2019 Completed Games List

[Paradox]

I finished up Lego Batman 3 last night. You played one Lego game, you’ve played them all.

Xbox One
Bioshock - 8.0
Bioshock 2 - 8.5
The Evil Within - 6.0
Bioshock Infinite - 9.0
— Burial at Sea DLC - 9.0
Crackdown 3 - 8.5
Quantum Break - 9.5
Wolfenstein: The New Order - 9.0
Rise of the Tomb Raider - 8.5
Prey - 8.5
Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 7.0
Lego Batman 3 - 6.5

 

[Master_Craig]

PS4:

-Subnautica - 9 / 10
-Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps DLC (The Heist, Turf Wars and Silver Lining) - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil 2 - 9 / 10
-Far Cry: New Dawn - 7.5 / 10
-Devil May Cry 5 - 8 / 10
-Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 8.5 / 10
-Rage 2 - 7 / 10
-Owlboy - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil (REmake) - 8 / 10

I recently re-downloaded and played the Resident Evil remake, or 'REmake' on PS4, finishing both Chris' and Jill's campaigns.

I have played this game once before back on the original Game Cube, so it was interesting to re-visit this game, especially with modernised, alternative controls. The classic tank control scheme is so Goddamn awful and has not aged well.

I played both campaigns on easy mode because frankly, I didn't really want to stress out and I just wanted to relax, as I've been stressed enough 'iRL' lately and I have already played some difficult games earlier this year, such as the Resident Evil 2 remake and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

REmake is still a pretty good title. The graphics hold up well (especially the lighting and shadows, they're amazing) but while some of the enemies look scary (zombies, Lisa), some look downright stupid (the hunters).

The puzzles can be quite challenging on the mind but they mostly involve pushing something in the right place, or finding the right item to combine with another, or something. You'll get a lot of out the game as well. In my first run as Chris, it took me about 12 hours to finish the game, but when I played as Jill, it took me just under six (as I essentially knew what to do, where to go etc).

Where the game goes wrong, is the voice acting and writing, another element that certainly has not aged well. The game has a decent story, but courtesy of the writing, it's not told well. You also do not want to play this game with tank controls. The game has a lot of back tracking, which can be especially frustrating with such a limited inventory space (especially for Chris, with only six inventory slots, while Jill has eight), meaning you'll have to run all the way back to a save room/item box to find what you need. This wouldn't be so bad, it's just that every time you open a door, there's the animated door loading screen again.

If I were to score the original Game Cube REmake, I'd give it a 9 out of 10 for its time. With current age and times however, I'll give this an 8 out of 10.

 

[COMaestro]

Finished with Batman: Arkham Asylum from the Return to Arkham collection. Such a good game, but I can definitely feel the jankiness of the combat controls compared to the later Arkham games. Quickfire batarangs would sometimes do more than one and kill my freeflow combo, Batman would target an enemy different than the one I intended, despite holding the control stick in my target's direction, if a counter was just out of range, Batman would break the freeflow combo instead of moving a foot closer to the enemy and countering the attack. Still, the system was very innovative for the time and they only improved upon it in later titles, as my couple of hours into Arkham City has shown me.

 

[Master_Craig]

PS4:

-Subnautica - 9 / 10
-Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps DLC (The Heist, Turf Wars and Silver Lining) - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil 2 - 9 / 10
-Far Cry: New Dawn - 7.5 / 10
-Devil May Cry 5 - 8 / 10
-Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 8.5 / 10
-Rage 2 - 7 / 10
-Owlboy - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil (REmake) - 8 / 10
-Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - 7.5 / 10

I finished Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night just recently for PS4.

I'm normally a fan of the 'Metroidvania' style games but frankly, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night felt like an average experience at best.

The game plays almost exactly like previous Castlevania titles (it is from the creator of Castlevania, after all) and has you exploring a huge castle, acquiring new powers, abilities, weapons etc. with some minor RPG elements. The castle has a lot of hidden locations, optional areas etc. The game is a lengthy one, taking me at least 15 hours to complete in just under a week. I technically completed the game three times, as the game has three endings. The first two endings are designed to essentially trick the player, as to unlock the third and best ending takes quite a bit of effort. Thankfully, when you receive one of the former 'bad' endings, it will not overwrite or restart your progress.

