Last game you finished and your thoughts

I haven't actually. I suppose I should get on that, everybody keeps on about it.

I disagree with that last point.  It could have had more levels overall, more visual filters (shadows are so Wii-era), more animals (Rambi is dull compared to Enguarde, or that springy snake thing from DKC2), and a less disappointing final boss.  Oh, and Amiss Abyss/Irate Eight could and should have been better.  There's still a lot of room for improvement, which is why it's more an 8/10 for me.  

Nonetheless, it's still my favourite game on the Wii U by a whisker (just above RLegends), and everyone should play it. 

I was happy with the game's length personally. Animal riding I could take or leave and the final boss might have lacked the spectacle of a Mario finale but at least it was a decent challenge.

masofdas wrote:

You not played Rayman Legends.

Speaking of which, I have my own thoughts on that to follow.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I was happy with the game's length personally. Animal riding I could take or leave and the final boss might have lacked the spectacle of a Mario finale but at least it was a decent challenge.

Each to their own. I'm just glad you played and enjoyed it!

Cheers. And weirdly, although I sound like I enjoyed it more, it just barely makes my wii u top 5!

Tropical Freeze is a great game. It's unfortunate that it's on a console that also has Rayman Legends, which is a cut above, and doesn't quite do enough to improve on its predecessor (for me, at least).

Mighty Switch Force
Definitely overrated by the critics, but it's still a fun little game. It makes clever use of its gimmick and handles well. The soundtrack, too, is absolutely amazing - to be honest the driving force behind me downloading it was having heard the music on YouTube first. It's just a shame that it isn't a little more substantial - it didn't overuse its puzzles, but equally, it didn't really spin them out enough either. Worth a shot if you have the time and money, but there are other better titles on the eShop.
6/10

Edit: Oh yeah, the collision detection is a bit weird as well. You can afford to have a tiny sliver of the protagonist's helmet clipped by a block, but a pixel of her foot and you're slammed into the screen. Seems a little unfair sometimes.

Technically not a game, but what the heck. The Playstation Vita



Despite my mouth frothing rant the other day I actually love this little thing now I've had the chance to sit down and actually use it.  The glossy coat requires constant wipedowns after use, but looks incredibly classy when fresh, the screen is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l to look at and really puts my 3ds xl to shame.  The controls took a bit of getting used to due to feeling more sqaushed in than the psp, but once used to them they're swell, I'll admit I've actually grown to prefer nintendo's solution to portable control sticks with their slider than the absolutely tiny sticks on the vita though.  The thing also plays music really well, which probably doesn't matter to anyone but me but I'll throw that thought out as well.  It sounds almost as good as my laptop when using media monkey.  

Now for the cons.  Yes, I still hate that touch screen menu with a passion, clearly sony realized the stupidity of it because you can turn it off in the settings, but alas you still have to swipe once every time you turn it on or wake it up from sleep mode which is one finger mark streak more than there should be.  Why you can't just hold the circle button like when swiping everything else on the main menu I do not know.      The glossy finish also makes the cons list, it looks better than a matte finish when clean and not used, sure, but unlike a matte finish I have to wipe my finger prints off it after every single session, and that trumps style points every time.  One of the reasons I prefer my silver psp to my black one is entirely because of the finish on it, despite my black psp looking far better than the silver one.  

Last but not least on the cons list, the analog sticks.  They're a massive step up from the psp's absolutely awful control nub, I'll give them that, and unlike the 3ds there's two of them in the system which will allow camera control to feel smooth in games that have rotational comeras, but they feel too small for comfort and so far I've found myself naturally defaulting to the d-pad when possible.  Whereas with the 3ds I've grown so used to the slider I use it as much as possible, despite originally being against it and for sony's sticks now I've actually used both systems I think Nintendo had the right idea.  

Overall Verdict: 8/10

A very nice system, looks great and is a blast to use, but those inconveniences stop it from being perfect at what it does as opposed to its predecessor the psp-3000 and the 3ds.  But unlike those two it is a mere first model, so minor issues to iron out are to be expected.

