Last Game You Finished and Your Thoughts MKII

...Tangrams?

That's the one!

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Campaign

It won't ever be my favourite game ever but it's good no nonsense fun & the exo suit abilities are well implemented and that makes the series a lot fresher than before, the cast also do an excellent job of selling the story which had some moments that reminded me of Robocop/Starship Troopers.

Would you like to know more? Well, here's my score:

shooty bang/10

I actually liked the look of this CoD - it seemed genuinely interesting and somewhat fresh, which is the same feeling I felt prior to playing CoD4.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair  

Objection no that's wrong!



The sequel to my beloved Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc.  Once again sixteen high school students with various ultimate talents find themselves trapped by a evil bear and forced to engage in a killing game if they wish to escape.  Unlike the previous Killing School game this time the venue is a resort island with no way off.  

Like the first game the gameplay is segmented in to three different parts, the first two being point and click and the third once again being the complete minigames to progress the class trial.  As with the first game most of the players time is spent following the story from the perspective of the protagonist, this time amnesiac Hajime Hinata who has lost all memory of his Ultimate Talent.  

As the game is so focussed on te story the game ultimately lives or dies on its entertainment value.  Did it live or did it die?  Well, naturally the first thing that will strike those playing the game is that the game seems crazier than the first game, the stunts Monokuma pulls off within his returning scene immediately stepping over the line from believable to really testing your sense of disbelief.  Being a technologically advanced robot thing capable of various stunts and keeping people trapped because the entire school is completely locked down is one thing, but turning statues in to giant mecha is quiet another.  Suffice to say my first impression of the game was that it had taken a good swig of crazy juice before starting.  


Presenting: Monohulk!

But as things got under way and the killing school trip got underway that craziness that was almost too much to take faded in to the background to be replaced by the familiar and loveable murder mysteries.  Just like the first game the story reveled in playing up the absurd eccentric personalities of the cast, only to turn round and sucker punch the player with twists when they least expected it.  At first I'll be honest and say I preferred the first games cast, and in some respects I still do with its balance of insane eccentrics and down to earth characters, but as the game went on and the cast became more balanced between the sensible characters and completely bonkers characters I got over that.  Plus this game has Gundham Tanaka, you just can't beat a hamster whisperer with a bad case of chuunibyou!




The rest of the cast after a tiny bit of trimming was great as well, once again bringing extremely odd characters to the table from talents you'd think would make someone dull.





What really sold me though was the ending, which was infinitely more satisfying (and dark at times) than the first games ending.  Unlike the first game which really just felt like an epilogue short of being good this game not only provided a excellent sense of closure but also resolved a good chunk of my main gripes that I had for, well, most of the game with the craziness.  Like any good mystery there'll be that moment where everything just clicks in to place, that "oh snap!" moment.  I won't say any more because I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm sure those familiar with the game have no doubts about what things I'm referring to.  And if you don't...

Ending plot twist spoilers, if you haven't played BOTH games then for the love of god don't open this and ruin something amazing for yourself:

As for the minigames in the class trials, I can't say they bothered me all that much this time around.  The new Hangmans Gambit until they went overboard with the difficulty was fun, logic dive was simple yet fun, and the addition of being able to agree with peoples statements in Nonstop Debates not only added a nice dynamic but gave characters that don't constantly object to everything by nature a chance to contribute to the trial without coming off as out of character.  


Overall Rating: 9 out of 10, another awesome point and click adventure murder mystery romp with some of fictions most eccentric high school stundents and the most evil stuffed animal ever, a game that like its predecessor every single Vita owner without a single exception should play.  Pick it up from your local video game store or the playstation network and take a vacation to Jabberwock Island today!

JayMoyles wrote:

I actually liked the look of this CoD - it seemed genuinely interesting and somewhat fresh, which is the same feeling I felt prior to playing CoD4.

The last CoD I enjoyed & played at length was black ops so if you haven't played one for a while it's a good game to jump back in with, I'm quite looking forward to playing the MP.

The Walking Dead Season 1, PS4


So a little late the party, I just finished episode 5 last night.

What a phenomenal story driven adventure game, I do have to hand it to Telltale as I went from the borderlands game which is funny to this which is serious.

Both games show how good they are at doing story's.

I don't really know what else to say as it's such a story driven game, don't want to give anything away for anyone that hasn't played it.

Get's 9/10 but if I had played back in 2012 it might of been in my Top 5 games of that year.

Have you got Season Two Mas? I prefer the first season, but the second one is still a fantastic experience.

Gunman Clive 2



Gunman Clive 1, as I suppose we have to call it now, is such an ace little game - how could the team improve on it? Well, the original's tight focus is replaced by a greater variety of gameplay styles, which doesn't dilute the brilliance one jot. The aesthetics remain the same, though with a dash of colour. The bosses are tough - possibly tougher than in the original - and the final boss is a hoot. It's all recommend, all the way - except for it being a bit short.

17/20

JayMoyles wrote:

Have you got Season Two Mas? I prefer the first season, but the second one is still a fantastic experience.

Just started it last night,

Pokémon Link: Battle!



Late to the completion party I may be, but this finally fell about an hour ago. It's classic match-3 with several Pokétwists:

a) Type match-ups play a massive role,
b) You can bring along support Pokémon from the list of monsters you've already caught, who will be peppered throughout the playing field, and
c) You can move any tile to any location.

The latter is something andrewman criticised in the last GNamer Podcast, suggesting there would be no challenge. Well, the game gets rough with you pretty early, and you're likely to face a few levels that crush you beneath their steely-yet-cute paws before you refine your tactics and blast them to smithereens. So whilst it is cute, it has claws. Ultimately, though, despite the Pokémon coating, I didn't connect with it as well as I was hoping.

