Last Game You Finished And Your Four-ghts

I dropped it before finishing it, it wasn't any moment in particular it just started to drag. I must have been pretty far through but oh well

Agreed on Luigi's Mansion 3. The fundamental mechanics of the game just don't have the legs for a fifteen-plus hour adventure, and once I'd spent time fishing out secrets and playing around on the lower floors of the hotel, I felt little energy for the final third. Great game, but I was kind of glad when it was finished; I was ready to move onto the next thing.

~


Radar Mission is hard to rate. It’s an old title, released on the Game Boy at some point in 1990. In technology terms, 1990 on Game Boy might as well be prehistoric painting on cave walls. As you’d expect, on very modest hardware and at a stage where developers were no doubt still working out how to get the most out of a new system, there’s really only so much you can do. In fairness, it’s a decent attempt at a game of Battleships, with nice animations, a couple of jazzy tweaks to the classic board game it’s inspired by, and a pretty good soundtrack. It’s got a ‘Game B’ mode too, which is a bit more like submarine warfare, commanding your own fleet and trying to destroy the enemy. 

This is also one of those games where it’s longevity comes from it’s difficulty. There’s no arsing about with the computer AI; it’s unforgiving in both modes, so there’s a decent amount of ‘game’ to get stuck into. There’s not a lot of stages and, again though, it’s on modest hardware. As said, there’s only so much it can do. Thirty years later, it’s not bad at all. Just that there’s a definite limit to the entertainment you can still have with Radar Mission. 5/10.

I’ve had the original since 2006, and it’s Wii U restoration since 2014, but it’s only in lockdown that I’ve put the time into The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, and watched the credits roll. 

Truth is, I don’t remember getting much further than the first island in any previous attempt at playing Wind Waker. So, I’ve got no nostalgia for it. I had presumptions though; I’ve heard it heralded as the best game ever several times. I know the Zelda series has this enduring consistency, one that’s resistant to ageing. So maybe it's still the best game ever made...? Before typing up these thoughts, I had a look at some old threads where Wind Waker HD’s qualities were discussed, like in Buskalilly’s GameCube Top Ten one, or andyman’s big Wii U vote in 2017. You’re all fans from the sounds of things...

...I am too. But I don’t herald it as some sort of classic. 

I think it’s just got too many issues to be catagorised alongside Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild. Even in this ‘director’s cut’ form eleven years later, I don’t feel that this is a finished game. The pacing really wore me down at several points. For examples, the beginning just sort of chundered along, the gap between the dungeons in the middle was needlessly massive, and I felt that the final couple of hours - shitey final boss rush aside - was badly truncated. I almost cracked at the Wind Temple - that, straight after the Earth Temple, with the same Command Melody gameplay, was absolute dogshite. I understand that Wind Waker was made on a tight schedule back in the day, but on Wii U, I felt this needed more work in terms of content, structure and especially it’s flow. 

Also, I’ve got to be honest: I wasn’t that into the boat. That’s another point that almost cracked me. In the first third, sailing the vast ocean at 0.0001 knots just got very boring. To be honest again: seeking out a guide to find the Swift Sail and to direct me to a handful of Hearts and weapon upgrades definitely helped me to persevere with Wind Waker HD. Honest for a third time: I can’t imagine what this was like on GameCube, and I don’t want to!

I’m doing Wind Waker HD a bit of a disservice by putting it down like that though. Where I’d give this game most credit is, unsurprisingly, the art style. The lights, the shadows, the clouds of smoke and just about everything else I can think of, they all fitted the maritime setting brilliantly. Even in 2020, Wind Waker is a staggeringly beautiful game, and in HD (with higher resolution and a bit of visual cleaning up), it could comfortably pass for a Switch game. That art is complemented by the emotiveness of it’s characters and it’s score. Utterly sublime. 

