The last few games you beat and rate them III

[Shareefruck]

Just found out that Dead Cells is built on procedural generation, which is a huge bummer to me. I want every moment of the direction of a game to be carefully considered and a hand-crafted curated experience, and I don't particularly care for any of the benefits of procedural generation (novelty, size, unpredictability, that type of replayability, etc).

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Just found out that Dead Cells is built on procedural generation, which is a huge bummer to me. I want every moment of the direction of a game to be carefully considered and a hand-crafted curated experience, and I don't particularly care for any of the benefits of procedural generation (novelty, size, unpredictability, that type of replayability, etc).

Yeah it’s a bit of a turn off to me as well, but I’ll still give it a shot when it hits the bargain bin. I think procedural generation could be a very useful and beneficial way to make games in the future, but given how it’s still in its infancy, it hasn’t been honed enough to realize its potential. It also seems like a better development option for open-world games where the sheer amount of content is a big selling point, rather than a linear single player game. But I think the tech reaches a point where you can’t tell the difference between a carefully crafted world and game vs. procedural generation. Might be a long time until we see it, though.

 

[Shareefruck]

Yeah it’s a bit of a turn off to me as well, but I’ll still give it a shot when it hits the bargain bin. I think procedural generation could be a very useful and beneficial way to make games in the future, but given how it’s still in its infancy, it hasn’t been honed enough to realize its potential. It also seems like a better development option for open-world games where the sheer amount of content is a big selling point, rather than a linear single player game. But I think the tech reaches a point where you can’t tell the difference between a carefully crafted world and game vs. procedural generation. Might be a long time until we see it, though.

I think I'd take it even further than that. While I can see its place in adding healthy doses of color and randomness to a game when used sparingly, I can't imagine the idea of a game primarily built on that will ever have appeal to me, even when it becomes really refined and advanced. To me, the fundamental principle behind it kind of completely defeats the purpose of a video game (or at least, what I appreciate about the medium). Even when you get to the point where procedurally generated games are objectively as well designed as (or even superior to) hand crafted games, losing that direct authorship and connection inherently means losing a lot of its personal charm and expressiveness, which to me, is everything I care about in games.

On top of that, considering that I prefer concise, focused, minimalist less-is-more stuff a lot more than gigantic, endless replay-ability and customization in general (in fact, I kind of despise those things), the ability of procedural generation to create massive, detailed open worlds that could never be done manually actually completely loses me rather than wins me over, personally.

In fact, I think I was just being polite earlier. If I'm being honest, I don't like the sprite work/aesthetics/style and I don't like the idea of the game.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

I think I'd take it even further than that. While I can see its place in adding healthy doses of color and randomness to a game when used sparingly, I can't imagine the idea of a game primarily built on that will ever have appeal to me, even when it becomes really refined and advanced. To me, the fundamental principle behind it kind of completely defeats the purpose of a video game (or at least, what I appreciate about the medium). Even when you get to the point where procedurally generated games are objectively as well designed as (or even superior to) hand crafted games, losing that direct authorship and connection inherently means losing its personal charm and expressiveness, which to me, is everything I care about in games. When single player games stop being about the communication between the author and the player (even if we're only talking about communication of something like preferred level design) and starts being purely about the practical function of generating fun, I'm pretty certain that that's when I'll stop caring about video games as a whole, and just treat it as something I feel less strongly about, like doing math problems, crossword puzzles, or exercising.

On top of that, considering that I find concise, minimalist less-is-more stuff a lot more than gigantic, endless replay-ability and customization in general, the ability of procedural generation to create massive open worlds with a lot of detail and that could never be done manually actually loses me more than wins me over, personally.

In fact, I think I was just being polite earlier. If I'm being honest, I don't like the sprite work/aesthetics/style and I don't like the idea of the game.

That’s all fair, but I think it largely depends on how procedural generation will be used. Developers could make strict specifications on what it will include to narrow down the randomness. I think it will end up being more of a short cut for development time, rather than a feature to brag about using. It could end up being a tool that displays 90% or so of what the developer intended on doing, based on narrow specifications for the algorithm. Either way, I’m excited to see where the technology goes and hopefully it’s used as a tool rather than a crutch.

