Rate the last game you finished!

[WindHero]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D
Rating: 9.5/10

One of my new favorite RPGs, I really enjoyed the story, music, gameplay, and environments. The plot twists are superb, though you might guess a few of them along the way if you're sharp. The ending kinda threw me for a loop, in a good way. The graphics aren't particularly amazing as far as character models go, given the hardware limitations, but the environments are huge, detailed, and imaginative. My biggest gripe is that the subquests get very repetitive, and only a small handful contribute to the story in a meaningful way. I liked most of the characters, particularly the party members, and the villains were fairly compelling too. A lot of games fail to make villains you can sympathize with, let alone feel sorry for, but this game had more than one. There are a variety of points where the main character gets significant power buffs that feel empowering, and I love how every area has incentives to come back late in the game, especially by having extra powerful monsters you initially run from. I'm saying there are Lv 70 monsters in the home town, even. After clearing a certain part, there even are some informal superbosses: enemies who transcend the Lv 99 cap. Plus, after clearing the game, you can start again with the strongest weapon and a selection of some of your best equipment.

 

[Megadoomer]

Star Fox Zero: 8/10

The game was well-polished, and while it seemed like a remake of Star Fox 64 at first, the levels changed significantly as the game went on. I only have two complaints (the lack of branching paths leading to new levels, and the controls being hard to get used to), but the challenging bonus bosses seem to make up for the former, as it's led to some pretty interesting scenarios from what I've seen (haven't done all of them; just played the game through to the end).

For the second complaint, co-op dealt with that one quite well - the game is so much better when you only have to focus on one screen at a time. Once I got the controls down after some practice, the only times I had trouble were in Sector Omega (where you're moving at ridiculous speeds - that was when I started playing co-op with my brother), and in boss fights where the camera automatically locks on to a specific target. Those types of boss fights makes it really difficult to fly precisely, like when you're trying to go through rings or collect laser upgrades.

The voice acting was great - while some of the slightly changed lines threw me off a bit, it maintained the cheesiness of Star Fox 64 while still being well-done. I liked how the transformations of the ships changed up the gameplay, and the few changes made to the story worked.

My only issue would be the controls, though I get that (as the game was designed around them, and certain bosses would be difficult or next-to-impossible if they patched in a way to play without them) it would be hard to bring back a more traditional control scheme. Still, I'd like to see Platinum work on another Star Fox game in the future. While I liked Star Fox Adventures and Assault, this felt like a true successor to Star Fox 64 while still making big changes to the gameplay.

(Would have liked to see their take on Macbeth, though)

 

[Cheezey Bites]

Doom (2016): 9.5/10

Doom is Doom. You know Doom, even if you've never played it you'll have heard of it. It's the grand-daddy of first person shooters and it's fast paced game play and lack of much else is still loved to this day, helped by a healthy modding community, that's still active. Doom 2016 spotted all these things and has delivered on all of them with exceptional success and outstanding style.

The pace is frantic and fun with both you and your enemies running and jumping all over the stage to destroy each other. There's a lot of focus on mobility, with enemies quickly learning giant leaps, climbing, flight of various kinds, teleportation, and it introducing more and more of these mechanics to you too. The melee Glory Kills also strengthen this by tying ammo and health to running into melee with demons you could just as easily shoot. enemies are agressive enough that bunkering down simply isn't an option, while most projectiles are slow enough that you can avoid them if you move asap. It's pace and momentum pull you through exciting encounter after the next, and the small breather corridors come at just the right times for you to get your heart-rate back to normal.

The Snap-Map features allow some crazy modding too, making the game essentially infinite if it taps into the same community... and given there's remakes of original levels, crazy challenges and even a BokuMono/Harvest Moon enspired farming game I think the community's ready, though still notably a little inexperienced. There are some good maps out there, but nothing up to the main campaign just yet; that said, it should be possible with the tools provided. This is how you do level development tools right, with simple instructions but the full depth of a logic system to back it up.

Then of course there's the second point I bought up; the lack of story, and technically I lied. There is a story here, and it's a surprisingly clever one that unifies the series and is surprisingly well written, but the game doesn't care about that. Doomguy is about shooting demons and then shooting more demons and he treats the plot with the same contempt that most gamers would for a game like this; and it's hilarious. The style this game oozes with it's first person cutscene animations (A certain fist-bump scene is both adorable and awesome) and Glory Kills tells us so much about the character, the world and just makes everything fun to play. That's what Doom is, fun, for all 8 or so hours of the campaign, so much fun that I immediately hopped back to play the unlocked difficulty. It's short, but it does everything it set out to do fantastically, and has so much charm and so many wonderful call backs to the original it just sets my heart ablaze.


There's also a multiplayer mode, it's pretty average. It plays more like Quake or Unreal Tournament, but with class loadouts helping you jump straight back into the fray quicker. It does the job if you really need a multiplayer, but the game clearly put it's eggs in Single Player, and by god does it deliver there.