Otherwise, I’d say that this had all the hallmarks of a game that gets the score I’m giving it. I enjoyed the relaxing lack of challenge, the combat, the world, using the inventory with gyro controls, the story and aspects of the exploration to an extent that I think that Wind Waker HD is a very good game. The art style and animation lifts it, yet that’s counterbalanced by several areas where I just don’t think I’m getting the full thing. 

8/10.

*Maybe moreso than any review I've stuck up in this thread, I'd be especially interested in what youse have to say about these thoughts.

I do think nostglia plays a part for why Wind Waker is my favourite game of all-time, it's on the GameCube my favourite console due to games like Wind Waker and it was first Zelda sort of.

I did play OoT on N64 at the time but wasn't my thing like the N64 at the time, but Wind Waker was the first I pre-ordered and bought myself of the Zelda series, this is also how I finished OoT for the first time on Cube.

It did a lot from what I want from Zelda, great characters, story, dungeons, weapons along with more and at the time the graphics I found to be great and still hold up.

Maybe the sailing was muh, or I had more time in 2002 for it not to be a worry. Still a lot of what I loved about WW continued with Twilight, Skyward and what made me a fan of the series, why I now have 40+ Zelda Universe games, books, consoles etc

This is Zelda to me.

I've never heard anyone say WW is the best game ever though I know a lot of people say it's their favourite Zelda.

I generally agree with those thoughts. It's clear the game was rushed. Though there is still a lot of content, it was the most jarring thing back in the day to realise that after the first set of three dungeons, there were only two more. And of course there's a lot of padding to make up for it.

Surprisingly travelling by boat never bothered me. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I suppose the moments of running into giant squid battles and pirate ship battles helped keep things fresh, among other things.

It is a very pretty game. Not just art style but everything ties in so well with the aesthetics in a way not achieved by other Zelda games, every little sound and effect. The new lighting engine in the remaster is a bit divisive and I get that it does make the models look different and people may not like that, but I don't mind the new look. I think what sort of lets the look of the game down though, is the character models of a lot of non-important NPCs which look a bit lumpy/low-poly.

I'm not sure how I'd score the game, but I'd rate it above Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, but lower than MM, OoT and BotW in my personal ranking.

I never got into Wind Waker. One of those games that I've started at least 5 times, but never made it more than a few hours in. I've done this with most Zelda games! If it didn't have the cel-shading, would it still be as highly-regarded? I know Jet Set Radio, having bought again it on PC, plays like arse but the incredible look helps distract you.

Also, is it much like Twilight Princess dungeon-wise? I love that game.

Thanks for sharing these thoughts. I'd honestly thought I'd missed the mark with this, by giving it a (low) 8/10. It's reassuring to know that these are well-recognised and well-documented problems that Wind Waker has. All the same, I'm looking at the GameCube directory of an old NGamer Magazine from 2006, which awards Wind Waker 92% and says "You'll remember your first trip on the open seas like it was your own birthday". While I don't agree with the score fourteen years on, I really like the sentiment of remembering the game. I certainly will, probably quite fondly.

Quite funny that gjones brings up Jet Set Radio too. I'm playing the Xbox sequel, and it points it's completely maddening. "Plays like arse but the incredible look helps distract you" indeed. Just like Wind Waker's looks!

gjones wrote:

If it didn't have the cel-shading, would it still be as highly-regarded?

Nnnnnoooooo, but I find this a slightly odd thing to say about any game. 'If you removed the best thing about it, would people love it as much?'

I think all Cappa's points are pretty fair. It does feel rushed and under-developed in places: the dungeons (including cut content which I really think the remake should have had), the Triforce Quest padding out the back end, the number of map squares that just contained a single Heart Piece and a few towers. He's also right that the sailing is slow and can get annoying; although I think they got it much better in the remake, giving you just enough slow sailing time to really appreciate the scale of the ocean and also to really appreciate getting the Fast Sail. I think there are a couple of positive points he misses out on: the expressiveness of the characters, the strength of places like the Tower of the Gods, the music (of course), and the best approach to Ganon/dorf the series has had. Those are probably why I rate it slightly higher than he does/you do.

