What Games Have You Completed? (2021 Edition)

Retr0gamer

I thought I was the only one that played Project Slypheed!

Mal-Adjusted

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118002814#Comment_118002814

"Wah, Wah! Where's Magras?!" Imagine that for 3 hours and you have the bulk of the plot. still really liked it though

Retr0gamer

1. Megaman X2|SNES
2. Streets of Rage 4|PC
3. Sekiro|PC
4. Megaman 7|SNES
5. Megaman 8|PS1
6. Megaman X3|SNES
7. Megaman & Bass|SNES
8. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim|PS4
9. Broken Sword: Director's Cut|PC
10. Command & Conquer: Red Alert|PC
11. Mischief Makers|N64
12. Wolfenstein 2: New Colossus (DLC)|PC
13. Deception 4: Blood Ties|PS4
14. Final Fantasy Adventure|Gameboy
15. Virtua Racing|Switch
16. Thief 2: The Metal Age|PC
17. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Spearhead|PC
18. Crysis Remaster|PC
19. God of War: Chain of Olympus|PS3
20. Resident Evil Village|PC
21. Live a Live|SNES
22. Clockwork Knight|Saturn
23. DuckTales|NES
24. Drakengard 3|PS3
25. Double Dragon|NES
26. Secret of Mana|SNES
27. Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions|Android
28. Halo 5: Guardians|XBox One
29. Air Combat|PS1
30. Kamui|PC
31. DuckTales 2|NES
32. Turok Dinosaur Hunter|PC
33. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box|Android
34. Ape Escape|PS1
35. No One Lives Forever|PC
36. DuckTales Remastered|PC
37. Yakuza: Like a Dragon|PC
38. Asterix|Master System
39. McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure|Megadrive
40. Fuga: Melodies of Steel|PC
41. Quake|PC
42. Return of the Obra Dinn|PC
43. Tail Concerto|PS1
44. Contra 3 (Hard Mode)|SNES
45. Rocket Knight|PC
46. Enemy Zero|PC
47. Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon

Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon

The first of the Quake mission packs, this one developed by Hipnotic, who would change their name after this to Ritual and go on to make SiN.

What this mission pack highlights is just how good Id were when it came to level design. This mission pack really feels like a bunch of fan made levels interconnected into a campaign. The developer really wants to show off their technical skill and they do some really crazy things with the Quake engine. They have levels that change geometry, rolling boulders, strange uses of gravity and other weirdness. However the game is missing the flow of levels in the Id developed game. While the Id levels are far less ambitious unless you get lost there is a great flow to the levels and very little down time.

Scourge of Armagon on the other hand has plenty of levels where you need to backtrack and to keep things interesting the designers just spawn in new enemies in areas you've already been through. It feels really cheap and frustrating and it's used constantly throughout the campaign. Id never resorted to these cheap tricks. There's also some amateur design here with some levels requiring you to take fall damage to progress. The last level of the third episode is particularly egregious. You face two shamblers on the ground and two ogres up above firing grenades at you. It's kind of bullshit but manageable, except there's a machine in the are constantly zapping you with electricity. If you turn the machine off it explodes setting off random explosions in the area that hurt like a full rocket blast and then you open the gate to the exit and is spawns another shambler. **** right off whoever designed this.

There's new weapons and enemies in this pack but they don't offer a whole lot. There's thors hammer which isn't as good as the lightning gun. There's a laser rifle which is actually pretty need. And there's proximity mines which just end up hurting you more or annoy you as you wait for them to explode. They're used once in a decent puzzle to open a secret level at least. There's a new final boss who isn't great but at least is a proper fight rather than the legendary shitness of Quake's final Boss. Looks a bit like a Strog from Quake 2.

Anyway, it's still a pretty decent set of levels that does some interesting things even if the level design is rougher than the god like Quake.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118002828#Comment_118002828

I really enjoyed it as well even though the plot was laughably predictable. It was screaming for a decent x-wing type sim at the time and it filled that void.

Kingp35

1. Resident Evil 3 - PlayStation 4
2. Resident Evil 4 - PlayStation 4
3. Yakuza Kiwami - PlayStation 4
4. Yakuza Kiwami 2 - PlayStation 4
5. Endless Fable 3: Dark Moor - PlayStation 4
6. Cube Escape: The Lake - Android
7. The Secret Order 7: Shadow Breach - PlayStation 4
8. A Plague Tale: Innocence - PlayStation 4
9. Ghost Files: Memory of a Crime - PlayStation 4
10. Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka With Love - PlayStation 4
11. Anodyne - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
12. Dandara - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
13. Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
14. Dead Space 2 - PlayStation 3
15. Dead Space 3 - PlayStation 3
16. Medievil - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
17. Broken Age - PlayStation 4
18. Call of Duty Blacks Ops 3 (Campaign only) - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
19. Unmechanical Extended - PlayStation 4
20. Marvels Avengers - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
21. Far Cry 3 - PlayStation 3
22. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - PlayStation 3
23. In Rays of the Light - PlayStation 4
24. Yoku's Island Express - PlayStation 4
25. Borderlands 3 - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
26. Streets of Rage 4 - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
27. Judgement - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
28. Astro's Playroom - PlayStation 5
29. Red Dead Redemption 2 - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)
30. Nier Automata - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)
31. Bugsnax - PlayStation 5

Bugsnax

I'm not really sure what I think of this game. I'm a little disappointed that it doesn't use more of the DualSense controller features, I think it would have added something a little extra. The gameplay is simple, you move around an island catching creatures called 'Bugsnax' using various methods and gadgets. It's essentially a puzzle game and you can't die. The story and dialogue is a little too childish for me but there is fun to be had figuring out how to catch the 100 Bugsnax. It's a relaxing game, it's fairly easy to get the platinum trophy, but ultimately fairly forgettable.

Gamer Bhoy 89

GAME: GEARS 5

PLATFORM: XBOX ONE

I have mixed opinions of this one.

This game only had 4 acts (as opposed to the traditional 5) and the first and final acts were linear, with the middle two acts being two different open-world areas.

Yep, an open world element; but they didn't do much with it. All it was used for was a means to collect optional upgrades for your robot companion (new addition): go here, shoot enemies, get upgrade, leave, rinse and repeat. The main objectives of these open world areas were not different aside form being slightly longer with a boss. As a Gears game it fell kind of flat, but it wasn't terrible.

I just hope the next instalment (whenever it shows its face) doesn't continue the trend. I'd rather the linear action style of the original 4 games, but you know we won't get that. This is them testing the waters with the open world elements and it'll be fairly possible that the next game will be a light-RPG with upgrade mechanics for your character; their weapons and maybe their armour - as well as tons of side missions.

Other than that, the game overall was decent enough. I enjoyed the story overall but personally it didn't get properly good until the final Act.

Nevertheless it was good and I had fun, but just like Gears of War 4 - it doesn't hold a candle to Gears 1-3. Likewise with Gears 4, it ended on a cliff-hanger, so unless something goes horribly wrong with development, we're guaranteed a Gears 6 for Xbox Series X|S

I just realised I haven't numbered my entries since Gears 2 🤣

ShaneU

Astro's Playroom PS5

Spiderman PS4

Hitman 2 PS4

Assassin's Creed Valhalla PS5

Days Gone PS5

Final Fantasy VII Remake PS5

Sable PC

Journey meets Breath of the Wild. Enjoyable adventure game where your character 'finds themself'. Instead of moving to Australia like the Irish do you get a loan of a magic stone that let's you float about the place. You collect different masks by exploring and helping people of different professions . Then at the end you choose the mask you will wear for the rest of your life, doesn't seem to change the ending though which I found disappointing.

