VideoGame_Discussion

Topic   Post your scores/reviews on recent titles you've obtained/been playing. raspberry

Guru
Has Written 16 Reviews
(abandoned)
* 7-Dec-2003(#1)
This topic had many older posts which were moved here:

http://gametz.com/VideoGame_Discussion/post-scores...



TalonJedi87
GameTZ Subscriber Triple Gold Good Trader Has Written 4 Reviews
* 2-Dec-2022(#2)
I enjoyed Days Gone for what it was, but it took way too long to get into. And yeah it really stretched it out way too long and overstayed it’s welcome by like 15-20 hours. Just when I thought things were starting to wrap up it was like nope, we’re just getting started.
DCGX
GameTZ Subscriber 450 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (11) Has Written 56 Reviews
2-Dec-2022(#3)
Black Microsoft Xbox Series X|S - "Turn me around!" / 10

I have not played 'Black' since 2006 via a trade on GameTZ, after which I sold the game. I downloaded it on my Series X thanks to Game Pass/EA Play, and decided to randomly give it a go last night because I almost bought a physical copy last week.

Holy crap does it look great! The visual upgrade is phenomenal. Not a full widescreen experience, but the game is sharp on Series X! For the most part the gameplay itself holds up, which is to say it's a fine, mid-2000s FPS, but holy crap is turning/looking slow! Like...geez! And there's no way to adjust it! It makes aiming really hard. I don't remember this being an issue back then, but compared to nowadays, hell, compared to the original 'Halo' I can't believe how slow it is. I found the most accurate way to aim and shoot was to generally look towards an enemy, and then move the character to line up shots. Almost like the gyro with the WiiU Gamepad in 'Splatoon.'

I played through the first two levels, and while it's still entertaining, aiming is such a slog, I don't know if I'll continue.

Orlandu
Double Gold Good Trader
3-Dec-2022(#4)
Still playing Vampire Survivors. I'm out of the loop since this was maybe a thing on Youtube/Twitch for a while, but I can definitely see why it blew up. It's not Diablo at all but it sort of scratches that itch a bit. Nothing is more fun than maxing out and evolving an arsenal of weapons and seeing enormous waves of enemies explode into gold fountains. This game is dirt cheap, so it's well worth a shot.
brian9824
500 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
5-Dec-2022(#5)
Star Ocean First Departure 7/10 - Definitely fun, but some major balance and pacing issues, story ended very abruptly and wasn't anywhere near as good as second story.
TalonJedi87
GameTZ Subscriber Triple Gold Good Trader Has Written 4 Reviews
5-Dec-2022(#6)
God of War: Ragnarok PlayStation 5
So far it’s a 9/10 for me. The opening prologue of thunderous action sequences reminded me of the opening to movies likes Revenge of the Sith.
Weeeeee!
loztdogs
GameTZ Gold Subscriber 250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
6-Dec-2022(#7)
I just fired up Majoras Mask on 3ds. I thought I had played the intro before on N64. Apparently I have never played MM so this is a completely new experience for me. I mistakenly confused the intro of OOT on N64 with MM. I just finished the intro and I’m pleasantly surprised. The remaster looks great on 3ds. So far I’m really digging it.

BloodPuppetX
400 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
6-Dec-2022(#8)
Majora’s Mask remains one of my favorite games. Still love the Clock Town music!
Scott
GameTZ Subscriber Global Trader - willing to trade internationally Has Written 2 Reviews
6-Dec-2022(#9)
Clock Town theme is top tier for sure.
nonamesleft
Double Gold Good Trader
8-Dec-2022(#10)
I was going to start a new game. Switch Lite was out of battery.

So what am I currently playing? Nothing

Score: idk/10

I really enjoy the Switch Lite. One of the few things I don't like is that if you don't pay attention to the battery, that's it.

As opposed to the switch which, if docked, will stay charged.
Anxiouz
900 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
9-Dec-2022(#11)
You can't plug in the Lite and still play?
sinnie
GameTZ Subscriber 600 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
9-Dec-2022(#12)
Anxiouz wrote:
> You can't plug in the Lite and still play?