 

[Tino]

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
Rating: 8.8/10

This was the one Zelda game that introduced me to the series when I played the original on the Wii and when this HD remake was announced, I knew I just had to get it. The graphics doesn't look any different to me from the original though and the difficulty isn't much of a challenge, not even in Hero Mode. I do like how they added new collectibles to the game in the form of Miiverse stamps. Overall, I did had a lot of fun with the game.

 

[AZ_Spellbound]

Doom: 8/10
I like the lengthy campaign and how visually appealing it was, but I felt like the gameplay was a bit redundant.

 

[Megadoomer]

Devil May Cry 3

9/10

It took me a while to beat this game, but now I can see why the Devil May Cry franchise (with the exception of 2) gets so much praise. It's easily in my top five as far as action games go, beaten out by the two Bayonetta games and Metal Gear Rising. The combat is a huge improvement over the previous games in the series, and it's incredible to see how much it improved between 2 and 3 in terms of weapon variety, boss battles, and generally everything.

In particular, the styles are a huge improvement, increasing your offensive options as well as making it so you can guard or dodge easier. (dodging was possible in previous games, but really difficult to do in the heat of battle - now, it can be done with the press of a button)

I only have a few issues with this one:

-the camera: like in the other games, there were plenty of times where the camera actively got in the way. While it's improved a bit for this game (you're allowed a limited amount of control)

-early game: much like DMC1, the early parts of the game were insanely difficult due to a lack of currency and options. The first boss, Cerberus, is probably in the top three in terms of difficulty; as the game went on, with some exceptions, the bosses were much easier, and while trial and error were necessary at some points, it was only rarely that I considered taking a break. (Beowulf was the only other one that frustrated me to that degree)

-limits with the style system: maybe it's because I'm used to Bayonetta, where you have a ton of offensive options and can dodge easily at the same time. In this, you can only use one style at a time, and you can only change them at the stone statues that act as shopkeepers, or between missions. From what I've seen, you can change them with the press of a button in DMC4, so that seems like an improvement.

However, the combat is great, the story is solid (the game's not overly heavy on it, and there are parts, particularly Vergil's goals and motivations, that are left vague, but it works for this type of game), the puzzles generally make sense, there's a huge variety in terms of weapons, and there's only occasional moments where it feel like the game drags. It actually makes me glad that I played through Devil May Cry 2, so that I could see how far the series came between those two games.

As much as I'd like to try playing as Vergil, I think I'll move on to Devil May Cry 4 next.

EDIT: another improvement that I forgot to mention - though it depends on an option that you select at the beginning (Gold vs. Yellow, which is frustratingly vague), Yellow Orbs act similar to fairies from Zelda instead of acting as incredibly hard to find extra lives, which is a huge improvement.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD - 7/10

It was my first playthrough of the game and I enjoyed it well enough, but it falls a bit short in comparison to OoT and MM, the other two 3D Zeldas I've played. The dungeons were absolutely fantastic and is easily its strongest point, the items that you get from the dungeons are also a ton of fun and make for very creative puzzles, the Spinner will probably go down as my all-time favorite Zelda item. The boss battles were also fantastic, they were all very distinct and usually got me really pumped. There also were a lot of great 'moments' that really left an impact, I loved learning all of the different hidden skills and the cutscenes were superb from start to finish.

The game does however have an incredibly slow and tiresome start which will probably put me off from replaying the game in the future, and even though I loved the overworld I don't think the game encourages you enough to explore it in the same way that OoT and MM does. I also feel that the game's main gimmick, the wolf form, left a lot to be desired, in combat it felt too chaotic and random and it was never really used for any really fun puzzles, I thought that the three different transformations in MM were all significantly more fun, useful and were used much better in the game itself.

Overall it is a good game that's worth at least one playthrough, but outside of the dungeons and the cutscenes it didn't really grab me which is a significant problem as exploring the overworld and going from dungeon to dungeon is usually my favorite part of the Zelda games.

 

[Megadoomer]

Devil May Cry 4: 10/10

Honestly, I think this is even better than Devil May Cry 3. It takes what's great about the third game and improves on it. A short list:

-the camera is much better - while there's still the occasional jarring angle change, there's a lot more freedom to move the camera around compared to previous DMC games.
-styles have improved dramatically - having the ability to change them at will is a lot better than only being able to change them at specific checkpoints, and being able to upgrade them with currency is a huge bonus.
-the difficulty is still tough, but much more fair than the early game of DMC1 and 3. None of the bosses frustrated me, and while I occasionally had to look up strategies when it seemed like I couldn't do much damage, I still was able to beat most of them with no tips.

I was concerned that Nero would wind up like Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2 (incredibly lame in order to contrast with the cooler main protagonist), but he was actually interesting to play as, and I found myself missing his ability to pull enemies towards him when playing as Dante.

Speaking of which, it helped that the game made it clear from the beginning that you would play as Dante at some point (it had sections in the items list for Nero's and Dante's weapons), and while there wasn't as much weapon variety as in DMC3, the weapons were still fun to use, and I'd love to experiment with them at some point, especially since you can use all of them at once instead of two at a time.

