Post your scores/reviews on recent titles you've obtained/been playing. :-P
7-Dec-03 9:25am
#1 Guru
#1 Guru
| This topic had many older posts which were moved here: http://gametz.com/Vi... |
28-Jan-23 2:14pm
#101 kevolones
God of War: Ragnarok
What an amazing game and story. These guys prove again that you can do a lengthy single player game without going for the Ubisoft openworld style. Gameplay, music, sound, characters, boss fights, the story and how it is presented....it is all amazing. It ends so freaking cool and satisfying too! Im playing endgame stuff now and Im impressed theyre still telling you stuff through dialogue when you revisit areas. Very neat.
Personally, this is a 10/10 in my book. But to be fair to other practically perfect games Ill just lower it a bit, only because there were 2 things that would distract me from time to time; some scenes had lip sync issues and also that some NPCs animated rather poorly or robotic sometimes. I notice some of the stuff wasnt motion captured and the difference was distracting.
9.8/10
#101 kevolones
God of War: Ragnarok
What an amazing game and story. These guys prove again that you can do a lengthy single player game without going for the Ubisoft openworld style. Gameplay, music, sound, characters, boss fights, the story and how it is presented....it is all amazing. It ends so freaking cool and satisfying too! Im playing endgame stuff now and Im impressed theyre still telling you stuff through dialogue when you revisit areas. Very neat.
Personally, this is a 10/10 in my book. But to be fair to other practically perfect games Ill just lower it a bit, only because there were 2 things that would distract me from time to time; some scenes had lip sync issues and also that some NPCs animated rather poorly or robotic sometimes. I notice some of the stuff wasnt motion captured and the difference was distracting.
9.8/10
28-Jan-23 6:22pm
#102 Slickriven
The Legend of Tianding 7/10
Game has some redeeming qualities like the art style, movement and fighting in general, but it's hard to get sucked into the story with so many characters and places with names I don't know how to read/pronounce. There's also a few too many fetch quests and reading so much dialog isn't all that great. The 3rd boss was very frustrating to me, especially with how some of her attacks used the exact same colors and would thus mask one another.
#102 Slickriven
The Legend of Tianding 7/10
Game has some redeeming qualities like the art style, movement and fighting in general, but it's hard to get sucked into the story with so many characters and places with names I don't know how to read/pronounce. There's also a few too many fetch quests and reading so much dialog isn't all that great. The 3rd boss was very frustrating to me, especially with how some of her attacks used the exact same colors and would thus mask one another.
28-Jan-23 7:46pm
#103 PizzaTheHutt
Ratchet & Clank {
} 8/10
Alright, hear me out before you think I'm being a little too lenient with that score. It's because maybe I am. This is my introduction to the Ratchet & Clank series. Do I think this is an 8 out of 10 compared to 3D platformers of 2023? Heck no, it feels a little too dated for that. But for a 3D platformer from 20 years ago, this holds up surprisingly well.
I know this was originally a PlayStation 2 game, but I'm playing the HD Remaster released for PlayStation 3, and I'm doing it via streaming on the PlayStation 5 through the Classic Catalog in PS+ Premium. I only mention that part because I'm impressed by how little input lag there is in the controls, it feels like how I would expect it to if I was playing it on a legitimate PS3 console. But my complaints with the controls have nothing to do with input lag anyway (because that wouldn't be the game's fault), but rather just how sluggish the platforming can feel at times and also when aiming your weapons. Hopefully those are fixed in the later games which I will get around to playing eventually (I plan on going through the whole series, or at least whatever is available to me with PS+ Premium).
I don't know if the HD Remaster did anything besides touching up the graphics, but I can say the camera isn't as problematic as most 3D platformers of the early 2000s (I'm looking at you Super Mario Sunshine, which released only a few months before this with a camera so bad that it's still the only 3D Mario title that I am just unable to force myself to complete), so that was a big relief.
