Games you've finished in 2012 - WINNER: Ivory Soul

[Pro A.]

5. God of War: Chains of Olympus, PSP, PS3

The first of two PSP God of War games has the look and feel of the PS2/PS3 GOW games but on a small screen. The PS3 installment looks pretty good, considering, and it is clear they did not skimp on the production values. The story, which takes place before GoW1, involves Kratos in an odyssey involving perpetual darkness and a scheme by the undead to drive the world into chaos. There are some impressive set-pieces and boss fights and a solid look into Kratos and his fury. However, the game ends just as it really seems to be going somewhere and I wonder if that has to do with the PSP's limitations. Either way, this game ends way too soon and it could have used more puzzles. The voice-over narration is way too ham-handed, as well. Still, it's an enjoyable romp for those who missed it on the PSP.

Pros:
- Has the look and feel of a real God of War game, but miniaturized.
- Exceptional fights and a pretty good story.
- Excellent visuals and sound.

Cons:
- Way too short.
- Not enough puzzles.
- Narration occasionally gets in the story's way.

Score: 3/4

[AC!D]

(6) Oddworld: Strangers Wrath with just under 10 hours of gameplay and a 9/10 from me.

It's difficult to describe this game because one minute theres light platforming, light stealth, tactical FPS gunplay, bountry hunting, charcter upgrading, boss fights where you can capture them alive by draining stamina or kill outright by depleting the health bar like in MGS 3: Snake Eater then the next minute for the final third of the game it plays like Ratchet and clank with complete destruction and utter chaos with awesome upgraded ammo abilities.


LOVED:

- Decent campaign length for a PSN game.

- Cheap selling price on PSN.

- The western setting, character and art direction.

- Decent HD visual upgrade.

- Gameplay variety eg shooting, melee, platforming, stealth, river rafting, mine carting etc.

- Funny characters with hilarious sounding voice actors. They talk so weird that its really funny.

- Tactical FPS gunplay with eight different kinds of ammo. Shoot a cute Squirrel near an enemy and they become enchanted for a few seconds, shoot a skunk at a group of enemies and they get disorientated and start puking. O ther ammo types include firing homing bees like a machine gun, bomb bats, electrical zap flies, spider webbing, stealth sniper darts, set traps with little gremlins or fire knock out beetle slugs etc. In the second half of the game these ammo types upgrade and do more damage or have new abilities. All the different types of ammo contribute to a more open type of gameplay experience where you choose where and how to take out enemies.

- Bounty hunting. This is great because you pick up a contract tocapture an outlaw either dead or alive. You get more money if you bring them in alive. The bosses are also really well designed and there are different levels designed and arenas designed around their abilities. They all have a different set of tactics needed for you to take them out.

- A wide variety in level design from crossing dams in a boat to riding railway carts in the high mountain canyons.

- The towns although devoid of sidequests are nice and give the game world and sense of life.

- The bug hunting i.e the bugs you hunt are your ammo. You have to either waste valuable money on buying ammo or you can hunt your own ammo which are found in different places in various levels.

- The story is simple but cute.

HATED:

- The sound design is a bit off. You walk a few steps and it cuts out and plays a different rythymn and then it happens again a few paces on. Weird!

- The massive difficulty spike in the gauntlet like run and sub bosses battle right before the final boss. These two parts felt a bit cheap and i wanted to tear my hair out.

- Towns could have had more to do in them.

- Sometimes when you are jumping the double jump isnt always as responsive as it should be.

- Stealth and platforming are very light in this game and the devs i feel could have done more in this department.

Its a great game selling for an absolute steal on PSN.

Recommendation: Dont miss out!

Best game played this year: Xenoblade Chronicles

Worst game played this year: Honestly i dont feel like ive played anything bad touchwood!

[WolfmanNCSU]

Hey look at me, I actually wrapped up another title...

3. Uncharted 3 (PS3)

I'm on a roll (and I think this already places me ahead of the number of games I finished last year...sad I know).

[Pro A.]

6. God of War: Ghost of Sparta, PSP, PS3

A mid-quel, of sorts, that is designed to tie up some of the loose threads in Kratos' story and give him a more human dimension. And for the most part, it works. We see where a lot of his unbridled fury is and how it has shaped him into the killing machine we have come to know and... well, I'm not sure love is appropriate. As far as protagonists go, he has to be one of the most unsympathetic in most recent memory. Nevertheless, there are some good character moments and his arc is believable. The game itself is more action-oriented like its PSP predecessor. The puzzles are few and far between, but the action pieces are excellent and the visuals and sound are quite good. The quest plods during Sparta and doesn't pick up until the boat and the vortex and some of the boss fights are just QTE excuses. Fans will eat it up regardless, and as well they should.

Pros:
- Strong story with some very good moments.
- Action-packed and pretty consistent throughout.
- Plenty of unlockables.

Cons:
- Game sags during the midpoint.
- Puzzles, like Chains of Olympus, are nowhere to be seen for the most part.

Score: 3/4

[BahnNZ]

2 - Star Fox - Super Nintendo

On a real Super Nintendo of course, Emulators are for divs.

Yes Androus tried to suck me into his mouth but I shot into both his eyes then his box. Get your mind out the gutter.