 

[Shareefruck]

That’s all fair, but I think it largely depends on how procedural generation will be used. Developers could make strict specifications on what it will include to narrow down the randomness. I think it will end up being more of a short cut for development time, rather than a feature to brag about using. It could end up being a tool that displays 90% or so of what the developer intended on doing, based on narrow specifications for the algorithm. Either way, I’m excited to see where the technology goes and hopefully it’s used as a tool rather than a crutch.

Unless we're talking about it being used REALLY sparingly, I remain skeptical of that, and I'll believe it when I see it. The same types of arguments were made about the switch from 2D sprites to 3D polygons (which admittedly, I'm in the minority in still not preferring), and while the latter afforded tons of exciting new possibilities (that, unlike with procedural generation, actually appeal to me) and are pretty accurate approximations of what the author intended things to look like now that the technology has been finely honed, that percentage that was lost ended up being everything that made it feel charming, authored, and personalized to me in the first place.

 

[Ceremony]

Binary Domain (PS3, 2012)

Based on a glowing review of the story on here a few years back and the fact that it was on sale at the time I bought Binary Domain from the PS Store, a squad-based third person shooter without the squad. Set in the future, some warring robotics companies have done some things they shouldn't and your crack squad has to go in to the Japanese one and sort things out.

The game was thought up by the same guy responsible for some of the Yakuza games. I played Yakuza 4 earlier this year and it took about thirty hours to go through the story. You could get through Binary Domain's in about three. It's short. Really short. As a result the story isn't anywhere near as profound or accomplished as it could or should be. Robotics have advanced to the point where what are called Hollow Chilren have appeared - robots that live as humans, and think they are human. Hilarity ensues when one of them walks in to Amada Robotics in Japan and reveals himself to the world. Then the head of the US Army is revealed as one in the middle of a meeting with the President about the first one.

A decent concept to have some philosophical musings about the meaning of life and the intrusion of technology on the world. Especially when you consider that the world its set in is saturated with robots because of a huge flood which destroyed most of it, meaning humanity needed the robots to rebuild on top of the destoyed, flooded slums. There's a lot to go on. And yet, I couldn't even describe it as fleeting. The story seems to exist mainly to furnish you with some elaborate enemies to kill and somewhat interesting set-pieces to look at in the background. We also discover that female Hollow Children can be impregnated and give birth to normal humans, which... you know what, I'm not even going to try and defend that. It's nonsense, and now that I think about it the game is probably so quick in order to gloss over how insane the story gets.

If the game was a bit longer I might be able to hold up the characters as some sort of compensation. You play as Dan, the somehow Asian looking wise-cracking American. His best mate is a Ving Rhames lookalike called Bo. You meet up with Charlie who thinks he's a cross between James Bond and Captain Price, Rachel who looks a bit like a pig, Faye who looks a bit like Lucy Liu and is the most poorly written love interest I've ever seen, Cain who is a sardonic French robot and then some others who are there for about five minutes. When you go into different sections the game lets you pick one or two squad members to fight with, but it makes pretty much no different. You can command them, but it's much easier to kill all the enemies yourself. When you command them and talk to them you can also build trust with the characters which makes them more likely to follow your orders but, again, pointless. Even if it did have any effect, the length of the game doesn't really give you enough time to build up a relationship with more than one or two characters.

It's also probably a good thing you don't get much interaction with them because when you do, oof. Imagine an action film a twelve year old would write after spending a weekend drinking a can of Monster an hour and watching a bunch of b-movies, then you might get close. Terrible characterisation. Every cliche you can imagine, every corny line of dialogue you've ever heard. And all pretty much useless, since there's no tangible benefit to gameplay from any of them. I'd like to say that Cain the robot being the most normal supporting character is an ironic nod to the nature of the story, but I'd be giving credit where it isn't due.

The gameplay doesn't really make up for these deficiencies. The controls for cover are really unintuitive. I got stuck on stuff multiple times, and trying to climb over boxes or up ladders almost never happened first time. Your squad mates seemed to suffer from the same problem, getting stuck behind boxes and invariably getting stuck in front of your gun. Hearing the same rebuke from them each time along with the same three quips per character got old fast.

One factor of the gameplay I didn't get to experience was voice commands. You can reply to people and issue commands in battle by holding L2 and pressing the option you want. If a mic was connected you could speak into it. This sounds great in theory but other reviews of the game don't suggest it works properly, and the same three options to each question or statement make Cole Phelps look like a master of subtlety and wordplay. In a way I'm glad I never got to do it because it seems like a gimmick that would have made the experience worse.