I think it's a borderline classic now that it's been updated, but I can understand why people would disagree. It's number 25 on the list of Top 25 Games Ever that I keep updated like the nerd I am.

gjones wrote:

Also, is it much like Twilight Princess dungeon-wise? I love that game.

Noticeably worse without being bad, I'd say. TP has the best dungeons in the series IMO.

TP has really good dungeons, it is true

Skyward Sword's are better tho

Even if that were remotely close to the truth (and the Ancient Cistern's up there!), the fact that they repeat line-for-line the themes and enemy sets for dungeons two and three in dungeons five and six would make that . Most of the bosses weren't all that either.

Balladeer wrote:

Even if that were remotely close to the truth (and the Ancient Cistern's up there!), the fact that they repeat line-for-line the themes and enemy sets for dungeons two and three in dungeons five and six would make that .  Most of the bosses weren't all that either.

Still better than 4

I found some old PlayStation discs inside of the box of Bust-A-Move 4, a box I haven’t looked in for probably about fifteen years. I was delighted to find these games - I’ve just spent the afternoon finishing them!



I’d always found WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game to be quite daft and ultimately throwaway, but I’m happy to be mistaken in my first replay of it in twenty-odd years. I found this to be fairly enjoyable - it’s a solid Vs. beat-em-up in the same vein as Mortal Kombat 3. The digitised graphics, combo-heavy gameplay and over-the-top announcing make this everything you’d probably imagine a WWF coin-op from the 1990’s would be, especially one developed by Midway. It doesn’t make for much of a pro wrestling game when you compare it to something like WWF SmackDown, but based on it’s own merits, it’s pretty decent fun.

The port to console seems to have been done well enough. That said, this doesn’t have enough modes to make it worth it’s current CEX asking price. There’s no career mode here, just a couple of short Championship modes and a final WrestleMania Challenge. I finished it all in less than an hour. It also loses credit for becoming quite unfair - it doesn’t mind having you fight in handicap matches and kicking your arse. Still, it’s accessible and energetic enough for me to suggest that you find a way to give it a try. 7/10.




I moved on to WWF In Your House afterwards. That came out on PlayStation in 1996, as the sequel to WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game. What a comedown this was by the way. Although the core engine and input mechanics are the same as WrestleMania’s, it’s a backwards step in almost every regard. The spritework is especially shocking - it looks worse than Mortal Kombat 1’s characters on Mega Drive, from a console generation prior and from five years before. There’s no background music, fewer lines of commentary, and “power-ups” that are better avoided altogether. The gimmicks just get in the road - it doesn't really have that personality that WrestleMania The Arcade Game is known for, instead it just comes off as a bit cheap and naff. This honestly feels like what WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game would have been if it was 60% through it’s development. 3/10.

On a side note, I've got fond memories of WWF Magazine's review of WWF In Your House - I'm sure they gave it 2/5! Unreal!

Just finished my second Final Fantasy game, FFXV. My thoughts on it are pretty much unchanged since I last talked about it. The combat isn't great, the characters are mostly likeable but don't really develop, and similarly the story doesn't really evolve in any way that makes me care about what's going on and just feels like it's randomly going from point to point.

Going to start the DLC episodes at some point as I've heard they're better and flesh out the characters, but I also impulse-ordered FFVII Remake and will probably be playing that a lot soon. And I've also really been getting into Yakuza 6 which is great.

@TCK

I've got good memories of the Wrestlemania arcade game, for me it never topped Wrestlefest but it was still decent enough fun and in fact more wrestling games should use the fighting/beat em up genre as a base to build on rather than get bogged down in the simulation side of things like the 2K series. Oh talking of Wrestlefest I found out yesterday there is actually a sequel due out for all consoles in July.

Here's some beta gameplay

Kriken wrote:

Just finished my second Final Fantasy game, FFXV. My thoughts on it are pretty much unchanged since I last talked about it. The combat isn't great, the characters are mostly likeable but don't really develop, and similarly the story doesn't really evolve in any way that makes me care about what's going on and just feels like it's randomly going from point to point.