All in all, the game is incredibly fun, and in terms of action games, the only one that I think is better is Bayonetta 2.

As far as the Devil May Cry series goes, I'd say 4 > 3 > 1 >>>>>> 2. Not going to play the reboot, though.

 

[Sir Gengar de Èctoplasma]

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Spoiler

Pros
+++++ Gameplay
+++++ Robobot Armour
+++++ Story
+++++ Amount of modes
+++++ Meta Knightmare Returns
++++ Surprise bosses
++++ Minigames
++++ New abilities
+++ Collectibles
Cons
--- Low difficulty

9.5/10 One of the best 3DS and Kirby games.

 

[LuffyLink]

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance 3ds: 7.5/10

I think this KH game is tons of fun!
I had a lot of fun playing Riku, I also loved using Sora but I prefered Riku because of the fact that you could fuse with the Dream Eaters so that you could make more powerful (and cooler) combos, which reminded me of the Command Styles from Birth by Sleep (one my favourite additions to the series)
The Dream Eaters are really cool and cute (although I HATE their color scheme).
Even though the Flow-Motion can be broken sometimes, it's a great addition to the series and it has improved the platforming greatly (let's be honest, platforming in Kingdom Hearts is REALLY, REALLY BAD) and the worlds are much bigger, however, some feel quite empty.
The overall difficulty is weird, most of the worlds are easy but when you get to the last ones, things are getting so hard (I died multiple times in the last world).
In my opinion, Flick Rush is one of the best mini-games in the series. It's basically a mini-game where three of your Dream Eaters face three others in a fight. The rules are similar to the card system of Chain of Memories, however, you can either protect yourself by flicking the card downward (in the touch screen) or attack by flicking it upward but obviously you can't do this forever as there's a gauge which depletes when you flick a card and you possess a limited number of cards (like in CoM, you'll have to charge to recover them all). I really like this mini-game because I actually liked Chain of Memories a lot and because It has a strategic side. I really wonder how they will implement it in 2.8.
Ah the story... You guys should know that Kingdom Hearts' story is already confusing. Well, this game makes it even worse and on top of that, Sora, for some reason is ****ing DUMB and even more childish than in KHII!
Another thing that is really frustrating is the drop gauge, basically a gauge which depletes as you play as one the characters. When the gauge depletes completely, Sora/Riku falls asleep and you're forced to play as the other character, which is so freaking stupid because it can occur at any moment, even in BOSS FIGHTS (except the last ones)! Sure there's an item which allows you to stay longer but I don't wanna waste space in my deck just for that!
The balloon spell is pretty broken too but I didn't use it often so it's not a huge issue.

Overall, this game has it's flaws and I understand why some people didn't like it but I've spent a great time playing it and KH3D is my 3rd favourite KH game (behind Birth by Sleep and II).

Thanks for taking your time reading this and sorry if I made some typos.

 

[Frizz]

Mother 3: 10/10
Oh my god, the ending got me good. I don't even know why or how people can joke about it either. Anyway, it's truly a fantastic game, and very challenging. Humorous too. There's also a ton of references to Mother 1 and 2, so bonus points for that.

 

[IvanQuote]

Mighty No 9

Rating: 8.5/10

I really enjoyed this game. There were some definite loading time and frame rate problems, but considering other games I like to play (Sonic '06, Donkey Kong 64, etc) this didn't bother me too much. I liked the moral ambiguity of many of the professors, unique banter of the other Mighty Numbers, and the character designs in general. The powers you got were more complex from those of previous games in the genre, reminding me much of the a-trans feature of Megaman ZX Advent. For example, the Aviator power not only makes for a multi-hitting, admitedly wonky projectile, but holding this not only slowed your descent for finer platforming but also defends you from attacks from above. The absorption mechanic is simple, but integrated itself into the game well. I wish the blue xel (E-tank like recovery) stuck around after you died however. I can only wish there were more levels, but that is what the DLC is for I guess, free with physical copies.

 

[DoomCake196]

COD black ops

9/10

Great online except it randomly disconnects at times but that prolly has to do with my internet connection. Pretty decent community, great unlock system, sand a surprisingly low amount of hackers. Campaign is really interesting and fun. Biggest flaw is the somewhat unbalanced guns and a more minor one is that the maps aren't all that great and creative other than firing range, jungle, array, nuketown, and summit. All the other ones just seem like generic middle eastern or Asian war bases.

 

[Megadoomer]

Final Fight: 7/10

A solid beat-em-up, but the game is ridiculously unforgiving. Using specials (which is the only way to prevent enemies from putting you in a cycle of being hit and being stunned) takes away life (and there aren't many healing items in the game), and even if you use the hidden Options menu (which is the only way you can give yourself more lives and adjust the difficulty), you only have a maximum of two continues, meaning that if you get a game over three times (which is pretty easy to do, considering that some enemies like Andore can take off your entire life in one hit), you have to restart.