Retr0gamer

OMG! Australia was like soooooo amazing.

TinCanMan

Bioshock Infinite [PS4] - I loved this game but not quite as much as the first. Although very different from 1 & 2 there are some slight similarities with weapons and vigours(plasmids). If you've never played a Bioshock game then the collection is available quite cheaply. I would highly recommend all three for those that haven't played them. They are masterpieces and should be played in order of release date i.e. 1,2 and then infinite.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider [PS4] - If you've played a Tomb Raider game before then you'll know what to expect. This one is slightly less combat heavy than the first two in the trilogy and more focused on stealth and exploration. It's a beautiful looking game and whilst I enjoyed it I found it to be the weakest of the three.

Astro's Playroom [PS5] - First things first, this game is seriously fun with so much nostalgia thrown in from Playstation history that I was grinning like an idiot at times. But what's most impressive is that they used this game to highlight the new features of the Dualsense controller and boy does it shine. This is a revolution in controller design and I can't wait to see how other games will make use of it in the near future. There's a real wow factor about the Dualsense and it lives up to all the hype.

Ghost of Tsushima [PS5] - This game is something else. The visuals are pure eye candy and the gameplay and story are excellent. Whilst the visuals on the PS5 are the same the 60 FPS makes a huge difference. I enjoyed this game so much that I went on to get the platinum. I have yet to try out the online mode though as I don't really play much online.

Uncharted 4 [PS4/PS5] - What a way to finish the series. If you've played the others then you'll know what to expect but boy does this game look beautiful and also plays really well. Looks amazing for a 6 year old game at this stage, great story and voice acting as well. I would advise on playing them in order though to get the most from the story and characters.

Days Gone [PS5] - What an absolute masterpiece this is. Although slow to get going things really pick up after the 10 hours mark. The only downside is that the human AI are as dumb as a bag of rocks. Fighting the hordes really gets the adrenaline flowing as well. I thoroughly recommend this and loved it so much that I went on to get the platinum.

Dishonored 1 [PS5] - There are so many ways to play this game. You can go all guns blazing, pure stealth or a mixture of the two. The graphics have aged but the cartoony nature means they're not too difficult on the eye. I really enjoyed my playthrough bar one mission. It's a short game but there are so many paths to take and so many ways to deal with enemies that I can understand why people complete multiple playthroughs. 

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118031583#Comment_118031583

PAL region too.. so 50 Hz n64s and SNES too !! 🌞

Kingp35

1. Resident Evil 3 - PlayStation 4
2. Resident Evil 4 - PlayStation 4
3. Yakuza Kiwami - PlayStation 4
4. Yakuza Kiwami 2 - PlayStation 4
5. Endless Fable 3: Dark Moor - PlayStation 4
6. Cube Escape: The Lake - Android
7. The Secret Order 7: Shadow Breach - PlayStation 4
8. A Plague Tale: Innocence - PlayStation 4
9. Ghost Files: Memory of a Crime - PlayStation 4
10. Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka With Love - PlayStation 4
11. Anodyne - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
12. Dandara - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
13. Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
14. Dead Space 2 - PlayStation 3
15. Dead Space 3 - PlayStation 3
16. Medievil - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
17. Broken Age - PlayStation 4
18. Call of Duty Blacks Ops 3 (Campaign only) - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
19. Unmechanical Extended - PlayStation 4
20. Marvels Avengers - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
21. Far Cry 3 - PlayStation 3
22. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - PlayStation 3
23. In Rays of the Light - PlayStation 4
24. Yoku's Island Express - PlayStation 4
25. Borderlands 3 - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
26. Streets of Rage 4 - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
27. Judgement - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
28. Astro's Playroom - PlayStation 5
29. Red Dead Redemption 2 - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)
30. Nier Automata - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)
31. Bugsnax - PlayStation 5
32. Beat Cop - PlayStation 4
33. Disney Classic Games - Aladdin - PlayStation 4
34. Disney Classic Games - The Lion King - PlayStation 4

Beat Cop

The most enjoyable part of Beat Cop is the writing, it's full of 80's references and very un-pc jokes, especially in the briefing room at the start of each day. Unfortunately the gameplay loop itself is a little too simple and repetitive to truly be fun. Done in a pixel art style, your a cop walking a beat issuing traffic tickets, catching robbers and trying to solve an overall case. Each day lasts 10 minutes and there's 21 days in total. There just isn't enough going on for it to be truly fun. Also there is no reply value because instead of implementing a simple chapter select after completing the game, there's a rewind feature instead where if you rewind to Day 2 for example you can't skip ahead again. Given that the game has different endings this is a silly decision. There's also no option to fast forward time. This simple features would have added replayability to the game.

Disney Classic Games - Aladdin and The Lion King

I'll admit that when I originally bought these I thought that there were full remasters like Castle of Illusion or Duck Tales. They're not, they are the original games and they largely don't hold up anymore. Clunky controls and huge sprites make them difficult, especially The Lion King. I'm glad I finished them but definitely not worth the money.

Mr.Fantastic

1. Streets of Rage 4 | Switch
2. Cyberpunk 2077 | PS5(PS4 version)
3. Remnant from the ashes | PS5(PS4)
4. Life is strange Season 2 | PS5(PS4)
5. FFX HD remaster | Switch
6. AC:Odyssey | PS5(PS4)
7. Resident evil 3:remake | PS5(PS4)
8. Halo 5: Guardians | Xbox Series X
9. State of Decay 2 | Xbox Series X
10. Nioh 2 remastered | PS5
11. Astro's Playroom |PS5
12. Crash 4 | PS5
13. Gears of War 4 | Xbox Series X
14. Dex | Switch
15. Valkyria Chronicles 4 |PS5 (PS4)
16. Resident evil 8: Village | PS5
17. Outriders | Xbox Series X
18. Mass Effect 1: Legendary Edition | Xbox Series X
19. Blood and Truth | PS5(PSVR)
20. Dead Space | Xbox Series X(X360 gamepass)
21. Disco Elysium Director's cut | PS5
22. Mass Effect 2 : Legendary Edition | Xbox Series X
23. Returnal | PS5
24. Ruiner | Switch
25. Zelda: Links awakening (remake) | Switch
26. Mass Effect 3 :Legendary Edition | Xbox Series X
27. Untitled Goose Game | Switch
28. Yakuza Kiwami 2 | PS5 (PS4)
29. FF7 Remake :Intergrade Intermission DLC | PS5
30. Children of Morta | Xbox Series X
31. 12 Minutes | Xbox Series X
32. State of Decay 2: Heartland DLC | Xbox Series X
33. Spiderman: Miles Morales | PS5
34. Metro Exodus | PS5
35. Metroid Dread | Switch

Metroid Dread

Absolutely fantastic game, cleared it in 7 hours or so but the art design, the music and the atmosphere *chefs kiss.

Loved Metroid fusion as a kid and it was my introduction to the series and I only played super Metroid a year or so ago.

Have to say instant classic for me and I am a huge fan of hollow knight etc but this improves on them again.

Also currently playing Judgement the PS5 versions and enjoying it so far some nice QOL updates from the yakuza series.

I really want to finish saints and sinners walking dead vr but the movement with the PS moves is too jarring.

