GRcade

Crackdown 3 - Campaign only (XB1 GamePass)

Solid 8/10. Enjoyable blast with some decent graphics. Nice sense of scale to the city with Gameplay oozing out of every part

Maid of Sker (1X).

Pretty stealth horror game from Wales Interactive. I hate stealth in games, but it was pretty forgiving in this. That said, there were a few really tricky sections which made me walk away from the game for a few days. It wasn't helped by the absurdly long load times between deaths.
Lovely sound track to the game, reminded me of Everybodys Gone To the Rapture. Game was about 7 hours. That felt like enough.

Glad I played it through to completion, but i could hardly recommend it to others over anything else they might have in their backlog. If you picked it up on GWG though, you could do worse over Halloween.

6.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - 9/10

Another piece of great DLC from Nintendo this generation. Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and adding some backstory was a lot of fun. It did lose some of its impact knowing the character's fates but the ending was superb. And the combat with the vanguard system was excellent.

Need to try Xenoblade Chronicles DE next.

Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin on PS4... Get to strawberry float out of 10.

EDIT: Being serious the game does have it's moments and triumphing over a boss is always satisfying but overall the game is just too frustrating. Far too often you are ganked by overwhelming enemy numbers in a game built more around slower, one on one combat (good lord that section in Forest of Fallen Giants with four turtle knights and an NPC invader ) .

I will give credit where it's due however, whenever I wasn't banging my head against the wall due to overly tough bosses the DLC was brilliant with more original ideas than the rest of the game ranging from simple switch puzzles to an area you had to explore twice both during and after an icy wind blowing through the area, in a cool touch there was even a section where you needed a torch but the wind would blow it out.

Clarkman wrote:Shovel Knight: King of Cards - 7/10

Part of a package that represents potentially the best value on the Switch. A very solid platform-action game with a tacked-on passion project, taking the form of a grid-tile based game which is pretty simple, but charming enough. Music and animation are great, but the writing doesn't even begin to compare to Shovel Knight or Spectre Knight's campaigns.

I've just finished it, aside from mopping up some missing cards, then I'm finally done with the franchise until the new games come out.

I'd probably go:

Shovel of Hope / Specter of Torment (I can't choose!) > King of Cards >>> Plague of Shadows

I've pumped over 42 hours into the package. What a series

absolutely not, stop asking this wrote:

Clarkman wrote:Shovel Knight: King of Cards - 7/10

Part of a package that represents potentially the best value on the Switch. A very solid platform-action game with a tacked-on passion project, taking the form of a grid-tile based game which is pretty simple, but charming enough. Music and animation are great, but the writing doesn't even begin to compare to Shovel Knight or Spectre Knight's campaigns.

I've just finished it, aside from mopping up some missing cards, then I'm finally done with the franchise until the new games come out.

I'd probably go:

Shovel of Hope / Specter of Torment (I can't choose!) > King of Cards >>> Plague of Shadows

I've pumped over 42 hours into the package. What a series

Agreed. Yet to finish Plague of Shadows. Didn't click at all with me.

AER Memories of Old - 7/10

+ Very nice visuals
+ Lovely music
+ Flying and exploring is enjoyable
+ Relaxing to play
+ Doesn't outstay its welcome

- Plot is...well, I had no idea what was going on
- Not much to see, despite the amount of islands to explore
- Jumping and movement could be a bit more responsive

It was nice to play something that was short, relaxing (no combat or enemies), and was just exploring and light puzzle solving. The controls could've been better, and the plot was completely forgettable and nonsensical, but it was a nice little distraction and a game I completed in 4-5 sittings.

Clarkman wrote:

absolutely not, stop asking this wrote:

Clarkman wrote:Shovel Knight: King of Cards - 7/10

Part of a package that represents potentially the best value on the Switch. A very solid platform-action game with a tacked-on passion project, taking the form of a grid-tile based game which is pretty simple, but charming enough. Music and animation are great, but the writing doesn't even begin to compare to Shovel Knight or Spectre Knight's campaigns.

I've just finished it, aside from mopping up some missing cards, then I'm finally done with the franchise until the new games come out.

I'd probably go:

Shovel of Hope / Specter of Torment (I can't choose!) > King of Cards >>> Plague of Shadows

I've pumped over 42 hours into the package. What a series

Agreed. Yet to finish Plague of Shadows. Didn't click at all with me.

I prefer the other 3 campaigns but that doesn't mean I think PoS is a...PoS. It took a bit to click but once you get the various upgrades the awkward controls become a little less awkward and I had a lot more fun, so I'd recommend having another crack at it at some point.

I totally agree with that rating of King of Cards. It's the weakest campaign for me. My rating would be,

Spectre > Plague > Shovel > King of Cards

I love Plague of Shadows. Once you get how he controls down, it's wonderful.

Ghostbuster Remastered (1X)

A thoroughly enjoyable 8 hour romp.

The graphics look great in 4K, but I bet it will look even better with auto HDR an Series X. I wanted to play it through for Halloween though. Odd that a lot of the cut scenes were in their original resolution and lighting, although it does show just how much the remaster has done with the source material.

Story is ok, but I was honestly a bit disappointed given all the claims of it being the true third film. A lot of the one liners were pretty weak. Great to have that original cast though, and Harold Ramis was a highlight.