Athrun888 wrote:

Technically not a game, but what the heck.  The Playstation Vita



Despite my mouth frothing rant the other day I actually love this little thing now I've had the chance to sit down and actually use it.  The glossy coat requires constant wipedowns after use, but looks incredibly classy when fresh, the screen is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l to look at and really puts my 3ds xl to shame. Overall Verdict: 8/10

I respectfully disagree. I'd take the 3DS XL's more realistic colours over Vita-1000's gaudy, oversaturated, fake colours any day. 3DS's screen isn't amazing or anything, but Vita-1000's isn't either. It has all the problems inherent with early generation OLED displays: the aforementioned fake colours (which display colours that look nothing like what the artists on the development teams intended), the MURA/grain effect, where it can't render solid colours properly (easy to notice when on the settings app or even the home screen background), low maximum brightness, problems with burn-in (more of an issue with phones where prevalent status bars and such can be 'burned' into the screen over time, and a short lifespan, where colours will start to degrade after 18 months (the blue subpixels age faster than the other with OLED screens).

It was objectively decent in 2012, mind, but today it's just not a great screen, and a wider colour gamut certainly isn't always better, especially when it turns colours like the green fields of Atelier Meruru into near fluorescent, nuclear green. Again it's all about expectations, I was impressed by the screen at launch, but having used screens in other devices that display accurate colours and don't carry the mentioned flaws, it's hard not to see Vita-1000's screen as disappointing.

Of course, that's all subjective, some people prefer oversaturated colours, and it's all down to expectations and perception. As AnandTech's Nexus 5 review states:

It’s interesting to hear some Nexus 5 users complain that the display seems undersaturated, since that kind of end user feedback reflects subjective comparison. It also suggests to me that a large percentage of the population doesn’t know what some colors or system elements actually should be. Even for me, looking at the green elements inside the Google Play store on the Note 3 in movie mode or Nexus 5 initially seemed slightly more muted than normal. The reality is that this is what they actually should look like. We’ve just become accustomed to their oversaturated appearance on virtually every other device.

This kind of expectation about what looks right and what doesn’t is rather telling for the state of display calibration in Android handsets, and how OEMs have used oversaturated colors to increase retail shelf appeal. Unfortunately the reality is that oversaturated colors do seem to win taste tests among shoppers, the same way that TVs in most big boxes do. We’ve been looking at them for so long that well calibrated displays like Nexus 5 initially do look noticeably different.

As for the core chassis and build of the Vita, while I too was impressed at first, it isn't all that. The glossy top is plastic, rather than glass. As you can see when you hold the Vita against light, the reflection is all warped, and while it is nice that it covers the whole top surface (like the original 3DS's upper screen) it looks cheap because of it, compared to even the glass on £60 smartphones like the Lumia 520. Though luckily it's been fixed with the 2000 model, which uses a nice sheet of glass on top of the screen, making it feel more premium to touch and it also doesn't attract greasy fingerprints (it has an oleophobic coating that the 1000's plastic lacks), though because the 2000 has a more curved design the glass doesn't cover the entire front.

Likewise I don't believe the original Vita model's design has aged all that well, at first glance it's fairly obvious they were inspired by how the iPhone 4 design looks (the silver sides complementing a glossy front), but while the iPhone 4 was made from quality materials like metal and glass, the sides of the Vita-1000 are a cheap, gaudy fake chrome, which doesn't sit well with me. It certainly does look more classy than the 3DS, but the original 3DS's build quality is not only better (it's really easy to bend and twist and creak the plastics on the Vita-1000) but more premium in the way it uses metallic buttons that feel great, and also the text on the back cover, serial number aside, is made using IML (in-mould labelling), whereas on the Vita Sony stuck stickers on for it.

In a few months, when I'm sleeping in a bath full of cash, a Vita is right behind a PS4 on my Lucy of unnecessary purchases.

I don't know why you're surprised the 3DS controls feel better, NINTENDO 4EVA!!!!

fronkhead wrote:

Athrun888 wrote:

Technically not a game, but what the heck.  The Playstation Vita



Despite my mouth frothing rant the other day I actually love this little thing now I've had the chance to sit down and actually use it.  The glossy coat requires constant wipedowns after use, but looks incredibly classy when fresh, the screen is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l to look at and really puts my 3ds xl to shame. Overall Verdict: 8/10

I respectfully disagree. I'd take the 3DS XL's more realistic colours over Vita-1000's gaudy, oversaturated, fake colours any day. 3DS's screen isn't amazing or anything, but Vita-1000's isn't either. It has all the problems inherent with early generation OLED displays: the aforementioned fake colours (which display colours that look nothing like what the artists on the development teams intended), the MURA/grain effect, where it can't render solid colours properly (easy to notice when on the settings app or even the home screen background), low maximum brightness, problems with burn-in (more of an issue with phones where prevalent status bars and such can be 'burned' into the screen over time, and a short lifespan, where colours will start to degrade after 18 months (the blue subpixels age faster than the other with OLED screens).