I quite liked the combat, but I think FF7R will make FFXV feel worse by comparison for me. I can definitely agree with you on the story, but I ended up ignoring a lot of the wankier plotpoints and focused more on the theme of brotherhood going through the entire game which was really well portrayed in my humble opinion - that campfire finale scene was brilliantly acted and written.

The_Jaster wrote:

@TCK

I've got good memories of the Wrestlemania arcade game, for me it never topped Wrestlefest but it was still decent enough fun and in fact more wrestling games should use the fighting/beat em up genre as a base to build on rather than get bogged down in the simulation side of things like the 2K series. Oh talking of Wrestlefest I found out yesterday there is actually a sequel due out for all consoles in July.

I like WrestleFest a lot as well. I've seen that new game before - I'll continue to keep an eye on it!

~



What in the bloody hell was Point Blank DS all about? I mean, I love the first three on PSone, but this 2006 ‘best of’ just isn’t cricket. It’s a lightgun game without a lightgun. Instead, you’re stabbing at the screen with your stylus and - in a maneuver that’s strange for even the Point Blank series - you take part in some wholly unconvincing brain training minigames. It’s got the Point Blank graphics and tunes for sure, and the wireless multiplayer would probably make for a decent time. Yet while I appreciate that you can’t have a G-Con for the DS, you could have one for the Wii. I’ve lamented the lack of a Point Blank collection on Wii for fifteen years, it was such an own goal. This game is on the wrong console in the first place. 5/10.

Yakuza 6. Very good game, but I have to say I was a tad disappointed by the ending. Probably my least favourite endgame in the series. Up until then the story was doing some cool stuff. Overall I wouldn't say it detracts too much from the experience though, and I'd say story- and character- wise, this instalment was really good. One of the best game-feel wise as well as I touched upon in the PS4 thread, like Yakuza 5 before it.

Tempted to give Kiwami 2 a bash since it's on the same engine and I imagine uses similar systems that are a bit more polished - which I may play after Kiwami if I ever get around to it but I don't really like the changes they made to the original from what I've seen and heard. But on the other hand it looks great and has 0's great combat.

It's good to finally wrap up Kiryu's story, anyway. Also looking forward to playing Judgment at some point and then Yakuza 7 when it's out over here.

Point Blank with a big ol' hand cannon is trupy something. I'll give the DS one a miss though.

Luigi's Mansion 3

I don't think I have much to say about this game that hasn't been said, so I'll be brief. When this game shines, it's something special. Amazing set pieces, genius puzzles, fun environments and animations bursting with character. There are a few duffer segments, but not enougg to ruin the good bits.

The games only real sin is that it overstays its welcome a bit. I was ready for it to be done a few hours before it was, and just as I was feeling that the most strongly, it repeats its most obnoxious forcing-you-to-repeat-the-level-you-just-did trick.

I think it's worth taking a moment to appreciate that I'm an adult man who can buy his own games and wants to play lots of stuff, though. If I were a kid and this was my Christmas game that had to last until my birthday, I'd be pretty chuffed. And there's still loads of gems to unlock, which are actually fun to find!

10/10

I tried playing Yakuza 0 on PS4 wasn't keen on the combat (I get the irony), then it and Kiwami have come to Xbox One via Game Pass that I have thought about giving either one of them a bash because I've got access to them.

But with the recent news of Like a Dragon is coming this year to the west and it will be a Series X launch game think I'm just going to wait and play that as it fixes my issues of the combat, with it now being turn-based, and I can't remember that last time I had an RPG at launch. Well unless I get the PS5 first then I'll get Like a Dragon on Xbox One or PS4, still I'm excited about it.


On this week's Inside Xbox the first game shown was this cool looking FPS that turned out to be Bright Memory Infinite. I thought it sounded familiar but couldn't place it then I listened to Scullion's TOHcast where he went through all the games and due to this I remember it was originally an Episodic FPS on PC.