Miracle at the time this, 1000 whole polygons per second out a home gaming console. :O Sega kicked the SuperFX chips butt later with the SVP but only used it in one game, then Nintendo kicked their butt back. Whole back and forth butt kicking thing going on.

Best game of the year so far: Star Fox - Super Nintendo
Worst game of the year so far: Air Penguin - Android

[Pro A.]

Love the soundtrack in that game. Did you take the easy route or did you play like a man?

[BahnNZ]

All three routes sir. Yeah, great soundtrack, really enhances the game. Playing Super Mario Bros 1 now, because I've never finished it. :O Playing the SNES enhanced version with saving so yeah, playing it like a timid little girl.

[HPK]

I think this is the longest post I have ever written. I've been typing for almost 2 hours now.

2 - Mass Effect 2, 360
Game completed on Normal

I was going to save this for when I conquered Mass Effect 1 for the 12th time, but I figure I have nothing better to do at the moment. I may as well rant and rave about ME2 and it's DLC.

So, Mass Effect 2. I was super psyched for it when it came out and I'm pretty sure it was my favorite game from 2010. As with any games I truly enjoy, I will nitpick the hell out of it. I'm not sure if I feel like typing all that much since there is a lot of small things to pick at. I suppose I will say first and foremost that I did not like how BioWare handled certain aspects of ME2. Mass Effect 1 was good but there were a few things about it that people criticized. Sidequests, planet navigation (i.e.: Mako), and the inventory system complaints were pretty universal. Before the game was released there were many videos of BioWare employees claiming how they fixed everything. What I didn't expect was that "fixing" meant "removing entirely."
The sidequests in ME1 usually involved landing on a remote world that looked like a mountainous wasteland. You would then drive/struggle to get to the sole base on the map and kill some enemies. The sidequests were pretty straight forward and the Mako is a vehicle clearly not meant to drive over any kind of bumps in the road. The controls for it were super touchy. It became dull, after a while, but I liked the idea of having a chance to explore new areas. Considering most of the levels in ME1 were pretty linear, it offered a nice break of pace. Instead of trying to fix the established idea, BioWare just removed it. Now all I had to playthrough were extremely linear levels. Some of them being super short (such as the sidequests). The inventory system in ME1 was out of control, but I had the option of selecting armors and weapons and further modifying them. The "mods" have been removed from ME2 and armor selection is only available to Shepard. Furthermore, the armor pieces you receive seem to offer only arbitrary increases to various stats. I am not entirely sure they offer any kind of bonus at all. Do I really notice the extra 10% health these shoulder pads offer? Nope.
Something I never quite noticed before either is how bad the cover system is in these games. Going in and out of cover is often clunky. There have been multiple situations where I ran for cover since I was nearly dead and, as soon as I get there, I am forced up from cover to be gunned down and killed. There have also been situations were I glitched on top of items I wasn't supposed to be on, I couldn't get down, and I died. For a cover-combat game, I would think navigating from cover-to-cover would be a lot smoother. Honestly, I think the game should've just used Gears of War's cover controls. The mechanics in those games have been pretty tight.
The level design seems to have been downsized, but that may be because of the shear amount of missions there are. In ME1, there were only a small amount of unique/main-quest areas and they felt large. Even the Citadel was pretty decent sized (and I was easily lost in it the first time I played the game). Now, everything has been cut down to corridors and hallways. There isn't any way for the players to get lost in the game. The "open-world" levels have been removed and replaced with planet scanning...which I have mixed feelings about. If the corridor levels weren't bad, then the "journal updates" certainly are. In ME1, you would receive a little message prompt on the screen if you were progressing through a mission. It would inform you of what you need to do next if you went into the menu to read it. Considering I almost always know what the hell I'm doing in the videogame, I never took the time to read any of them since...well, I pay attention to what the cutscenes tell me. I follow the dialogue. In ME2, I guess it was really a big concern to give me a bigger message prompt after every little thing. So, I get done having a conversation with an alien. He tells me to go talk to another alien. At the end of the conversation I se3ee "GO TALK TO ANOTHER ALIEN." This happens way, way to often. For a game that is mostly centralized around conversations and inputting dialogue, it certainly seems like BioWare felt that no one would pay attention to any of it.
Another change that I found bothersome is the good ol' fashioned regenerating health feature. Instead of using ME1's system (similar to Halo 1: Health packs recover health, shields recover over time), the game goes full current-gen and gives me regenerating health and shields and, in an effort to appeal to COD fans, whenever I'm almost dead I get lovely red veins all over the sides of my screen. Why is it that when I'm close to death games want to add all this shit to obscure my vision? Most of the time I have died, aside from bad cover mechanics, has been because I can't see the enemies or my own health bar. With the HUD dropped, I have to see two floating heads at the bottom of the screen as well. That gets a little weird.
One last negative note (I think) would be the game's story. The first game ends on this: The Reapers are coming and we have to stop them! During all of ME2, you're more focus on these new aliens known as the Collectors. They steal humans and we believe the Reapers are helping them because Martin Sheen said so. Turns out he was right, but the game ends on this: The Reapers are coming and we have to stop them! If it weren't for the new characters it would be very possible for all of ME2's plot to simply not exist.