Level design is pretty good and there are lots of weapons to unlock. I haven't finished the game yet but so far each weapon comes in handy throughout the game instead of early weapons being useless later on. I can see parts where Knack might have used this game as inspiration, but Knack as a whole was just poorly executed in comparison to this.
The graphics, keeping in mind this is a decade old Remaster of a two decade old game, look pretty decent and in addition to that, the voice acting and humor are pretty good. The music though, seems pretty forgettable. That's one area that most of the Mario games just can't be beaten in.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, kudos to the developers for adding some actual challenge to the game, something sorely lacking in most Mario games. It's not overly difficult and there are plenty of checkpoints for when you die, but I feel the challenge is just enough to keep skilled players happy and not too frustrating for casuals. There are a couple of hoverboard racing segments that kinda pissed me off, but thankfully they are just a small part of the game and one of them is optional (but not doing it will make the other one harder because you win an upgrade from the optional one).
#103 PizzaTheHutt
Ratchet & Clank {
} 8/10Alright, hear me out before you think I'm being a little too lenient with that score. It's because maybe I am. This is my introduction to the Ratchet & Clank series. Do I think this is an 8 out of 10 compared to 3D platformers of 2023? Heck no, it feels a little too dated for that. But for a 3D platformer from 20 years ago, this holds up surprisingly well.
I know this was originally a PlayStation 2 game, but I'm playing the HD Remaster released for PlayStation 3, and I'm doing it via streaming on the PlayStation 5 through the Classic Catalog in PS+ Premium. I only mention that part because I'm impressed by how little input lag there is in the controls, it feels like how I would expect it to if I was playing it on a legitimate PS3 console. But my complaints with the controls have nothing to do with input lag anyway (because that wouldn't be the game's fault), but rather just how sluggish the platforming can feel at times and also when aiming your weapons. Hopefully those are fixed in the later games which I will get around to playing eventually (I plan on going through the whole series, or at least whatever is available to me with PS+ Premium).
I don't know if the HD Remaster did anything besides touching up the graphics, but I can say the camera isn't as problematic as most 3D platformers of the early 2000s (I'm looking at you Super Mario Sunshine, which released only a few months before this with a camera so bad that it's still the only 3D Mario title that I am just unable to force myself to complete), so that was a big relief.
Level design is pretty good and there are lots of weapons to unlock. I haven't finished the game yet but so far each weapon comes in handy throughout the game instead of early weapons being useless later on. I can see parts where Knack might have used this game as inspiration, but Knack as a whole was just poorly executed in comparison to this.
The graphics, keeping in mind this is a decade old Remaster of a two decade old game, look pretty decent and in addition to that, the voice acting and humor are pretty good. The music though, seems pretty forgettable. That's one area that most of the Mario games just can't be beaten in.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, kudos to the developers for adding some actual challenge to the game, something sorely lacking in most Mario games. It's not overly difficult and there are plenty of checkpoints for when you die, but I feel the challenge is just enough to keep skilled players happy and not too frustrating for casuals. There are a couple of hoverboard racing segments that kinda pissed me off, but thankfully they are just a small part of the game and one of them is optional (but not doing it will make the other one harder because you win an upgrade from the optional one).
28-Jan-23 11:46pm
#104 Orlandu
Kirby and the Forgotten Land: I just finished up the second world and it's starting to feel pretty repetitive. I don't like how stage objectives are hidden until you complete the stage. You can get lucky and clear them all the first round, but there are some obscure ones. Fighting bosses multiple times kind of dulls the experience, too. I wish I knew the magic number of waddle dees to collect so I could just move on with incomplete stages. Checking every inch of every screen kind of messes up the flow of the game. The big mouth copy abilities are pretty fun, but there hasn't really been a stand-out stage yet.
The Looker: A spoof of The Witness. Short, funny, and a perfect cherry on top final puzzle. Completely free, so no harm in giving it a go if it looks fun to you.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin: Immediately off-putting protagonist. Shelved. Kind of wondering why I even bought it.
Might try out Chained Echos or Tunic next.
