Last Game You Finished and Your Rating

Xenoblade DE - 9/10

One of the best JRPG's of all time. I do have some minor complaints, but they do nothing to take away from the overall package here. It was wonderful experiencing this story and these characters again. I was really surprised when they announced this game and I'm so glad we got it.

Doom Eternal [8]

Not so much rip-and-tear as rip-fall repeatedly off a platform section-keep checking a map to make sure you pick up an item-get befuddled by a confusing control scheme-get bamboozled by a nonsensical story-spend the first hour in an extended tutorial-and-tear.

Good when it lets you enjoy it. Whisper it: 2016 was better.

Jordan UK wrote:Doom Eternal [8]

Not so much rip-and-tear as rip-fall repeatedly off a platform section-keep checking a map to make sure you pick up an item-get befuddled by a confusing control scheme-get bamboozled by a nonsensical story-spend the first hour in an extended tutorial-and-tear.

Good when it lets you enjoy it. Whisper it: 2016 was better.

How did you get confused by the controls?

I definitely preferred Eternal but they are both fantastic.

Hime wrote:

Jordan UK wrote:Doom Eternal [8]

Not so much rip-and-tear as rip-fall repeatedly off a platform section-keep checking a map to make sure you pick up an item-get befuddled by a confusing control scheme-get bamboozled by a nonsensical story-spend the first hour in an extended tutorial-and-tear.

Good when it lets you enjoy it. Whisper it: 2016 was better.

How did you get confused by the controls?

I definitely preferred Eternal but they are both fantastic.

Juggling the grenades, trying to swap attachments and using the flamethrower. I felt like there was a little too much in the mix and I ended tripping up on it at times. 2016 was perfect and it made you feel relentless. The rhythm of Eternal was a bit too stop-start. Took a lot of the forward momentum out of it. The Marauders were pretty poor, too, and totally at odds with the crowd control mechanics of most of the enemies. The whiplash demons were also quite poor. Just felt the additions to the roster of enemies didn’t really add anything

Bork, I finished 2 the other day and it's much better than 1. I'd give it a go if you can.

Straight from the off it's bigger and more polished. Much more interesting and varied environments. There were a few times things got annoying - enemies going into 'alert' while I was hanging on the other-side of a wall, a few times I had not a clue where to go, and few times I died because it let you jump from hanging to where I didn't direct to go. More interesting environmental puzzles. Story goes on a bit, but mostly good fun.

8/10

I'm about 3-4 hours in Uncharted 3 and not enjoying it as much. The environments are even more beautiful, but the fact each level is essentially a tunnel is getting a bit tiring, and feels more obvious. I'm following a path because it feels the game wants me go that way (oh, that's a ledge I can climb? I probably need to) rather than me understanding why I'm choosing to go that way. Some puzzles, while more interesting, are also more annoying. Having to look at the book and memories intricate and similar symbols I've never seen before is a pain in the arse. I'm constantly flipping in and out of the thing because you can't look at both it and puzzle at the same time. Thinking about it, I'll just take a photo of the screen if I need to do that again. The enemies are more bullet sponges than they were in 2. I'm playing on easy because I just want to bash through it, and you can unload a clip into someone's chest and they'll laugh it off - I'd hate to think what they're like on higher difficulties. Headshots feel less 'fair' too, I swear there's been plenty of times they haven't registered properly.

I'm finding the pacing of 3 more exhausting as well. The end section of the chateau felt like I was beat beat over the head. They couldn't go 2 steps without some structural damage breaking the flow.

That's not a growth wrote:

That's not a growth wrote:

teh bork wrote:Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - 5/10

Decided to finally give the Uncharted games a go, despite having had the games and a PS4 for a year and a half, but after having given up on The Last Of Us, I was reluctant to given another Naughty Dog game a go. Have to say that this was pretty bad in a lot of places, which was a shame as it also had moments of real quality and enjoyment. Really liked the cinematic feel of it, the characters were well rounded and the traversal and puzzles were great fun, I could easily see how it influenced so many others, such as the Tomb Raider reboot. However, the shooting and controls maybe some of the worst I've ever had the misfortune to play. I felt like I was firing Murray Mints at the guards half the time, as the bullets had very little impact and the guards could absorb about 10 of the things before dying. Not to mention the constant wave after wave of enemies in the shooting sections that was just tiresome, and coupled with awful shooting mechanics, made the game a chore to play. Yet somehow not as bad as the controls which at points almost made the game unplayable, I don't think I'll ever play a vehicle section as bad as the jetski sections in this game, utterly abysmal. Also dying after falling 5 feet because you missed a jump despite having pressed X had me in stitches. I know it's a 13 year old game, but it baffles me that it was so highly rated back in the day.