Mr.Fantastic

1. Streets of Rage 4 | Switch
2. Cyberpunk 2077 | PS5(PS4 version)
3. Remnant from the ashes | PS5(PS4)
4. Life is strange Season 2 | PS5(PS4)
5. FFX HD remaster | Switch
6. AC:Odyssey | PS5(PS4)
7. Resident evil 3:remake | PS5(PS4)
8. Halo 5: Guardians | Xbox Series X
9. State of Decay 2 | Xbox Series X
10. Nioh 2 remastered | PS5
11. Astro's Playroom |PS5
12. Crash 4 | PS5
13. Gears of War 4 | Xbox Series X
14. Dex | Switch
15. Valkyria Chronicles 4 |PS5 (PS4)
16. Resident evil 8: Village | PS5
17. Outriders | Xbox Series X
18. Mass Effect 1: Legendary Edition | Xbox Series X
19. Blood and Truth | PS5(PSVR)
20. Dead Space | Xbox Series X(X360 gamepass)
21. Disco Elysium Director's cut | PS5
22. Mass Effect 2 : Legendary Edition | Xbox Series X
23. Returnal | PS5
24. Ruiner | Switch
25. Zelda: Links awakening (remake) | Switch
26. Mass Effect 3 :Legendary Edition | Xbox Series X
27. Untitled Goose Game | Switch
28. Yakuza Kiwami 2 | PS5 (PS4)
29. FF7 Remake :Intergrade Intermission DLC | PS5
30. Children of Morta | Xbox Series X
31. 12 Minutes | Xbox Series X
32. State of Decay 2: Heartland DLC | Xbox Series X
33. Spiderman: Miles Morales | PS5
34. Metro Exodus | PS5
35. Metroid Dread | Switch
36. Final Fantasy 15 DLC Episode Gladiolous | PS5(PS4)

Final Fantasy 15 DLC Episode Gladiolous

Don't know if this can really counted as a "game" but I have included other dlcs so far. Was very short but nice insight into cor the guy you meet in earlier chapters and then disappears.

It was 2017 when I finished this game originally, but realized that I had the royal edition free being a ps plus member and my save carried over so will probably work through the DLC I heard it is not bad and does flesh out the story a bit more. When originally playing FFXV I thought the last chapters could have been written by a TY improv class.

But my overall enjoyment of the game was high, probably a 7/10 and then they knocked it out of the park with the FF7 remake for me and the DLC all be it the main game was a tad bloated.

SuperBowserWorld

The Artful Escape

Xbox Series X, Gamepass.

A psycadelic, beautiful looking and sounding game with some great voice acting. And a mixture of Monty Python / David Bowie Ziggy Stardust / Beatles Yellow Submarine / Kiss / ... / Disk world / ... / Back to the future / 80s / Bill and Ted / ... / Wes Anderson / ...

Simple platforming and repeat after me Simon gameplay. Really, don't expect much "game" here.

But definitely worth a go if you have GamePass. Short and sweet too.

Thanks for some people on here for recommending it.

da gamer

Call of duty cold war - PS4

A plague tale innocence - Xbox one

Fifa 20 - Xbox one

Hotshot racing - Xbox one

Mafia - PS4

Resident evil 3 - PS4

The walking dead a new frontier - Xbox one

Hitman 2 - PS4

What remains of Edith Finch - Xbox one

Beyond 2 souls - PS4

Ion Fury - PS4

Mad Max - PS4

Assassins creed valhalla - PS4

Dead space 3 - Xbox 360

Apocalypse - PS1

God of war 3 remastered - PS4

Quake - Xbox one

Alan wake remastered - PS4

RobertFoster

Picked up an 8BitDo Pro 2 controller a couple of months back and decided to give BOTW a go again. I put it down in 2018 after ~40 hours (2 Divine Beasts IIRC) for some reason and I was exclusively handheld then so the new controller gave me the push I needed.

Full restart and 95 hours later and I've done everything I wanted to do. Found 97 shrines on my own (used a map for the last few), cleared all the beasts, upgraded all the clothes I wanted to, and I left Ganon to the very last.

Kingp35

1. Resident Evil 3 - PlayStation 4
2. Resident Evil 4 - PlayStation 4
3. Yakuza Kiwami - PlayStation 4
4. Yakuza Kiwami 2 - PlayStation 4
5. Endless Fable 3: Dark Moor - PlayStation 4
6. Cube Escape: The Lake - Android
7. The Secret Order 7: Shadow Breach - PlayStation 4
8. A Plague Tale: Innocence - PlayStation 4
9. Ghost Files: Memory of a Crime - PlayStation 4
10. Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka With Love - PlayStation 4
11. Anodyne - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
12. Dandara - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
13. Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
14. Dead Space 2 - PlayStation 3
15. Dead Space 3 - PlayStation 3
16. Medievil - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
17. Broken Age - PlayStation 4
18. Call of Duty Blacks Ops 3 (Campaign only) - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
19. Unmechanical Extended - PlayStation 4
20. Marvels Avengers - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
21. Far Cry 3 - PlayStation 3
22. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - PlayStation 3
23. In Rays of the Light - PlayStation 4
24. Yoku's Island Express - PlayStation 4
25. Borderlands 3 - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
26. Streets of Rage 4 - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
27. Judgement - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
28. Astro's Playroom - PlayStation 5
29. Red Dead Redemption 2 - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)
30. Nier Automata - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)
31. Bugsnax - PlayStation 5
32. The Last of Us Part II - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)

The Last of Us Part II

I just finished The Last of Us Part 2 for the first time. I must admit that I was fairly underwhelmed by it all. I enjoyed the sheer brutality and violence of the game but the story is your bog standard B-Movie revenge plot.

Spoiler Warning

I was incredibly annoyed when Ellie let Abby live at the end. I mean she had absolutely no problem viciously murdering countless other people but when it came to Abby she suddenly developed a conscious. Again it's typical B-Movie poor writing.

The game is far too long, it seemed as it would never end at one stage! It really dragged in the middle section. The final act is enjoyable but really a large part of the middle section could have been trimmed down. There's no need for so many rinse and repeat combat sections, they are almost identical, the game really needed more standout set pieces. I also found it a chore searching around for crafting materials, it's just not fun.

After I absolutely loved the original game I was disappointed with this one. I was at least expecting the story to be excellent but it was nothing more than average. What a shame.

wotzgoingon

[Xbox]

Mass Effect 3

Great game, better than the previous two. Wasn't expecting that ending. Very cinematic this time I thought.

Kingp35

1. Resident Evil 3 - PlayStation 4
2. Resident Evil 4 - PlayStation 4
3. Yakuza Kiwami - PlayStation 4
4. Yakuza Kiwami 2 - PlayStation 4
5. Endless Fable 3: Dark Moor - PlayStation 4
6. Cube Escape: The Lake - Android
7. The Secret Order 7: Shadow Breach - PlayStation 4
8. A Plague Tale: Innocence - PlayStation 4
9. Ghost Files: Memory of a Crime - PlayStation 4
10. Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka With Love - PlayStation 4
11. Anodyne - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
12. Dandara - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
13. Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
14. Dead Space 2 - PlayStation 3
15. Dead Space 3 - PlayStation 3
16. Medievil - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
17. Broken Age - PlayStation 4
18. Call of Duty Blacks Ops 3 (Campaign only) - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
19. Unmechanical Extended - PlayStation 4
20. Marvels Avengers - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
21. Far Cry 3 - PlayStation 3
22. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - PlayStation 3
23. In Rays of the Light - PlayStation 4
24. Yoku's Island Express - PlayStation 4
25. Borderlands 3 - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
26. Streets of Rage 4 - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
27. Judgement - PlayStation 4 (PS Now)
28. Astro's Playroom - PlayStation 5
29. Red Dead Redemption 2 - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)
30. Nier Automata - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)
31. Bugsnax - PlayStation 5
32. The Last of Us Part II - PS4 game on PlayStation 5 (PS Now)
33. Demon Hunter: Revelation - PS4 game on PlayStation 5

Demon Hunter: Revelation

Standard Artifex Mundi game. Nothing else to say here other than the fact as usual it's a perfect palate cleanser after playing AAA games and a very easy platinum trophy.