I played through as Mike Haggar. Since he's presumably lighter and faster, Cody would have probably been easier to play as, but he seems so generic compared to the pro wrestler-turned-mayor who gets rid of his city's crime with his bare hands. After playing this, I'm incredibly grateful for the Wii U's restore point system, as by the final boss (who, unlike every other enemy the game, has a projectile weapon, which takes off half of a health bar per hit), I was creating a new restore point after every good hit.

It's worth noting that the Super NES version (which I played) is missing a level from the arcade version, along with the boss Rolento (who was added to Final Fight 2 to make up for that) and one of the playable characters, Guy. I have no idea why, but I believe the arcade version is available on Xbox Live and PSN as Final Fight: Double Impact.

All in all, the game is as tough as nails, to the point of being outright cheap at times. However, it can be pretty satisfying to beat an enemy that's been causing you so much trouble, and it's just as fun as most modern beat-em-ups. Also, why hasn't Mike Haggar been playable in Street Fighter yet?

 

[Tino]

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
Rating: 7.9/10

Not the best game I've played but it certainly ain't the worst either. More than 85 hours I've put into the game and I must say, to my surprise, it's a good game and I enjoyed it especially the side missions. The characters are great, the anime cutscenes are great and the battle system is also great but the story was a bit underwhelming, the loading times were tedious and I'm not a fan of the soundtrack. I do find the game to be pretty charming in certain ways, whenever I'm not fighting monsters and **** that is. Oh, and I got no plans to start the second game anytime soon.

Overall, I would only recommend it to those who's not only a fan of JRPGs but is also an anime and/or k-pop enthusiast.

 

[Megadoomer]

Doom (2016): 10/10 (or, in the spirit of this game being so over-the-top, 11/10)

Let me start this off by saying that, generally, I don't like first person shooters. I found most of the Halo games to be a slog to get through, and try as I might, I can't get into Half-Life or Call of Duty. The only exceptions would be Team Fortress 2, the Metroid Prime series, and Overwatch (and Portal, if you count that), and I feel like this is due to the sheer personality that these characters have. Even if, in Samus's case, she doesn't say anything, you can still get a good idea of who she is by her actions.

With that said, Doom was incredible. I played through the game on the medium difficulty, and even though I died at points, there was no point where I found the game to be frustrating or cheap. The story is simplistic, (a morally ambiguous corporation wants to weaponize Hell, things go horribly wrong, and now a nameless space marine is out to kill every single demon) but never drags - the chapters are long enough to keep you interested while short enough to prevent the game from feeling padded. In addition, while there are only four characters in the game (one of whom doesn't talk, and another is a disembodied voice), they are all well-made and memorable.

While I find it tough to connect to silent FPS protagonists, the Doom Marine (or Doomguy) was a well-written character based on his actions alone. You can clearly tell just based on his limb movements in cutscenes that he knows the plan to drain energy from Hell to solve an energy crisis isn't going to go well, and he's out to destroy anything and everything that has to do with Hell and demons, even if he doesn't necessarily have to. Plus, moments like this or this add a bit of humour to him, which was appreciated.

The selection of guns in the game helps to add a lot of diversity to how you can deal with your enemies, especially since Doomguy somehow carries all of them at once. Also, I like how you have to rely on pick-ups to get health, which means you have to keep moving as opposed to hiding behind cover, waiting for your health to regenerate, and shooting at the enemy. Doom's Glory Kill system (basically, a melee finishing move) encourages this aggressive play-style, as you get health, ammo, and armour for finishing enemies off this way.

The upgrade system is a really useful part of the game, letting you improve your stats, weapons, and general gameplay experience (I got the upgrade that showed all collectibles on the map early on, which was incredibly helpful). The game rewards you for exploring, and you can get character models, more information on the game's story and enemies, and levels from the two original Doom games, which is an nice incentive.

I haven't played much of the multiplayer or map creation parts of the game, but while the multiplayer was singled out as the weakest element of the game, I still found it enjoyable in the one match that I played.

I can not recommend this game highly enough, even for people who don't play first person shooters. Fair warning; if you're playing on PC, you might need to upgrade since this game seems to have some pretty high requirements.

 

[Mega-Spider]

Sonic 3 and Knuckles: 10/10

Whenever I think of the definitive Sonic experience, the two games that come to mind are the Taxman remake of Sonic CD and Sonic 3 and Knuckles. Sonic CD because of how experimental it was when it came to its concepts (smaller levels that encouraged exploration, the time travel mechanic) and 3 and Knuckles for expanding the 2D Sonic formula to new heights. While Sonic CD is debated amongst fans, 3 and Knuckles is universally praised as being the greatest Sonic game ever. While I hold CD on a higher pedestal on a personal level, 3 and Knuckles is the better game, and the best Sonic game at that.