The major difference that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has when compared to Castlevania, is that the playable protagonist, Miriam, is a 'Shardbinder', who has the ability to absorb shards from demons and essentially acquire their powers. Some are fun to play with, others are useless and a few are of course mandatory to progress further through the game.

While the title has a cool, orchestrated soundtrack, the graphics remind me of a PS2 game that's been remastered for PS4 and HD visuals. On a PS4, I did experience a lot of frame rate drops, particularly when fighting mass amounts of enemies, or larger bosses with a lot of animations and lighting effects on screen. I also encountered minor freezes, where the game would freeze for a second or two upon the death of particular enemies. The game play itself is simple, but can honestly get pretty repetitive. The game's difficulty was a bit unpredictable, as some areas and enemies, including bosses, were surprisingly easy, while some were suddenly quite difficult.

While I enjoyed the concept of the game, the story itself is forgettable, and I didn't seem to care for the characters at all. Their writing, voice acting and overall portrayal in their static cut scenes didn't give me a whole lot of enthusiasm for the overall plot.

It's not a bad game by any means, especially considering that this game was born on Kickstarter, but it's not really a great game either. Maybe my expectations are, for some reason too high, but lately I've been feeling a bit disappointed by games. I'll be returning this one to EB Games this afternoon, as I don't think I'll be playing it again any time soon.

7.5 out of 10.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

God of War (2018)

Honestly, I feel like I could write a Master's thesis about this game and how it could not have existed at any other point in video games, how everything has set up perfectly for its creation, and how it is without a single doubt in my mind one of the best examples of why video games are 'art' that I have ever seen. It's far from my favorite game ever, but what it is is one of the best made games I have played in ages.
On top of that, I can think of maybe one or two things total that frustrated me. The rest was just genuinely wonderful.

10/10
My 2018 GOTY (retroactively)

If you have not played this game, go get a copy now and do yourself a favor.

 

[Master_Craig]

God of War (2018)

Honestly, I feel like I could write a Master's thesis about this game and how it could not have existed at any other point in video games, how everything has set up perfectly for its creation, and how it is without a single doubt in my mind one of the best examples of why video games are 'art' that I have ever seen. It's far from my favorite game ever, but what it is is one of the best made games I have played in ages.
On top of that, I can think of maybe one or two things total that frustrated me. The rest was just genuinely wonderful.

10/10
My 2018 GOTY (retroactively)

If you have not played this game, go get a copy now and do yourself a favor.

Hell yeah, man. God of War was one of the best games of 2018, certainly in my top three (next to Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption 2).

 

[Longo_2_guns]

I definitely liked it a little more than Spider-Man, but I still haven't played RDR2.
Got way too much on my plate to start that epic yet.

 

[Ivory_Soul]

It's been a while since I last posted. Here's my current list of completed games.

I finally finished nursing school and graduated a few weeks ago. Will be taking the state test on the 22nd and starting my career! I already have a job lined up. More money=more gaming! Ha!

I got into my Dreamcast for a while about 6 weeks ago and finished a few games. I also got into my Wii. I do have to mention A Plague Tale: Innocence is a highly underrated game. I gave it a 9/10 and for good reason. The story, voice acting, and characters are just so memorable and it's such a well-made game. Super intense, huge variety in gameplay where each segment never feels like the last.

 

[Master_Craig]

I finally finished nursing school and graduated a few weeks ago. Will be taking the state test on the 22nd and starting my career!

As a nurse, you'll be able to get work anywhere. Nurses are always a welcome addition to any hospital, clinic or health centre and are so needed. Congratulations on graduating.

 

[Master_Craig]

I definitely liked it a little more than Spider-Man, but I still haven't played RDR2.
Got way too much on my plate to start that epic yet.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a gorgeous game with such a great story and some fantastic, original songs, but I'll admit that it's a little flawed in regards to the game play. The beginning of the game, with no spoilers, is a bit of a gruelling slog to get through, but once you get through that, the rest is great. Some of the controls do feel a little 'dated' when compared to other modern games. God of War and Spider-Man on the other hand, have excellent, tight controls.

I think for me personally, I just fell in love with the game's plot that I always wanted to play RDR2, just to see what would happen next.

I would hyperlink some YouTube videos of RDR2's original songs but I think it's worth hearing for yourself in-game.