I was planning on going straight into Uncharted 2, but not sure I can deal with more of the same. I've heard people say the series improves, but not sure I can cope with more of that God awful shooting or control system.

I just finished this after starting it yesterday. I played on easy since I figured it'd be a bit clunky, and I'm glad I did.

There was quite a bit I liked about it, but like you I found it had it's issues. Headshots were really inconsistent, although some later pistols helped.

Some of the traversal puzzles show their age, with certain bits having bad camera angles, or unclear direction.

But a fair bit did hold up, mostly story and atmosphere. The general character animation as you're just running about is phenomenal, too. But strawberry float the jet ski, Jesus Christ. The first time wasn't too bad, just a bit annoying. But the second time, strawberry float me.

I'm actually going to jump into the second right away, I hear it's better so happy to go for more.

6/10

Edit, just loaded up number 2 and strawberry floating hell they really upgraded the animation in this.

Bork, I finished 2 the other day and it's much better than 1. I'd give it a go if you can.

I'm onto chapter 19 and agree, much, much better.

Taken a pause though as I'm now on TLOU 2.

Star Ocean First Departure R on PS4. I played the vast majority of this on PSP years ago but got stuck right near the end so I’m happy to have finally beaten it. I understand there’s post game stuff to be done so I think I’ll give that a quick look.

8/10

EDIT: That post game dungeon is brutal, I can't even survive one battle. I've read that to even stand a chance there you should have a party around level 100, preferably higher. My main party range between level 70 and level 60 so I have between 30 and 40 levels to gain with them before even attempting the dungeon.

Read Dead Redemption 2 (1X)

An absolute masterpiece. Left me puzzled with all the negative reaction it received with respect to sluggish character movement (at no point was I frustrated by character reaction speed) and unintuitive controls (I genuinely did not commit one unintended action in my circa 90 hours with the game).

I would never have picked it up as I would have considered it far too long for my tastes, and yet I finished it in about 7 weeks. Thanks Game Pass, you continue to be the very best thing in gaming for me.

Dramatic, immersive, sometimes harrowing and always engaging. I read a comment once that it was the closest thing to VR on a flat screen. I absolutely agree with that sentiment.

Massive kudos to the voice acting and score, it would not have been the same game if those areas had been compromised.

10/10. I normally think for a couple of days before assigning my arbitrary score, but this one was one of the easiest I can remember. Although the fame was obviously not perfect, I can’t remember the last time I played a game where each time I resumed it I was so eager to see how things would develop.

Some negatives - many mechanics are not really necessary and the mission structure boils down to one of about half a dozen configurations. That sounds like it should kill the immersion, but the cinematography and seemingly procedural events more than masked it.

Uncharted 3 - 7/10

Not as good as 2. Didn't really care about the bad guys. Puzzles seemed to stop about half way throughb the game. 'drugged' sections were a bit crap. Still a great atmosphere, and good general story beats - in a stupid Hollywood kind of way. Drake's abilities to survive as something that weight a few thousand tons rotated and destroyed itself around him started to grate a bit.

On to 4 soon.

God of War (2018) - 9

Wow. This was an absolutely brilliant experience. One of my favourite games this generation for sure.