A common problem future Sonic games have is that Sonic is the most fun character to play as, and everyone else is inferior by comparison. In Sonic 3 and Knuckles, that isn't the case. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are incredibly fun to play and neither of them feel any less fun to play as than the other. Furthermore, each character has unique movesets to complement their experience. Sonic is the only character than can use the Insta-Shield and the added power of the Elemental Shields, Tails can fly and swim, and Knuckles can break walls without needing to Spin Dash, glide, and even climb up walls. However, Knuckles can't jump as high as Sonic or Tails, meaning that he has to take his own separate paths, making his game more difficult and distinct from Sonic and Tails' games.

One element I love in 3 and Knuckles is how the game tells its story. Story in Sonic games is a tough aspect to talk about, but I feel 3 and Knuckles' take on the story is the most subtle the series will ever be. Each Zone transitions to the next. For example, after completing Carnival Night Zone, Sonic launches himself out of a cannon, which leads him to Ice Cap Zone. At the beginning of the Sonic and Knuckles portion of the game, Mushroom Hill Zone, Knuckles comes out of a door looking to see if anyone is around, not knowing that Sonic is above him. He then leaves the room and closes the door. Inspecting the area shows that there is a giant rainbow ring, much like the giant rings you've been using to collect the Chaos Emeralds in the Sonic 3 portion. When Sonic enters the giant rainbow ring, he enters a strange temple of some kind, with a giant emerald, The Master Emerald, being in the background. The Chaos Emeralds start reacting to the Master Emerald, and then go into 7 of the Emerald statues. Jumping on these statues takes Sonic to the Super Emerald Special Stages, and each time you collect a Super Emerald, the statues turn into that Emerald's color. Upon collecting all 7 Super Emeralds, the Master Emerald grants Sonic the power to become Hyper Sonic, a more powerful being than Super Sonic, boasting a screen nuke and not being able to drown. When Knuckles gets all the Super Emeralds, he gains the ability to destroy all the enemies on the screen when he glides into a wall. Tails, who didn't get a Super form after getting the Chaos Emeralds gets a Super form as Super Tails, which gives him four flickies (birds) that home in on enemies.

There's even a portion in the Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic's story that shows a picture of a robot fighting a powered being. This foreshadows the end of the game, where Sonic takes on Robotnik in The Doomsday Zone, Robotnik's last ditch effort to get the Master Emerald and stop Sonic. I like how the game tells you these things without needing to use words to explain itself. That's 2D platforming story telling at its finest.

The design of the game is a perfect blend of speed, platforming, and exploration, 3 things that Sonic is known for. While there are some Zones that go on for a little longer than they should (Sandopolis and Carnival Night are the two that come to mind for me), each Zone is paced well and never does the game seem cheap. The music is pretty good, though it's not my favorite soundtrack in the series. I do like the fact that each Act has its own music piece, making them feel distinct from one another.

Overall, Sonic 3 and Knuckles is an amazing game. If you haven't played this, do yourself a favor and play it. It's worth playing. Easily one of the best platformers ever made IMO.

 

[Megadoomer]

Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butouden (3DS): 5/10

While I haven't unlocked all of the support characters, I've got all of the playable ones and completed the main story modes. The sprites are great, and I like that they tried something beyond a straight adaptation for story mode, but gameplay-wise, it's pretty much a button masher. For most of the game, I was able to repeatedly hit Y, occasionally throw in X and A for super moves, and win.

Part of it (at least, in Adventure Mode) is due to the game's items. Two of the items that you can buy in the store let you restore your health mid-match (one restores a hundred health every second or so when the max is 14000), and another gives you back a percentage of the damage done to your opponents. In the game's Adventure Mode, this makes you practically invulnerable.

Even without the items, the majority of the game's characters are unlocked from the start. Only four (Broly, Beerus, Super Saiyan God Goku, and Super Saiyan Blue Goku) are unlockable, and you unlock the last of those with a button code, so if you look that up, the game becomes even less of a challenge.

The story, while basic, had some good bits of humour (Raditz and Nappa arguing over who would look goofier if they went Super Saiyan, Chaotzu training for decades to overcome his greatest weakness - basic addition and subtraction), but only the Adventure Mode had any meat to it. The game went really far out of its way to justify only using the 20 characters that were playable - even though the villain of Adventure Mode is Omega Shenron from Dragon Ball GT, he doesn't even fight you in the end, and there are several cases where a random character shows up because the opponent who's been set up for this fight is just a support character.

While it's an okay game, it's nothing great; at the very least, it's given me inspiration for something MUGEN-related that I'm hoping to work on.

 

[DarkAuraful]

I should've done this for a while but...