Well that's been canned and Episode 1 which I played is now just Bright Memory and the one man dev has started again pretty much and Infinite will be a new game. I do get Infinite for free as I bought Bright Memory on STEAM for a whole £7.

Bright Memory is short at around 30mins but was meant to be Episode 1 but what's there is rather good. It looks great even on my laptop and can see why Xbox would want to highlight the new game with ray tracing etc going to be used on XSX that even though I get Infinite on PC for free, I'll likely checkout the Xbox version because of stuff like that (unless it's like £50 for some reason).

Combat was fun as you've got guns and a sword along with some powers, this leans into elements of other games like Tomb Raider and Dark Souls, the two bosses I fought basically could kill me in one or two hits that got to learn to dodge them to get some gun fire in.

I enjoyed my time with it and sort feels like Ground Zeros to Phantom Pain, that it whet my appetite for the bigger and better game to come.


Not all of you may have seen but I picked up a bunch of PS2 games recently which I posted in the collection thread as those basically made up all my PS2 collection as only really had Persona 4&FES before that.

One of those is The Bouncer which I mainly wanted because coming of Final Fantasy VII Remake, I was looking at things Nomura had worked on and The Bouncer I remember liking when it was new a shiny in 2001 and I got to say in 2020 the cutscenes are still impressive.

The combat isn't the best as everything seems really floaty which I guess was a selling point in 2001 with how limbs and that go all over the place. Yet the worst thing is the load times, as the game has a lot of cutscenes and you've got load times between them which is just annoying with a black screen coming up to wait for the next one.

If loads times were like that now on Spider-Man you'd be pleased the subway bit is 8secs long. Still for a 19-year-old game which didn't well review back in the day I enjoyed my playthrough with Sora Sion but I will leave it at that.

I remember really wanting Bouncer back in the day as I was very much into Final Fantasy back then. Never was able to find it in a local store and it reviewed quite poorly so I don't think I ever actually asked for it. The reviewers were not in favour of the combat as I recall.

I love how deep some of these cuts are - the only madmen playing The Bouncer and QuickSpot in 2020.

Never change.

Astral Chain

I have owned this for a while, but kept putting off starting it because I have SO many unfinished games. But then I realised that I was never going to start it at that rate, so cut my losses and got stuck in.

Astral Chain is great! It took me a little while to wrap my head around the combat controls, and even after a bit of practice I am by no means an expert, but it's mad fun. Throwing yourself around the battlefield, whipping between five different Legions that feel significantly different to battle with, adapting how you have to approach each encounter accordingly - and I was only playing on the Standard difficulty.

The story starts off a bit so-so, and elements of it are predictable with some hammy Japanese-to-English translations, but I actually think it gains a lot of momentum and while there are a couple of 'twists' that you see coming, they're pulled off well, building up to the point where the ending did genuinely surprise me.

There are elements I found a bit bum (Legion maintenance in between chapters; drowning in tutorials at the start; stealth sections (just because I hate stealth, and it was especially jarring in a game where it excels in fast-paced ballistic action); some 2D characterisation) but the pros far outweighed the cons for me. I mentioned this in the game's thread in the Switch forum, but I love a game that veers wildly from po-faced sci-fi exposition to giving you the option to wear a cardboard box on your head and feed cats.

I had a lorra fun. 20 Lappy balloons

I wouldn't call The Bouncer a "deep cut". 'Baws', perhaps, but it's not some sort of hidden gem. QuickSpot is the type of thing I can imagine fronkhead knowing all about. 

Rum - how long did Astral Chain take you to beat? IIRC, I got to the fifth chapter, and that momentum you mention wasn't really picking up for me. It's been sitting on my trade-in pile for a few months now, but perhaps it's worth a second shot based off of your recommendation.

My overall time was about 25 hours, but I spent quite a lot of time dicking around doing sidequests etc - the average time seems to be about 18-20 hours. I'm not sure if it'll get any better for you if you're not enjoying it at this point, but I got pretty sucked in to the combat and general Hideki Kamiya batshittery.