JANUARY Starlink: Battle For Atlas - I really rather enjoyed this. Yes, so it gets ridiculously repetitive if you're not sticking to the core storyline, since there are really only a handful of mission types that you can do outside of the main missions. The physical switching of weapons gets a little annoying late in the game too, since you find yourself switching things around for single instances of use… this would definitely work better in a digital environment. But the game's massive, it's beautiful and the gameplay is satisfying, so that's a plus. Platinum earned, all done.
JANUARY
Starlink: Battle For Atlas The Spectrum Retreat - Again, sadly. That final missing trophy for seeing both endings on the same save file (meaning you had to play through the whole game twice, even though it's exactly the same experience both times apart from the final 30 seconds) was annoying me, so I just did it. Took an evening, which is still an evening I could have spent doing something else. Didn't even have a Platinum. Gah. Done now though, so it's deleted and will never return to my PS4 hard drive.
I don't know what the latter means tbh, I don't even know what would make Mahjong 'real'. Same for everyone in FFXIV I'd wager, but I'm not complaining, it fits the expansion pack (Japanesey) and it seems fun.
JANUARY Hitman 2. Well, it's kind of hard to say when you're done with this seemingly never-ending sandbox of infinite possibilities, but I've completed all the Hitman 2 levels (as well as two of the legacy levels) and it rolled the credits so I guess that's technically 'completed'. Still nowhere near done, of course: I've got to get full mastery on Sgail, I've got four H1 levels to play, there's a sniper challenge map I've not even looked at, then a huge and ever-increasing number of escalations, featured contracts and timed events. Plus all the challenges and trophies I've not yet got, if I ever run out of stuff to do. And whatever insane challenges Ninchilla comes up with.
Mario & Rabbids
So that's me already finished more games this year than I managed last year. It's a great game, and much bigger than I expected, I think there must be about a hundred battles in the game. Now that I've finished it I already want to replay it but using different characters (there were a few levels where I felt that my Mario/Luigi/Rabid Mario combo was basically cheating) so that's a pretty good sign. I still have a bunch to do though, some battles to get perfect on, some challenges and hidden levels.
I'm stuck on the (mid?) boss of the spooky area; I think I need to re-evaluate my team (Mario, Rabbid Luigi, Rabbid Peach), but I've not been back to it in ages so I'm gonna be rusty.
The Donkey Kong DLC is pretty great too, and if you got the Gold edition of the game then that's included in there too. The co-op levels in the main game are neat too and the multiplayer is surprisingly fully-featured. There's a lot more in there than would appear initially.
Mahjong (/mɑːˈdʒɒŋ/ mah-JONG, Mandarin: [mǎ.tɕjâŋ]) is a tile-based game that was developed in China during the Qing dynasty and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. Similar to the Western card game rummy, it's a game of skill, strategy, and calculation and involves a degree of chance.
I’ve seen my parents-in-law playing Mahjong with their friends and the combination of furiously clacking tiles and over-excited Chinese pensioners means the only word I could use to describe it is “loud”.
Is it basically like Bridge in that it starts off okay, but by the next day everyone's accusing each other of cheating and refusing to talk to each other in the communal TV room?
A classic case of ‘there’s plenty left to do, but it made me watch credits, so I guess it counts?’ Besides the new challenges there’s also DLC to play, and there still seems to be an online community, so it seems I’ll be playing this for a while yet, which is very much fine by me.
JANUARY
Starlink: Battle For Atlas
The Spectrum Retreat A Rubik's Cube - My 6yr-old nephew was apparently told I'm an expert at solving Rubik's Cubes, so he brought his round last night. I have never solved a Rubik's Cube. I have now. Best. Uncle. EVER.
Well, I've sort of completed it I guess - I've finished the story, unlocked New Game + and a bunch of other stuff, but it's the kind of game that never ends: there's clearly another ending for completing more (all?) of the side missions, plus an absolute shit ton of DLC, some of which is integrated into the main game world and some of which exists as separate stories accessed from the main menu. Then there's 200+ Riddler trophies and dozens upon dozens of AR missions that I don't even really know how to access. Safe to say there's plenty more to do.