Yes, you can. Done it many times with my own.

PizzaTheHutt
GameTZ Gold Subscriber Gold Good Trader Has Written 3 Reviews
10-Dec-2022(#13)
Snake Pass {Steam} 6/10
I remember hearing a lot of positive impressions about this game when it first released back in 2017. I was in no rush to buy it, but had always kept it on my "I'll check it out eventually" list. That day finally came. And after barely an hour I was ready to uninstall it but ultimately decided to come back and give it a little more time.

The graphics remind me of a Rare game with how colorful they are. Adding to that, the music was done by David Wise who is most known for his work with Rare back when they were actually relevant. So that's two things the game had going for it from the beginning. How a game plays is more important than how it looks or sounds though, and once I started actually playing it these godawful controls had me ready to tap out in no time. I just couldn't deal with them. They have two control options in the pause menu and after changing it to the easy controls I thought it felt a little better, but they still weren't as good as they could've been. I'm glad I stuck with the game a little longer instead of just uninstalling it like I was thinking of doing, but I'm still undecided if I'll actually finish this or not, even though user reviews say it's a short game.

I give the game credit because there isn't much else like it out there, but originality only gets you so far. I feel like there is a decent game in here, but the controls might turn a lot of people off to it.

nonamesleft
Double Gold Good Trader
* 10-Dec-2022(#14)
Just started playing Splatoon 2.

I'm very glad that there is an option to turn off motion controls. I find that when games have motion controls, the camera often self calibrates as you're moving your handheld device, eventually forcing you to either recalibrate or turn your hands very far in order to move where you want; kudos to Nintendo for implementing a feature that you can instantly recalibrate by pressing Y yes

Double points to Nintendo for giving the option to turn off the motion controls altogether.
Kommie
250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
11-Dec-2022(#15)
The Callisto Protocol 8/10 - This is pretty sweet once the "dodge" mechanic clicks.
Anxiouz
900 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
* 14-Dec-2022(#16)
Beat God of War III Remastered (PS4 on PS5) in less than a week. In 2022 I'd probably have to give it a 7.5/10. I had played the original on PS3, then the remaster on PS4, and now again on PS5 (since digital is on sale for $10). I enjoyed it quite a bit but it does feel aged. Can't skip cutscenes (or the lengthy end credits), and giving the levels a more critical eye 12 years after it came out...there is a lot that is super clumsy.

Obviously climbing titans is still incredible but the labyrinth stuff and some other bits are pure filler. You battle and gain powers from several gods in likely the same session, and then deal with weird levels of roaming/fetching for hours before the next god. The pacing is intense or unbalanced but never consistent.

It's still outstanding though, no question. It's just amazing how far games have come in 12 years. But for this style of game I'll mention that I play Dante's Inferno on Xbox every year or two (since it got the BC HD and 60fps improvements) and I'd definitely prefer to play DI over this again. It's not a better game but it's so consistent and enjoyable.
loztdogs
GameTZ Gold Subscriber 250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
15-Dec-2022(#17)
I’ve reached chapter 5 in the last of us remastered. I know there’s much love for this game… I’m just not feeling it. It’s well put together and looks amazing but I must be missing something. It feels paint by numbers to me. I’m pretty sure I’ll see it all the way through till the end I’m just not getting that omg best game ever vibe that so many others have expressed.

Bleed_DukeBlue
Triple Gold Good Trader
* 15-Dec-2022(#18)
For what it’s worth, I kinda felt the same way playing The Last of Us Remastered on PS4 a couple of years ago. (I suspect it was more unique when it first came out.). However, then I got into the multiplayer, which is great, and The Last of Us Part II is one of my favorite games of all time (and you need the first game for its big moments to be impactful).

loztdogs wrote:
> I’ve reached chapter 5 in the last of us remastered. I know there’s much love for
> this game… I’m just not feeling it. It’s well put together and looks amazing but
> I must be missing something. It feels paint by numbers to me. I’m pretty sure I’ll
> see it all the way through till the end I’m just not getting that omg best game ever
> vibe that so many others have expressed.
>
>
loztdogs
GameTZ Gold Subscriber 250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
15-Dec-2022(#19)
I’m hoping by the end of LOU I’ll have enjoyed it enough to want to dive into 2.