#104 Orlandu
Kirby and the Forgotten Land: I just finished up the second world and it's starting to feel pretty repetitive. I don't like how stage objectives are hidden until you complete the stage. You can get lucky and clear them all the first round, but there are some obscure ones. Fighting bosses multiple times kind of dulls the experience, too. I wish I knew the magic number of waddle dees to collect so I could just move on with incomplete stages. Checking every inch of every screen kind of messes up the flow of the game. The big mouth copy abilities are pretty fun, but there hasn't really been a stand-out stage yet.
The Looker: A spoof of The Witness. Short, funny, and a perfect cherry on top final puzzle. Completely free, so no harm in giving it a go if it looks fun to you.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin: Immediately off-putting protagonist. Shelved. Kind of wondering why I even bought it.
Might try out Chained Echos or Tunic next.
29-Jan-23 10:30am
#105 kevolones
Hmm. I havent tried Sakuna yet and I have it somewhere collecting dust.
#105 kevolones
Hmm. I havent tried Sakuna yet and I have it somewhere collecting dust.
29-Jan-23 11:16am
#106 Orlandu
It very well could get better, but it starts with you controlling a spoiled brat kid (not my opinion, a deliberate story setup). The voice actor really leans into that fact. I turned off voices completely but it still is one of those games that's really chatty without saying anything useful. The combat feels a little off. Hard to explain why but it feels delayed. I've fallen off of several ledges just from mistiming basic jump inputs. Didn't even make it to the farming part because I didn't like any of the rest of the game. Probably an overly harsh assessment for less than an hour played, but I still have other games that I haven't even opened yet.
#106 Orlandu
It very well could get better, but it starts with you controlling a spoiled brat kid (not my opinion, a deliberate story setup). The voice actor really leans into that fact. I turned off voices completely but it still is one of those games that's really chatty without saying anything useful. The combat feels a little off. Hard to explain why but it feels delayed. I've fallen off of several ledges just from mistiming basic jump inputs. Didn't even make it to the farming part because I didn't like any of the rest of the game. Probably an overly harsh assessment for less than an hour played, but I still have other games that I haven't even opened yet.
29-Jan-23 6:20pm
#107 Orlandu
Tunic is surprisingly not fun. I was really looking forward to this one, too. A lot of paths in the early game rely on the camera to obscure hidden paths. Combine that with a largely monochrome palette and it's hard for me to even see where I need to go. Combat is awful (though you can essentially opt out of it by toggling an in-game option for invincibility) and a little out of place in an exploration game. A lot of cumbersome dead-ends make back-tracking a little tedious. Running is attached to the roll mechanic (hold roll button to roll then run), so it takes a little while to regain momentum. I stopped playing after I hit the first big tuning fork thing. Oh well.
#107 Orlandu
Tunic is surprisingly not fun. I was really looking forward to this one, too. A lot of paths in the early game rely on the camera to obscure hidden paths. Combine that with a largely monochrome palette and it's hard for me to even see where I need to go. Combat is awful (though you can essentially opt out of it by toggling an in-game option for invincibility) and a little out of place in an exploration game. A lot of cumbersome dead-ends make back-tracking a little tedious. Running is attached to the roll mechanic (hold roll button to roll then run), so it takes a little while to regain momentum. I stopped playing after I hit the first big tuning fork thing. Oh well.
29-Jan-23 6:29pm
#108 Kommie
I've read some many polarizing opinions on Tunic recently. Is it still on Gamepass?
#108 Kommie
I've read some many polarizing opinions on Tunic recently. Is it still on Gamepass?
29-Jan-23 7:05pm
#109 Slickriven
Tunic is still on GP and it's fantastic. It's totally committed to being like the NES Zelda - where you don't know squat and need to explore. I mean the 'manual' is given out as random pages at a time, if you can find them and it's in a language you can't even read, so it 100% doesn't hold your hand and is about exploring. I will concede that the first few hours could be frustrating/difficult b/c you see so many things you want to get to, but don't have the gear, so it's like a Metroidvania in some aspects. But the atmosphere, lore, music, sound, look and old school Zelda feelings it gave me made it easily my GotY pick - of the 80 games I beat last year, not just the games that actually came out in '22 since I didn't play too many '22 releases.