Retr0gamer

1. Megaman X2|SNES
2. Streets of Rage 4|PC
3. Sekiro|PC
4. Megaman 7|SNES
5. Megaman 8|PS1
6. Megaman X3|SNES
7. Megaman & Bass|SNES
8. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim|PS4
9. Broken Sword: Director's Cut|PC
10. Command & Conquer: Red Alert|PC
11. Mischief Makers|N64
12. Wolfenstein 2: New Colossus (DLC)|PC
13. Deception 4: Blood Ties|PS4
14. Final Fantasy Adventure|Gameboy
15. Virtua Racing|Switch
16. Thief 2: The Metal Age|PC
17. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Spearhead|PC
18. Crysis Remaster|PC
19. God of War: Chain of Olympus|PS3
20. Resident Evil Village|PC
21. Live a Live|SNES
22. Clockwork Knight|Saturn
23. DuckTales|NES
24. Drakengard 3|PS3
25. Double Dragon|NES
26. Secret of Mana|SNES
27. Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions|Android
28. Halo 5: Guardians|XBox One
29. Air Combat|PS1
30. Kamui|PC
31. DuckTales 2|NES
32. Turok Dinosaur Hunter|PC
33. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box|Android
34. Ape Escape|PS1
35. No One Lives Forever|PC
36. DuckTales Remastered|PC
37. Yakuza: Like a Dragon|PC
38. Asterix|Master System
39. McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure|Megadrive
40. Fuga: Melodies of Steel|PC
41. Quake|PC
42. Return of the Obra Dinn|PC
43. Tail Concerto|PS1
44. Contra 3 (Hard Mode)|SNES
45. Rocket Knight|PC
46. Enemy Zero|PC
47. Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon|PC
48. Final Fantasy II: Pixel Remaster|PC

Final Fantasy II: Pixel Remaster

This game has been dogging me for a long time. I've tried to beat it multiple times and have never gotten more than 5 hours in. I heard the real final boss of this game is getting over the 5 hour hump. I'm glad I finally have it out of the way now even if it was hardly a great game.

First, I'll go into the good and bad of the Pixel Remaster series.

The Pixel Remasters are almost amazing. They do so much right and then get the basics totally wrong. The good first. It's great to have all 6 of the 8 and 16 bit RPGs readily available on modern platfroms and on PC where they can be preserved. The new 2D pixel art is gorgeous as are the spell effects. However the absolute standout in the soundtrack. We all knew the FF soundtracks were special but these new versions recorded with live instruments are far and away my favourite renditions of these tracks. It's phenomenal. And when you get to the games with god tier soundtracks like FF4 it's worth playing just for the music. There's some great quality of life additions, like quick saves when you leave as room (a god send for FF2) and a speedy auto battle. Load times are insanely fast making the games a joy to play, especially compared the the awful PS1 versions.

Now the bad. The pixel art is incredible but it looks awful blown up to a modern display. There is a 'classic' filter you can use. This blurs the graphics and adds scanlines. However the scanlines are just dark bars across the screen and the blur is way too aggressive. I'd still recommend this over the standard pixelated look but I'd love to have been able to add your own shaders like in retroarch. The filters could have been a lot better. Worst of all is the frame pacing. These games are made in Unity and like with a lot of recent 2D Unity games they run at the wrong framerate, 70 FPS instead of 60. It means there is very noticeable judder which is very distracting until you get used to it. It's insane this got through to the final release especially when it's a very easy thing to fix.

One other thing that may be an announce is that the extra dungeons and post game content from the GBA and PSP releases of these games are not present in the pixel remasters. It's a very strange omission even though I never really found these extras well designed or fun. They really just focus on the content from the original release of the game.

As for FF2, despite being a black sheep of the series it actually pioneered a lot of features that defined the series. Elemental weaknesses now work well, including how the undead take damage from healing spells. This is also where the series focus on narrative started. The story is tripe but was ambitious for the time with playable characters dying. It takes a lot of cues from star wars and gets really daft towards the end with multiple antagonists appearing one after the other so frequently that it's laughable. The game also has a 'key word' system where you can learn key words from characters and then ask other characters about them. It's an interesting idea that adds nothing to the game and was thankfully dropped after FF2.

FF2 is notorious for it's levelling system. It was a pretty innovative system where you would get stronger the more you carried out certain actions. The original game however had the obnoxious feature of also levelling you down if you did opposite reactions which is bullshit. Thankfully levelling down has been taken out of this version. It's been rebalanced overall where there's no need to grind and stat increases seem to happen organically at times. It's still a right pain to level up spells and not really worth it considering how ineffective they are.

The rebalancing does make the game quite easy however it doesn't fix one issue with FF2, namely there's a few mobs that will utterly decimate your team if you get a bad round or an ambush. Some mobs have inflict status effects like paralysis, stone or even death that can cause you to lose a battle before you get a chance to react or have to watch as your team gets pummeled over 20+ rounds as you pray to RNGesus that status effects will wear off so you can control you party again only to get stuck in yet another status effect loop. This happens rarely and mostly towards the end of the game but it's never not frustrating. Thankfully the game auto saves liberally so it's not too much of an issue. I can only imagine how insane this would be in the original game where you could lose upwards of 45 minutes to some bullshit encounter.

One last thing to note about game balance is that the game might now be very easy but the original FF2 is known for having the biggest dick move final boss of the series and he still lives up to his reputation. Unless you have been grinding status enhancing spells which up to this point are useless you could end up in a situation where this boss is impossible. His damage output is insane and he has a habit of resetting multiple rounds worth of damage with attacks that can absorb massive amounts of health from your characters and heal the boss. There is a trick to make him easy with the blood sword but if you sold the blood sword then you are **** out of luck.

FF2 is an interesting game, if not a successful one. It's ideas would be refined in the Saga series which would give us some great games. And the focus on narrative and tasking the battle system is wildly divergent directions would become to define the series. It did enjoy the game even if at points it was a slog. However it's more historical curiosity than good game. At least if you aren;t interested in FF2, there's 5 other absolutely classics in the Pixel Remaster package.

Retr0gamer

1. Megaman X2|SNES
2. Streets of Rage 4|PC
3. Sekiro|PC
4. Megaman 7|SNES
5. Megaman 8|PS1
6. Megaman X3|SNES
7. Megaman & Bass|SNES
8. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim|PS4
9. Broken Sword: Director's Cut|PC
10. Command & Conquer: Red Alert|PC
11. Mischief Makers|N64
12. Wolfenstein 2: New Colossus (DLC)|PC
13. Deception 4: Blood Ties|PS4
14. Final Fantasy Adventure|Gameboy
15. Virtua Racing|Switch
16. Thief 2: The Metal Age|PC
17. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Spearhead|PC
18. Crysis Remaster|PC
19. God of War: Chain of Olympus|PS3
20. Resident Evil Village|PC
21. Live a Live|SNES
22. Clockwork Knight|Saturn
23. DuckTales|NES
24. Drakengard 3|PS3
25. Double Dragon|NES
26. Secret of Mana|SNES
27. Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions|Android
28. Halo 5: Guardians|XBox One
29. Air Combat|PS1
30. Kamui|PC
31. DuckTales 2|NES
32. Turok Dinosaur Hunter|PC
33. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box|Android
34. Ape Escape|PS1
35. No One Lives Forever|PC
36. DuckTales Remastered|PC
37. Yakuza: Like a Dragon|PC
38. Asterix|Master System
39. McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure|Megadrive
40. Fuga: Melodies of Steel|PC
41. Quake|PC
42. Return of the Obra Dinn|PC
43. Tail Concerto|PS1
44. Contra 3 (Hard Mode)|SNES
45. Rocket Knight|PC
46. Enemy Zero|PC
47. Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon|PC
48. Final Fantasy II: Pixel Remaster|PC
49. Sparkster (Hard Mode)|SNES

Sparkster (SNES)

Here's a game I've had a lot of misconceptions about. As I mentioned I was always envious that SNES owners got the better Rocket Knight Adventures sequel. It looked stunning in screenshots and when I briefly played it on an emulator (first stage) it seemed like a really good game. Well now that I've played it I'm really disappointed. I actually think this game is not only worse than the megadrive Sparkster but also worse than the much maligned Rocket Knight for the PS360.