It was objectively decent in 2012, mind, but today it's just not a great screen, and a wider colour gamut certainly isn't always better, especially when it turns colours like the green fields of Atelier Meruru into near fluorescent, nuclear green. Again it's all about expectations, I was impressed by the screen at launch, but having used screens in other devices that display accurate colours and don't carry the mentioned flaws, it's hard not to see Vita-1000's screen as disappointing.

Of course, that's all subjective, some people prefer oversaturated colours, and it's all down to expectations and perception. As AnandTech's Nexus 5 review states:

It’s interesting to hear some Nexus 5 users complain that the display seems undersaturated, since that kind of end user feedback reflects subjective comparison. It also suggests to me that a large percentage of the population doesn’t know what some colors or system elements actually should be. Even for me, looking at the green elements inside the Google Play store on the Note 3 in movie mode or Nexus 5 initially seemed slightly more muted than normal. The reality is that this is what they actually should look like. We’ve just become accustomed to their oversaturated appearance on virtually every other device.

This kind of expectation about what looks right and what doesn’t is rather telling for the state of display calibration in Android handsets, and how OEMs have used oversaturated colors to increase retail shelf appeal. Unfortunately the reality is that oversaturated colors do seem to win taste tests among shoppers, the same way that TVs in most big boxes do. We’ve been looking at them for so long that well calibrated displays like Nexus 5 initially do look noticeably different.

As for the core chassis and build of the Vita, while I too was impressed at first, it isn't all that. The glossy top is plastic, rather than glass. As you can see when you hold the Vita against light, the reflection is all warped, and while it is nice that it covers the whole top surface (like the original 3DS's upper screen) it looks cheap because of it, compared to even the glass on £60 smartphones like the Lumia 520. Though luckily it's been fixed with the 2000 model, which uses a nice sheet of glass on top of the screen, making it feel more premium to touch and it also doesn't attract greasy fingerprints (it has an oleophobic coating that the 1000's plastic lacks), though because the 2000 has a more curved design the glass doesn't cover the entire front.

Likewise I don't believe the original Vita model's design has aged all that well, at first glance it's fairly obvious they were inspired by how the iPhone 4 design looks (the silver sides complementing a glossy front), but while the iPhone 4 was made from quality materials like metal and glass, the sides of the Vita-1000 are a cheap, gaudy fake chrome, which doesn't sit well with me. It certainly does look more classy than the 3DS, but the original 3DS's build quality is not only better (it's really easy to bend and twist and creak the plastics on the Vita-1000) but more premium in the way it uses metallic buttons that feel great, and also the text on the back cover, serial number aside, is made using IML (in-mould labelling), whereas on the Vita Sony stuck stickers on for it.

For me the screen wasn't just about the colours but also the sharpness of the screen compared to the 3ds xl, I don't notice things like that when my tv has 720p on it because of the distance between me and it but due to the proximity of the 3ds the xl's screen at times just doesn't display images as sharply as it would on the normal model because of the increased size.   I can't comment about any comparisons to phones as I'm probably one of the few people in the western world who doesn't even have a basic mobile phone, but if the vita-2000 is as nice as it sounds I might grab one in a few years and relegate the 1000 to a music player.

Metal Gear Rising
Revengeance


Just completed this earlier today. I have now played through every canonical Metal Gear game! I'm also well on my way to playing all of Treasure's games.

The reason I bring up the developer is that they obviously have a very distinctive style; this, W101 and Bayonetta, for all their differences, have a similar emphasis and mission structure and so on. The Metal Gear games also have a very distinct feel to them, and this manages to capture that as well. The series has featured cyborg ninjas since Metal Gear Solid and this is the first game where you get to play as one. Therefore, it makes sense that it plays the way it does, rather than like tactical espionage action.

It does feel weird to think that the over-the-top, sci-fi superhero nonsense here is from the same series as the very grim commentary on torture that was Ground Zeroes, but that incredible dichotomy is what I love about the series. It was brilliant in Peace Walker to walk straight out of a discussion on nuclear deterrence, then knock someone out and make him fly away on a balloon.