So...what DID I like about Mass Effect 2?

Despite my complaints about the combat thus far, it is actually significantly better than ME1's. With Mass Effect 1 there was absolutely zero challenge to any of the skirmishes, regardless of what difficulty you were playing on. This is because every ability you had was on a separate cool-down time, so you could spam all of your abilities on multiple enemies right away. Furthermore, every weapon you had didn't use ammo, but was based on a heat emission. Firing for too long without stopping would overheat your gun. There were weapon mods that would make this a non-issue, but it was pretty simple. Just like Hicks said: Short, controlled bursts. Going back to the abilities: Your allies had access to just as many skills as you could. So, you could go into every battle with 12 special attacks and 6 buffs total. Even the biggest enemies were a piece of cake if you knew how to dodge.
In ME2, the infinite ammo was dropped for "thermal clips," which is basically the series trying to put ammo into the game. While it is kind of a cop-out, it require me to pay attention to how much ammo I had on hand. All abilities shared a cool-down as well, so if I used a skill I had to wait a certain amount of time before I could use any other skill. This forced me to think out how I was going to do things. Another improvement: Dropping the "weapon proficiency" stuff. In ME1, you could use all four main weapons but unless the class you had was proficient with it, you'd be extremely inaccurate with it (Pistols were the best weapon in that game anyway). ME2 drops the bullshit and only gives you the weapons your class can actually use.
Speaking of classes: Each class actually feels different now. With ME1, the classes all felt the same. The only difference was some classes had skills other didn't have, but for the most part they shared many of the same abilities and functioned in the same manner. While I'm not too happy with ME2's leveling system and skill point distribution, each class features an ability strictly unique to them. Combined with the weapon specializations actually coming into play, each class hand something interesting to offer. The way combat functioned also changed between games. Instead of it just being about murdering everyone with your skills, it became more about stripping the enemies of their defenses (this becomes more apparent on higher difficulties). Because of how this works, the Biotic classes are actually handicapped at higher difficulties. While you will want to throw people about like you're a Jedi, it won't really happen on anything about Normal.
I appreciate BioWare's efforts and creating a more character-driven experience with ME2 but I almost feel there were too many characters. There really wasn't a lot of development between the characters and most of them felt two-dimensional at best. This isn't entirely bothersome, though, since I did enjoy exchanging dialogue with everyone (and learning more about them, the lore of the universe, etc etc). Going through and getting the loyalty of everyone kind of felt like a chore, but going through the suicide mission for the first time was pretty damn intense (especially if you're trying not to let anyone die [note: if anyone died unintentionally during the suicide mission: you suck at games]).
What makes the game really shine for me? The visuals. Yes, the game is better looking on a technical level, but I'm talking about the art. Look at ME1. It is really hard to look at. Everything looks so plain; kind of plastic-like or waxy. ME2 looks a lot better from an artistic level. We get better camera angles during conversations (instead of the standard A-camera, B-camera stuff that was common in ME1). The game also plays more with lighting, silhouettes, and color contrast. Aside from that, the new concepts added into the game were very nice.

Most of what I wrote above seems like outright complaining, but I'm far too invested into the game's lore and universe to think the game sucks. There definitely was a change in direction from ME1 to ME2 and I don't really agree with all of it. I just hope that ME3 ends up being the perfect mix between ME1 and ME2, and doesn't end up going full-retard.

PROS:
-Combat has been mostly improved
-Character classes actually feel different, varied
-Combat difficulty increased
-Dialogue is good, introducing interrupts which are really good
-Dem visuals, brah. Look at that art.
-Expands on the lore.
-Characters are interesting, kind of.
-Adds a "research" and "ship upgrading" mechanic which is a nice touch

CONS:
-Romancing. Oh god, this seems so force. I can't believe I didn't write a paragraph or two about how much this bothers me.
-Story is mostly negligible
-Kind of seems like BioWare couldn't handle past criticisms in certain areas
-Level layout has taken a step back; too many hallway-themed areas
-Too streamlined for my tastes

DLC3 - Cerberus Network (Mass Effect 2, 360)
All content completed

While there is only one achievement linked to the Cerberus Network DLC, there were a handful of DLC packs included with it. All owners of a new copy of ME2 receive this DLC pack for free. Otherwise, it is 1200 MSP ($15 USD). What does it include? A few free weapons, a few free armors, a new character, and a few free missions.