First the good. The game really is gorgeous, one of the best looking games on the SNES. It's a lot more colourful than RKA on the megadrive and Sparkster's redesign looks great and much better than the Megadrive Sparkster. Konami's coders were really showing off with this game with some crazy graphical effects. Just in the first level there's reflective water, a weird miasma effect and a warping effect on some enemies. Later levels don't disappoint either. On the other hand the complexity of some of the effects means the framerate can really suffer at times.

Now for the disappointing aspects.

There's just something off about this game. The rocket pack, the series' USP, is a crap shoot. In RKA using the rocket pack committed you to an uncontrollable flight path but the trade of was invulnerability and a safe way to damage enemies. All too often you will get stuck in the hit box of an enemy after using the rocket jump and take damage making it a crap shoot and too risky to use.

After the opening stage level design takes a big nose dive. Levels become more open with some very haphazard level design compared to the deliberate and focused design of RKA. It means many levels are too long, too confusing and kind of boring. Levels will also incorporate instant death traps that discourage the use of the rocket pack which kind of defeats the purpose of having it. Bosses as very ordinary as well which is very surprising for a Konami game. One level in particular stands out for how bad it is and that is when the game turns into a shoot'em up for one stage. It's dull, bad designed and ends with by far the worst boss of the game. One of RKA's best set pieces was when you and your rival both commandeer massive robots and have to square off against each other. It's a real spectacle and a standout moment in the game. Sparkster tries to replicate this with a rock'em sock'em style robot boss fight that is pure RNG and way too hard. Any time I beat this it felt like pure chance that I managed to get the AI into a state that could be easily exploited. There's no tactics here, it just plain doesn't work as a fair challenge.

The soundtrack as well comes off really poorly compared to the megadrive Sparkster. Megadrive sparkster was scored by some of Konami's best composers including Michiru Yamane of symphony of the night fame and Akira Yamaoka before he became well known for his work on Silent Hill. It sounded incredible. The only track in Sparkster that stands out is the first stage theme which is a SNES rendition of the opening level theme from Megadrive sparkster and it sounds slightly worse in comparison. All the other tracks are forgettable.

Sparkster on the SNES isn't terrible, it's just merely decent. But considering this is a game from Konami at the height of it's creative output, decent is really disappointing considering the rake of absolute classics the company was pumping out at the time. It also disappointingly means that the glorious Rocket Knight Adventrue never got that sequel is so deserved.

I beat this game on Normal first and then Hard which unlocked a true final boss and ending.

Eh, no thanks.

da gamer

Call of duty cold war - PS4

A plague tale innocence - Xbox one

Fifa 20 - Xbox one

Hotshot racing - Xbox one

Mafia - PS4

Resident evil 3 - PS4

The walking dead a new frontier - Xbox one

Hitman 2 - PS4

What remains of Edith Finch - Xbox one

Beyond 2 souls - PS4

Ion Fury - PS4

Mad Max - PS4

Assassins creed valhalla - PS4

Dead space 3 - Xbox 360

Apocalypse - PS1

God of war 3 remastered - PS4

Quake - Xbox one

Alan wake remastered - PS4

Little hope - PS4

wotzgoingon

Xbox

Prey 2017

Brilliant game loved every minute of it but was running low on ammo and supplies kinda near the end and them damn robot things were annoying near the end too, luckily you could just run passed them as you had ever where searched on space station by then and were just going back to finish stuff up.

ShaneU

Astro's Playroom PS5

Spiderman PS4

Hitman 2 PS4

Assassin's Creed Valhalla PS5

Days Gone PS5

Final Fantasy VII Remake PS5

Sable PC

Inscryption PC

A deck building card game similar to Slay the Spire with some alternate reality stuff going on. Reminded me of Hypnospace Outlaw, it's a really clever game. Don't want to say too much more as it will spoil it but the game changes drastically as it goes along. Looking at those other games I finished, it's likely to be my game of the year

The Phantom Pain

*reposted but without paragraphs that would offend any paranoid folks who don’t read properly or those who cry libel when no names are actually mentioned.*

53. Deathloop. Broke the loop (completed) and platinumed.

After all the jokes about the plethora of trailers I probably don’t need to explain what the game is about lol but… a bunch of people known as Eternalists are transported to the fictional island of Blackreef as part of the Aeon program to live one perfect day for the rest of their lives. Amongst them are the “visionaries”, AKA Blackreef’s leaders, who represent the best of the best - extremely bright and talented scientists and artists…and sociopaths who are just too evil to live. One of them has decided enough is enough and wants to break the loop.  Good? Good. Let’s just get right into it.

I’m an Arkane Studios fan so the moment I saw the trailer for Deathloop I knew exactly what to expect and yet, somehow, Deathloop still exceeded my expectations. I’m not even crazy about the sixties but Arkane really nailed the aesthetic of the era in their own Arkane way. From the original, time-appropriate music (why the F isn’t ‘Ode to Somewhere’ on the official soundtrack?!) to the clothes NPCs wear and the general look of Blackreef. There’s so much attention to detail just in its environments alone that it’s hard not to be enthralled with this island, even at a distance. Arkane always make beautifully designed worlds and like Karnarca (Dishonoured 2) and Talos 1 (Prey), Blackreef is yet another fine addition.  My personal favourite district was Updaam because its layout reminded me of Karnaca and no matter what time of day I visit it in they are all equally fun to explore.

I just loved learning about Blackreef outside of leads. I looked forward to every audio log and journal that documented the history of the island and everyone on it. I enjoyed getting to know each visionary’s background and viewing the beautiful mess that is their group chat with their dumbass handles. Some of the standout visionaries include Edward Nygma, I mean, Charlie Montague who you will be consistently reminded of if you’re lucky enough to stumble upon his mini games. I also like Fia who is this flighty, drugged up “artiste” and designer of Blackreef’s overall look, including its eternalists. She is also insanely murderous, willing to obliterate the entire island and everything in it on a dime… But my favourite visionary of the lot is Aleksis Dorsey who is just absolutely disgusting. A narcissist bellend, his voice acting is stellar and his party in Updaam in the evening being part of the grand finale was so fitting.

Whenever you kill a visionary they drop a slab (superpower) and you can kill visionaries repeatedly for slab upgrades. Dishonoured fans will recognise some of these powers right away; Shift is Blink, Nexus is Domino, Aether is Dark Vision etc etc etc. Cleverly, each of the powers reflect the visionaries’ individual personalities. Charlie’s Shift slab, which is basically a quick teleport, mirrors how his temperament can go from chill to “chill the F out, dude, geez” in a blink and then Egor’s Aether ability, which turns you invisible, speaks to how he feels invisible and his desperate need for validation. Then you have Fia’s havoc, which turns you into an unstoppable killing machine by reducing damage taken while greatly increasing damage given, showing how unstable and batshit crazy she is.