EB

(frozen)
* 15-Dec-2022(#20)
loztdogs wrote:
> I’m hoping by the end of LOU I’ll have enjoyed it enough to want to dive into 2.

Yeah same here. Last of Us 1 is probably an 8/10 for me - it’s pretty good but not like life-changing. TLOU II is a 10/10 for me - gameplay and presentation-wise it’s one of the most polished I’ve played, and the story is great (at least in my opinion).
Heavyd814life
GameTZ Gold Subscriber 600 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (13)
17-Dec-2022(#21)
Just tried the demo for Forspoken and stopped playing after about 10 minutes. I kinda hate it. The controls are unintuitive, the framerate is poop, the combat is all style no substance, the constant chatter during combat is annoying, and the world is completely barren. Not a very good first impression. This is my biggest issue with modern Square. The combat in all their games takes forever to get used to. It's flashy, sure, but there is too much going on and it just isn't particularly responsive or fun. I just don't have the patience to play any more of this, but I'm eager to hear what others who have tried it think.

This is a bummer because I was looking forward to this, but I may just skip it altogether now. Deleting this demo and jumping right back into the post-game stuff for Midnight Suns!

TalonJedi87
GameTZ Subscriber Triple Gold Good Trader Has Written 4 Reviews
17-Dec-2022(#22)
Heavyd814life wrote:
> Just tried the demo for Forspoken and stopped playing after about 10 minutes. I kinda
> hate it. The controls are unintuitive, the framerate is poop, the combat is all style
> no substance, the constant chatter during combat is annoying, and the world is completely
> barren. Not a very good first impression. This is my biggest issue with modern Square.
> The combat in all their games takes forever to get used to. It's flashy, sure, but
> there is too much going on and it just isn't particularly responsive or fun. I just
> don't have the patience to play any more of this, but I'm eager to hear what others
> who have tried it think.
>
> This is a bummer because I was looking forward to this, but I may just skip it altogether
> now. Deleting this demo and jumping right back into the post-game stuff for Midnight
> Suns!
>
>

Yeah I deleted it within 30 min myself. I was excited for it a bit until I played it. Kinda lackluster. The parkour idea is kinda neat tho for a Square style JRPG. The combat controls and world were annoying to me so I uninstalled and removed it from my wish list.
PizzaTheHutt
GameTZ Gold Subscriber Gold Good Trader Has Written 3 Reviews
17-Dec-2022(#23)
Supersonic Tank Cats {Nintendo Switch} 3/10
No Gravity Games is back to give away another bundle of turds to Switch owners this holiday season.
I'm someone who will play pretty much any kart racer I can get my hands on. I know the majority of them suck ass in comparison to the king of the genre, Mario Kart, but every now and then you might find a hidden gem. But "hidden gem" sure as hell ain't what this game is. It's one of the most bland kart racers I've ever played. Everything from the graphics looking so bad (PS1 quality), track designs being dull and the music and controls not being any better, I'll never understand how do the developers not realize (or care) that it sucks when they're testing it out? I doubt they had the kind of tight deadline a AAA game would. I'd be embarrassed to have my name displayed in the credits to something like this. Gross.

PizzaTheHutt
GameTZ Gold Subscriber Gold Good Trader Has Written 3 Reviews
* 17-Dec-2022(#24)
nonamesleft wrote:
> Just started playing Splatoon 2.
>
> I'm very glad that there is an option to turn off motion controls. I find that when
> games have motion controls, the camera often self calibrates as you're moving your
> handheld device, eventually forcing you to either recalibrate or turn your hands
> very far in order to move where you want; kudos to Nintendo for implementing a feature
> that you can instantly recalibrate by pressing Y yes
>
> Double points to Nintendo for giving the option to turn off the motion controls altogether.


