The last game you completed, and rating (Console Edition)

Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - 8.5/10

If you enjoy the more traditional, top down view Zelda games with handcrafted dungeons/puzzles then there is a good chance you'll enjoy this latest entry in the series. It has a similar aesthetic to the Link's Awakening remake from several years ago ie. top down toy look / diorama.
The only niggles were some drops in frame rates in the overworld map ( didn't really bother me ) and a slightly cumbersome menu system for selecting "echoes". By the end of the game you have approx. 100 items you can cast as an "echo" ... so it can feel like you're spending as much time bringing up the menu as playing the game.
Overall though I really enjoyed this game. Completed everything in approx. 40 hrs.
 
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Stellar Blade, 8/10.

Overall a pretty good game. Not my usual cup of tea stylistically, but a solid game nonetheless.

Graphics are shonky in many places as are the “platforming” elements.

Some of the acting and script is also cringe. Appreciate that is partly down to the style of game and that it’s been translated to English. But the animations of character movements and reactions often times seem both out of time with the dialogue and very clunky - reminded me of some of the animations from older games like FFVII with over exaggerated movements that seem to go hand in hand with anime style. I’ll put it down to artistic license in this game though, but it sort of broke the immersion in places in a kind of strange juxtaposition between story moments/themes and animation/dialogue.

Having a single music track on loop in open areas was also annoying to the point I turned off the music. Shame really as the overall mix of tracks was OK, but for some weird reason the game plays a single track per area. The change track option at camps only seemed to change the camp music…..

The story and lore was good and the locations and art direction were likewise varied and interesting. Fishing was a bit of a chore towards the end but a nice diversion all the same.

Combat was engaging and fun for the most part. Didn’t hit any walls with bosses even though I often thought “wow that boss looks bad ass, now I’m in trouble!”

Plenty of bosses I killed first go and some of the later bosses took several attempts, but nowhere near Elden Ring or Sekiro number of tries. But overall I found the bosses less grindy and much more fun, particularly when compared to the hyper aggressive bosses from SotET. Combat always seemed fair and the variety of tactics and loadouts also kept it interesting but I felt some of the Beta Core stuff was OP. Dodging and parrying were much more forgiving than other games I’ve played and that added to the enjoyment of combat.

I’d avoided info on the story and endings and just went through the game making my own decisions. As it happens I muddled my way through to a good ending - or so I have since read on the internet. Whilst I’m pleased about that, I don’t feel I would have changed my decisions, particularly the final one, if my ending was broadly seen as bad. Felt like a good outcome to me given the lore reveals throughout the game. Just personal preference I guess.

I reckon another run through on NG+ will be on the cards, but not just yet.

I’d been waiting for a sale but bought at full price. I don’t feel short changed having had ~70hrs out of my first play through.

You watch it go on sale next week now! Always the way!! :p
 
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Infinite Wealth - 9.5/10

I had my doubts about Hawaii as a setting but this game is just pure fun in every way imaginable, I'm giving it a 9.5 while admitting the story is absoluley mediocre for a Yakuza game and that should be enough of a recommendation.

Stellar Blade - 8/10

Well, it's basically a Korean Automata with a much, much worse story and characters but better graphics, higher budget and "deeper" combat (that's debatable because 80% of people don't even know what you can do in Automata in terms of combat, it's just that you need to play on Hard and the animation quality is still insane to this day).
Similar music but Automata's soundtrack is still significantly better, even though Okabe did a lot of the OST. Yeah, I know it's hard to avoid comparisons when a game's been made as a homage to a different game:P

I enjoyed it overall, it has that addictive factor that made me collect outfits and do all the side content. The combat was good but I felt it was a bit too easy on normal and you can feel the game is geared towards one-on-one so fighting multiple enemies at once felt a bit clunky. It pretty much only truly shines during boss encounters. You can feel some Sekiro in it, which is good.

Apart from that, absolutely worth playing in my book and a solid "exclusive" (see you on PC in a few months:P).

Spiderman 2 - 7/10

Finally got round to it and completed it a month ago. The first one was much better. The story wasn't that good and it was just more of the same with more glitches. I was surprised when I heard people talking about bugs considering how solid SM1 was in this regard but I did indeed encounter some.
The side content is just as much of a mixed bag as in the first one but there's way less of it so that's a plus in my book. In fact, one could argue the game feels a bit bare-bones when it comes to side stuff but I won't complain:P
Overall, 7/10 tops, I still enjoyed the gameplay loop but nothing struck me as truly amazing except the graphics. I don;t know, it just felt a bit rushed.
 