#109 Slickriven
Tunic is still on GP and it's fantastic. It's totally committed to being like the NES Zelda - where you don't know squat and need to explore. I mean the 'manual' is given out as random pages at a time, if you can find them and it's in a language you can't even read, so it 100% doesn't hold your hand and is about exploring. I will concede that the first few hours could be frustrating/difficult b/c you see so many things you want to get to, but don't have the gear, so it's like a Metroidvania in some aspects. But the atmosphere, lore, music, sound, look and old school Zelda feelings it gave me made it easily my GotY pick - of the 80 games I beat last year, not just the games that actually came out in '22 since I didn't play too many '22 releases.
29-Jan-23 7:09pm
#110 Orlandu
Very small download, too, so virtually no commitment to try the game out.
#110 Orlandu
Very small download, too, so virtually no commitment to try the game out.
29-Jan-23 8:49pm
#112 DCGX
I liked Tunic, but didn't love it. I appreciate it, but it wasn't as fun as I had hoped.
#112 DCGX
I liked Tunic, but didn't love it. I appreciate it, but it wasn't as fun as I had hoped.
30-Jan-23 12:28pm
#113 Anxiouz
Tunic was good but it didn't hold my attention and I eventually dropped it. If you like this type of game it's wonderful. If you're indifferent it doesn't do enough to keep you hooked imo.
#113 Anxiouz
Tunic was good but it didn't hold my attention and I eventually dropped it. If you like this type of game it's wonderful. If you're indifferent it doesn't do enough to keep you hooked imo.
30-Jan-23 8:09pm
#114 Anxiouz
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5) - A generous 7/10 - A solid AA game and absolutely gorgeous (at times it's really one of the prettiest games I've ever played) but it's so simple and a little clumsy that I don't think I'll be playing it again. The graphics and character models are all fun and I really like the style. The gameplay loop is ok but linear...this would be great for kids. The final boss was brutal though (huge difficulty spike) which kinda soured the overall experience a bit.
#114 Anxiouz
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5) - A generous 7/10 - A solid AA game and absolutely gorgeous (at times it's really one of the prettiest games I've ever played) but it's so simple and a little clumsy that I don't think I'll be playing it again. The graphics and character models are all fun and I really like the style. The gameplay loop is ok but linear...this would be great for kids. The final boss was brutal though (huge difficulty spike) which kinda soured the overall experience a bit.
30-Jan-23 10:25pm
#115 Orlandu
I bailed out of Kena after a couple of hours. Cute characters but just not at all fun to play.
I've gotten past the first major continent in Kirby and the Forgotten World. Once I stopped worrying about fully clearing a stage it became a lot more fun. Did anyone else have trouble fine-tuning their aim on ranged attacks? I'm not sure if my controller is way too sensitive or if I just suck. Feels like even the slightest tilt alters the aim almost 45 degrees.
#115 Orlandu
I bailed out of Kena after a couple of hours. Cute characters but just not at all fun to play.
I've gotten past the first major continent in Kirby and the Forgotten World. Once I stopped worrying about fully clearing a stage it became a lot more fun. Did anyone else have trouble fine-tuning their aim on ranged attacks? I'm not sure if my controller is way too sensitive or if I just suck. Feels like even the slightest tilt alters the aim almost 45 degrees.
30-Jan-23 11:10pm
#116 TalonJedi87
Gotham Knights
is a 6.5 and that’s me being generous. I’m about halfway thru the main story and if it had a lock on, counter system a 60fps mode and more interesting and engaging combat and less sluggish traversal I’d give it a lot higher because some of the puzzles detective work and story itself has potential. The drop in drop out coop is fun tho and eases the burden and takes away the focus on its many shortcomings.