Do you only play in handheld? I don't like the gyro controls in handheld mode but I find when playing docked I do much better with the motion controls enabled. In fact, I wish more games on the PlayStation side would support that feature. I use it a lot in Horizon: Forbidden West and then get bummed when I try to use it in other games only to realize it's not supported.
nonamesleft
Double Gold Good Trader
17-Dec-2022(#25)
PizzaTheHutt wrote:
> nonamesleft wrote:
>> Just started playing Splatoon 2.
>>
>> I'm very glad that there is an option to turn off motion controls. I find that
> when
>> games have motion controls, the camera often self calibrates as you're moving
> your
>> handheld device, eventually forcing you to either recalibrate or turn your hands
>> very far in order to move where you want; kudos to Nintendo for implementing a
> feature
>> that you can instantly recalibrate by pressing Y yes
>>
>> Double points to Nintendo for giving the option to turn off the motion controls
> altogether.
>
>
> Do you only play in handheld? I don't like the gyro controls in handheld mode but
> I find when playing docked I do much better with the motion controls enabled. In
> fact, I wish more games on the PlayStation side would support that feature. I use
> it a lot in Horizon: Forbidden West and then get bummed when I try to use it in other
> games only to realize it's not supported.
>
Yeah, I mainly play in handheld mode.
Yoshi
GameTZ Subscriber 550 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (11)
* 19-Dec-2022(#26)
I think I mentioned this here, though not in this thread, but I've spent hours and hours creating a relatively exhaustive bucket list. I started with RPGs, because that is what inspired the idea, and I've been playing through them in (quasi) chronological order.

I finished Final Fantasy Legend, aka Makai Toushi SaGa, today. I owned it when it first came out in the US, but I never got far. The draw for me was and is the non-traditional RPG weaponry like guns, grenades, etc. I played through it on the Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy Legend on the Steam Deck.

There are far more clouds than silver linings. Weapons decay, generally after 50 uses. Equipment doesn't have stats, so you can assume more expensive stuff is better, but there is a lot of trial and error.

You can choose humans, mutants, and monsters for your party. Humans get equipment but have to have their strength, agility, and HP raised by buying and consuming items that have a roll to determine the improvement. Mutants get random abilities as long as you use other abilities in battle. For the end game I was stuck with almost completely useless abilities for my two mutants and wound up having to exclusively use weapons with them. Monsters, which I was advised not to use on a first play through, evolve by eating the meat of defeated enemies.

It is typically important to me to see where a series came from, so I didn't want to skip this one before moving on to later SaGa games. If you don't share this mental defect, I advise skipping it. I can play 8-bit games in other genres without issue, but, outside of Phantasy Star and Final Fantasy, RPGs from that era are rough. Even with those, I would recommend the Sega Ages and Pixel Remaster versions for the quality-of-life improvements.
Gypsy
GameTZ Subscriber 250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
19-Dec-2022(#27)
SaGa is a VERY MIXED bag. Also hit/miss depending on the entry.
Yoshi
GameTZ Subscriber 550 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (11)
19-Dec-2022(#28)
Gypsy wrote:
> SaGa is a VERY MIXED bag. Also hit/miss depending on the entry.

Are there any in particular you would recommend playing or avoiding?
benstylus
GameTZ Subscriber GameTZ Full Moderator 550 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (9) Has Written 26 Reviews
19-Dec-2022(#29)
Lotta folks hate on Unlimited Saga

Gypsy
GameTZ Subscriber 250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
19-Dec-2022(#30)
Yoshi wrote:
> Gypsy wrote:
>> SaGa is a VERY MIXED bag. Also hit/miss depending on the entry.
>
> Are there any in particular you would recommend playing or avoiding?