 

[Paradox]

While I didn’t go to 100% completion, I’m done with Super Mario Odyssey for the time being. It was mostly fun and partially frustrating, which I guess applies to most Mario games. My main frustrations came from the controls. The whole time I was playing, I had hell getting comfortable with the joy cons, and still never fully did. For any future games I play on the Switch, I’ll go buy a pro controller first. I know Nintendo is holding onto the motion control gimmick and it letting go, but it’s not for me. I hated it for the Wii and still don’t care for it now. Games I am looking forward to in the future are Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 and the Link’s Awakening remake. For now though I’m moving onto the next. I have a PS4 now and am getting heavy into Spider-Man. That and The Last of Us will probably keep me busy til Borderlands 3 drops.

Xbox One
Bioshock - 8.0
Bioshock 2 - 8.5
The Evil Within - 6.0
Bioshock Infinite - 9.0
— Burial at Sea DLC - 9.0
Crackdown 3 - 8.5
Quantum Break - 9.5
Wolfenstein: The New Order - 9.0
Rise of the Tomb Raider - 8.5
Prey - 8.5
Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 7.0
Lego Batman 3 - 6.5

Nintendo Switch
Super Mario Odyssey - 7.0

 

[Master_Craig]

PS4:

-Subnautica - 9 / 10
-Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps DLC (The Heist, Turf Wars and Silver Lining) - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil 2 - 9 / 10
-Far Cry: New Dawn - 7.5 / 10
-Devil May Cry 5 - 8 / 10
-Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 8.5 / 10
-Rage 2 - 7 / 10
-Owlboy - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil (REmake) - 8 / 10
-Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - 7.5 / 10

PC:

-Prey - 8.5 / 10

Finished Prey for PC, clocking in at just over 22 hours of game play.

To begin with, Prey has a slow start, it feels a bit like a slog, but the game's pace quickly picks up as you get deeper into the plot. For the most part, I really enjoyed the narrative and while the game wasn't 'scary', it did feel like a genuine survival horror.

What I really liked the most about the game was the freedom and creativity it offers. Mixing stealth, throwing objects at enemies like fuel/gas canisters, ambushing enemies or ignoring them completely altogether. It's not quite an open world or sandbox environment, but it's non-linear in terms of navigation and even combat, which I think is clever.

The game has a great presentation, with good graphics and an interesting art direction, the space station environment of Talos 1 has a great design. I loved the game's soundtrack, mixing an intense, slow build up of horror, with sci-fi 80's beats when it came to moments of peace and hope. All the character's voice acting and performances were great, too.

I enjoyed the overall narrative and story, although without spoiling much, I was a little disappointed by the ending.

My biggest gripe with the game was that it was buggy, but surprisingly, not so much in-game, so I'm unsure if it was the game, or my computer. Unfortunately, the game crashed on me several times, and there were also times when the loading screen would just infinitely load and never allow me to progress to the next area, without Ctrl+Alt+Del'ing out of the game and re-launching the title through Steam.

 

[Paradox]

I had some crashing and freezing while loading issues as well on my Xbox so it’s probably just the game. I agree about the ending but still plan to revisit the game at some point.

 

[Paradox]

I finished Spider-Man this past weekend and damn it was awesome. The story was great, the visuals were beautiful and the cutscenes were killer. Peter’s interactions with Octavius were expertly crafted. Hell pretty much anyone he was involved with, whether it be Miles, MJ, or May was great to experience. This game did a fantastic job of capturing who Peter Parker is. And it’s rare that a game elicits a strong emotional response from me. I remember shedding a tear when Sephiroth killed Aeris, but not much beyond that. There were two moments at the end of this game where the emotions were so strong I teared up at both of them. The acting and the amazing motion capture, the detailed animation, the portrayal of those characters at the end sold it beautifully. I’m being intentionally vague as to not spoil anything, but if you played it you know what I’m taking about. I’ll be revisiting Spider-Man’s New York before too long. I’d like to do the DLC and I have more secrets and Easter eggs to discover. On a final note, that was one of Stan Lee’s better cameos. I’m glad he got to do one for this game and it was a good inside nod.