That being said, the story in this one ends up sending very mixed messages, and by the end of it I didn't know whether Raiden was a good guy or not, even when the last line of the game

Spoiler:

7/10
Not the best Metal Gear or the best Platinum game, but a fun little actioner.
Oh, and the slicing was really cool, in a horrible, childish, Daily Mail-baiting way.

As has become my thing, I gone done a poem

I enjoyed the little I played of it. Also...

NANOMACHINES, SON.

Spoiler:

That looks like IRS

Pay your taxes, or NANOMACHINES SON.

I'd seen all the "nanomachines son" chat on the Internet, but when I played the game it didn't seem any more silly than all the rest of the dialogue: "ashes to Ashes, motherfucker!"

It wasn't like the damn fiddle line in GZ, which was funny as a result of its incongruity.

I just thought he was a great character. Goofy and intimidating - the college football banter he has with Raiden is great.

Drunkalilly wrote:

it didn't seem any more silly than all the rest of the dialogue: "ashes to Ashes, motherfucker!"

Was that a discussion between which Gene Hunt series was best?

No, because nobody would say Ashes To Ashes in that context.

Yeah, he was a great character. Very fun and a pretty tough final boss.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

I should start by saying that the only other game in the series I've played is the first. I enjoyed DD more. Where the first game occasionally felt interminable (the Steel Samurai case had so much clunky backtracking, and the last case, seriously Angel Starr, could you just, you know, give a remotely usable testimony, EVER?) this felt a lot snappier. The last couple of chapters in particular had me hooked, and while I didn't particularly like Blackquill (he was never going to live up to Edgeworth), I liked the way they explained how and why he was both a convict and a prosecutor. I also liked Athena - she maybe wasn't Maya standard, but was well above Ema - and her involvement in the game underpinned several of its best moments (my favourites including Robin Newman in episode 3, and the cliffhanger at the end of episode 4).

Of course, because it's Phoenix Wright, occasionally the logic is a little baffling, but I never ended up with a game over. Also: loved the DLC. Ridiculous and a lot of fun (and Sniper! Just perfect). I would have had no idea that the old director hadn't been a part of DD; the writing was sharp and there was plenty of fun lawyering to be done. Oh, and the breakdowns were as good as ever (the culprit in episode 3 was particularly good).

Little disjointed as a review, but basically: lot of fun, also funny, still hard to follow its logic sometimes but all in all self aware and muchos goodos.

8.5/10

Woo, a positive review of AA5! I'm glad someone else liked it. What did you think of The Final Culprit, though?

Drunkalilly wrote:

Yeah, he was a great character. Very fun and a pretty tough final boss.

I can well imagine Gene Hunt being a tough final boss.

Balladeer wrote:

Woo, a positive review of AA5!  I'm glad someone else liked it.  What did you think of The Final Culprit, though?

Admittedly kind of disappointing. Not bad, but just not as satisfying as most convictions. I hesitate to expand too much for spoilers' sakes, but I imagine you know what I mean.

BIT.TRIP FLUX
Like Beat but prettier, less frustrating thanks to checkpoints, and with better music (I know that's entirely subjective, but check out the menu music - it's excellent) and a little more varied. Found the ending a little tedious though.
7.5/10

Gunman Clive
Good difficulty level (ie faintly annoying but not infuriating). Liked the bosses and the mode unlocked after beating it is fun. Not an overly inspired game necessarily but it's solid and costs less than many a sandwich.
7/10

beemoh wrote:

masofdas wrote:

You not played Rayman Legends.

Speaking of which, I have my own thoughts on that to follow.

We still haven't got your thought's on this wonderful game.

Rum Rapture wrote:

Balladeer wrote:

Woo, a positive review of AA5!  I'm glad someone else liked it.  What did you think of The Final Culprit, though?

Admittedly kind of disappointing. Not bad, but just not as satisfying as most convictions. I hesitate to expand too much for spoilers' sakes, but I imagine you know what I mean.

...

Gunman Clive
Good difficulty level (ie faintly annoying but not infuriating). Liked the bosses and the mode unlocked after beating it is fun. Not an overly inspired game necessarily but it's solid and costs less than many a sandwich.
7/10

Yup, that was my point of view concerning him too. Disappointing compared to every one of the series' other final villains, although Investigations' wasn't much cop either.

I'd agree with your score on Clive, although mine would be a more optimistic 7/10. The inspiration, in my mind, came from the art style, the bosses, and the slowly changing environment. Cracking music too. Just a bit too short to get higher than a 7.