The writing and voice acting on Kratos, Atreus and Mimir is some of the best I've seen in a game and the way their relationship develops is expertly handled. I didn't think the overall story was quite as good-Baldur was a great antagonist but it kind of plodded along in the middle in a go here then go there kinda way, but it did allow the characters to shine. I really like the middle ground it found between open world and linear too-basically how Ocarina of Time did it 20+ years ago. I've seen people use the term wide linear, and in my opinion it strikes a great balance. Enough room to explore, without getting too lost and everything is of interest in some way. I wish more games would go down this route, instead of the obsession with the map being x times as big as the last entry. And it looks amazing too, so good in HDR. Only complaint would be some of the other realms to Midgard are a little dull in scope visually, at least.

But I think the thing I loved the most is the combat-once you get the hang of it, it's so, so satisfying. Really responsive, lots of options, and when you die you always feel like it's your fault. And that axe. Probably one of my all time favourite videogame weapons.I played this off the back of Arkham Knight and the difference in scope is huge. I do think the menus are a bit of a mess-I never really felt like I got to grips with the upgrade and collectible systems until towards the end of the game. It feels unnecessarily complicated, which is a shame as that does diminish the excitement of opening treasure chests (and the light puzzling is well integrated). But it doesn't really impact too much.

Have gone back to it since finishing the story to complete some of the extra stuff, mainly as an excuse to keep enjoying the combat. Having said that, I'm currently trying to beat the Valkyrie Queen and this isn't so enjoyable...

Can't wait to see what they do with the sequel (that secret ending ).

The Last of Us 2 - just finished this morning so may need more time to consider the game to give a fair assessment, but initial impressions are that it was an incredible, hugely ambitious game and largely everything I could have wanted from a sequel...and yet there were flaws that I didn't feel were there in it's predecessor in terms of plot, pacing, characterization, etc. Will put more thoughts in the TLoU2 topic in spoilers, but right now I'd score it a 9/10 and say it is probably the 2nd best first party exclusive that Sony have put out this gen after God of War, which was a revolution for that franchise, where as this was more of an evolution of what came before.

Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition 7/10 - This game has become a real comfort game for me over the years. I've played through the game on Wii U, 3DS, and now Switch, and I've come to appreciate the simplicity of slaughtering thousands of enemies, and enjoy managing my characters on the map when numerous objectives are in play. Sometimes I find it easier to play whilst listening to my own music though, as some of the remixes are horrid.

God of War (2018) - 10. I pretty much agree with what Tomous said above. It was a wonderful experience to play. My game of the generation (so far).

Wolfenstein The New Order - 6. This was the first game I got for my PS4 and it’s showing its age a little bit now. Fun, but pretty generic stuff. I considered buying the second game but it has a nigh on impossible trophy, which put me off. Developers take note.

God of War is in my top 5 of the generation (all console platforms considered) for sure. I have no love for the series, but it really did feel like an epic. The only thing that let it down a touch for me was the armour upgrade system and the game got to easy as you progressed, but bumping up the difficulty lead to occasional spikes.

I loved god of war, but I could've care for the damage sponges that were the bosses. I came up to the first troll and it felt like it was going to take about 20 mins and just went 'strawberry float this, I thought I was a damn God killer' and knocked it to easy. The main enemies were a bit too easy, but I really couldn't be strawberry floated with the bosses at all.

Shelly Holmes and the Devil's Daughter 7/10
Really enjoyable point and click adventure only really let down by the hoard of techincal issues, glitches and long load times.

imbusydoctorwho wrote:Shelly Holmes and the Devil's Daughter 7/10
Really enjoyable point and click adventure only really let down by the hoard of techincal issues, glitches and long load times.

I started that a while back and was really impressed with the variety of things to do. Inexplicably I put it down. Might need to revisit it. And yeah, the loading times were awful, somewhat mitigated by being able to review notes etc during the loading screen.

I loved God of War but got quite tired of the constant setbacks to the main quest just as you're about to reach a big milestone to progress, which made the end section feel like it came out of nowhere.

Cuttooth wrote:I loved God of War but got quite tired of the constant setbacks to the main quest just as you're about to reach a big milestone to progress, which made the end section feel like it came out of nowhere.

Yeah, I didn't realisd I had beaten the final boss, i was expecting a face off with Odin in the giant's realm

Transformers Devastation - PS4 - Brilliant fun from beginning to end. Just back to back gameplay and very short cut scenes of Optimus Prime being epic.