I had heard some people encountered difficulty spikes, but I thought it was pretty fair on the standard difficulty level. I had unlocked all the upgrades by the half way stage, which felt a bit odd. The trapping mechanic was satisfying for the duration of the game.

As a game it’s a 7, but to fans of the licence (which I assume will be everyone who picks it up), it’s an 8, even though it felt a touch lacking.

Also, what’s with the theme song only playing for about 5 seconds on the end game credits, before transitioning to quite possibly the most generic jazz out to ever? Really spoiled a special moment for me. That being said, it makes great use of the original score throughout the game.

No More Heroes (Switch)

First time playing this since release on the wii, I was already a big fan and I think it was actually better than I remembered. It's cool that the Switch port is a HD version of the original and not Heroes' Paradise (which I haven't played, but have read up on the changes made). The game is still stylish and insane. The combat is still excellent with genuinely fun motion controls. The one hit kill free fight missions are still super frustrating. The open world is still objectively awful, needless padding and yet somehow endearing. The soundtrack is even better than I remembered. The true ending boss still took an hour and gave me hand cramp.

Very much looking forward to playing 2 now as I have never played it.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - 8/10

All thriller, no filler. More than a little racist, like the rest of the series, but graphically equal to the excellent 4.

Rise of the Tomb Raider - 7/10

Just finished this and while I enjoyed the original reboot in 2013 more, I thought this was decent enough. The gameplay mechanics are all pretty good and hold together well-gunplay is enjoyable and I think the platforming is more interesting than it's most obvious competitor, Uncharted. I enjoyed the challenge tombs for the most part too. Environments can get a little samey as it's mostly set in one place but it looks great. Lara's voice actor is pretty bad though and the writing takes itself way too seriously. Lara's tone is very over the top and irritating-she's always saying I CAN DO THIS and it has none of the humour or light heartedness Uncharted has, and suffers from it. The background lore and world building was interesting though and better done than the main plot. I can't really think of any character that was particularly likeable so in the end, you're not really that invested in the story.

I think I've had my fill with the series now though and won't bother with Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Tomous wrote:Ride of the Tomb Raider - 7/10

Just finished this and while I enjoyed the original reboot in 2013 more, I thought this was decent enough. The gameplay mechanics are all pretty good and hold together well-gunplay is enjoyable and I think the platforming is more interesting than it's most obvious competitor, Uncharted. I enjoyed the challenge tombs for the most part too. Environments can get a little samey as it's mostly set in one place but it looks great. Lara's voice actor is pretty bad though and the writing takes itself way too seriously. Lara's tone is very over the top and irritating-she's always saying I CAN DO THIS and it has none of the humour or light heartedness Uncharted has, and suffers from it. The background lore and world building was interesting though and better done than the main plot. I can't really think of any character that was particularly likeable so in the end, you're not really that invested in the story.

I think I've had my fill with the series now though and won't bother with Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Hows the racism in this?

Tomous wrote:Ride of the Tomb Raider

Is this the Pornhub parody or something?

Jenuall wrote:

Tomous wrote:Ride of the Tomb Raider

Is this the Pornhub parody or something?

Opps

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Tomous wrote:Ride of the Tomb Raider - 7/10

Just finished this and while I enjoyed the original reboot in 2013 more, I thought this was decent enough. The gameplay mechanics are all pretty good and hold together well-gunplay is enjoyable and I think the platforming is more interesting than it's most obvious competitor, Uncharted. I enjoyed the challenge tombs for the most part too. Environments can get a little samey as it's mostly set in one place but it looks great. Lara's voice actor is pretty bad though and the writing takes itself way too seriously. Lara's tone is very over the top and irritating-she's always saying I CAN DO THIS and it has none of the humour or light heartedness Uncharted has, and suffers from it. The background lore and world building was interesting though and better done than the main plot. I can't really think of any character that was particularly likeable so in the end, you're not really that invested in the story.

I think I've had my fill with the series now though and won't bother with Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Hows the racism in this?

Pretty standard for something like this, plundering the tombs of the locals for a British museum fare

Sounds like UC:LL is the place to go for casual racism then.

On a serious note, i really enjoyed Shadow of the Tomb Raider (having not played the first 2 reboot games). Possibly that was in part due to me having just got my 1X, and it being very visually impressive.

Doom Eternal - 7/10

They strawberry floated up with the bigger changes to the combat (the ammo management, weak points), but it's not a terrible game by any stretch, just nowhere near as good as the first one. It doesn't feel like a Doom game to me.

Shame you didn't get on with it Squinty, the changes to the combat made it a significantly more enjoyable experience than 2016 for me personally, and I loved 2016!

Little Nightmares - 8/10

+ Atmospheric environments
+ Nice, stylised visuals
+ Good level of challenge (not difficult, but some bits that require thought)
+ Creepy vibe

- Controls can be clunky and a bit awkward

Liked this a lot. Some good moments, always felt intrigued about what was next, the lack of combat made it quite relaxing to play, and I loved the creepy/weird feeling. It's a short game, but perfect for what it is. I completely missed the ability to break those dolls or hug those little creature things, but I can't be arsed to replay the game to do any of that. Not sure I'll bother with the DLC either, it's more expensive than the main game. Hoping the upcoming sequel is just as good, if not better.