around whether I feel guilty about not finishing a game or not. For example, I feel guilty for not having finished Spec Ops: The Line or Skyrim or Spider-man: Web of Shadows. They're things I immensely enjoyed but never put the time in to finish. So they are fully part of my backlog and I'm working on them - and enjoying doing so.

 

However, games like Dead Island, Saints Row 3 or Ninja Gaiden Sigma – these I got a satisfactory amount of enjoyment from already. I had more than enough of a good time to warrant leaving them half-finished. (Dark Souls was in this category until I finished Bloodborne,, but now I'm determined to finish it since I've honed my skills in Yarnham.)

 

The Dead Kings DLC is in the latter category – I adored finishing AC Unity and mucked around in it a lot, so I feel like my cup hath runneth over with fun already. I don't feel guilty about not playing Dead Kings. (Helps that it was free as heck.)

[TheMightyEthan]

I take games out of the backlog once I feel like I'm done with them, regardless of whether I actually "finished" them or not.  For some games that means I've never even played it but I've realized I'm probably not ever going to and I'm okay with that.

[SomTervo]

I take games out of the backlog once I feel like I'm done with them, regardless of whether I actually "finished" them or not.  For some games that means I've never even played it but I've realized I'm probably not ever going to and I'm okay with that.

 

I guess that's a concise way of saying what I meant! For example Far Cry 4. I am so done with that game and would be fine with never picking it up again. Even though I was at 40% completion or so at 17 hours – I feel I've seen everything the game has to offer.

[IDDQD]

Do you guys keep your own backlog or do you use websites like howlongtobeat for that?

 

On topic, one of the recent playthroughs I did was combo: Jedi Outcast/Jedi Academy, pretty much fuelled by the hype for the next Star Wars movie. Though I feel like the former is a far more compelling experience, gameplay of the latter still manages to be amazing. It's also impressive how good they look after all these years. I long for another Jedi Knight game, but please, game developers, reproduce this specific combat system and do not ape god of war again, please.

 

Alas, the brand is in EA's hands now, so I guess we're shit out of luck.

[toxicitizen]

Do you guys keep your own backlog or do you use websites like howlongtobeat for that?

I manually keep a selected list in the spreadsheet I use to keep track of the games I beat. I have two lists: a longer, more general one for long-term stuff and a shorter priority list for stuff I'd like to get done in the near future. I used to have a category called "Backlog" in my Steam library but I recently got rid of it. I barely ever looked in it so all it accomplished was making me forget about some games entirely.

[TheMightyEthan]

I keep my own, in addition to the one Darkadia keeps for me.  Partially that's because I sometimes put things like DLC on there that Darkadia doesn't track as a separate game, and partially it's because I like to keep a bunch of data about it (like how long games are in my backlog before I remove them, etc).

 

*Edit - On the Xbone specifically I've started using the "pin to home" feature as a way to track games I'm not finished with yet, so every time I turn it on there's a list of games on the left reminding me to play them at some point.

Edited April 27, 2015 by TheMightyEthan

[Saturnine Tenshi]

My backlog is *gestures vaguely at Steam library*.

[toxicitizen]

XCOM: Enemy Within.

 

Man, this one was long overdue. I bought the expansion when it first came out because I fucking loved Enemy Unknown. But I was pretty busy with school at the time so I gave it a quick try, got my ass handed to me at the base defense and figured I'd give it another shot when I had more free time. Then I kinda forgot about it...

 

After a couple of botched starts I decided I just wanted to get through the new content at least once, so I swallowed my pride and turned off Ironman mode. I tried not to save scum too much but it's pretty hard not to hit that reload button when your best sniper gets killed because you're an idiot. I hadn't played in quite a while so it was still fun but it's nowhere near as satisfying as Ironman mode. And the game still suffers from that weird difficulty curve where it gets piss easy near the end, so at that point the missions were kinda boring. I could just throw all strategy out the window and still wipe the floor with the aliens. Next time I play, I'll definitely have to go back to Ironman Classic.

