The last game you completed, and rating.

Stalker SOC + Oblivion Lost 2.2 mod.

Another version of the Oblivion Lost mod which adds a little more to the game than was available on release. I also added another mod 'Photo Realistic Zone 2' to add more detail. Does the job well. :)
 
jomiyo said:
BS Infinite

Predictably the series remains a slick kid of System Shock 2, and so I rate them:

System Shock 2....9+/10
BioShock 1...........8ish/10
BioShock 2...........8ish/10
BS Infinite............7/10
Click to expand...

Bioshock 2 as good as 1? Wut?

Now would you kindly revise those scores.... ;)
 
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Tomb Raider (2013 reboot)

9/10

This is how to reboot a series. A good genesis story, solid mechanics and well, just a great game. I'm quite a fan of the PS3 Uncharted series, but I'd have to say I enjoyed this just as much as any of those (and I'd argue the combat works slightly better), as well as having more open levels.

Don't miss it if you enjoy 3rd person action adventure type games :)
 
Mass Effect 3 - 8/10

Unpopular opinion: I actually really liked the ending. Other parts of the story were a bit pants (Hello, Kai Leng) but the ending was fine, and I wasn't even playing it with the extended cut.

The gameplay was the most balanced of the series, the old combat strategy of "hide behind cover forever then shoot" doesn't work any more a lot of the time.
 
escape sanity said:
Mass Effect 3 - 8/10

Unpopular opinion: I actually really liked the ending. Other parts of the story were a bit pants (Hello, Kai Leng) but the ending was fine, and I wasn't even playing it with the extended cut.

The gameplay was the most balanced of the series, the old combat strategy of "hide behind cover forever then shoot" doesn't work any more a lot of the time.
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Mass Effect has caused many a debate on internet forums with every release and frankly I don't know why people complain and cry so much about it all are excellent and well produced games. That's not to say there all perfect, I felt ME1 and ME2 had some grinding built (resource gathering etc) into it just pad the game for a couple more hours but overall it's been an enjoyable franchise to play.
 
Freddie1980 said:
Mass Effect has caused many a debate on internet forums with every release and frankly I don't know why people complain and cry so much about it all are excellent and well produced games. That's not to say there all perfect, I felt ME1 and ME2 had some grinding built (resource gathering etc) into it just pad the game for a couple more hours but overall it's been an enjoyable franchise to play.
Click to expand...

Every time ME is mentioned, I want to play all 3 through again.... so many happy hours spent playing those games. The ending to ME3 wasn't what I wanted but at least with EC, it's good enough and leaves a fair bit to the imagination. :)
 
Bioshock Infinite - good example of a game being more than the sum of its parts.

Graphics - 8/10 - I like the style and it's generally very impressive, but some effects are over-used and some textures not great.

Gampelay 7/10 - a bit repetitive, could do with some diffculty tweaks in some scenes

Story 8/10 - just as a plain narrative it's not bad

Actual overall playing experience 9/10 (beautifully done, excellent immersion, skillfully told story, cutscenes are never jarring, genuinely a joy to play).
 
The Walking Dead

9 out of 10

great game really enjoyed it, great story, really liked the characters the gameplay was simple but fun and still managed to get 13 hours out of it - not bad for £6. Loses a point because i don't think you effect the story with your decisions as much as they lead you to think.
 
Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 - 6/10

+More varied locations than the original
+Some good sections where you get guidance from your spotter
+Satisfying kills
+Missions generally feel like they are the right length at 13-37 mins or so, the original had a lot of short ones.

-Very poor selection of weapons, throughout the entire game I was never able to use anything but a knife, sniper rifle and a pistol. Even on one mission where you start with a pistol and 4 bullets, I still couldn't pickup an assault rifle dropped by an enemy :mad:. At least in the original game there were some bits you could use other weapons.
-Story is nothing to write home about and has a predictable twist
-Few annoying sections where if you triggered an alert it seemed to stay permanently active even to dude hundreds of metres away round a corner. There was one bit where you have to kill a rooftop sentry on the right side of the building, but if you are too quick and just kill here there it automatically triggers an alert - the only way to avoid it seems to be to let him walk over to the left, and then back over to the right again :confused::(
-Poor checkpoint spacing, including the cardinal sin of putting them before unskippable in-game cutscenes (e.g. taking out the AA guns in Sarejevo)
-Ratio of graphics to performance isn't that great, it is nothing special and I had to set object detail to low or the framerate was basically halved
-Some graphical glitches (flickering textures)

Overall the game was a disappointment; the only areas it really improved on the original were a marginally better story, more varied locations and perhaps a slightly longer campaign. In terms of the core gameplay and 'fun-ness' it wasn't up to par.
 
The Walking Dead - 8/10

It's not really a game, but it's a damn good story.

+Story
+Characters
+Well written

-Quick Time Events (and LOTS of them)
-As said it is not really a game, you just click occasionally to continue the story
-It's an adventure game with no puzzles to speak of
-Occasionally, after sitting watching a cutscene for a few mins, the game will suddenly require you to click a small part of the screen and give you about 1/2 second to do so, or you get a 'game over'. Hugely annoying.
-Shaky screen at critical 'click this pixel' moments to increase the "challenge"
 
Dishonored 9/10 (40 hours of game play).

In no particular order :

+ NPC body expression of body movement at times is quite impressive.

+ Buildings in the far distance looked very good. This is something in my experience you rarely see to a good standard.

+ Consistently surprised by subtle unexpected differences, which is what can elevate a decent enough game play experience to a very good one, eg.
clicking on an npc to talk and being surprised by the second or third response.