Xbox One
Bioshock - 8.0
Bioshock 2 - 8.5
The Evil Within - 6.0
Bioshock Infinite - 9.0
— Burial at Sea DLC - 9.0
Crackdown 3 - 8.5
Quantum Break - 9.5
Wolfenstein: The New Order - 9.0
Rise of the Tomb Raider - 8.5
Prey - 8.5
Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 7.0
Lego Batman 3 - 6.5

Nintendo Switch
Super Mario Odyssey - 7.0

PS4
Spider-Man - 10.0

 

[Longo_2_guns]

I agree 100%

 

[Master_Craig]

PS4:

-Subnautica - 9 / 10
-Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps DLC (The Heist, Turf Wars and Silver Lining) - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil 2 - 9 / 10
-Far Cry: New Dawn - 7.5 / 10
-Devil May Cry 5 - 8 / 10
-Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 8.5 / 10
-Rage 2 - 7 / 10
-Owlboy - 8.5 / 10
-Resident Evil (REmake) - 8 / 10
-Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - 7.5 / 10

PC:

-Prey - 8.5 / 10
-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords - 8.5 / 10

So I am totally "that guy" who buys a brand new, cutting edge gaming PC... and then ends up playing an RPG that's essentially 15 years old. Wow.

I still enjoyed KotoR 2. In terms of game play, it's a lot better than the first one and while I enjoyed the overall story more than its predecessor, it unfortunately feels quite rushed and unfinished in certain places, especially the ending.

The game hasn't aged too well in terms of visuals, presentation and some of its game play mechanics, but it was still enjoyable to re-visit. I haven't played KotoR 2 in 13 years, so it was pretty cool to re-visit. By the end of the game, my Jedi (who was a Jedi Guardian, then Weapon Master) was so powerful, that I'd kill enemies, even bosses, in one to three hits. Noice.

 

[Paradox]

Nothing wrong with revisiting the classics, I’m currently plowing through old SNES games on the Switch. Sometimes I get the urge to load up Starcraft on my laptop, probably the most advanced game my POS laptop could handle in any case.

On a different topic, it’s taken me 16 and a half years, but this here is my 9000th post lol

 

[Master_Craig]

On a different topic, it’s taken me 16 and a half years, but this here is my 9000th post lol

Congratulations! That's awesome!

Speaking of classics, on your 9001st post, you should make use of the DragonBall Z Vegeta meme of "It's over 9,000"

 

[Paradox]

Speaking of classics, on your 9001st post, you should make use of the DragonBall Z Vegeta meme of "It's over 9,000"

Done and done haha

And thanks!

 

[COMaestro]

Haven't posted in here for a while. I'm officially adopting the format of others.

PS4:
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry
Castlevania
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

Arkham City is mechanically so much better than Asylum, it's no contest. While there were still the occasional targeting issues in combat, I rarely lost my combo due to game glitches, just my own poor decisions. The story is great as well, but Asylum's more contained environment fit that story so well that I think I like it a bit better. Boss fights were better in City though, especially the Mr. Freeze fight.

AC: Freedom Cry took me a bit to get back into the swing of AC, remembering how to sail and fight with the AC4 controls, which I haven't played in years. I got there though. There were some really good missions in this one and the sailing is always fun.

Castlevania. A game I haven't played in countless years, way back on my old NES system. In picking up the Castlevania Collection, I have been able to revisit it and amaze myself at how good I was at the first three levels. Beat those without needing to continue. Then I had to continue a bunch of times trying to get through the very first room of the fourth stage!!! Took a bit to finally beat Frankenstein's monster and then Death on the next stage. I initially sucked at fighting Dracula before realizing you can jump over his fireballs and hit him in the head really easily. Then it was just hoping his jumping pattern in his evolved form didn't screw me over, which it did a couple of times, but I finally took the fiend down. It was fun revisiting this, but doubt I'll play it again any time soon.

Castlevania II I also haven't played in years, and in some ways it is harder than the original. Mostly due to the what would come to be known as metroidvania element it has, with going back and forth across the world map, with no real idea of where anything is. You actually need to talk to villagers in order to figure out how certain things work, but even then you kind of need to interpret it. "Meet a soul at blahblah cliff when you have a red crystal." WTF does that mean? Luckily I remembered most of the weird things you have to do in order to finish the game and only had to look up how to go back after using the red crystal (ends up you have to keep going forward and it loops back), when I realized I had missed the third mansion. It is a pretty great game really, and incredibly difficult if you fail to upgrade your whip in a timely fashion (which happened to me when I used the red crystal too soon).

On to Castlevania III, the main reason I bought this collection!