Last Game You Finished and Your Rating

Zombie Panic In Wonderland DX 6/10 - A simple on rails shooter I had an afternoon of fun with. I really like the visual style of the zombies and levels, though the skimpy anime girls were a bit suspect.

Injustice Gods Among Us - 5/10

Blasted through the story mode, which was fairly enjoyable. Some of the character designs looked good, but lots were pretty ugly (Wonder Woman in particular!); understandably, the visuals have dated. Also, couldn't believe there was slow down during some of the cutscenes. Was starting to get a hang of things toward the end, but I never felt truly comfortable with the fighting. So had no inclination to stick with it. It was always going to be a short diversion for me, but i got my money's worth at least (ho ho ho).

Crypt of the Necrodancer 8/10 - Took some time to get used to moving to the beat, but this is the most fun I've had with a rogue-like thus far. Still feel the genre is a little too luck based for me to delve too deep into though.

The Last of Us 2 - 8/10. I really liked it.

Assassins Creed Origins - PS4 Pro - 8/10

Finally got the Platinum on this yesterday and then completed the Curse of The Pharaohs DLC to get all the trophies. It's the only AC game I've played this generation (loved 2, hated 3 so much it put me off the series) and I've loved it. My only complaint is the typical grind you get in so many games these days. I finished the main quest (and all the side quests that had come up) early last week - it's taken a couple of hours a day since to locate all the missing or incomplete locations to complete the map and unlock the final trophy before the Platinum.

All of which was still fun - but with no tracking in-game, I had no idea what I was missing at times. If you're going to have trophies which require you to 'find and complete all locations' why not have a tracker which shows how many you're missing and by area? At least point the player in the right direction when they've already spent 40+ hours on your game.

Still, really enjoyable and, having played it for over a month (on and off) and for over 60 hrs, I'm more sad it's over than glad. Like waving goodbye to an old friend, just one that's (for the first time) made your PS4 make a noise that's like it's powered by Rolls Royce jet engines. I could do with the Pro packing up in December to really justify the PS5 purchase...but i'd like the Pro to get there and not die mid Lockdown summer.

TonyDA wrote:Assassins Creed Origins - PS4 Pro - 8/10

Finally got the Platinum on this yesterday and then completed the Curse of The Pharaohs DLC to get all the trophies. It's the only AC game I've played this generation (loved 2, hated 3 so much it put me off the series) and I've loved it. My only complaint is the typical grind you get in so many games these days. I finished the main quest (and all the side quests that had come up) early last week - it's taken a couple of hours a day since to locate all the missing or incomplete locations to complete the map and unlock the final trophy before the Platinum.

All of which was still fun - but with no tracking in-game, I had no idea what I was missing at times. If you're going to have trophies which require you to 'find and complete all locations' why not have a tracker which shows how many you're missing and by area? At least point the player in the right direction when they've already spent 40+ hours on your game.

Still, really enjoyable and, having played it for over a month (on and off) and for over 60 hrs, I'm more sad it's over than glad. Like waving goodbye to an old friend, just one that's (for the first time) made your PS4 make a noise that's like it's powered by Rolls Royce jet engines. I could do with the Pro packing up in December to really justify the PS5 purchase...but i'd like the Pro to get there and not die mid Lockdown summer.

There is a way, you just had to turn off all the legends in the map screen so it only showed unfinished or ones you'd finished. I can't remember which way round it was, but I found this out way too late in my play through to really help. I tried to complete everything as I went along as I'd decided early on to go for the plat so I didn't have as much mopping up to do as you.

Mario Kart 64 - 7/10

+ Tight controls
+ Some good courses
+ Decent music
+ Difficulty is pitched pretty well
+ Item pick-ups actually seem reasonably random

- Annoying and blatant rubber-banding (in some places you can actually see the CPU cars sitting and waiting for you to catch up )
- Not much to unlock
- Red shells are useless

It's been years since I've played through this. All golds on all cups, extra mode unlocked, etc.
It's a solid entry in the series - one of the better Mario Kart games.

Mario Kart: Double Dash - 5/10

+ Good range of characters
+ Some good tracks
+ Decent amount of stuff to unlock

- Annoying music
- Handling isn't great
- Absolutely blatant cheating by the CPU
- Annoying rubber-banding
- Different karts add nothing
- 2 characters per kart adds nothing
- Item pick-ups determined by your position in the race

I wanted to like this, but there are so many infuriating things in it. There's always cheating and rubber-banding in Mario Kart games, but it's just so blatant here, and you can actually see the CPU bending and breaking the rules right in front of your eyes as it determines how best to screw you over. Throw in the crap handling, the pointless kart and character changes, and annoying music, and it's just a massively frustrating game.