Surprisingly, I really liked the banter between the two lead visionaries in the game which is, of course, Colt and Julianna. I was concerned about it prior to playing because the dialogue came across a bit naff in the trailers but, like I said in my post about LIS: True Colours, some elements of a game are hard to sell in a trailer out of context. In fact, Colt and Julianna’s twisted relationship is what keeps the start of each loop fresh and when they have nothing more to say to one another, rather than breaking immersion by repeating the same lines, one of them literally says, “I’ve run out of things to say so I’m just gonna stop calling you. Bye.” Colt is much more of a weirdo than the trailers would have you believe and it’s within his dorkiness that you can totally see how he was the perfect candidate for Blackreef (without spoiling).

Spoiler Warning

And not to flex but I totally called a big spoiler about him before release. Just sayin’, sayin’ 

The other thing I really loved and wished the game had delved even further into is the mystery behind the loop and why Colt wants to stop it…and that’s all I can say without venturing into spoiler territory.

The main way the story unfolds is through the discoveries you make while exploring the island as opposed to cut scenes. Although there are some cutscenes they are few and far between and far less than any of Arkane’s previous games. This is both a strength and a weakness. The story unfolding this way only compels you to engage with one the game’s most fun elements which is the exploration of Blackreef but, at the same time, if the player isn’t paying attention certain reveals can feel like they come out of nowhere. The thing is, you can only read notes and listen to audio in real-time (despite the screen making it look like it’s paused) even in single player mode for some inexplicable reason. Unlike Arkane’s previous games, not all of these items are re-playable/re-readable and if you’re in an area crawling with enemies, as you often will be, you’re definitely not going to want to hang around in one spot reading for too long. This forces you to sift through audio and diary entries as and when you find them and in doing so it’s easy to miss important details. It’s not a big deal but something to keep an eye out for because I’ve seen people being confused as to when certain reveals happened and I can totally see why. 

Now let’s talk about the “death” in this deathloop. If you’re like me and the idea of losing hours of progress feels you with anxiety then you would have been slightly nervous going in. Earlier I spoke about slabs visionaries drop and one of the mandatory ones you acquire early on is an ability called ‘reprise’. This slab allows you to die twice without resetting the loop but if you die a third time the loop resets and all non-infused gear is lost. At first, the idea of ‘lives’ in a timeloop game seemed like it negated the entire point but that was before I discovered residuum. Residuum is the most invaluable currency in the game because you need it to ‘infuse’ your slabs,  weapons and trinkets (mods) and this enables you to keep them between loops. You can only infuse at the safehouse screen which you only gain access to upon leaving the district through the tunnels, enforcing the need to make it back unscathed to your safehouse first as opposed to just quitting out and landing back there with all your gear. Each time you die you drop all your residuum and have to go back to the last place of death to grab it, and upon your third death you will lose all residuum permanently. Not only did it mean I had to make sure I didn’t die in a spot with too much heat but it also gave me something to lose, balancing out the potential concept-breaking of reprise. Residuum can be found throughout Blackreef as well as obtained by breaking down your weapons, slabs and trinkets.

It’s also worth noting that even when I reset a loop due to death it would take mere minutes before I was back to where I needed to be as I had already gained familiarity with the maps. I also never ended a loop without acquiring useful information to help me in the next loop. Unfortunately, as much as I’ve praised how Arkane handles death in theory…everything I’ve just said about this aspect is a moot point now because spoiler alert: there’s an exploit where if you die on your final life you can just quit out of the app and it will take you from the beginning of the district when you reboot, since it only saves your death when you go to the district summary/celebration screen. Oops. Sure, you’ll still lose anything you’ve acquired in the district at that point but at least it won’t end the run altogether. I don’t know if it’s been patched yet but I’m glad I only found that out after I broke the loop 😆

As well as having to worry (or not worry) about death you also have to be mindful of time, itself, although the districts are not time limited: Once you’re in a district you can spend as much time as you like there but you can only visit districts up to four times a day, each corresponding with the four time periods (morning, noon, afternoon, evening). It can be the same district or a different one but once you leave an area time advances to the next period and you can’t go back to an earlier point in the day. If you want to visit a district even later in the day you can do so by manually advancing time but if you advance to the next morning the loop resets. All leads have a nice visual QOL feature that tells you what time period you can exploit them in so you won’t have to remember.

Another major component of Deathloop is the multiplayer. Bethesda desperately wants their favourite child to make a multiplayer looter shooter for them to the point where they couldn’t wait for Redfall and decided to start here. Despite Bethesda’s obvious multiplayer hard-on right now I am most pleased that Deathloop at least feels like it was created with multiplayer in mind and not after the fact. You can see it in the maps themselves which feel like COD multiplayer maps at times. The multiplayer is basically an invasion mode where Julianna will occasionally drop in to hunt you down and this can be an A.I. or player controlled Julianna depending on whether you’re a pussy or not what setting you select. During her invasion she will seal off all tunnels preventing the player Colt from reaching his safehouse until he hacks an antenna to unlock them. A.I. controlled Julianna will invade you with a random power but when you kill her the slab she drops will always be the one related to the visionary in that map (and she only invades a map that has a visionary present). If you’ve already got all slabs for that visionary then she drops another slab or weapon.

Invading as Julianna is more enjoyable than it has any right to be – it’s just so fun working out where the player is, predicting what their next move will be, playing mind games with one another using the environment etc etc. Admittedly, my favourite invasion moments are just watching otherwise smart, skilful players, who upon realising they’re being invaded, make incredibly dumb, nonsensical decisions that get them killed without me even lifting a finger. 🤣 The Eternalist A.I. also becomes far more aggressive when Julianna is invading, actively hunting for you and being instantly suspicious at the faintest shadow (more on enemy A.I. later). However, it’s not advised to invade as Julianna until you’ve fully learned the maps and mechanics – the Colt player is always at an advantage with more abilities, equipment and knowledge, as Arkane designed it in such a way that experienced Juliannas can’t grief newbie Colts all day.

This reminds me of another really cool attention to detail in the game and it’s concerning the music: if you know anything about music psychology one of the things composers like to do when scoring theme tunes for prominent female characters is use high pitched wailing on the lead instrument. Julianna’s theme tune on the multiplayer matchmaking screen – which is basically the femme version of Colt’s more masculine one – is a classic example of this, distinguished by its high-pitched female vocals. I dunno, I just thought that was really neat.

The only problem with multiplayer is the technical state of it which is absolutely abysmal at the moment. Assuming you’re lucky enough to get past the infinite matchmaking screen (as cool as the music is) the lag skips are so horrible when invading that I would say hold off on multiplayer until it’s fixed because right now the state it’s in is, well, Bethesda. Thankfully, the single player ran mostly well for me both pre and post day 1 patch. 

You can  customise both Colt and Julliann's cosmetic outfits which you win by ranking up as Julianna in invasion mode. The path to obtaining decent weapons, trinkets and slabs as Julianna is far longer than when playing as Colt, again, to prevent the Julianna player just griefing Colt players to death. This is great for balancing but also extends time with invasion mode which, if you’re a fan of, will suit you just fine. This segues nicely into the looter shooter aspect of Deathloop which, like the multiplayer, also feels like it was conceived from the ground upwards. You can even see it in the game’s presentation: I mentioned earlier that each time you successfully exit through the tunnels you go into a celebration screen which logs you into Bethesda’s servers and shows you a summary of weapons, trinkets and abilities you have acquired in the district. (If you exit after a Julianna invasion both she and Colt will both appear roasting each other; animations differ depending on who won) This celebration screen reminded me a lot of the expedition summary (with that badass superhero music from Sarah Schachner) in Anthem, as an example of a more recent looter shooter.