Romancing SaGa 3 is probably the best one. As Benstylus said Unlimited SaGa is one widely regarded as bad. I liked Frontier 2 a lot more than the first Frontier. Worth starting most to see how they feel for you though.
PizzaTheHutt
GameTZ Gold Subscriber Gold Good Trader Has Written 3 Reviews
24-Dec-2022(#31)
Back 4 Blood {PlayStation 5} 7/10
I swear I've played this before. These devs really like the "4 humans vs hordes of enemies" schtick and don't wanna step out of their comfort zone, is that it?
While I do have fun playing this, there are times where I'm also kinda bored. I feel it's way too much of just doing the same thing over and over again. Beat the level, then repeat it all over again in the next level, but with different scenery.

What I don't get is there are these card things you're supposed to collect or something, and I haven't even gotten to know what their purpose is. The game explains it pretty early on, but I just didn't care enough to listen. I just wanna shoot these undead mofos, there's no need to make things complicated by adding in new gimmicks.

If you get a good group of friends to join you, you'll have more fun. But I feel bad for anyone who might've bought this with the intention of playing through it solo, because this is a terrible game for that. Even still, I'm glad I paid only something like $20 for this, because I'd want to kick my own ass if I had paid the full $60. But the devs are still supporting it with new content, so if you and 3 friends are enjoying yourselves then there should be enough content here to keep you busy. As for my friend and I, I plan to just move on as soon as we see the credits roll, because there are times the game feels like it's really dragging on.

kevolones
250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
25-Dec-2022(#32)
Been playing God of War Ragnarok, I havent beat it yet but so far its around a 9.5 to me. Id give it a 10 but I have some nitpicks.

I just got to Asgard and I have to say, the character designs in this game are amazing. Theze gods look amazing.

TalonJedi87
GameTZ Subscriber Triple Gold Good Trader Has Written 4 Reviews
25-Dec-2022(#33)
Evil West feels like great coop action linear games from the Gears of War days of olde and I’m digging it. 8/10 so far.
Kommie
250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
25-Dec-2022(#34)
TalonJedi87 wrote:
> Evil West feels like great coop action linear games from the Gears of War days of
> olde and I’m digging it. 8/10 so far.

This one's on my radar now, but I'll probably wait for a cheap GameFly sale TBH.
TalonJedi87
GameTZ Subscriber Triple Gold Good Trader Has Written 4 Reviews
25-Dec-2022(#35)
Ya it’s 47 now on sale on PSN. I wanted to wait for 30 or less myself but my buddy talked me into it for the coop.
Anxiouz
900 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
* 27-Dec-2022(#36)
Need for Speed: Unbound (PS5) - Maybe a 7 out of 10. There is a lot to like here, but man, the grind is real. I'm used to grinding NFS games but this one feels too slow. The starting car (after the prologue) is terrible and not too fun but you have to use it for far too long.

Although a single race may net you $7k, the buyin will be like $3k so although you think you're going to make a lot you end up with $4k. If you get 1st place. Otherwise you end up with less. And every race adds heat so you may do several races, earn only $6k and then need to head to the garage because your car is to crapty to handle the high heat.

The day heat also carries over to night, and those races make more money so I just stopped doing anything during the day...which is half of the game. And after about half of the races you immediately enter being chased by cops. So that gets old pretty quick.

The progression is based on 4 weeks where you have a week (1 day + 1 night set of events per day) to do things and earn enough money for a tournament qualifier at the end of the week. Beat all 4 qualifiers (1 per week) to get to the final race. The first qualifier was $20k to get in and I barely made that much while also trying to get parts. The second one was $50k and that entire second week I had earned about $70k but couldn't do much with it (certainly not buy a better car, or upgrade my garage for $50k to unlock better parts) so I basically had the same crapty car for half of the game. Where's the fun in that?

I don't see a way to possibly ever be able to afford a $150k car unless you can re-do a week entirely and have things carry over.

Graphics are nice, story is fine, art style is actually good, and it plays nice. There are also some nice cat-and-mouse missions where you have to watch the radar to drive around cops to deliver a car. I enjoyed those bits a lot. It's just the main gameplay loop is starting to no longer be actually fun.
Yoshi
GameTZ Subscriber 550 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (11)
* 28-Dec-2022(#37)
I've been taking a break from RPGs for the last week or so but still rockin' in the best decade, and I've come to solidify an opinion I've held for decades. In terms of third-parties, Konami was head and shoulders above everyone else during the mid-1980s. I've always thought of Konami and Capcom as #1 and #1a, but Capcom really wasn't close until the late 1980s or even 1990s.