+ Very well designed levels, which was noted a number of times throughout the campaign.

+ As I played through the game, the more I realized how much replay value this has. Just when you think you've got all the loot, or found all the ways
into a building, you're given another 'nudge' or opportunity.

+ I like stealth games, eg. Thief, but I loved the ability here to be able to exercise either stealth or combat effectively. I appreciate that your character in Thief isn't meant to be ideally suited to melee combat, though nonetheless the variety here is most welcome.

+ I suppose you could say this about many titles, but my mind reflected on several other games when playing through Dishonored. Some of the guards had
masks that resembled ones from Morrowind; the mish mash of styles (age + innovation), including the metal structures were reminiscent of HL2, E.Y.E
Divibe Cybermancy, Thief 2 and Bioshock.

+ Didn't feel as contrived by a long chalk as many other games.

+ Halleluja! Finally a game where you can sprint continually!

+ Despite the period it's set in / art direction style (which I do like - perhaps I just would like to see something different), I found it a gripping experience at times (a sign of a great game). Halo did that for me - giggling aliens / at times an almost child like enemy, yet superb music and production standards pulled off a good title.

+ Sound was very good, especially the water sound effects, both underwater and out.

+ Another common annoyance like the sprinting which was absent, is that you can walk by people without them automatically speaking to you.

+ Mixed feelings about the graphics as already touched on, though I do actually like what I see. However, some of the textures look rather bland up close, which
is partly down to the style of direction / engine. It's no where near as bad as RAGE, though it did remind me slightly of it.



- Diary entries are a bit on the repetitive side, as were the npc conversations at times. I've seen / heard considerably worse though.


All in all, one of the greats as far as I'm concerned, well, very close anyway if it isn't. For me, it ranks within a hairs breadth of gaming experiences like Deus Ex, Stalker and
Fallout 3 / New Vegas. I was tempted to give it 9.5 / 10, but I think I'll stick with my decision.


Now, on to Max Payne 3. :)
 
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FlukeRogi said:
Tomb Raider (2013 reboot)

9/10

This is how to reboot a series. A good genesis story, solid mechanics and well, just a great game. I'm quite a fan of the PS3 Uncharted series, but I'd have to say I enjoyed this just as much as any of those (and I'd argue the combat works slightly better), as well as having more open levels.

Don't miss it if you enjoy 3rd person action adventure type games :)
Click to expand...

I have to agree with you.
The First Tomb Raider, I have played in over 10 years. (Tried the original PS1 version an hated it)

Bought the new reboot on Steam sales £7.49 an have loved every minute of the game.
A wonderfully simple story; Lost/trapped on an island, an through her travels, Lara rises to meet her destiny. :cool:
The story captivated my from get go, an I never once winced or got annoyed with the story, the short cut scene's only help'd to improve an tell the story better (Max Payne 3, could learn a lot here.)
I could not put this game down, until I completed the story. :)

The sound, an voice acting was very good.
Graphically, this was amazing; DX11 at 2560x1600, with most settings maxed, really taxed my system, but well optimized, so playable at 40-60FPS. At times I though I was there.
AI, was smart, an at times, I found myself on the back foot, not knowing if I could kill enough enemies before inevitably been killed.
Especially the ONI, they were difficult as hell, shotgun shells + guns hardly worked, I had to get in close an smash there faces in with the pick axe. :D

Rating: 9.9/10 A game can always be improved.
I genuinely look forward to the next installment, carrying on the story with Lara + Sam.
 
One thing I've noticed about Tomb Raider is the majority of people who don't like it seem to cite the primary reason as it not being like earlier games in the series. I generally find that type of sentiment to be 'praise by faint damning' in the sense that the criticism is triggered by the love of something else rather than specific problem points that are apparent even without comparing to something else (Deus Ex Invisible War is another good example).

For me, Tomb Raider is where I want 'platform' games to go - story driven, forgiving, action packed and well presented even if it doesn't appeal to the purists. I grew up playing platformers that put me off the genre for decades, where one false move would mean game over or falling down and having to replay the last 5mins of intricately timed jumps. They required skill for sure, but personally I didn't find them enjoyable. Dumbing down isn't always a bad thing in my book.
 
I loved the originals, one of the first games to really make my 3Dfx card worthwhile. The puzzles were damming but the game just felt so atmospheric and so BIG. I've played other versions since, but this one is by far the best. Just has that "I want to play another few hours" feeling.
 
Batman: Arkham City

  • Stunning Visual Design
  • Great sound and music
  • Great combat sytem (still)
  • Compeling and twisting story (i never felt like i knew exactly what was going to happen)
  • Catwomen storyline interwoven not seperate
  • Boss fights not stupidly hard (unlike Deus Ex:HR)

  • A Mess of Enemies, Introduction not staggered well.
  • Not truely open world

8.5/10

Really Really Enjoyed playing this game. though my impression when i started was "which of these villians do i go for first", luckily the storyline picked up from that point and it was a truely pleasureable experience.

Virtua Tennis 4

  • Good Tennis 'Physics'
  • Large range of players and sytles

  • Career mode is more like a board game (too long between championships)
  • a lot of playing syles are out of reach on your first/second time through career mode
  • Times limits on event make you rush when you shouldn't
  • The weird card movement system just doesn't work
  • Difficulty isn't constant.

5/10

It's an alright Tennis game, great for 20 minutes Arcade seesions but the career is dreadful, some people may find it fun but it's more of a puzzle game than a tennis game.. Considereing it was only £3 i can't complain much but i wouldn't pay more than that for it.
 
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