Each weapon and trinket (again, mod) has a common, rare, epic, legendary version of it – the former with random perks – and the higher the grade of weapon the more trinkets you can equip on them. Sound familiar? That’s because if you’re an experienced looter shooter fan you will recognise this approach to weapon rarity from the off. Many of the best weapons are fixed spawns from visionaries or can be won in Charlie’s games but some are random drops, and you can scan enemies from a distance to find out what weapon they’re carrying and how rare to decide if it’s something worth going for. This obviously raises the stakes because the rarer the loot the more residuum you need and, as mentioned before, the app close exploit upon death is useless here seeing as you’ll be put back before the point at which you acquired everything. 

And like the multiplayer, the loot chase is what keeps me coming back because I enjoy farming for rare weapons while also experimenting with different loadouts which, by the way, is limited due to both Colt and Julianna being able to carry only three weapons and two non-mandatory slabs. By the virtue of Deathloop being a game around repetition you are compelled to try new approaches to the same maps. You are encouraged to make mistakes and to learn from them. On that note, what distinguishes Deathloop from Arkane’s previous games is that by being an immersive sim that is also a time loop game there truly is no wrong way to play it. I remember playing the demo for Dishonoured 2 prior to the full game and being told I could 'play my way' but then being made to feel like a bad person for killing enemies and that my ending would be dark as a result. Even though I understand that’s not what Arkane’s intent was – that high chaos was rewarding me by adapting to my chosen playstyle - it still felt like they were wagging their finger at me in disapproval. So when I played the main game I felt almost nudged into doing a 'clean hands' run. Then Death of the Outsider did away with the chaos system (which made narrative sense, as an assassin that doesn’t kill would be weird) and they’ve continued that approach here allowing you to ‘play your way’ without judgement. (Plus anyone you kill comes back anyway so...)

Additionally, while Dishonoured gives you the tools you need to pretty much make any chosen playstyle viable from the start, Deathloop’s looter shooter approach to gear does not, which means initially you are forced out your comfort zone until you gain enough weapons, knowledge and abilities to, in fact, 'play your way'. As someone who will put off a main quest line until I’ve cleared all optional objectives, I had to go against my natural instinct to explore every nook and cranny from the word go because it was pointless seeing as I did not have the bear essentials to do it effectively. This felt strangely liberating because it eliminated the anxiety of missing stuff since I knew the next loop would always be another chance to discover it. And that is the lifeblood of Deathloop: being able to play your way, and his way, and her way, and a way that you’d never play loop after loop after loop.

Which brings me to a criticism that has been lobbied at this game - which really shows that some players don't understand this - and that’s the so-called “handholding”. Many, myself included, got the impression from the marketing that there would be more than one way to kill visionaries in a single loop so I can understand the disappointment from some when it turned out to be simply a set of individual leads strung together to form one right way to go about it. Deathloop's creative director, Dinga Bakaba, recently addressed this criticism in a noclip doc by saying this was a conscious decision, as they tried the approach of giving players absolutely nothing and having them work it out from scratch, but found in playtesting that the eureka moments were not worth the amount of frustration beforehand. Playtesters would spend far too long just figuring out the loop to the point where it was impeding their ability to move through the game, because we have to remember that on top of the murder puzzle the playtesters were also learning the game’s mechanics, inventory/infusion system, loot rarity, how the time periods work, getting the layout of the maps, dealing with an invading Julianna etc etc. As Dinga puts it, he and his team were mindful of the player’s “cognitive load”. I think at some point we’ve all dropped a game early on that wasn’t necessarily bad but was just expecting us to learn so much all at once that we couldn’t just settle into the groove.

But I would even add this: If you’re just following markers the entire time then, yes, it would seem handholdy but all you’re doing is telling on yourself that you’re not exploring the maps off the so-called beaten path. Therefore, you don’t know how to take the initiative to uncover the island’s unmarked secrets proving that, in your case at least, the handholding is necessary. As mentioned, there are plenty of discoveries on Blackreef that don’t have markers - entire mini games, puzzles and gameplay sections that are untracked, so choosing just to focus on leads is handholding by player decision.

But most of all, complaining about the leads being “handholdy” is missing the forest for the trees. Deathloop’s gameplay loop is not about the what, it’s about the how; it’s the play-your-way aspect that has always been the lifeblood of immersive sims, particularly Arkane immersive sims. So if you’re disappointed that you didn’t get Return of Obra Dinn levels of detective work, for instance, what you’re really demonstrating is that you  don’t understand the point of the game or immersive sims in general, and therefore you’re criticising Deathloop for what it isn’t, rather than what it actually is.

All that being said, now that we are familiar with the mechanics and how the loop works I would very much like to see Arkane reconsider their original approach of just giving the player nothing and having us work out the leads completely from scratch. No markers, no updated quest logs, nothing; we have to note down everything ourselves, because while I respect and agree with Arkane’s decision this time I will not be nearly as accepting or forgiving in the sequel.

Another criticism that perhaps has a bit more merit is the complaints around the enemy A.I. I predicted in my first impressions that there would be calls for difficulty modes regarding the A.I. and I was right. The A.I. is, and there’s no elegant way to say this, “stupid” beyond imagining. 1. Enemies have no peripheral vision 2. they lose you behind a corner and then immediately forget so they don’t even stay aggro’d for long enough 3. provided they even bother going more than 2 steps to look for you. Now, there are some misguided folk who actually believe the A.I. being “bad” is due to some sort of coding error, dare I say it, “accident”. Arkane has proven in their previous games that they can make punishing A.I and seeing as it’s the same Void engine with re-used assets the idea that it’s a coding error makes no logical sense.

Actual industry folk who understand game design such as Sony Santa Monica’s Alanah Pearce and noclip’s Danny O’Dwyer say the A.I. is dialled down so that players can focus on the play-you-way murder puzzle. They say that “difficult” A.I. would ruin the point and make players give up too early. This seems likely as it falls in line with what Dinga was referring to about “cognitive load” and handholding in noclip’s documentary. Oh, yeah, and Dinga also retweeted O’Dwyer’s comment on this so yeah, guess it’s not such a debate after all. Oh well, that settles that. 😂

Now, whether this was the right approach to the A.I. is a different matter entirely. The “dumb” (it feels weird saying that) A.I. does not bother me because the hook for me personally is uncovering the secrets of Blackreef while having fun with all the various ways I can mess around with the tools and systems at my disposal. If I want punishing A.I. I’d bust out my Splinter Cell games. Also, despite how daft the A.I. appears you can’t just go guns blazing initially (especially as common weapons jam frequently mid-fight); it’s very easy to get overwhelmed if you’re not mindful of your surroundings.  But YMMV and there’s definitely a discussion to be had about whether the A.I. should have been dumbed down to that degree considering that as you become so familiar with the maps and gain more powerful abilities and weapons with every loop you can completely murk the A.I. anyway. That said, the game has adaptive difficulty A.K.A ‘loop stress’ so enemies do become noticeably more aggressive with the more visionaries you kill. Perhaps they could have made that progression even more steep. Either way, an actual difficulty mode patch will expose whether Arkane was right to make the A.I. like this and I would definitely be up for playing on a harder option if it was offered.

To wrap it all up, like Life is Strange: TC and Subnautica/Below Zero, Deathloop is my GOTY on some days. It’s not quite on the level of Dishonoured 2, maybe not even Prey, which are just masterpieces of the genre. But I would say that if you like Arkane Studios or immersive sims or time loop games or all of these things then yes, you should at least give it a go but set your expectations accordingly. The marketing did a very bad job of showcasing what this game actually is and I hope it’s clear from all the reviews and (genuine) player feedback now, including this one. It’s somewhat bittersweet that Deathloop will be the last Arkane Studios / Bethesda game I will ever play on Playstation but man, what a send off. Until we meet again on gamepass!

