GRcade

WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania. This started out fun but as I often find with wrestling games it became quite tedious as it went on. When it was fun it was great with some cool moments like throwing Andre the Giant off the top of Hell in a Cell but when tedium set in it became a chore the last challenge especially which was a gauntlet of standard matches against the entire roster of 38 wrestlers.

6/10

Max Payne - 7/10

So I played this when it first came out, 16 years ago, and remember it being mind blowing. The graphics looked so realistic, I distinctly remember being stood around in the playground at secondary school with friends looking in awe at screenshots in PC Gamer (We were the cool kids obviously) and the cinematic action was so ahead of anything else at the time. For whatever reason though I never got particularly far with it and its long remained an unfinished game in my backlog, like so many other old games I picked it up on Steam years back on the cheap and I thought it was probably about time I had a proper crack at it.

Honestly in terms of graphics and presentation it has aged about as well as you'd expect, none of that is helped by the various sound glitches I experienced and the glitches in cut scenes where NPC's would end up getting stuck in a piece of scenery or something. It does detract a little from the experience playing it today but I can remember just how impressive it was back in 2001. Despite those gripes it is still a lot of fun to play though, the combat is really solid, guns feel like they have some oomph and diving around corners in bullet time still feels brilliant. Its bloody hard though, doesn't take much for enemies to kill you and later on when the game is absolutely swarming with them it's hard work, I had to be constantly on the quick save button to make sure I never lost too much progress when I died. Still, I enjoyed it and it feels good to clear a game off the backlog after 16 years!!

Disney Pixar's Up on PS3. Played a demo of this years ago and remembered enjoying it so I thought I'd give it a look and it was pretty decent. It plays quite similarly to a Lego game although it's very linear.

6/10

Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations. I really enjoyed this, very similar to a Telltale game but with combat sequences breaking things up and like the show it's based on it was pretty funny too.

8/10

Assassin's Creed Syndicate 9/10.
Best in the series since ACII. Great main characters and cut scenes and old London fantastic setting for the game

Hotline Miami 2 8/10

If the first was a 10/10 (and it was) this loses points mainly for the narrative overwhelming its gameplay choices. The best analogy I can think of is The Raid films: the first was a no nonsense bolt from a clear sky, the second an expansion on the ideas of its predecessor with all the extra baggage that entails. It's a fantastically enjoyable game, but the writing is too overt to inspire the mystery of the first, and the levels each have a 'correct' way to play them as opposed to the first which gave you a load of toys and let you loose.

The ending is magnificent, although the game really doesn't earn it, and is a great way to see out the series (especially the 'strawberry float you guys' stinger). It's stuck with me too, something I find really quite rare these days.

And another:

Tacoma: 7 (or maaaaybe 8)/10

No it's not as good as Gone Home. Yes, the overarching plot is not in any way original. Like Gone Home though, this is more an exercise in environmental storytelling and character development. All of the people here feel exactly like just that; people. They're all rounded, interesting collections of neuroses and hang up, each with their own issues and backstories. It's a shame they weren't used in a more interesting story, but I'll take them in this.

Dishonored - Knife of Dunwall and Brigmore Witches.

Loved these more this time round. I remember struggling with the first mission when I played it first time, because of having no powers. But I was kicking ass this time. Daud is so cool, can't wait to see him again in Death of the Outsider.

I strawberry floating love this game as a whole. It's a fantastic package. PC version runs like butter as well.

Just completed Momodora: Revierie under the moonlight. I really enjoyed it. It's a very barebones indie game that kind of reminded me of a Metroid game. Just found it really fun to play. Did find think it got a bit too easy near the end and it was a bit short. The finally boss was a cake walk although I think it was more to do with finding a super effective weapons combo.

9/10

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - 8/10

Despite some stodgy combat and woefully protracted and tedious cutscenes, it's a very good game indeed and looks the tits. Miserable as feck, mind

Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn on PS3. I rather enjoyed this for the most part, it plays sort of like the original Prince of Persia. The bosses in the co-op campaign were a little frustrating however as were some of the challenge mode levels. 7/10

Titanfall 2.