This was done as part of EA's "Project $10" (which always cost players $15 if they never bought a game using this plan new. How about that). I think it originally started off with good intentions but eventually, they stopped releasing free content and opted to charge everyone money. Basically, the DLC pack was suppose to hook players up with smaller DLC packs for no price at all. For the first few months, Cerberus Network owners received some free weapons and armor but after a bit, new weapon and armor packs were released for anywhere from $2-$4. I think these should've been made for free but meh.
The DLC only came out with a few missions packs for free, two of which were available at launch. It comes with Zaeed, a human mercenary with a score to settle against the Blue Suns. He's actually an interesting character and fairly useful in the early game, but you can't really "talk" to him. You can talk "at" him. He has a loyalty mission, so that's one free mission thus far. The other mission available at launch was the Normandy Crash Site. This allowed players to visit the remains of the Normandy SR1, get some free EXP, and get some free Element Zero. This was pretty cool for people who were fans of the series, I thought. The last free missions that were released involved vehicle driving. 5 missions were released involving the "Hammerhead," supposedly an improvement over the Mako. I disagree.
While the ship pilots fine, these driving segments were super straightforward and somewhat boring. Something that really irked me is how the vehicle handles in combat. In every firefight, the Hammerhead is at a disadvantage. You only have one method of attack: Missiles which partially lock on to an enemy. These don't always work very well. Also, the Hammerhead lacks a health bar and somehow regenerates health. The downside to this is that you will never really know how bad the Hammerhead is doing until it is too late. It is as if it has zero defenses against enemy fire. Get hit like 5 times and you have to reload your save. I think adding a machine gun (like with the Mako), letting me control where the rockets went (instead of using the flimsy lock-on stuff), or making the Hammerhead more durable would've made me appreciate it more.
After that, that's where the free DLC ends. After two or three months, they were like, "FUCK IT!" and started charging for everything. At least 2 of the "premium" DLC packs I will mention should've been free to Cerberus Network owners, I think.

PROS:
-Free to owners of the new game
-Free missions, a free character, a free achievement, free EXP, free weapons, and free armor...if you received the DLC for free.
-FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE

CONS:
-$15 if you bought the game used
-Doesn't really feel like you're getting $15 worth of DLC
-Support for it ended after a year of service, but the free DLC stopped only a couple of months after the game was released.

DLC4 - Kasumi's Stolen Memory (Mass Effect 2, 360)
Mission completed on Normal

Imagine having to pay 560 MSP/$7 USD for one new mission and one new character three months after the game was released, and probably well after you have beat the game. PS3 owners of ME2 didn't have to worry about this at all, but I did.

After receiving one DLC character for free, I was confused as to why I had to pay $7 for this new one. She didn't seem that interesting anyway, but since I'm a fan of the series I bought her. Results? Not worth seven dollars. Basically, you get this chick who is a super-awesome thief. She wants you to go inside of a party filled with thugs and break into a vault. While the set up for her loyalty mission was an interesting premise, the game's linearity hindered it from turning into anything worthwhile. The first part of the mission required me to have a fake identity and mingle at a part filled with criminals...sounds cool and there weren't a lot of missions focused around handling dialogue a certain way. Unfortunately, that didn't matter. After the party section, you get a look at the bad guy's vault containing various items, such as the item Kasumi is looking for and a very handy SMG.
But, then you go through the usual "fight all these enemies" business and fight a gunship at the very end. It can kind of be a pain in the ass depending on your class since Kasumi isn't a heavy hitter and you aren't allowed to have a 3rd party member for the mission. Once you beat her loyalty mission, you can talk "at" her on the Normandy. She isn't really an interesting character, in my opinion, and doesn't really have a place among the crew. If I'm trying to create a group of specialists in place of a small army...why do I need a thief? I don't know.

PROS:
-A new character...if you want another character!
-The SMG. No seriously, this gun is the best SMG the game has to offer. It can't be used by Soldiers, but you're not playing as that filthy class, are you?
-There's an easy achievement!

CONS:
-SEVEN FUCKING DOLLARS FOR THIS BULLSHIT!?
-The seven dollars hurts a bit more once you realize Zaeed was free and only featured one mission and one new weapon. Hell, at least Zaeed was a useful character at some point and mad sense in the overall story.

DLC5 - Overlord (Mass Effect 2, 360)
Mission completed on Normal

Another 560 MSP/$7 USD DLC. One can only imagine how I feel about this.

Instead of offering a new character and a loyalty mission, this DLC decides to just add a lengthy sidequest. It actually feels more like one of the missions in Mass Effect 1 in terms of time played and its structure. Basically, you find out that there's a rogue VI on this base and its trying to reach beyond the base. I can't quite think of a proper comparison for the story, unfortunately. Well, you find out this guy's brother "volunteered" to combine is mind with a VI interface. Now he's gone batshit crazy and wants to invade the Internet or something. Either way, he's making the geth on the site active and he's trying to kill you. Instead of making you go from one hallway to another, the DLC includes a vehicle section. For those without the Cerberus Network DLC, this is the first time they get to experience the Hammerhead. It is still flimsy under fire and there just so happens to be plenty of gun turrets to destroy you. Hmm.
But, the game gives you this mostly open area to travel to three newer areas. Some of the areas include minor platform sections for the vehicle. I didn't mind this at all, but the "open" area felt pointless. It wasn't large enough to really offer any kind of exploration, but it was big enough to seem unnecessary. The mission's plot also ends up being pretty predictable. At the end, you fight the VI mainframe and are given the good ol' fashioned good choice, bad choice dilemma.

PROS:
-New mission with a few hours of playtime; decent length
-Mass Effect 1 style mission; areas on foot, areas in vehicle
-Easy achievements?

CONS:
-Doesn't really offer anything new
-Story is predictable
-Teammates you bring with you do not have any dialogue

DLC6 - Lair of the Shadow Broker (Mass Effect 2, 360)
Completed on Normal

BioWare decided to make this bad boy 800 MSP/$10 USD. How does it fare? Well, actually.