 

Anyway, overall it's still the same old XCOM, only now with super soldiers and MECs. The EXALT stuff adds a nice little extra distraction but after a while the missions get kinda repetitive and the final assault on the EXALT base was kind of anticlimactic. You can kinda tell it wasn't given the same kind of attention as the main story missions.

 

It was pretty fun to give the game a replay but we really need a sequel announcement soon. Since Civ: Beyond Earth is out, hopefully that means it's Firaxis' next project.

[SomTervo]

Just finished Spec Ops: The Line

 

 

I feel like an asshole

[TheMightyEthan]

Yep, that'll happen.

[TCP]

Just beat a little gem of a game called Shovel Knight. It was fantastic! 

[toxicitizen]

Broken Age.

 

I know it's all the rage to shit on Double Fine these days, and Act 2 got a rather negative reception for some reason, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. Act 2 was a bit more obtuse with the puzzles but overall I thought it was on par with other DF games like Costume Quest, Stacking and the likes. Not mind-blowingly great or anything but still very fun and enjoyable with some funny writing. It's not as good as Grim Fandango, though. Not even close.

[SomTervo]

 

Well, this has been a few years coming... Owned it since about 2011 or so. Another good title struck from the backlog.

 

Really fun game. It didn't get great reviews because it's rough as fuck, and the budget was clearly stretched to a hair's breadth. The draw distance is tiny and it gets fairly grim frame rate drops even on 360 and PS3 (it was crossplat with PS2 et al, too). Spider-man is written okay and the story is actually really good, but most of the dialogue is agonizing, with bad VA on the whole, bar a couple of great characters.

 

The combat and sandbox, though, is brilliant. It feels like the first combat system to really capture Spider-man's mobility and speed, with fights which range over whole blocks of Manhattan and really mess the city up in thrilling ways. Not to mention they fixed mid-air combat entirely. It's amazing, you use Y/triangle to zip towards an enemy to strike them, and it's developed to let you chain this zip attack onto other enemies. You can literally have five minute fights with Vulture's symbiote goons while a hundred feet above the nearest skyscraper.

 

So unpolished though, christ. The graphics and animations are pretty good, but the cutscenes are painfully choppy, side missions and even main missions disappear and reappear at random. When you finish the game, you don't just get to mess around in the sandbox - if you choose 'continue', it just takes you to the credits again. Haha! It's surreal. There's also a classic 'bad cutscene planning' bit where you fight one solitary guy on the SHIELD platform, then when it cuts to cutscene the thing is covered in soldiers battling symbiotes. It's just like "wha? There was no one there!"

 

Good game though, some great boss fights and brilliant web-slinging. It captures the energetic madness of the Marvel universe more than any superhero game yet, I think. It's really fun and has some phenomenal, cinematic fights which you are totally in control of.

Edited May 6, 2015 by kenshi_ryden

[Strangelove]

That game was really fun. I haven't liked a a Spider-Man game as much since Spider-Man 2 and I haven't liked anything after either.

But yeah , it's rough. The PS3 version had constant screen tearing, the voice acting is bad. Spider-Man's actor is fine, but his voice is annoyingly high. Graphics aren't great.

Also, the QTEs are really bad as far as QTEs go. I think this came out around the time QTEs were at the height of their popularity and every game had to have one.

And I can only assume that the animations for Spider-Man were from a previous game since that's about the only polished thing about it.

 

We really need another Spider-Man game of that quality. There's a hole that needs to be filled that only a Spider-Man game can fill. Even games where you can fly never made you feel as free in the air as a good Spider-Man. Only one close to it is the inFamous series as far as being in the sky and traversing around. Maybe even Lego Marvel. Other games have done it, but it never feels quite as right.

Sucker Punch would be ideal to make a new Spider-Man game.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Strangelove