I feel as if there's a game worth playing in here somewhere, but it's so short. It's short to play, it feels like it was made in a short amount of time and not optimised properly in so many different places. The story, or at least the potential of the story, is let down by all of this. I was expecting better. I won't hold it against anyone though.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

Sniper Elite 4 - 8/10

I still think the original was the best but 2-4 is very different from 1. 4 Is definitely the best of the newer versions for sure. The maps are much bigger and the map design is great. You can actually attack from whatever angle you think is best. There are tons of enemies so stealth can be difficult but it works for what the game is. The level design alone makes this one the best of the newer Sniper Elite games for sure.

There wasn't much story in it, certainly nothing to write home about anyway, and the upgrade system was really dumb IMO. I would love to see a modern version with silenced sniper rifles as beating caught at even normal difficulty is almost certain death. Overall, definitely a good buy, especially now that it's in the Humble Bundle monthly. It's absolutely worth $12 IMO.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I liked 3, but holy flying f*** is that game crash-prone. I had to do the last half of the last level probably 30 or 40 times because each time I reload, it causes the game to have a higher and higher chance to crash. But SE3 was quite good. I've only played SE4 for multiplayer and dear god it never gets old to shoot people in the face.

 

[Shareefruck]

Lately, I've been kind of addicted to running through Celeste and trying to get a better time/be more efficient at it and procrastinating with Hollow Knight (which I've found to be a surprisingly unappealing slog so far). Last finished it in 1h 25m.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

I liked 3, but holy flying **** is that game crash-prone. I had to do the last half of the last level probably 30 or 40 times because each time I reload, it causes the game to have a higher and higher chance to crash. But SE3 was quite good. I've only played SE4 for multiplayer and dear god it never gets old to shoot people in the face.

Definitely give the single player a go. One thing that drove me nuts about 2 & 3 was that they forced close quarters combat on you and gave you sections you couldn't even stealth through because some event triggered an alert that was part of the story. This game doesn't actually have any of that. You could go through the entire game without ever getting spotted.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Bioshock 2 - 8.5/10 My grade has gone up for this one, Unlike the original which I seem to go back and replay every year or two I don't recall if I gave this one another spin so it was not as familiar to me. While not the masterpiece that the original was, this game took a lot more flak than it probably deserved. A very good game and a welcome return to Rapture.


Bioshock 2 - Minerva's Den 9/10 - I never got the DLC when this game first came out so this was my first playthrough, basically an extension the the main game, I enjoyed the story every bit as much as the main storyline of the game, maybe even more. This was a great piece of DLC

 

[Ceremony]

Vanquish (PS3, 2010)

From the ridiculous to the sublime this week in terms of futuristic Japanese third person shooters centred around shooting robots. This time it's Vanquish, where the robots are Russian and in space.
Playing this nowadays is a strange experience. The story is centred around some giant space laser that Russia have stolen from the USA. They destroy San Francisco and the Marines get sent up to take it back. Except it turns out that the American President, who looks remarkably like Hillary Clinton, supported the Russian coup that saw the bad guys come to power. She wanted to start a war as a means of kick-starting the US economy and becoming a true world power again, although the backstory to this sort of thing isn't really explained outwith some cursory text in loading screens that are too short for you to actually read them.

You are Sam Gideon, a wise-cracking chain smoker in a rocket-powered suit of armour that lets you fly around the battlefield and slow down time to aim at enemies, or get out of danger if you've been shot. Fortunately, the story is abject nonsense and of little consequence to anything. This means that unlike Binary Domain you can purely enjoy the gameplay without trying to focus on any loftier themes or implications. See enemy, fly around, shoot enemy, done.

There are a range of weapons found throughout the game that can be upgraded. Some of the more exotic ones are pretty hopeless. You can get through quite happily with the basic assault rifle/heavy machine gun combo, but you can add variety by using stuff like the rocket launcher or the LFE gun which shoots a big ball of energy. Even on higher difficulties the upgraded versions of most weapons are unstoppable, so as the enemies get tougher you do too. It's a nice balance.