This DLC focuses around the Shadow Broker, a character that had only been mentioned here and there in ME1 and ME2. He played a larger role in one of the comics revolving around Liara's quest for Shepard's body (it took place between ME1 and ME2). Liara has a huge beef with the Shadow Broker, as mentioned in the main game of ME2. This DLC allows you conclude that sidestory. While I was forced to act oblivious to a traitor, the story was pretty nice. There were actual bosses, something the game lacked. They were pretty easy, but they offered a break from the usual combat methods I had. Liara temporarily joins your party and is a pretty handy character. While I was a little disappointed once I found the Shadow Broker's identity, I am happy with the person they used.
The DLC features references to the first game and after defeating the Broker, you can return to the ship to talk to Liara and Feron. You may also fund certain operations to gain more credits, scout out planets that are rich in certain elements, look at videos on certain people, and review the Shadow Broker's dossiers for people in your party. You may also have a personal conversation with Liara on the Normandy. If you had romanced her in ME1, you can rekindle the relationship with the DLC. Oh, and the DLC also features a car chase. It isn't anything special, but you never got to drive a car in the games. Seemed noteworthy.

PROS:
-Actually features a decent amount of content that doesn't feel like filler
-Resolves a sidestory, expands on current story
-Bosses
-Can earn more money, have the game pinpoint element-rich planets so you don't have to scan each one
-Pretty memorable overall

CONS:
-First quarter of the story is predictable and forces you to act stupid
-The linear level design kind of takes the fun out of chasing the one character, and going through the Broker's ship

DLC7 - Arrival (Mass Effect 2, 360)
Completed on Normal

And this is supposed to transition the story between ME2 and ME3? Why not just include this as the intro to ME3? Makes more sense and would've saved me seven bucks.

So, you're contacted by Admiral Hackett to go sneak in a Batarian base Solid Snake style. You have to bust out an old lady who believes the Reapers are coming and the only solution to delay their spread across the galaxy is to blow up a Mass Relay. Sounds cool. It's actually kind of dull. The game actually incorporates stealth into part of it, which was a nice gimmick but not really necessary. It isn't that hard to sneak past 5 enemies well-spaced between each other. Anyway, after busting the chick out she'll say how she received visions from a "Reaper artifact" about their arrival (OH SHIT, JUST USED THE TITLE OF THE DLC IN THE DIALOGUE!)
Can you guess where this is going? I'll give you a clue: it rhymes with "indoctrination." You have to start fighting off people. Once you "die" or are forced to lose, you find out that you have less than 2 hours before the Reapers come to reap shit. You destroy the mass relay just in time. Toss in a minor moral dilemma choice and a conversation with Hackett about the intro to ME3 and you have Arrival in the nutshell. The whole DLC is played with just Shepard in the party, so it could be difficult depending on your class (maybe...)

PROS:
-If you actually sit around for two hours, you will get a special cutscene showing how you failed to stop the Reapers from ass-raping the galaxy. THE DEVELOPERS THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING!
-The stealth section and the survival wave section were a nice touch if not well implemented.
-Leads into ME3?
-Still easy achievements?

CONS:
-Seven bucks for a story that didn't need to be told. The Reapers are still coming...I mean, shit, I've known this since 2007.
-Fight against standard enemies, nothing really new overall.

Games Completed: 2
Best Retail Game: Mass Effect 2, 360
Worst Retail Game: ---
Best Downloadable Game: Z0MB1ES (on teh ph0ne), Wp7
Worst Downloadable Game: ---

DLC Completed: 7
Best DLC: Lair of the Shadow Broker (Mass Effect 2, 360)
Worst DLC: Arrival (Mass Effect 2, 360)

[Pro A.]

All three routes sir. Yeah, great soundtrack, really enhances the game. Playing Super Mario Bros 1 now, because I've never finished it. :O Playing the SNES enhanced version with saving so yeah, playing it like a timid little girl.

So long as you finish it. It's not like the game is terribly long anyways. Even playing all 32 levels takes about 45 minutes.
And good about Star Fox. Makes me want to play it again. Oh well. Maybe when I have time.

[masteratt]

The Simpsons Arcade Game
Total time to finish: Less than 30mins lol (got a trophy for it)

Same old old-school fighting game you know. The Simpsons spin rarely works (pretty random story) but you know, tested and proven mechanics at work here. Good time waster and good with mates.

5/10.



TOTAL GAMES COMPLETED: 4
List of games completed with links:
1) Gears Of War 3 - RAAMs Shadow (6/10)
2) Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (6/10)
3) Halo: Reach (8/10)

[masteratt]

Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Time took to complete: 14hrs:48mins:42secs

Unnecessary open area gameplay which starts to feel tedious as you keep playing. Lots of tracking back and forth from mission marker to safe house with not much to occupy you in between but getting caught by guards (because you just want to go as fast as possible after a while). There is a mission list in the Jobs List menu, I wish you could quick select a mission and start it from there straight away.

The shining part is the very last missions of each area. They are the ones usually bringing new mechanics into play to break up the steal keys, bash generators or what have you that you do leading up to it. There are a couple of varied 'lead up' missions as well though, like the tank one but not enough for my taste.

6/10.