#116 TalonJedi87
Gotham Knights
is a 6.5 and that’s me being generous. I’m about halfway thru the main story and if it had a lock on, counter system a 60fps mode and more interesting and engaging combat and less sluggish traversal I’d give it a lot higher because some of the puzzles detective work and story itself has potential. The drop in drop out coop is fun tho and eases the burden and takes away the focus on its many shortcomings. 1-Feb-23 1:07pm
#117 DCGX
DCGX wrote:
Freedom Wars
- 7/10 I decided to start playing through some of my Vita backlog. This requires me to *gasp* open sealed games. First up is 'Freedom Wars.' I'm not much of a 'Monster Hunter' guy, as this is often compared to, and while the game is designed for players to team up and take down larger creatures, that's not all of it so far (hello rescuing civilians...). The premise of being jailed and working off time by running these missions is interested, and detailed, yet still doesn't feel fleshed out. I'm only a few missions in, but most of the non-mission, non-cutscene interactions is just your character and their accessory (android companion) in your cell. Missions take place in essentially arenas, so no interconnected world like 'Monster Hunter' or 'Toukiden.' It makes the world feel really lifeless, but the game does look good. Controls are a bit cumbersome, but I'm getting used to them. My concern is that, since this was so heavily designed to be played with others, and from what I've read online, the end of the game might be impossible if playing solo. There's no difficulty options, and your character doesn't level up per say (just better gear and weapons), so we'll see how far I can get. But this game is still exclusive to Vita. So there's that.
Yup, I'm done with this game. I'm even dropping it another point. I'm on mission 5.3, which is just over halfway through the game. So far, the whole game as been the same two mission objective types on the same three brown arenas. The story has a couple threads to pull, but revelations are so few and far between it's not enough to keep going. Eventually a quick travel option can be unlocked, which helps the monotony of going back and forth from the same few areas, which are again brown, and that helps, but it still feels like a trudge.
There's a lot of systems, that are mostly explained, but things like facilities and resource management is buried with menus. There's so many menus! And I'm not even sure I'm doing things right. The big problem is with weapons where, unless you're selecting a weapon you already have, crafting or upgrading weapons does not compare to what you have equip. What's worse, is you can't upgrade or improve weapons you have equip because everything takes real time to finish.
The biggest problem is that, up until this point, the game has been a breeze, but mission 5.3 has such a difficulty spike it borders on masochistic. The mission is to eliminate all enemies, but they keep spawning until the large bipedal is toppled. At any one point, there are ten or so regular soldiers with rockets and sticky grenades barraging you. If they get taken out, they respawn endlessly not far away. It's nearly impossible to focus on the larger bipedal because your character literally gets juggled by the rockets and grenades. Pretty quick, my whole team is taken out and it's me against an army with no hope.
People talked about how towards the end of the game is really hard solo, but I didn't expect it halfway through. I wasn't really enjoying the game to begin with (I think it's pretty boring and a poor 'Monster Hunter'-like), so hitting this wall so hard, so fast makes me want to drop it cold. And I very, very rarely quit a game before the credits roll. Ugh.
#117 DCGX
DCGX wrote:
Freedom Wars
- 7/10 I decided to start playing through some of my Vita backlog. This requires me to *gasp* open sealed games. First up is 'Freedom Wars.' I'm not much of a 'Monster Hunter' guy, as this is often compared to, and while the game is designed for players to team up and take down larger creatures, that's not all of it so far (hello rescuing civilians...). The premise of being jailed and working off time by running these missions is interested, and detailed, yet still doesn't feel fleshed out. I'm only a few missions in, but most of the non-mission, non-cutscene interactions is just your character and their accessory (android companion) in your cell. Missions take place in essentially arenas, so no interconnected world like 'Monster Hunter' or 'Toukiden.' It makes the world feel really lifeless, but the game does look good. Controls are a bit cumbersome, but I'm getting used to them. My concern is that, since this was so heavily designed to be played with others, and from what I've read online, the end of the game might be impossible if playing solo. There's no difficulty options, and your character doesn't level up per say (just better gear and weapons), so we'll see how far I can get. But this game is still exclusive to Vita. So there's that.Yup, I'm done with this game. I'm even dropping it another point. I'm on mission 5.3, which is just over halfway through the game. So far, the whole game as been the same two mission objective types on the same three brown arenas. The story has a couple threads to pull, but revelations are so few and far between it's not enough to keep going. Eventually a quick travel option can be unlocked, which helps the monotony of going back and forth from the same few areas, which are again brown, and that helps, but it still feels like a trudge.