Look at some quasi-direct comparisons in terms of sub-genre and release year. Capcom's 1984 1942 is not as good as Konami's 1985 Twinbee, a pleasant surprise I have slept on for way too long, since "cute 'em ups" were never my thing with few exceptions. Capcom's 1985 Section Z barely deserves mention next to Konami's 1985 Gradius, though the idea of the direction-switch button was interesting that far back. Capcom's 1985 Ghost 'n Goblins is similarly obliterated by Konami's 1986 Castlevania. It's conceivable that Konami was able to use what Capcom did to improve their games that are a year later, but now that almost four decades have passed, I am more interested in which ones are worth playing.

Taito and -- to a lesser extent -- Namco are really the only others in the conversation in terms of overall breadth. I haven't gotten to revisit their stuff yet. Companies like Falcom, Tecmo, and Technōs were just getting started, and of course Sega was already a multi-genre powerhouse, but they were a platform holder so excluded from the comparison.
Heavyd814life
GameTZ Gold Subscriber 600 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (13)
28-Dec-2022(#38)
Anxiouz wrote:
> Need for Speed: Unbound (PS5) - Maybe a 7 out of 10. There is a lot to like
> here, but man, the grind is real. I'm used to grinding NFS games but this one feels
> too slow. The starting car (after the prologue) is terrible and not too fun but
> you have to use it for far too long.
>
> Although a single race may net you $7k, the buyin will be like $3k so although you
> think you're going to make a lot you end up with $4k. If you get 1st place. Otherwise
> you end up with less. And every race adds heat so you may do several races, earn
> only $6k and then need to head to the garage because your car is to crapty to handle
> the high heat.
>
> The day heat also carries over to night, and those races make more money so I just
> stopped doing anything during the day...which is half of the game. And after about
> half of the races you immediately enter being chased by cops. So that gets old pretty
> quick.
>
> The progression is based on 4 weeks where you have a week (1 day + 1 night set of
> events per day) to do things and earn enough money for a tournament qualifier at
> the end of the week. Beat all 4 qualifiers (1 per week) to get to the final race.
> The first qualifier was $20k to get in and I barely made that much while also trying
> to get parts. The second one was $50k and that entire second week I had earned about
> $70k but couldn't do much with it (certainly not buy a better car, or upgrade my
> garage for $50k to unlock better parts) so I basically had the same crapty car for
> half of the game. Where's the fun in that?
>
> I don't see a way to possibly ever be able to afford a $150k car unless you can re-do
> a week entirely and have things carry over.
>
> Graphics are nice, story is fine, art style is actually good, and it plays nice.
> There are also some nice cat-and-mouse missions where you have to watch the radar
> to drive around cops to deliver a car. I enjoyed those bits a lot. It's just the
> main gameplay loop is starting to no longer be actually fun.

Very interesting take. Just finished it up last night. Never felt like a grind at all. In fact, it felt less grindy than most NFS games to me. You get 4 restarts per day and coming in 1st was never too difficult. The progression from week to week felt really nice and the races felt fair. And I love the fact that the heat carries over from day to night. It means you have to be very selective about which races you take on. And you really don't have to do more than 3-4 races a day. With the deliveries you get from Tess and Rydell and the activities around the map, you'll have plenty of money to upgrade your cars. And don't forget that every week you get a chance to win 3 cars, I believe. It's always highlighted on the little progression map. After week 4, I ended up with 10 cars in my garage and over 2 mil in the bank.

It's not a perfect game, but I enjoyed it. The gameplay loop kept me coming back for more and the game doesn't overstay its welcome which is always a plus. The story is meh, but as you mentioned, the graphics and the art style are very nice. I went in with no expectations really and was pleasantly surprised.