Note: AC!D already said this but I will repeat if anyone is still trophy whoring; this is an easy Platinum. Basically just beat the game and you get it.



TOTAL GAMES COMPLETED: 5
List of games completed with links:
1) Gears Of War 3 - RAAMs Shadow (6/10)
2) Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (6/10)
3) Halo: Reach (8/10)
4) The Simpsons Arcade Game (5/10)

My 2011 Completed Games List (39 games)

 

1) Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (9/10)
2) Dead Nation (8/10)
3) Enslaved: Odyssey To The West (8/10)
4) Enslaved: Odyssey To The West - Pigsy's Perfect 10 (7/10)
5) Alpha Protocol (7/10)
6) Sly 1 (8/10)
7) EyePet: Move Edition (7/10)
8) LittleBigPlanet 2 (SP-7/10 | MP-10/10)
9) Mass Effect 2 (9/10)
10) Homefront (5/10)
11) Mass Effect 2 - Arrival DLC (7/10)
12) House, MD (6/10)
13) Crysis 2 (6/10)
14) Yakuza 3 (10/10)
15) God Of War III (7/10)
16) Just Cause 2 (8/10)
17) Killzone 3 (9/10)
18) Portal 2 (10/10)
19) LA Noire (9/10)
20) InFamous 2 [good Cole] (9/10)
21) Duke Nukem Forever (6/10)
22) LA Noire - All DLCs (6/10)
23) Limbo (9/10)
24) InFamous 2 [bad Cole] (7/10)
25) Resistance 3 (8/10)
26) Deus Ex: Human Revolution (7/10)
27) Renegade Ops (8/10)
28) Driver: San Francisco (8/10)
29) Costume Quest (7/10)
30) Splinter Cell: Conviction (5/10)
31) Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (8/10)
32) 007: Blood Stone (4/10)
33) Batman: Arkham City (9/10)
34) PixelJunk Shooter 2 (6/10)
35) Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (8/10)
36) Trine (7/10)
37) Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (6/10)
38) Gears Of War 3 (9/10)
39) Saint's Row: The Third (4/10)

[Pro A.]

I second that. It was the easiest out of all three for me. Hope you like the third one better. It's a little shorter, less drawn out, and more diverse in missions and characters.

[AC!D]

(7) Skyward sword with about 58 hours gameplay and a 9/10 score from me.

This is a much much better game the Twilight Princess as i found out to my delight. You can finally call me a Zelda fanboy now. There is still a lot i would like to see changed in this series to bring it up to date with the times but the gameplay in this game transcends those disappointments this time around.

LOVED:

- The first thing you have to bring up is the main gameplay theme in the game flight. Skyloft is beautifully designed as a small town in the sky broken up by various floating islands. Jumping off one of these islands onto your crimson skywing bird to travel around these islands and thunderhead is a pleasure. Sky combat is also done very well even with the motion controls.

- The second thing that stands out in this game are the dungeons or puzzle design. God they put everything in this game from underwater swimming to flying to underground digging to time dilation puzzles and so much more. The only thing i can think of that they didnt stuff into these dungeons were Portal puzzles. If you loved Tomb raider anniversary then you will love this game. Again they were designed so much better than in TP.

- Bosses ranged from tactical sword fights to epic Shadow of the Colossus type battles.

- Another fantastic musical score.

- I like the level progression a lot more in this game. First you will enter a forest and explore a bit in the outside world before you enter dungeons. When you were running around as the wolf in TP it felt a bit baren at times outside the dungeons. Theres a lot more life in these levels and when you revisit them big changes occur to make your gameplay experience completely different the next time around e.g First its a forest and later when you come back its a flooded forest and suddenly you are swimming through what you were climbing earlier in the game. That theme continues with each new area you explore. The level design is also great and allows tons of room for exploration.

- The sheer amount of gameplay variety. I honestly dont know what they will have left to put into the next Zelda game because this is packed with so much variety its almost unbelievable at times. Hell there was even a stealth level in this game.

- Weapons and potion upgrades were useful and fun to obtain because bug and rare treasure hunting side gameplay was quite addictive.



HATED:

- Only 70% of the motion control worked while the other 30% just pissed me off. Trying to strum on our harp was crap. They should have rather gone for a button QTE. Trying to base jump accurately also has its problems with the Wii mote. Also in the sword fight while i applaud the effort for directionality being important against some bosses that teleraph you moves it ended up just showing the deficiency of Wii Motion plus. Also having to constantly recenter or recalibarte every ten minutes became a pain in the ass. I wish they would just use it when it workd well and not force it on you through te entire game in parts where it just plain and simple doesnt work.

- While Skyloft and thunderhead were impressive it would have been nice if there were a few more sidequests allowing for exploration in these areas because flying around is a hell of a lot of fun. They maybe put too much emphasis on the dungeons and not enough on the Skyloft exploration front.

- Again another complaint about the flying in the game would be the white screen loads when you transition from jumping off a island onto your bird. It would have been less frustrating if it were all seamless.

- They can really edit some of the wasted first few hours where they drip feed you tutorial instead of quickly and effectively teaching you like every other game these days. Theres actually a lot of boring in these Zelda games that can be edited.