Fire Emblem Fates Birthright: 8/10
+ Gameplay balance improves GREATLY from Awakening (Pair-up for example is balanced)
+ Original and interesting premise of Fates in whole (choosing one of the three routes to determine your fate is fascinating)
+ Nice and original designs of Corrin and Azura. Especially Corrin's (protagonist that has to choose between two kingdoms is fun)
+ New variety of classes (Maid / Bulter and ninjas). I love experimenting with each of them
+ Hoshido has great soundtrack. Easily my most favourite out of all three routes (though that is subjected to change for the time being)
+ Japanese Nephenee, Donnel and Nine Tails Kaden for the win!
+ Great story and idea of the Hoshido route
+ Lunatic mode is actually PLAYABLE (in my opinion, this was the biggest improvement from Awakening)
+ New features! Loving the My Castle concept

- Some characters could be written a bit better (especially Xander)
- Character balance could've been improved (though not as horrifying as Revelations from what I've heard in terms of availability)
- Map objectives remain bland as Awakening, which means typical route enemy, seize throne and defeat boss
- No fog of war or ballista (that's probably in Conquest, which I've really yet to get too)
- Second generation children again (this is really personal preference, because by the time I get them, I already have my team stabled)
- First few chapters should be written a bit better (particularly in Chapter 3 and 5, which in my opinion, already convinces you to pick Birthright over Conquest. I don't know, I just feel it.)

Not as great as Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals (how its called back in the day before The Binding Blade) or Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, but I'd put it up there as better than Blazing Sword, Sacred Stones and Awakening. Would definitely recommend to fans of Fire Emblem or strategy games in general.

 

[Twewy]

Starbound: 6/10

Despite being my current addiction, it is very flawed as a game. Keep in mind that, due to similarities to Terraria, it will be brought up often in my review.

+ Gorgeous game, the sprites look fantastic. The game is way better at decoration than Terraria.
+ The game is built for modding, it's very easy and accessible to mod.

= The gameplay. It is extremely repetitive compared to other games like it and it has always been that way since the game's alpha launched almost three years ago, In a nutshell, you do the following in order:

• Explore village of species you need to visit and scan things for their quest
• Go to story dungeon for said species
• Get new quest to go find another species
• Build thing to survive in climates they like settling in
• Scan things for their quest
• Repeat steps 2 through 5 until endgame.

Combat is barebones yet tries to make things interesting by adding combos to melee weapons and alt fires for firearms. However, compared to Terraria, making builds for your character isn't as complex or fun, you just upgrade your armor set, find/craft a new weapon, and stock up on whatever the highest tier healing item available is. Expanding your ship and being able to build colonies and hire crew members is good however, it fulfills something I wish Terraria had done. Whereas Terraria only has your unique shopkeep and questgiving NPCs, you can get actual citizens and soldiers for your colony. The game controls fine too.
= The writing is cool in that each race has their own lore told through in-game codexs found by exploring. However, the scrapped idea of each race having their own intro and different backstory was, well, scrapped in order to have a consistent yet predictable storyline. Also, for a game made by a country whose language is English, there is a lot of typos.
= A whole bunch of ideas were added over time, yet none of them feel fully fleshed out. There's a small Pokemon thing where you can capture enemy creatures, yet there's really no point beyond several achievements. Quests? Sure! Except they are all but several nearly identical; Most of the quests boil down to "Get me this thing, then give it to them, then give it back to me", "Go get my friend", the main storyline thing mentioned above, and "Kill this mean bad guy". At least the crew idea was cool.

Overall, Starbound is a game that tries many things but exceeds at none of them, throwing around ideas but not fleshing them out. Starbound really shows that what Chucklefish excels in as a development team is graphics and art design. Hell, they didn't even have a programmer for this game for a while.

 

[Pachinkosam]

I finished king of fighters 95
It was hard to beat rugal
My face was like this.

 

[Megadoomer]

I finished king of fighters 95
It was hard to beat rugal
My face was like this.
View attachment 115186

Spoiler

At least you can unlock him, unaltered from how he was in the boss fight.

In terms of toughness, he definitely seems to be up there for SNK bosses (though admittedly, I've only played KOF 94-98). 96's final boss was cheaper, though.

 

[Mega-Spider]

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins: 8/10

Whenever people talk about the main Mario series, Super Mario Land 2 doesn't get mentioned a whole lot. I played it once a few years ago and I liked it, but I found it to be a pretty forgettable game. Because I was bored and had plenty of money on the Nintendo eShop, I decided to buy and revisit Super Mario Land 2, and I gotta say, this is an underrated game, and it's a main series Mario game! Y'know, the series that people like to think can do no wrong! Not only do I find this game underrated, but it's also my favorite main handheld Mario game.

In terms of new additions, this is the first game that Wario was introduced. He doesn't do much beyond stealing Mario's castle (which is never brought up in any future Mario games, but this is the main Mario series, there's no continuity in these games) and serve as the final boss, but it's an interesting thing to note. The only new power up is the Super Carrot, which turns Mario into Rabbit Mario (or Bunny Mario either or), which allows Mario to hover continuously by pressing the A button over and over. It's a nifty power up, and I would like to see it return in a future Mario title, even if it has to suffer the fate of being nerfed like the Tanooki Leaf.