I haven't played MK8, but I wish there was an option to turn off the fixed item selection and rubber-banding. Even if it makes it much easier or more difficult, it would be nice to have an option of not always being screwed over, and races not always being forced to be competitive.

I'm playing through 8 on the Switch after getting it a week ago, and enjoying it, but I've only tried up to 100cc so far as I want to get 3 stars (4 wins) in each cup before I progress - so unsure if it's balanced different at faster speeds.

So far, the rubber banding isn't bad. I can regularly finish a race far, far ahead of 2nd place if I have a good lap and get lucky with my item pick ups so that I have a banana/green shell to protect myself from red shells. If I'm very lucky I'll have the sound box (I don't know what it's called) which will protect me from blue shells. Then if I'm able to slide-boost around every corner, and jump-boost off ramps I'm able to get a decent lead on the pack.

The item selection is obviously chosen by your place. When I'm first I primarily get coins, and if I'm lucky green shells or bananas, then very rarely the sound box. Nothing else. When I'm second I seem to get red shells quite commonly, and earlier I was in a race and I have 4 red shells thrown at me in about 10 seconds - when I was about 1/3rd of a lap ahead. Baby Mario is a strawberry floating dick and I hope he dies.

But overall it's a very satisfying game to play, with the combination of the slide-boost and jump-boost adding a lot to the experience.

Arkham Knight - 8/10

Good game, just not as good as the other ones (I would include Origins in this).

The Season Pass content is a bit of a mixed bag. The Batgirl one is good, as is the Season of Infamy. The rest of the Arkham side stories are a bit meh.

I've been on a bit of a Halo binge recently (having just picked up an Xbox One) and I already put some thoughts in the 'Currently Playing' threat, but here's a more brief summary for me. I think playing them back-to-back in their current forms allows you to see where they evolved and where some missteps were. These are purely single-player Campaign observations.

Halo: Anniversary: 9/10
This is just filled with nostalgia so it's hard for me to be objective. But I'll try. The graphics are great and on the One X the performance is rock solid. Overall gameplay seems pretty unchanged, and although it seems more basic compared to modern games, that is part of it's charm. Unfortunately, there are two niggles. The first is that the complaints from the original are still present - it's easy to get lost, some levels are a bit repetitive, and insta-deaths as a result Flood armed with rocket launchers hiding around corners feels cheap. The second is that for some bizarre reason the cut-scenes are locked to 30 fps which is very jarring, but minor. There are also some points where checkpoints don't activate correctly, meaning a lot of lost progress. I can't remember if that was an issue in the original though.

Halo 2: Anniversary: 9/10
Even though both of the first two games got the remaster treatment, Halo 2 is a step above in my own opinion. The graphics are superb and the FPS-lock issue with the cut-scenes isn't present. In addition, the audio quality though a good pair of headphones is sublime. The music has been tweaked (and in some areas, changed drastically) but it fits. The sound quality makes all the weapons feel really weighty. My only negative is that the Brutes - especially in the later levels - are extremely frustrating to deal with and can one-shot you out of nowhere. Like Halo 1: Anniversary there are also points where checkpoints don't activate correctly, meaning a lot of lost progress. Again, I can't remember if that was an issue in the original though. The terminals that were added were are a big addition and helped add background information to rift in the Covenant forces.

Halo 3: 8/10
It is initially very jarring coming from the remasters to a slightly tweaked Halo 3. The graphics and audio are obviously a step down, but the original art direction means it's not as massive a step down as you would imagine. Unfortunately, the audio quality makes most weapons seem like pea-shooters in comparison to Halo 2. The only aspects that are very dated are the human faces and the human walking animation. Unlike Halo 1 and Halo 2 I didn't play this one to death at release so I have less nostalgia associated with it. Gameplay was arguably the most polished so far, and the level design on the whole is better and more varied. Much less backtracking because the next objective wasn't clear.

Unfortunately, there are negatives. 'Cortana' is, in my opinion, the worst level in any of the games. There are a lot of enemies, not much place to hide and it's extremely easy to get lost repeatedly. I also wasn't a fan of the last level which includes a lot of Flood and an escape sequence which is just a poorer version of the Halo 1 equivalent. Although I could see how the new equipment could make multiplayer more tactical, I don't think it really added anything to the campaign. Although the story and combat are both very good, the last couple of levels really bring it down.

If you took the anniversary treatment out of the equation, and removed the Cortana level, I would rank it higher than 2. But I despised that level so much (again!) it gets bumped down to third place in the original trilogy.