And that's kind of the theme of Arkham Knight all over: absolutely no restraint at any stage, and often a bit too complex for its own good. I never quite got to grips with the combat system, it starts you off with too many gadgets and no real clues on how to use them then you unlock more and more as the game progresses. I've finally got to grips with how to use the electrical charge in combat to take out the bastards with stun guns but there's a whole level of extra complexity involving the batclaw and the batarang that I've not really worked out at all. The special moves leave me fumbling for multi-button combos which are never really intuitive, environmental takedowns are hit and miss and I'm sure Batman would never be so easily defeated by someone simply carrying a car door.
But it's still a great, atmospheric open world, the storyline is great and
Spoiler - click to showthe greatly expanded role for the Joker, taunting you at every step, was a real surprise and the best part of the whole thing. Mark Hamill completely knocks it out of the park on this one.
I think Arkham Asylum is probably still the best of this trilogy (although I haven't played Origins) simply because it has the best difficulty curve - you unlock Batman's skills as you progress and the complexity unveils itself organically rather than all in one go at the start. But this is better than Arkham City in every way really, and it's hard to see anyone ever doing a Batman game that does more justice to the character than this: it's really got everything plus the kitchen sink, and then another kitchen sink, and then a bunch more kitchen sinks for good measure.
First time I've played it since the original release and it totally holds up (inasmuch as it ever did in the first place). I'll post some more thoughts in the dedicated thread.
JANUARY
Starlink: Battle For Atlas
The Spectrum Retreat
A Rubik's Cube Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition - I've still got one section of DLC to go (the Year of the Snake bit) but, since that's really short and I've already got the Platinum for the main game, I'll mark this one as done. That's twice I've finished this now (once on PS3, once on PS4), and it's been great both times. Good story, good action, solid gameplay and a much more believable, alive world than GTA. It's also a lot darker than I remember it, especially towards the end when everything goes spectacularly tits up for everyone. Would recommend it, especially as it keeps appearing in sales for £4.
A beautiful, wonderfully-detailed, absorbing, overlong, tedious, fiddly game, which I actually largely really liked, but cannot imagine ever replaying, even if you paid me.
Guacamelee 2. Utterly stupid and completely brilliant, Juan's quest for the Sacred Guacamole kept us hooked to the end. We're jumping straight back in to try and get 100%, although some of those chicken challenges look tough.
Mario Golf World Tour
Red Dead Redemption 2 Titanfall 2
I liked that. A lot. Very good game. Great movement, actual variety and depth, and a real sense of empowerment made for a very entertaining 6-8 hours of game, and a wonderful return on a £4 investment.
Titanfall 2 is great. I read that they had lots of little teams, all thinking up random ideas that would be fun to play, then just stitched them together to create the campaign. It really shows (in a good way). It's a Mario Galaxy style toybox of ideas.
JANUARY
Starlink: Battle For Atlas
The Spectrum Retreat
A Rubik's Cube
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition Guacamelee 2 - Thanks to Gar, I ended up grabbing the DLC for this one which lasted all of about three hours to do. Then, because it was the only trophy still standing between me and the Platinum, I went through the game on Hard and finished it last night. Enjoyed it, but I'm totally Guacamelee'd out now. If there's a third one, it really needs to do something new and not just feel like an expansion for the first game.
Yep. I played Guacamelee 2 recently and enjoyed it a lot.
But my boy and I have now gone back to the first game for a two-player run through, and it's exactly the same. It's been a few years since I played it so I'd kind of forgotten most of it but jeez, it's the same powers unlocking in the same order in largely the same areas.
But my boy and I have now gone back to the first game for a two-player run through, and it's exactly the same. It's been a few years since I played it so I'd kind of forgotten most of it but jeez, it's the same powers unlocking in the same order in largely the same areas.
That was exactly my problem. Aside from the new chicken powers, GM2 does absolutely nothing new - it's the same pace, the same jokes, the same moves, the same combat, the same environments, pretty much all the same enemies bar a couple of additions. It feels like an expansion of GM1, not its own unique thing. If I'm playing the sequel to a game, then sure I should feel at home but equally, I should be made to learn new things, new ways of doing stuff. Here, because I'd absolutely rinsed GM1 and the Super Turbo Edition, there was no learning curve; I just jumped straight in and was battering enemies all over the place without any difficulty. Even the more challenging platforming sections weren't all that challenging.