The Phantom Pain

55. LEGO Marvel’s Avengers.  Completed and platinumed.

This one caught me off guard as I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. It’s the perfect answer to, “what is the point of trophies?” because the only reason to play LEGO games is to achieve 100% completion; it’s the purpose of them. The campaign here is a nice celebration of the movie(s) it’s based on but in gameplay terms it’s simply a means to an end. You can’t do a lot of the puzzles, secrets, collectibles and Stan Lee cameos until freeroam is unlocked and certain characters have been purchased (with in-game currency known as “studs”).  Therefore, you’re encouraged to replay it in freeroam and go for all the stuff you missed for 100%.

When the OCD hits 11 it can be very satisfying to consistently see your completed stats and all the rewards that come with them - most of which make the game easier; like a collectibles highlighter or stud multipliers (you’ll be in the billions with currency by the end). It has that addictive loop of completing fun activities to make it easier and faster to complete fun activities. As for said activities, when you’re not collecting or rescuing Stan Lee in various predicaments you’re mainly completing puzzles. They are embarrassingly easy but their complexity is not really the point. The cleverness is in the way that they get you to utilise each heroes’ individual powers, making you see how cool they are. There’s some excellent animation work here too - even flight animation differs in flare, speed and weight depending on the hero you choose. 

Some of the best Avengers characters like the Young Avengers are not even the current MCU ones (at that time this was released). Miss America, for instance, is basically Superman - I pretty much used her for all occasions that did not require a specific power as she was that versatile. Also, if you have any interest in playing make sure you get the DLCs as they contain even more useful characters. 

That said, there are definitely some characters that are pushed more than others. Vision gets a lot of air time which makes total sense as this was released during the Age of Ultron phase (phase 2 IIRC) and half the story line is basically that.  Vision is awesome anyway so no complaints there.

Only negative I can think of is that there are some bothersome QOL issues. For instance, the Avengers logo which gives a mini tutorial when you hit it is cute but can be obstructive, and the game gets confused at times about its own control scheme, seemingly not sure if it wants you to use circle or square or whether a button should be held or tapped; a bit random at times. Those are nitpicks though that are easily manageable, and you can even turn off tutorials in the menu so it’s no biggie. 

Ultimately, LEGO Avengers is a chill game outside of the campaign for people who want a stress-free experience while still getting a sense of accomplishment at every turn.  You will steamroll through it unless you’re, like, 8 but if you get a kick out of seeing ticks by checklists and constantly being rewarded for them this will be your jam. You’ll also really enjoy this if you’re an Avengers fan even though it’s out of date with the current MCU storyline. Note that I do not say “Marvel fan” so don’t go in expecting to see Kitty Pryde here, for instance.  The biggest compliment I could pay to LEGO Avengers is that it got me even more hyped for the future of the MCU - there’s a lot of great characters Mr Feige is sitting on.

The Phantom Pain

56. LEGO Marvel Avengers: Captain Marvel DLC

57. LEGO Marvel Avengers: The Masters of Evil DLC

58. LEGO Marvel Avengers: Ant-man DLC

59. LEGO Marvel Avengers: Black Panther DLC

60. LEGO Marvel Avengers: Doctor Strange DLC

61. LEGO Marvel Avengers: MARVEL's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D DLC

Completed and all trophies obtained bringing my total trophy completion to 100% - and I only do that for games I really like. The DLCs are pretty much like the main game, except I wish I had bought them earlier to have access to even more excellent characters. Also, I could totally see Ant-Man working as a full game concept. Definitely get all DLCs if you plan on buying the main game.

CastorTroy

Woah! I really need to get back to playing games. I'm way behind.

The Phantom Pain

62.LEGO Batman 2: DC Superheroes. Completed and platinumed.

So after having lots of fun with LEGO Avengers and its DLCs I developed a “taste” for the LEGO games and decided to check out Lego Batman 2 for the PS3 (on PS Now). It’s very good but not quite great, sadly, due to a tragic late game flaw. 

Let’s start with the aforementioned “good”: whereas LEGO Marvel’s Avengers shined most in freeroam with its well realised Manhattan hub world and wonderful cast of characters, Lego Batman 2 is almost the opposite. Its best moments are in its tightly controlled story campaign and the more focused band of freaks. And whereas the tutorials in Avengers were so crudely implemented that they could obstruct your path if you didn't turn them off, the tips and hints here are woven in more organically with Alfred politely butting in to give you some advice. Speaking of which, it’s always enjoyable seeing the creative ways video games utilise the Bat family and their gadgets/skill sets, and by LEGO standards this is no exception. I especially appreciated that the game tapped into Robin’s Grayson-inherited acrobatics, and thought he looked particularly adorable in some of the heavy duty suits mainly because when holding a heavy gadget he would run with a slight backwards tilt. It’s delightful little animation details like this that provide the heroes (and villains) with so much life.

I have to be honest though - the moment Superman/Clark showed up I used him at every chance I got.  Quite simply, if you don’t want Batman getting upstaged in his own game you don’t put Superman in it! I also adore how Clark gets excited every time Bruce is close to admitting he needs his help because it mirrors their relationship in the comics while emphasising what an awesome guy Clark is.

Unfortunately, however,  Clark serves as a reminder of the game's one major problem: the flight controls are absolutely horrible. To put it into context, I beat that tedious Superman Returns game back in 2006 or whenever it was released and the one thing you cannot fault that misguided attempt at showcasing the Man of Steel was the flying. I would spend hours just breaking the sound barrier, seeing how far up into the clouds I could go before the limitations of the hardware at the time would catch up with me. Whereas in LEGO Batman 2 I would pray that whatever puzzle or collectible nearby did not require me to fly which is a real shame.  

The weird part is that the flight controls during the story campaign are completely different, more in line with LEGO Avengers, so the switch to the weird aeroplane simulator in freeroam was an actual choice... It became so awkward that I ended up using the air vehicles instead, specifically Lex Luthor’s personal one, because it was far easier to control. It’s not a good sign when using a basic aircraft is more fun than controlling Superman. Also,  the John Williams Superman score is a classic, no doubt, (eclipsed now, IMO, by Hans Zimmer’s) but it restarting from the top every time Clark took to the skies grew tiresome fast. I actually had to turn the music off for freeroam and I never do that. 

Sadly this really dampened my enjoyment towards the end and left me with a sour taste in the mouth; I can’t lie. I still enjoyed it up to a certain point but 100% couldn’t come soon enough by the end. I would just about recommend LEGO Batman 2 if you like the Batman universe or LEGO games in general, but only if you can put up with the flight controls.

The Phantom Pain

63.Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage. Competed and platinumed.

The second one in the remastered trilogy (back when Activision published games other than Call of Duty). It’s always reassuring when a developer recognises the problems in a previous instalment and fixes them in the sequel. In this case, the platforming is much improved - more defined and less random. There’s even a tutorial early on where the game not so subtly tries to prove to you that its platforming system does, indeed, work which I found amusing.  Consequently, this is much easier than the first - the speedruns, for instance, are still fun but there are no rage inducing fails. As for the enjoyment factor, it’s basically the same game with better controls so if you liked the original you’ll like this. I think I personally prefer the first one just because the premise was more unique but it’s more Spyro so can’t complain too much. Again, fans of the OG version and those who like kid-friendly 3D platformers will enjoy it.