Halo Reach: 10/10
I didn't play this when it was originally released so this was a brand new experience. To be honest, I was a bit hesitant because a Halo game without the Master Chief just sounded wrong. As it turns out, I was completely wrong - the game is sublime. The graphics and audio quality hold up to this day. The levels, weapons and vehicle combat are the best out of the lot. It feels like a perfection of the Bungie Halo formula. The level design and variety is the best so far, and the story is really strong even though you already know the outcome when you start the game. There isn't a bad level in the game, and the fact that The Flood are not in the game is a positive thing (for me).

If I had to try hard and pick a negative, it's that the game is missing those iconic Halo musical themes, although it does hold its own in that regard.

Halo 4: 7/10
A very good futuristic science fiction shooter, but for me it wasn't a Halo game. Three distinct things were missing that have been present in every other game - the iconic musical themes, scattered humour throughout the campaign, and no Covenant language translation. I knew changes would be made what with a new studio and everything, but too many changes were made to the formula for me. However, putting that to one side - the story was strong, the graphics are ace, and I preferred fighting the (more tactical) Promethians over the Flood.

I have a couple of issues with it aside from the fact it doesn't 'feel' like a Halo game. At the start Cortana says "a lot can change in four years" but it never explains why we are fighting Elites again. I had to go to Wikipedia for that information. The weapon variation is too much at times, and in the second (or was it the third?) level being suddenly presented with all these new Promethian weapons that all look very similar is confusing. Finally, on a couple of occasions it pops you into very unforgiving fights with Hunters which, if you don't have the right weapons can be extremely frustrating.

They also butchered the Warthog engine noise. But added in a Mech which is amazing.

If it were a stand-alone game and not part of the Halo franchise it would probably be a 9. A great game, but not a good Halogame.

Halo 5: 9/10
I really don't get the hate that this game received online. They restored the three of the staples of the franchise that were missing in 4: the music, the humour and the English-speaking Covenant. It felt like a Halo game. Pretty much all of the weapons are well balanced and weighty, the campaign is nicely paced with well-designed levels, the squad gameplay was well implemented, and I didn't have any issues with the much-maligned (and no different from Hunters imo) Warden enemy. They also fixed the Warthog noise and retained the Mech! So gameplay was absolutely spot-on from my perspective. I haven't played the campaign co-operatively yet, but I think it will be an absolute blast due to the squad design.

The overall story wasn't rewriting the rulebook by any means, but it worked. I've definitely played games with worse stories that have received more critical praise. I also felt like Fireteam Osiris got an unfairly bad rep because Master Chief had to share the spotlight (again) and the characters didn't get a huge amount of backstory. No different than Halo 2 or Halo: Reach/ODST in that regard, (with the latter ommiting him entirely), but they weren't penalised for that to the same extent.

If I had to pick a fault, it would be that I found myself switching weapons a lot more than usual which was also a negative in Halo 4. Ammo wasn't scattered about as much for UNSC weapons, so if you found a weapon you really liked it had to be used it sparingly or you'd be out of ammo in no time. Also, some of the Hunter, Promethian Knight and sniper sections could be pretty harsh if you didn't have the right weapons at the time.

Cadence of Hyrule 8/10 - Took an hour or so to get into the groove, but this is a neat hybrid of rhythm rogue-like and 2D Zelda. The remixed music is great to bop to.

Undertale 9/10 - This was wonderful, a great subversion of the JRPG genre. I played it through twice and would have gone through it once more to see them all die by my hand, but I was too attached after the true pacifist route to go through with it. Sometimes the dialogue slipped into internet meme territory, but maybe that's just because I'm playing the game with the knowledge of its internet popularity.

Turok 6/10 - First time I've finished this legit. As a kid I'd have all the cheats switched on, flying through the levels and spamming the most explosive weapons. It was satisfying to go through, though the game isn't half ugly these days.

JT986M2 wrote:Halo

I still can't get to grips with Halo 2, the one shot kills from jackals just sucks the fun out of the game for me. It's so hard on legendary.

Hime wrote:

JT986M2 wrote:Halo

I still can't get to grips with Halo 2, the one shot kills from jackals just sucks the fun out of the game for me. It's so hard on legendary.

Yeah, they can be frustrating. I guess that is part of the difficulty and learning process to an extent though. To be honest the only time those encounters really annoy me is if I'm going through a campaign level for the first time, the iconic music is building up and it feels like an immense battle leading to something big. Then I get headshot out of nowhere, it kills the music, and I have to go back to the checkpoint. Then, once I respawn and catch up - although the music is still great - it's lost it's initial impact.