The enemies are all pretty straightforward, though they each present different challenges. There's your basic robots, them tougher ones, them tougher ones that can fly, then bigger ones with drills, flamethrowers or rockets, then the Scorpions that have two legged and four legged options, the boss fights against huge Iron Giant type things with various kinds of weapons, the list is pretty endless. You do end up fighting some of the tougher ones that you'd think are intended to be boss fights more than once but as you go through the game you're just improving and getting better, so it remains fast-paced enough that it's not repetitive.

If you're a complete lunatic there's a challenge mode which limits your weapons and presents you with different types of enemies. Have a look on youtube, you'll see how insane these are. To finish the game this was all I had to do so I played through the story again last night before writing this review. Not including cutscenes or the minigame in the end credits I finished the game on easy in under two and a half hours. I had practice and I had good weapons and I was certainly trying to be as quick as possible, but that's a very short amount of time. Playing the game new though I'd imagine it's different, certainly until you get used to the controls. In terms of replayability I'd say it only really works if you finish it, leave it for a year or two and go back. Then it'll remain quick and brief enough to seem new to you again, and you can have some fun.

A recent PC port seems to have a few bugs about it but it's a game still worth picking up if you haven't, or even if you have. It's fast, it's challenging, it's eerily prescient if you even notice the story and it's different enough from most other shooters you'll play that it'll still feel new.

 

[Nalens Oga]

I wanna play Vanquish but I'm not gonna spend $20 from PSN on a game with less than 10 hours of gameplay.

I need to find a cheap copy of Armored Core: For Answer though. Only other good Mech game I'm aware of on the PS3.

 

[Zodiac]

^^^^^^^^^ ...if you play PC games at all, you can get both Bayonetta and Vanquish for $16 + an extra 10% off with code 'SUMMER10'.

Fanatical

nice deal.

 

[aleshemsky83]

^^^^^^^^^ ...if you play PC games at all, you can get both Bayonetta and Vanquish for $16 + an extra 10% off with code 'SUMMER10'.

Fanatical

nice deal.

That's a fantastic deal imo. I bought them both for 18 bucks each at launch and I loved it. Vanquish is really a m+kB game though despite it being a console exclusive.

 

[mouser]

Far Cry 1 -- 8/10. Graphics hold up surprisingly well for its age. The semi-sandbox and AI design are still a refreshing difference from most other FPS's.

The Long Dark - 7/10. Played through the storyline episodes 1 & 2. Absolutely loved the game, but agree with some of the complaints that the quest lines are bit too linear in areas. Devs are supposedly changing this when they release episode 3 later this year. I'm sure I'll cycle back around to this game when episode 4 or 5 become available.

Just getting starting now on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl. Liking the first few hours, though the absolute first thing I had to do with the game is mod it to remove the irritating head swaying. Immersion be damned, my head doesn't swing back and forth like a metronome with every step I take.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Get yourself the STALKER complete mod. So worth it.

 

[Osprey]

Just getting starting now on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl. Liking the first few hours, though the absolute first thing I had to do with the game is mod it to remove the irritating head swaying. Immersion be damned, my head doesn't swing back and forth like a metronome with every step I take.

I started it for the first time last month and really tried to get into it, but eventually gave up on it. It felt unfairly difficult (like the enemies absorb more damage than you and can see you in the dark when you can't see them), and though I could still push through it, playing it felt like a job that I had to accomplish, not something that I looked forward to. The 2009 Complete mod made a big difference in the graphics and smoothed out some more minor issues, and I definitely echo SolidSnakeUS's recommendation of it, but it still wasn't enough for me, personally, to start enjoying the game.

Fans talk like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a hardcore version of Fallout 3, and it does have more hardcore elements, but it just felt quite inferior as a game. If you concentrate on making a good game and then add hardcore elements, you could have something great, but if you start assembling a bunch of hardcore elements and hope that it eventually adds up to form a fun game, you get S.T.A.L.K.E.R., IMO.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are some of my favorites of all time, it's still the best atmosphere I've ever played in any game IMO. I played it all the way through with the complete mod, never played it unmodded. I know a lot of hardcore fans will yell at me but whatever.

I don't remember ever having AI see me in the dark when I can't see them. I do remember early on I kept getting spotted right away until I realized I should shut off my headlamp so I'm not spotted lol.