- Some graphical hitches with little white dots constantly appearing on my TV screen especially during cutscenes and a game ending bug you should try and read up on and avoid.

- Conversations with NPC's could have a fast forward button. God it gets infuriating everytime you want to try a challenge you failed once more only to go through all the Fi or side quest giver exposition all over again and again.

- Character design can range from fantastic like the bosses and particularly the final boss to just downright pathetic like the Kikwis. Some of the character design in this game seems like it was done by a five year old.

- Its time for some voice acting to play a part in the series. There were a couple of scenes where emotion was trying to be conveyed only to fail miserably due to our silent protagonists making UH and only UH sounds everytime something happend.

I know those are a lot of complaints but the entire game taken as a whole is fantastic and the dungeon, flight, level and puzzle design is second to none. That alone scores this game a 9/10 in my book despite the lack of poilsh or antiquated design choices made in this series even though other similar games are evolving.

[Pro A.]

7. Twisted Metal, PS3

A decade since major games in a franchise is an awfully long time. Last franchise I can think of that went through a hiatus this long was Metroid, which went 8.5 years between games. Alas, this series doesn't really move forward in any meaningful way. The game has been streamlined and stripped down to three characters, but the single-player itself doesn't really have any focus. There are the usual chaos missions with some races and other challenges thrown in. None of them particularly satisfy and the AI, even on the lowest difficulty, are gunning for you with everything they've got, which makes for a frustrating experience. Level design isn't great, either. Online worked okay half the time and it booted me off the other half. The visuals are adequate and the music is first-rate. Controls can be schizophrenic at times. If you're curious, give it a try, but remember: It's been a decade.

Pros:
-Decent visuals and very good music.
-Occasionally has some of the old magic.

Cons:
-Pretty boring, generally speaking.
-Online is still too glitchy.

Score: 2/4

[HPK]

3 - Mass Effect (360)
Game completed on Normal

Alright, let me be perfectly honest with you here: I am tired of playing Mass Effect.

I have beaten this game at least once every year since it has been released (2007) and I think I am done playing it. I mentioned in my last post in this thread that I had beaten the game 12 times. I actually don't know the exact number of times I have beaten this game. It has been over 10 times for sure, though. 12 just sounds like an appropriate number. But yes! I don't want to play this game ever again. This isn't because it is a bad game. Its just that I have played it far too many times that I don't get enjoyment out of it anymore.

The game has a good story. It's cheesy, but it was enjoyable and had a fair amount of intrigue. You were always one step behind the bad guy, but you were always learning something new. You never had a chance to figure everything out until near the very end, just before the final showdown. The game's dialogue wheel was very cool. I hadn't played a game that implemented dialogue choices the way it did (where my character would actually response with voice acting after picking an option). Talking ended up being one of my favorite things to do in this game. Even during this last playthrough I ended up going through some dialogue options I had never seen/heard before.
The combat is where things start to taper off. Combat in this game tries focusing on cover-based shooting mixed with science-fiction magic, but it doesn't work very well. The cover is sloppy, the movement is clunky, and going into cover is pretty much unnecessary since the game is easy on every difficulty. Every class virtually plays the same way, only getting some different skills here and there. Certain classes gain certain weapon proficiencies, but the only weapon worth using is the pistol as the other weapons are fairly ineffective. The weapons also use a heat-based recharge system. Basically, control how you shoot your weapon and you have infinite ammo. You can use skills to attack foes or boost your stats for a bit, but these can be spammed all willy-nilly. Level up your teammates and you might not even have to do anything (particularly any character with biotic skills).
I could ramble about the driving system, but everyone should know this already: The driving sucks in Mass Effect. You are forced to drive on every major mission of the game. It handles worse on the sidequests (will explain later) but it is pretty flimsy on the linear levels of the main story. Basically, the Mako doesn't have any weight to it so hitting any sort of debris will cause it to abruptly stop or start moving in another direction. The only thing I liked about the Mako, compared to ME2's DLC Hammerhead, was the fact that I had two methods of attacking (machine gun, rockets) and I could manually aim at enemies.
The sidequests are plentiful but extremely dull. The game was supposed to offer a great deal of exploration, but considering every world you can explore is a barren planet of mountainous terrain makes it a disappointing experience. Each of these worlds contains one building (up to three on some worlds) and other small things you can look at. None of it is particularly interesting and the buildings are all the same. Going to all of these barren worlds (many of the planets' in-game descriptions say "barren") make me feel the galaxy is a mostly empty place. The sidequests usually involved something boring like killing slavers, crazy biotics, mercenaries, or researchers turned into husks. Now, with the mountainous terrain, the Mako fairs even worse than before since it is a six-wheeled APC tank hybrid that can't handle driving over a pebble. These sidequests offer an "open world" approach (meaning I can go to a certain point without being guide towards it with a hallway level design) but there isn't really a point to doing so. Most of the time you'll spend doing sidequests will be spent trying to climb various mountains.
And then there's the technical side of things. The audio is fine but the game has ugly visuals. I'm not usually one to complain about how the graphics look, but they look pretty bad for a current-gen game. Everything looks kind of flat and made of plastic, and the game has pretty bad loading times. Since every cutscene is rendered in game, there have been certain cutscenes I have never seen fully rendered since the game is still loading textures. The scene ends before the loading finishes, so I will never know what that turian looks like before he gets destroyed by Sovereign.