Halo 5 does combat that to an extent, because in most cases your squadmates have a chance to revive you. So you get a chance to avoid going straight back to the checkpoint when you die. You just press RB to call out for help and a member of your squad will come and revive you (if they are near and it's safe for them to do so). You can do the same to them if they die by reaching them and holding RB to revive them. It's a cool feature.

There are a few neat features like that 343 added that I don't hear getting praise anywhere. For example, you can now click the thumbstick to crouch and it keeps you crouched - rather than having to keep the stick pushed in. You also have the ability to manually save 3 checkpoints. Little things like that are real quality of life improvements that everyone glossed over.

Halo Reach was the last one I played. After that I just lost interest in the Halo universe.

JT986M2 wrote:

Hime wrote:

JT986M2 wrote:Halo

I still can't get to grips with Halo 2, the one shot kills from jackals just sucks the fun out of the game for me. It's so hard on legendary.

Yeah, they can be frustrating. I guess that is part of the difficulty and learning process to an extent though. To be honest the only time those encounters really annoy me is if I'm going through a campaign level for the first time, the iconic music is building up and it feels like an immense battle leading to something big. Then I get headshot out of nowhere, it kills the music, and I have to go back to the checkpoint. Then, once I respawn and catch up - although the music is still great - it's lost it's initial impact.

Halo 5 does combat that to an extent, because in most cases your squadmates have a chance to revive you. So you get a chance to avoid going straight back to the checkpoint when you die. You just press RB to call out for help and a member of your squad will come and revive you (if they are near and it's safe for them to do so). You can do the same to them if they die by reaching them and holding RB to revive them. It's a cool feature.

There are a few neat features like that 343 added that I don't hear getting praise anywhere. For example, you can now click the thumbstick to crouch and it keeps you crouched - rather than having to keep the stick pushed in. You also have the ability to manually save 3 checkpoints. Little things like that are real quality of life improvements that everyone glossed over.

I just found it became something that wasn't Halo as it's a game of trial and error trying to find the jackals. Even on heroic it's a huge pain in the arse.

I didn't like Halo 5 as much as you but I certainly didn't hate the gameplay. The boss fights were bad and the art direction was a bit Star Wars prequel at times. In a series with great games 4 & 5 are merely "ok". Thankfully neither of them have anything like the Cortana level which is a low point for the series, just abysmal. Getting through that in legendary was something else.

Rodders9 wrote:The Last of Us 2 - 8/10. I really liked it.

Come on man,look at the effort that's been put into the game,it's a clear 10

Uncharted 4.

I enjoyed this much more than 3. It's probably my favourite of the series. I enjoyed the effort they went to to try to give the story and characters more emotional weight, even if it didn't always work. I liked the introduction of more traversal mechanics in the rope and pick, but felt they didn't really get used to their potential until the end. The set pieces were less exhausting, and better paced in the gameplay.

The gun play was more responsive and rewarding, although slightly slowing down how long you had to hold a button (and changing which button after 3 games!) to pick up a new gun was annoying. It was actually possible to take down a group in stealth which was a nice change of pace. Some of the arenas they gave you for combat were nice little sandboxes that gave you time and space to approach it how you wanted, which was a welcome bit a variety.

It was interesting of them to give you 'full control' over a vehicle set piece which would have been more scripted in an earlier game, but also showed why it wasn't really done before. You have to pretty much do exactly as the game wants, so it might as well take control - and a lot of the frustration - away from the player. When it worked it was pretty good, though. But massively annoying when it didn't. I did like the open driving sections, particularly since they were mainly about exportation in beautiful environments.

I liked the story beats, and thought the epilogue was a nice touch.

The graphics and visual style of the characters varied a bit. Some times it was hyper realistic, and others more stylised and cartoony. Maybe they outsourced a fair bit which meant inconsistency, seemed like a lot of studios helped going by the credits. But when it was at its best it was gorgeous. It's interesting that only a couple of years after its release we're getting open world games that are just about as good looking as this linear one - particularly Red Dead 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn came to mind at points while playing it.

8.5

Considering getting The Lost Legacy, but either way looking forward to soon starting The Last of Us Remastered, then think I'll buy the sequel when I'm done with it.

Agree on the rope and pick - really good mechanic for fleshing out the traversal and actually making it feel more platformy and non-trivial to play (not just holding the stick to point a direction and pressing x when you need to), but disappointingly underutilised.

HyperDot (1X, Gamepass)

A fun little game that reminded me a bit of Geometry Wars, but without the shooting. Probably took around 3 hours to complete. Enjoyed the 90's Ibiza chill out music. Level difficulty was a bit all over the place, but appreciated the way you could quickly replay a level.

6.