This is also one of the weirdest Mario games ever made. It's not as weird as the first Super Mario Land, but it's still pretty out there in terms of the Mario series. There's a world that's comprised entirely of a giant house, you go to space before both Galaxy games, and there's even a world where you go into a giant Mario robot. Yeah, you go into a giant Mario robot, even going into his crotch. Told you this game was weird. Graphically, the game is great for Game Boy standards, and manages to capture a Super Mario World-esq look that I think looks great. In terms of music, this is one of Mario Land 2's flaws. The main theme is great and the soundtrack overall isn't bad, but it tries to do what Mario World did by having every (or at least most of the tracks) being remixes of the main theme. It doesn't do a bad job at it mind you, but it doesn't lift a candle to what Mario World was able to accomplish. Maybe that's because World was on the SNES and this was on the Game Boy, but I still liked that they attempted it.

This is also the first non-linear Mario game. Okay, it's not exactly Metroidvania levels of non-linear, but I love that I can choose to go into space before I can go to a giant tree. The game in general is pretty darn easy and the bosses are a joke, even Wario himself is pretty easy despite the boss being pretty creative by using Mario's power ups, which Bowser would use in Super Mario 3D World. It's also an incredibly short game. I beat the game in about an hour, and that was with a dinner break!

Despite being incredibly short and not having the most standout soundtrack, Super Mario Land 2 is an underrated game for the Game Boy, and one of the most underrated Mario games I've ever played. I'd play this over the original Mario Land any day of the week. 8/10

 

[Dyylos]

Bioshock infinite

9.5/10


Probably one of my favorite games of all time, the world was so rich and colorful. I found myself exploring by myself and looking for collectables (which I never do). The story was amazing all the way through... Except for the ending which made no sense at all. Even after watching an explanation I was confused, other than that. FLAWLESS!

 

[Jedi Reach]

7/10 for Legion, although it's not exactly 'complete'. Have been on the Beta and enjoying Demon Hunters, despite them being extremely one dimensional and easy to play. Rogues are broken, mages are annoying and in general the CC in PvP is laughably stupid. Nevertheless, Illidan making a redemption comeback is long overdue and the story in Legion is the most interesting of any expansion to date in WoW.

 

[Megadoomer]

The Legend of Zelda (NES): 8/10

I'd never played this game to completion before, much like many games in the Zelda series (in this case, I only remember playing the first two dungeons), so I figured I'd give it a shot, playing it through the Gamecube collector's edition.

I really enjoyed the game, in case my score didn't make that clear. One aspect of it that I liked was how open it was; you could do all but a handful of dungeons right off the bat, though doing them in order was encouraged. In addition, I generally avoided looking up the world map, since I wanted to explore on my own and make my own world map as I went along. This led to some unfortunate situations at first, such as wandering into the eighth dungeon with a maximum of four hearts, but it also helped me see where I had or hadn't been, and keep track of landmarks (it unknowingly helped me find the seventh dungeon, as well as two heart containers).

In addition, the game did a great job at making me feel like I had improved. In the beginning, a single Dodongo or Manhandla was a dungeon-ending event that took me several lives to take down. By the end of the game, random rooms could have three Dodongos or a Manhandla, and it wouldn't be much of a problem. I died 50 times over the course of my playthrough, and the number of deaths in any given dungeon seemed to sharply decrease as I went on.

My only problem with the game is the sharp difficulty curve towards the end. By the last three or four dungeons, you basically need to have some kind of guide. While I tried to avoid using guides as much as I could in the early game (unless I didn't have enough health to survive a dungeon and needed to find a heart container), by the end, it basically becomes trial and error where you have to bomb specific walls in order to proceed into the dungeon. Given that you only have a maximum of eight bombs (up to sixteen if you go out of your way to find two upgrades that cost a hundred rupees each), you can't really afford to do this.

Still, it's an improvement over some other NES games, like Kid Icarus (which starts insanely hard and apparently gets easier as you get further into the game) or Castlevania (which starts insanely hard and stays there).

All in all, it's a great start to the series, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how they get this feeling of exploration into Breath of the Wild. As far as Zelda games, I think I'm going to play Ocarina of Time next; I've already beaten Link to the Past before, and Zelda 2 just wasn't that fun for me.

 

[Zerinus]

No Man's Sky (7.5/10)

I gotta say, despite all of the backlash the media gave this game, which was pretty bad, this is a beautiful game at time. definitely more beautiful when you start it. It, however has it's ups and downs.

One sad thing about No Man's Sky is the lack of control over the engine. It's a game that suffers because the more you play it, the more you understand how the engine works, the more you see the patterns in the algorithm, the more you come across familiar things and familiar messages from observatory to observatory, and even the wildlife and the vegitation. However, the engine can produce some pretty funny memorable ****. I have a creature in my zoology called buttheads, because they're... buttheads. good moments.

The exploration is massive, however, just like before, the more you play the more stale it gets. There are solutions to this though, if you just drop it and come back to it maybe after.. a couple days? it'll rekindle some spark, atleast for me.

I love how you have to learn the language of each alien race, and working for a ship that you can call your own is great.

If anything else is bad about this game, it's the dogfighting in space. i don't like having to go into my inventory and having to regenerate shields so i don't die while they're attacking me.

Milestones bring great satisfaction.