I get it, the sequel isn't just for me, new people can dive in with no previous experience and it's great fun. But if you're familiar with the series, there should still be enough to pull you in that isn't just 'Oh, I liked that before, more of the same please'. Even the comedy doesn't feel as fresh the second time around, it's just familiar tropes and stuff you've seen before. And it's not even a bad experience, because it's a great game! That's why complaining about it just feels so… well, weird.
January February
Drowning - one of those walking Sims, you follow a very strict path whilst text appears along it which is a conversation a young boy has with his mental health as he progresses through secondary school
Mario Golf World Tour
Red Dead Redemption 2
Titanfall 2 God of War
After a slightly underwhelming start, I ended up really, really enjoying that. I'm still not entirely sure if the final balance sheet shows it as an accurate sum of it's many and varied parts, but it's a fine reboot of a series I've always enjoyed (both mechanically, and in terms of not feeling like I needed a shower after this one), sharing some similarities while adding a whole shedload of other stuff.
Mario Golf World Tour
Red Dead Redemption 2
Titanfall
God of War Yoku’s Island Express
The game’s finished, and I’ve unlocked all of the powers, opened all the chests, etc. There are a couple of things left to do, but the game flows less well when you’re not exploring it for the first time, making searching for things sometimes confusing and irritating (with the way the map works not necessarily helping), and the method for getting to awkward/secret places is seemingly just repetitive use of one (or two) of the game’s weaker mechanics, which sapped my enthusiasm a bit. On that basis I think I’m done for now, even if I might come back and try and Platinum it in the future. (I am still curious about one of the other secrets.)
Those minor gripes aside, it was a great little game, which I very much enjoyed. It has bags of charm, and was very nicely put together, making for a very nice change of pace.
Oh, no, I’m pretty sure I know how to get it (find all the Wickerlings, light all the lamps), I’m just curious as to what the hell that thing is.
I think it’s pretty much only that, activating the remaining scarabs (I must’ve missed an area or two, as I’ve got all the ones I can see), getting another wallet upgrade, and a couple of hidden trophies (I’m at 77%). I may go back when I get home (it’s off Marit’s PS4 now, but still on mine), especially if I stick to not starting anything substantial until I’ve made some progress on Chrono Trigger.
Can you die? Or do you mean drop down between the flippers?
Oh, you mean the counter thing? Counts the latter? Yeah, I’m still not sure what that was about. At one point it seemed to trigger something, but nothing seemed to come of it (yet).
Can you die? Or do you mean drop down between the flippers?
Yeah, the latter.
Oh, you mean the counter thing? Counts the latter? Yeah, I’m still not sure what that was about. At one point it seemed to trigger something, but nothing seemed to come of it (yet).
You might want to go find the place where the counter is then and talk to someone there.
I finished about four games last year, so this year I'm going to make a concerted effort to stick them out.
Pokemon Let's Go – Incredibly simple mechanically, but still great fun. Cutting it back to the original 150 did wonders for the collecting aspect. It went from 'there are 4000 of the bastards, what's the point' to 'Oooh I've already caught 70% of them… I might actually manage this.'
Shadow of the Tomb Raider – This seems to have been dismissed by a lot of people, which feels unfair. It's mechanically identical to the other two, but the core gameplay loop is great fun, and it's gorgeous to look at. Especially on One X where it runs at 60fps. The story is enjoyable Indiana Jones / Uncharted bobbins, too. I'll never get tired of archaeologists discovering cursed artifacts. The only thing the next one needs to do is drop the 'open world' aspect, and introduce a bit of location variety.
Yoku's Island Express – Wonderful little game. A bright, cheery, fantastic pallet cleanser.
Yakuza 0 – Good fun, but exhausted my enthusiasm for the series. I'll wait a month or two before attempting the next one.
JANUARY
Starlink: Battle For Atlas
The Spectrum Retreat
A Rubik's Cube
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition
FEBRUARY
Guacamelee 2
Rogue Aces The Gardens Between - Absolutely gorgeous-looking little puzzle game about friendship and loss. Sadly, the key word there is 'little'… each puzzle only has one solution and so aside from a few little secrets hidden around to discover, it's over before you know it. The thinking and imagination behind the design is apparent and a lot of work must have gone into it, but this falls very much into that weird category of games where I liked it a lot, but equally wonder if I'd have bothered with it if I didn't get it for free. There's a lot of games like that at the moment, where I don't feel that sense of satisfaction with them when they're over - they were just things I've done and while they were very lovely, I probably won't remember a thing about them in a few weeks time. That's probably just me though.