 

[SniperHF]

Just getting starting now on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl. Liking the first few hours, though the absolute first thing I had to do with the game is mod it to remove the irritating head swaying. Immersion be damned, my head doesn't swing back and forth like a metronome with every step I take.

This kind of stuff drives me out of my mind. So many of these "realistic" effects are exaggerated to the point of making it less realistic.

The game also has exceptionally awful accuracy mechanics along the same lines.
You can unload a mag at near point blank range into an enemy have him not get hit.

 

[Osprey]

I don't remember ever having AI see me in the dark when I can't see them. I do remember early on I kept getting spotted right away until I realized I should shut off my headlamp so I'm not spotted lol.

To be clear, I wasn't referring to enemies detecting me while I was being stealthy. I was referring to after they detected me. Their bullets seemed to have a tendency to find me in the dark when I couldn't even see the ones doing the firing. It's like they gained an inhuman level of perception once I was discovered, perhaps as punishment for failing at being stealthy.

This kind of stuff drives me out of my mind. So many of these "realistic" effects are exaggerated to the point of making it less realistic.

The game also has exceptionally awful accuracy mechanics along the same lines.
You can unload a mag at near point blank range into an enemy have him not get hit.

Even worse is that it was intentional. Most developers of shooters set difficulty levels by adjusting the accuracy of enemies, the number of enemies, the health of enemies and so on. This developer, however, decided that it was a good idea to gimp you and your shooting accuracy, instead. It's not even in a way that you can control or compensate for (like worse spread or recoil). What the game does is determine if your bullet is on target and then decides whether it should count. For example, on the easiest difficulty, half of your on-target bullets will be thrown out. On top of that, it doesn't even scale in the manner that you'd expect. If you play on the easiest difficulty, more of your hits will be thrown out (i.e. you'll miss more) than if you play on the hardest difficulty. That's why people say that playing on the hardest difficulty is the only way to play the game. It doesn't totally solve the problem, though.

On top of that problem, I think that the developers wanted enemy body armor (which is better than yours) to absorb a lot of damage, for the sake of realism and to encourage accurate shooting (i.e. headshots) over spraying and praying. I can appreciate those things, but it may be a case, like you said, of an attempt at realism being so exaggerated that it feels less realistic (or, at least, more frustrating than fun).

 

[Nickmo82]

Got the Platinum for Fallout Shelter the other day.

On the whole I enjoyed it.

Good:

- Game advanced in real time, meaning you can dip in and dip out for 10 minutes to check up on stuff and make progress while going about your life. Low commitment.

- It's free to play... not pay to win.

- Fun take on Fallout universe.

Bad:

- Really not ideal control set-up for console.

 

[John Price]

Yakuza 0 was the first game that made me angry and feel compassion for animated sprites on the computer. Yakuza 0 was the first game that made me shed tears of sadness. These were just video game characters, but you felt for them and their struggle. The story is phenomenal.

Was up until 11:30 last night playing and finally beat it. Very, very good game. I had never played a Yakuza game prior to this one so when it came out for PC for 20 dollars I had to jump in. Would strongly recommend.

8/10. Only reason it's not a 10 is that it can be kind of tedious and challenging, especially with the save points or how you get accosted just by walking down the street. "HEY, YOU! COME HERE." and I keep running because I don't want to waste time and lose health fighting guys with swords. Also those guys with pistols are a PITA.

 

[dr robbie]

The original TMNT (NES). Beat it for the first time a couple weeks ago. Only took me ~25 years to complete. Honestly, game is a solid platformer with good controls. However, the level of difficulty gets crazy in the last couple levels. 7/10.

I also beat Breath of the Wild (Switch) not too long ago. Game was solid. Story was great. Graphics were amazing. I'm not big into open world games, but I never really felt like I wasn't doing anything productive in the game. There are always side quests and shines to complete. Only parts I didn't like about the game were not being able to repair weapons (they would just break after awhile, so you keep having to find new ones) and the difficulty was easy/moderate, which felt a little underwhelming. Still solid gameplay and I like how they worked in the shiek slate abilities into solving puzzles in the typical zelda fashion. 9/10.

 

[Shareefruck]

Yakuza 0 was the first game that made me angry and feel compassion for animated sprites on the computer.

FYI, they're not called animated "sprites" if it's 3D.