There's a lot of systems, that are mostly explained, but things like facilities and resource management is buried with menus. There's so many menus! And I'm not even sure I'm doing things right. The big problem is with weapons where, unless you're selecting a weapon you already have, crafting or upgrading weapons does not compare to what you have equip. What's worse, is you can't upgrade or improve weapons you have equip because everything takes real time to finish.
The biggest problem is that, up until this point, the game has been a breeze, but mission 5.3 has such a difficulty spike it borders on masochistic. The mission is to eliminate all enemies, but they keep spawning until the large bipedal is toppled. At any one point, there are ten or so regular soldiers with rockets and sticky grenades barraging you. If they get taken out, they respawn endlessly not far away. It's nearly impossible to focus on the larger bipedal because your character literally gets juggled by the rockets and grenades. Pretty quick, my whole team is taken out and it's me against an army with no hope.
People talked about how towards the end of the game is really hard solo, but I didn't expect it halfway through. I wasn't really enjoying the game to begin with (I think it's pretty boring and a poor 'Monster Hunter'-like), so hitting this wall so hard, so fast makes me want to drop it cold. And I very, very rarely quit a game before the credits roll. Ugh.
1-Feb-23 2:39pm
#118 sa330206
I've been playing Mafia Definitive Edition. So far it's pretty meh. The story is interesting and the city is very nice looking, just very hollow/emotionless. Probably because this is a remaster of an old game. I find the shooting mechanics to be pretty dull as well. If it weren't for the story I would have quit by now.
#118 sa330206
I've been playing Mafia Definitive Edition. So far it's pretty meh. The story is interesting and the city is very nice looking, just very hollow/emotionless. Probably because this is a remaster of an old game. I find the shooting mechanics to be pretty dull as well. If it weren't for the story I would have quit by now.
1-Feb-23 7:05pm
#119 kevolones
I know I played through one of the mafia games. It was decent enough for me to finish it, I think. Playboy magz being the collectibles is brilliant though
#119 kevolones
I know I played through one of the mafia games. It was decent enough for me to finish it, I think. Playboy magz being the collectibles is brilliant though
1-Feb-23 8:35pm
#120 kevolones
Axion Verge 2
Im disappointed as I usually love Metroidvania games. The weapons are boring, the powerups are mostly boring as well, the story was uninteresting to me and thus I didnt care to read all the lore inside collectibles. "Bosses" are extremely boring too.
But the worst part is the excessive backtracking and getting lost on where to go next. I know the original Metroid was like that but nowadays I dont like wasting my time and this game wasted my gaming hours for quite a bit. I almost deleted it from my PS5 but decided to just use a guide to plow through it. The ending was bad so It wasnt really worth it. Its so bad I dont feel like ever going back to finish the 1rst one.
4/10
#120 kevolones
Axion Verge 2
Im disappointed as I usually love Metroidvania games. The weapons are boring, the powerups are mostly boring as well, the story was uninteresting to me and thus I didnt care to read all the lore inside collectibles. "Bosses" are extremely boring too.
But the worst part is the excessive backtracking and getting lost on where to go next. I know the original Metroid was like that but nowadays I dont like wasting my time and this game wasted my gaming hours for quite a bit. I almost deleted it from my PS5 but decided to just use a guide to plow through it. The ending was bad so It wasnt really worth it. Its so bad I dont feel like ever going back to finish the 1rst one.
4/10
Post your scores/reviews on recent titles you've obtained/been playing. :-P