Pokemon Let's Go
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Yoku's Island Express
Yakuza 0
AstroBot Crackdown 3 Completely, definitely, entirely unironically one of the best games I've played in the last year. I'm genuinely shocked that people didn't fall head-over-heels with the sheer moment-to-moment joy of this game.
Ni No Kuni 2 A lovely game, slightly soured by the worst kind of difficulty spike. Until halfway through the game the battles are easy. Very, very easy. Impossible to fail easy. And then suddenly, you move to a new continent and the enemies are 20 levels above you. It went from being a refreshing, breezy change of pace to the usual JRPG grindy slog. Goodwill carried me through to the final boss, but then that thing was another 20 levels higher than my party. So I gave up and watched the ending on Youtube.
Spiderman Another game I deleted last night, without having finished. It does so much right – the story is interesting, the cutscenes are incredibly well done, the set pieces are up there with the best. But it misses too many beats to be considered a classic.
Combat is too light and floaty (a consequence of Spidey being lighter and… floatier than Batman, but it was always going to come off worse than Arkham Asylum). The open world is pointless. It provides you with the tools to stealth enemies (like Arkham) but then makes them redundant by a) giving every enemy hawk eyes, and b) not rewarding you for clearing a whole area quietly. If you do that, 4 more waves of enemies then spawn, one after the other, all having identified your location. (This isn't hyperbole, this is exactly what happens. It's always 4 more waves. And they're always immediately in combat mode, locked on to you.) So all you've achieved by stealthing the first wave is to waste ten minutes of your own time.
Mario Golf World Tour
Red Dead Redemption 2
Titanfall
God of War
Yoku’s Island Express Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall
Still fun, but showing its age a bit; I noticed a fair few glitches involving (sleeping) bodies disappearing when I was piling them up, and a generous amount of clipping through things. I'm also really bad for loading saves sometimes when playing these, so at times I really wished (more) that Daud wasn't a bit reformed, so that I could run through it as a murderous bastard, rather than doing my usual and trying to keep the Chaos low.
Death of the Outsider being a standalone makes more sense now too - this combined with Brigmore Witches is pretty much Dishonored 1.5, more of a pseudo-sequel than add-on DLC, so them taking that approach instead for Dishonored 2 seems reasonable.
Looking forward to getting Brigmore Witches done and then finally playing the sequel in the near future now.
Pokemon Let's Go
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Yoku's Island Express
Yakuza 0
AstroBot
Crackdown 3
Ni No Kuni 2
Spiderman
Mario Rabbids: Kingdom Battle Bit late with this one. I got to the final world last year, then stopped playing for absolutely no reason. Got around to finishing it off last night, and it's still as good as I remember. One of the best games on the Switch, for me. Is the Donkey Kong DLC worth buying?
Yes, the DLC is just as good as the main game. You have to use the pre-set party of DK, Cranky Kong and Rabbid Peach, and it's got its own skill tree so nothing carries across from the main game, but if you want more Mario & Rabbids, it's well worth the purchase.
I quite like the idea of a forced party set-up anyway. Takes away the choice paralysis I had, and presumably allows the devs to create some more tightly engineered levels, suited to your powers.
Having said that, the most fun I had in the base game was using Rabbid Mario to lure enemies towards him, then bonking them all with a crit hammer hit.
It's a sign of the game's great balance that I think I used every character at some point in my playthrough (and mixed it up even more when playing multiplayer). The only shame is that you have to use Mario at all times, though an all-Rabbid setup would probably be overpowered. You're right though in that Rabbid Mario is an absolute lunatic, and easily the most fun character to use.
I want a sequel immediately, and all the Rabbids in Smash Bros please.
JANUARY
Starlink: Battle For Atlas
The Spectrum Retreat
A Rubik's Cube
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition
FEBRUARY
Guacamelee 2
Rogue Aces
The Gardens Between
MARCH Gris - Gorgeous game. Longer than I imagined it would be too (not massive, but definitely longer than 'art' games like this usually are) and with lots of different mechanics to challenge. Missed a bunch of the secrets and achievements, so I could go back if I wanted to… but I won't, because I played on Steam and don't care for things like that with anything outside my PS4. Worth a look if you fancy something like that.