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BubbySoup said:
Dead Space Remake - 9/10

I hated this game. **** my pants way too many times. I don't play scary games, but this was free on PS this month and I had heard so many good things about it. I loved everything about this game other than actually having to play it :o
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While your pants are still hot off the press, so to speak, go and play Silent Hill 2 and Alan Wake 2 now :D
 
Ghost Recon Wildlands, fired it up and at first it didn't grab me, tried it for a little longer and was totally hooked. Basically Tom Clancy's GTA, it does getting a little repetitive but it's one of those games where you can pick up and play and then you get stuck there thinking "I'll just grab one more collectible, or complete one more mission". I ended up putting a lot of hours into this games and completed all achievements apart from a few. Recommended 4/5.
 
GSXRMovistar said:
Ghost Recon Wildlands, fired it up and at first it didn't grab me, tried it for a little longer and was totally hooked. Basically Tom Clancy's GTA, it does getting a little repetitive but it's one of those games where you can pick up and play and then you get stuck there thinking "I'll just grab one more collectible, or complete one more mission". I ended up putting a lot of hours into this games and completed all achievements apart from a few. Recommended 4/5.
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Did you kill the Predator? I always got pretty close, never managed it though. Good game, well executed although very repetitive as you've said. I got into quite late which is a shame as it looked like it would have a lot of fun online.
 
Finished Astral Chain on Switch. 7/10 from me, it was hugely ambitious and there's a lot to like, but ultimately the poor performance (even docked) and finnicky controls significantly limited how much I enjoyed playing it.
 
Elden Ring + SOTE - 7/10

Now I love a Souls game and I've had it sitting in my 'to play' pile waiting for me to have the time and energy to put into it.

I knew going in this was going to be big and wouldn't hold my hand and in that respect it did not disappoint. The lore, art direction and sense of scale was incredible and some the mid to end game bosses were amazing both in spectacle and challenge. The Legacy Dungeons were fantastic and some of the best level design I think Fromsoft has done, but after a while the scale became exhausting.

The sheer number of weapons/items/builds/locations was probably meant to encourage me to experiment rather but I found finding a new incantation or weapon quickly became a chore and so I just found a comfortable weapon/stat loadout mid-game and just stuck with it for the next 70 hours. I didn't really feel I needed to 'git gud' at any point, just keep plugging away and everything would eventually fall.

Also, the mob/boss reuse grated after the first half of the game, and when I came across yet another Lesser Ulcerated Spirit I just rolled my eyes and then rolled around for a few mins to kill it in the exact same way I did the previous 20.

The expansion was a nice change of scenery with some new mobs and mechanics thrown in plus MUCH more aggressive bosses which did actually require some thought. I liked the tighter more vertical world map and there were a couple of interesting dungeons. Overall though it was more of the same, just with MUCH harder hitting enemies.

I went in expecting Dark Souls for the masses and I was not disappointed. The game was phenomenal, I just feel like if they'd kept it a little smaller in scope, then it could have been a tighter more polished experience.

/Salsa
 
Vandle said:
Did you kill the Predator? I always got pretty close, never managed it though. Good game, well executed although very repetitive as you've said. I got into quite late which is a shame as it looked like it would have a lot of fun online.
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Seems the Predator mission has now been removed, due to licensing right from what I've read.
 
FF XVI 5/10

I have mixed feelings about this one, the demo is what sold me on the game. But the full game felt like it dragged on, the side quests were boring, and the visuals at times looked really bad.

But when the game was at its peak, it could look photo realistic at times, and some of the action felt truly fantastic.

Where I’m really confused is I’m not tempted to start new game + but part of me wants to buy the dlc….
 
Astrobot, generally it feels like it’s been years I’ve had this sort of nostalgic vibes from a game from PlayStation, the puzzles, the platforming. It took me back to the OG Rachet and clank/ Jak and Daxter days, which are so vivid in my mind lol. Maybe I just miss the simplicity of a fully developed game without bugs that has smooth solid gameplay
 
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lawrence281 said:
Astrobot, generally it feels like it’s been years I’ve had this sort of nostalgic vibes from a game from PlayStation, the puzzles, the platforming. It took me back to the OG Rachet and clank/ Jak and Daxter days, which are so vivid in my mind lol. Maybe I just miss the simplicity of a fully developed game without bugs that has smooth solid gameplay
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This comparison to R&C couldn't be more accurate imo. It just 'works'. Last level aside I loved it!
 
NFS Unbound 7/10

I enjoyed the story elements which is kind of fun for a driving game and reminded me of Driver San Francisco which worked story into a driving game. The handling was a bit love hate for me with the grip vs drift and getting the cars setup how I like and finding they would grip and then snap and wasn't easy to predict when they would twitch out so I veered towards the drift style handling overall as it was a more predictable handling setup. Still enjoyed it overall
 
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