15/20

I'd say that a seven is about fair. It was certainly much better than I expected. Also: the only time I've ever completed a Pokémon game's Pokédex.

I completed the Gen IV Pokédex on Pearl, which is one of the reasons I like what I get the impression is felt to be a stinky generation. As for PB:L!, whatever happens, I will recommend it over Shuffle. *shudder*

The Walking Dead Season 2, PS4



I was a bit iffy about this as everyone says how it's not as good as season 1 which it isn't but it's still phenomenal bit of story telling also nice to see how 400 days was used.

I can't really say anything else due to spoilers as you know how these games play.

Only thing that bugged me is there's no platinum trophy what's the deal with that as all the rest of the telltales games do, just seems a little weird.

9/10 and now I move onto Life is Strange which could be interesting coming from what are to similar games.

Season 2 is better Well kind of, I feel the choices are much more difficult which to me equates to better.

Your the first person I've seen say that, but agree the choices are more meaningful in Season 2.

Thomas Was Alone



Fairly easy to play through in an afternoon, not only because of it's relative easiness but also because each level intrigues you enough to move on to the next. More intriguing still is the story and narration, Danny Wallace's voice is quirky and friendly enough to pave over some of the darker tones of the story. The character's created by the script are really good too, being different coloured shapes shouldn't really make a difference but with the personalities created through the game's narration, being a big square or a tall rectangle suddenly makes perfect sense.

Overall Thomas Was Alone feels like a nice and relaxed journey which is perfect if you're after something that can entertain you without feeling too taxing.


24/30

andyman949 wrote:

Season 2 is better Well kind of, I feel the choices are much more difficult which to me equates to better.

masofdas wrote:

Your the first person I've seen say that,  but agree the choices are more meaningful in Season 2.

I'd say that season 2 just edges it as well, those multiple choices at the end are absolutely brilliant!

I think with Telltale you can actually see how they're developing over time. I think being Clem held back TWD2 somewhat, but you could see a lot of improvements regardless and I feel you can see them developing further with GoT.

Life is Strange Episode 1 – Chrysalis, PS4


I featured this game in Indie Weeks and was excited for it which was kinda justified.

The game plays in a similar adventure-vain as the telltale games as you control Max whom is a very real female character that you move around and select icons like looking at poster.

What makes this different is the ability to turn back time which sounds like a cool concept but after you do something, Max speaks her thoughts in her mind which makes you feel like you've mad the wrong choice. So you rewind and do the other option, so at the end when you get the % screen at the end which shows the choices you made compared to other people and everyone seems to have made the same choice due the game making go back & do what feels like the right choice.



Added to that is something that reminds me of the classic Beyond Good & Evil, the ability to take photos some of these are part of the story some are little extras like taking a picture of a beer drinking squirrel (Sorry it's not Conker) which gives you a Trophy and adds to your journal which has a some backstory in there along with bio's of characters etc.

The story aspect seems to be only touched on in Episode 1 but I would like to see what happens to Max and her friends. I'm not in a hurry to download the £13.99 EP2-5 season pass right now but will likely go for that near the time of it's release.

Only other thing I picked up on was the soundtrack which does seem to be very vocal such as this which plays at what feels like a nice bit at the start of the game.

I would recommend trying this out if you like story-driven adventure games that for once is set in it's own IP and for £3.99 EP1 is worth a punt.

Kid Icarus



Rampant overuse of save states brought me to the end of this NES adventure a few moments ago. As has been discussed in the Retro forum, Kid Icarus is not without its faults, which can be summed up in one sentence: the difficulty curve is ludicrous. It's no wonder Pit fell out of favour, given that his main weapon is weedy, his enemies are overpowered and falling off the bottom of the screen is scream-inducingly easy to do. However, I've developed a soft spot for it. The potential was there for something very special to emerge; however, only two sequels since 1987 tells its own story.

14/20

Teslagrad



So I finished this in the early hours of the morning, while the core gameplay mechanics/puzzles are solid & very clever respectively the boss battles can be really frustrating (especially the last 2) due to the one hit and you're dead health system, they also require remembering the patterns of the attacks which wouldn't be that bad if you had some sort of health system but thankfully there aren't many to fight.

The art style and animation are top quality and the story is told in a very clever way, overall I enjoyed my time with the game.

Sonic Rush



A slight slice of Sonic cake that reminded me of the Mega Drive era of Sonic: built for speed until the moment you run into a well-placed badnik. It's also a typical early DS game: the machine can do better, but it's so charming, it doesn't matter. Sonic Rush is bright and charming but not a series highlight for me.

13/20

Gunman clive 2



Still short & sweet but with a lot more variety than the first game.


Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate



I've not long just finished beating every single quest the game has to offer & loved every single minute of the 545 hours of play time I put in, quite simply it is the most I have gotten out of a game series EVER!

There's still a tonne of things I could go after as well but with the imminent release of 4U it's time to put it to sleep. *places shock trap* *throws tranq bomb*    night night MH3U.  

Funnily enough...

Gunman Clive 2 again



In retrospect, the big thing that the original GC had going for it was surprise factor. I went into it with no expectations at all, and was obviously astounded. "Hm, what's this indie platformer everyone keeps talking about?" became "Wow, this is actually quite good," became "Holy **** that train just turned into a giant robot!"

GC2 doesn't have that. The basics are the same as its predecessor, and the level variety has already pretty much been spoiled by every set-piece being revealed in the trailers. It does some clever things with gravity that I wasn't expecting, and the final boss was completely unspoiled: these were my favourite bits.

But on the whole, it's a nice little jump-and-shoot platformer, with much more variety than its predecessor. The colours are a definite upgrade, although I preferred the original's soundtrack. Feels like it should have had some hard-to-get collectables, though.

7/10