I also should mention, I LOVE THE SOUND TRACK.

Well anyway, In all regards of everything the dev promised and advertised, yada yada yada... bad on Sean Murray for that and it should have been presented better, but I'm still a nut for his game. I can't wait to see what the game will turn out to be in a year or so.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight]

Shadow of the Colossus

Spoiler: My rating as explained by Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufne

 

[IvanQuote]

Fez (8/10)

I've heard many things about this game. From my experience, it's perspective flipping gimmick is like a MUCH more fleshed out version of that in Super Paper Mario. While the game is lacking in story, the level construction more than makes up for it. The puzzles getting the cubes are fun, as are the ones for the anti cubes when you figure out what the game even wants you to do in the first place. To this end, getting the anti cubes w/o a guide is really cathartic, but sometimes it's roundabout what you needed to do in the first place. Even still, the game as a whole is enjoyable.

 

[vertime]

Mother 3.
Don't kill me but honestly like 5/10. It just didn't capture me and the parts of the story that were meant to be emotional was more "Well **** me I saw that coming". I spent more time laughing at it's cliche overtones than the dialogue that was that sort of "wacky" humor that I full blown despise. "WOAH KIDS WOOOAAAH IM WACKY HEO HUOOOE!". That sorta crap. There were supposed to be more adult themes but they were quickly glanced over, like how the guy with the limp is abused by his Dad. Duster? I don't even remember, I named the dude "Pink legs", I just didn't give a **** about what was going on after like 10 minutes.

And the end? Seriously nobody saw that coming?

Spoiler

OOH CLAUS IS THE MASKED MAN WHOOPDI DOO MAN THATS TOTALLY SAD OOH just let me kill you, ya ****, I don't care.

The combat was cool. The bosses were okay. Some actually were pretty cool then others were just bad. Poorly designed or had no reason to be there or just didn't make any sense. Mediocore game that I think everyone falls in love with because it's "emotional". Never really been an emotional guy so this just sorta pinged off me.

 

[Sari]

Grand Theft Auto IV
9.5/10

Finally got to replaying this game again after 3 years. I played through V shortly before starting IV again, so my expectations were a bit low. After finishing the game again, I have to say that I enjoyed IV just as much as V. Both are fantastic games but I honestly prefer Liberty City over Los Santos, mainly because the former feels like a living breathing city while the latter feels like a movie set. In terms of story, IV beats V by a long shot, with a great plot and characters as well as choices that could affect the game. V's story really went no where and felt like a sequence of events just randomly happening. IV was a blast to playthrough again, though the only problem is that there isn't much to do once you complete everything (which was not the case in V). Aside from that, still an amazing game after all of these years.

 

[iAmMatt]

Hotline Miami
9.5/10

Perfect, but some plot holes.

 

[vertime]

Hotline Miami
9.5/10

Perfect, but some plot holes.

I ****ing adore that game.

 

[Tino]

Final Fantasy VII
9.6/10

I can see why this game has been hailed as one of the best games of all time. The story is perhaps the best of any game I've ever played, the characters are indeed memorable and the soundtrack is superb. I definitely loved it to tears and I would definitely play it again if I want to. Now, I'm looking forward to the remake more than ever.

 

[dezeray112]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice - 8/10

Overall, I'd say enjoy the development of the story along with some of the mechanics and I liked the DLC case a lot. Makes me wonder what they will do for the next Ace Attorney sequel.

 

[Rango the Mercenary]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice - 8/10

Definitely the best in the series since Investigations, and the best in the mainline numbered titles since Trials and Tribulations. Brought in many of the most decisive scenes in the series and added new element thanks to the new world we were introduced to.

I haven't played the DLC case yet, but the main 5 cases were really good. It's a step up from Dual Destinies in a multitude of ways.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight]

No Man's Sky 10/10

It may deter some regarding the expanse and redundancy, but I don't care what you say. The game is gorgeous. Its like a breath of fresh air only in space.

 

[MajinBuu272]

The last three games I beat:

*Super Mario 3D World - 9/10 Great level design and a very fun game overall
*Portal 2 - 10/10 Great level & puzzle design and a lot of cool mechanics to Work with
*Asura's Wrath 7.5/10 - Very story driven, great visuals, combat can get repetitive but the boss fights make up for it

 

[Sari]

The Walking Dead: Michonne

8/10

Pros
+ Great characters
+ Action sequences were more stylized and interesting
+ Some of the choices were actually pretty important (a TellTale game where a determinant character doesn't die? What is this blasphemy?)
+ There were some really satisfying moments (I will never look at a vice the same way again after the end of episode 2)

Cons
- Very short
- The hallucination scenes of Michonne's kids were waaaaaaaaay overused

 

[IvanQuote]

Project X Zone: 5/10
The combat in this with its combo system was unique and flashy, but due to the length of each attack phase it dragged the turns on to ludicrous lengths later on. I did not know most of the people going in beforehand and the interactions were not necessarily fleshed out enough except in select circumstances to improve upon that.