But yeah, I think I'm done with Mass Effect 1 forever. I can't bring myself to really enjoy the game anymore and if I want to, I will use the interactive comic book version of ME1 when playing ME2. The comic book isn't perfect (it skips Feros, which is dumb since Shepard needs the fucking Cipher to understand ANTYHING Prothean related), and none of the sidquest stuff will transfer over, but I can handle making a few small choices for 15 minutes instead of putting 8-15 hours into a game I don't entirely find fun. But if you haven't played any of the Mass Effect games and own a 360: Play them all. Play them all in order.

PROS:
+A new IP with an interesting setting
+Good story, decent story telling
+Dialogue options, making choices that will be reflected in later games (first of a PLANNED trilogy!)
+Interesting characters
+Voice acting

CONS:
-Combat is easy on every difficulty
-Game doesn't look well
-Driving sucks
-Loading screens everywhere

DLC8 - Bring Down the Sky (Mass Effect, 360)
Completed on Normal

BioWare originally planned on supported Mass Effect with a lot of DLC. Turns out this was a complete lie as Mass Effect only received two bits of DLC with Bring Down the Sky being the first. It is also the only one I could bring myself to play since Pinnacle Station was such a boring, worthless piece of crap that came out nearly two years after the games release (this one came out about 4 months after ME1 dropped).

Bring Down the Sky acts as a sidequest with the length of a regular story mission. Basically, you're on this asteroid headed to a human colony. It was hijacked by evil aliens who hate humans and you have to turn off the fusion thrusters before it is too late. Let me be the first to say that there is an interesting parallel between this DLC and Arrival for ME2. Both revolve around an asteroid colliding with a massive object and they both involve batarians (there are obvious differences, of course).
Batarians were briefly mentioned in the main game but this DLC is the only way to actually see them in Mass Effect. They don't really provide any additional difficulty to combat or anything of the sort, but it was cool to see. The mission is structured like a sidequest by making you driving in the Mako on rocky terrain, but it is a fairly involved sidequest that requires you to go to three different buildings (surrounded by turrets or, in one case, motion-sensor mines) and turning off the torches, then having a final confrontation at a new building. The DLC kind of sets things up for future batarian attacks but it was something that was never touched on again. There wasn't even a mention of it in ME2. Makes me wonder if anything will come of it in ME3.

So, the DLC is kind of cool. It comes for free in the "Platinum Hits" version of the game or it is somewhere between 200-400 MSP. Not bad if you want the one 50 point achievement, I guess.

PROS:
+You get to see batarians for the first time
+Grants a fair amount of in-game experience, if you're having trouble gaining it.
+Is more entertaining than the standard in-game sidequests---which isn't saying much, really.

CONS:
-Doesn't really add anything "new"


Completed: 3
Best Retail Game: Mass Effect 2, 360
Worst Retail Game: Mass Effect, 360
Best Downloadable Game: Z0MB1ES (on teh ph0ne), Wp7
Worst Downloadable Game: ---

DLC Completed: 8
Best DLC: Lair of the Shadow Broker (Mass Effect 2, 360)
Worst DLC: Bring Down the Sky (Mass Effect, 360)

[AC!D]

^ Damn and i thought i was Mass Effect crazy! Twelve times??? Yikes. I think i played the first one three times.

Its funny that the most memorable thing in Mass Effect for me will always be the start screen playing that mellow Mass Effect theme song. I absolutely love it. I think in ten or twenty years when nostalgia hits and i fondly remember this trilogy that serene song will once again be the first thing that starts playing in my mind.

[Pro A.]

I have similar thoughts about the opening song to L.A. Noire.

[HPK]

@AC!D yep. Once with each class, two other times on higher difficulties, two times for my girlfriend (her first save was corrupted before ME2 came out), and three times for my female Shepard (for metagaming purposes; free skill points for the charm and intimidate trees). So, it is actually up to 13 playthroughs. Hmm.

[BahnNZ]

3 - Super Stardust Portable - PSP/PS Vita

Well I went through and unlocked all the levels... Yeah I know, I'm playing short games,

Like to be playing Super stardust Delta but Sony won't send me my SODDING PREORDER CODE!

Best game of the year so far: Star Fox - Super Nintendo
Worst game of the year so far: Air Penguin - Android

[BahnNZ]

4 - N.O.V.A.: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance - PSP/PS Vita

Yay I've finished Nova...It was crap.

But, it's the first time I've ever finished a shooter on a portable, because before Vita why would you want to? Nova controls as well as a game not designed for Vita can. You play it just like any shooter on PS3 or 360 using the twin sticks, fire on R1, controls great.

Game is a fugly Halo clone. You have a Cortana(spelling) rip, which in this case is a blue AI man instead of a Blue AI lady, lots of aliens that look like the Covenant. They practically go Wort Wort. Shameless. Even got Gregorian Chants at the end. Woah...

Got a feeling I'll be playing a lot of shooters on Vita, all better than this!

Best game of the year so far: Star Fox - Super Nintendo
Worst game of the year so far: N.O.V.A.: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance - PSP/PS Vita