Pretty sure this is an amazing game, but I only really enjoyed it in fits and starts. It's a weird complaint, but there's too much variety. It never really settles into any kind of groove, and one particular moment of utter genius (you'll know it if you've played it, no spoilers here) is confined to one solitary level. They could (and probably should) have made that the basis of the entire game.

Still, given that I've been wholly underwhelmed with FPS games recently, this was definitely a large step in the right direction.

7/10.

Shank 2 on PS3. For the most part this was better than the original with an improved combat system and refined controls however one area I found it lacking in was the bosses. In the first game there was a specific strategy to each boss fight but here unless I'm missing something they are more like damage sponges.

7/10

Sonic the Hedgehog on PS3. I've played various ports of this over the years and this must rank as one of the worst. I played the 360 version years ago and it ran much better than this, the emulation was so poor at times with little glitches here, there and everywhere most notably Sonic freezing mid jump quite often which is really not good in a game all about speed and precision platforming.

The game itself is great but this is not a great version of it 6/10

Hitman PS4
My first hitman game, really enjoyed the amount of freedom you have during missions. That and players challenges make this a good purchase when at a discount.

Jak & Dexter
Replayed, very good but controls and camera shows it's age

Doom finally! Gave up on the xbox version at the banana spliting final boss. Managed to finally beat it this afternoon, literally one of the best shooters I've ever played.

9.5/10

Uncharted : The Lost Legacy

That was awesome

2 > LL > 4 > 3 > 1

Glowy69 wrote:Doom finally! Gave up on the xbox version at the banana spliting final boss. Managed to finally beat it this afternoon, literally one of the best shooters I've ever played.

9.5/10

Best shooter in years.

Squinty wrote:

Glowy69 wrote:Doom finally! Gave up on the xbox version at the banana spliting final boss. Managed to finally beat it this afternoon, literally one of the best shooters I've ever played.

9.5/10

Best shooter in years.

I, too, have only just completed this after having it sit on the shelf since it was released. Personally, I felt it went on a bit too long and the last few gunfights didn't feel as pleasing as the earlier ones, mainly due to an overwhelming number of enemies. However, it is definitely a top-quality game and, yes, one of the best shooters in years (Titanfall 2 pips it for me, though).

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:

Squinty wrote:

Glowy69 wrote:Doom finally! Gave up on the xbox version at the banana spliting final boss. Managed to finally beat it this afternoon, literally one of the best shooters I've ever played.

9.5/10

Best shooter in years.

I, too, have only just completed this after having it sit on the shelf since it was released. Personally, I felt it went on a bit too long and the last few gunfights didn't feel as pleasing as the earlier ones, mainly due to an overwhelming number of enemies. However, it is definitely a top-quality game and, yes, one of the best shooters in years (Titanfall 2 pips it for me, though).

Loved the trips to hell. Yes it probs could have been a bit shorter but its like wolfenstein on speed with added tactics. Hope theres a sequel.

Total Warhammer No idea/10

This game has frustrated and delighted in equal parts. It's taken me over 35 hours of play time to make my way through a single campaign, but this includes countless restarts and defeats during the initial stages which are brutal. Once you've fought or lucked your way through the first 50 or so turns however, things get very interesting...then very dull. The invasion of Chaos and the conclusion of my war with the Greenskins came around the same time and was incredibly satisfying, thematically. I'm still strawberry floating awful at the battles but the Dwarfs are very easy to play: get some hard as nails units, make a wall and slowly run over anything in your path.

After Chaos though it was simply a case of mopping up, razing city after city until the tedious win conditions were met. So, dull.

Still, the spectacle of commanding a fantasy army of hundreds, sometimes thousands of beautifully rendered men (dwarves!) will never get old.

Uncharted : The Lost Legacy. 7/10

While it looks great for the most part, I thought the story was below par.

Getting quite a few loading problems where it just stops.