Anxiouz
900 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
28-Dec-2022(#39)
Maybe I'll try to be less conservative or just try to progress farther. I did win 2 cars but their stats are terrible and I don't want to waste money on them. My biggest purse so far was I think $18k which is nice but doesn't go very far.
Anxiouz
900 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
* 29-Dec-2022(#40)
@Heavyd814life Ok, so I won an Evo 9 and after just a couple basic parts it immediately made the game significantly more fun. I escaped a full heat pursuit and am driving better during races. Bummer that this got buried so far into the game (at least for me). I can now see the light at the end of tunnel.

I also only just last night figured out the heat multiplier on the cash you bank so I'll be taking more risks now.
sinnie
GameTZ Subscriber 600 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
29-Dec-2022(#41)
Got through The Lost Legacy (Uncharted) this is my 2nd time beating it and this time did it on the Steam Deck. It's a great game, great story but more climbing and frustrating puzzles than I remember. Length was great for my life right now and the final chapter is easily my favorite (on a train.) I'd love to see Naughty Dog do a sequel for this.

Slickriven
GameTZ Subscriber Double Gold Good Trader Has Written 1 Review This user is on the site NOW (7 minutes ago)
* 3-Jan-2023(#42)
Am finally playing Uncharted Drake's Fortune - 7/10
I'm playing the collection on my PlayStation 4 but I remembered the opening boat/casket scene and getting into the first temple from a long while back when I tried it on the PlayStation 3. I didn't get very far though since I didn't remember the uBoat...
I ended up going 48% through the story on my first session, according to the save file and did right around another 25% tonight.
It's pretty good but darn that upstream jet-ski section was crap. I'm not in love with the controls either, but it's what a 15 year old game now? Without traditional levels or loading screens it's very easy to just keep pushing through it. And really besides two of the jet-ski sections, I've really not had much difficulty with gun fights or even falling to my death. I mean I've died a few times like that, but not enough that I felt annoyed or anything.
Looking forward to wrapping it up and moving into the 2nd title since I've heard it was a big step forward.

EB

(frozen)
3-Jan-2023(#43)
Slickriven wrote:
> Am finally playing Uncharted Drake's Fortune - 7/10

Uncharted 1 was just barely good enough to get me to play Uncharted 2 (the jet ski section is particularly terrible). Glad I did though, because Uncharted 2 is great (a major step up) and Uncharted 4 is one of my favorite games.
DrizzDrizzDrizz
Double Gold Good Trader Global Trader - willing to trade internationally Croatia
3-Jan-2023(#44)
Been deep in FF12 recently. Loving it. I get lazy with LP and Gambits but i appreciate the system, gambits are pretty awesome
Heavyd814life
GameTZ Gold Subscriber 600 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (13)
3-Jan-2023(#45)
DrizzDrizzDrizz wrote:
> Been deep in FF12 recently. Loving it. I get lazy with LP and Gambits but i appreciate
> the system, gambits are pretty awesome

Man, I love FF12! I know it's not everyone's cup of tea and it isn't perfect, but it's honestly one of my all-time fav JRPGs.

Slickriven
GameTZ Subscriber Double Gold Good Trader Has Written 1 Review This user is on the site NOW (7 minutes ago)
3-Jan-2023(#46)
EB wrote:
> Slickriven wrote:
>> Am finally playing Uncharted Drake's Fortune - 7/10
>
> Uncharted 1 was just barely good enough to get me to play Uncharted 2 (the jet ski
> section is particularly terrible). Glad I did though, because Uncharted 2 is great
> (a major step up) and Uncharted 4 is one of my favorite games.

The first jet-ski section was fine, I just blasted through and didn't bother to shoot at the enemies, partly b/c I didn't know how, but it was short and not too bad. The 2nd section was about the same but took a few times for the game to finally tell me what I needed to do to progress, and stop getting killed. But that 3rd, upstream section was where it all became terrible - the controls especially when trying to turn or climb the falls showed up poorly and why am I using the R1 button for acceleration and not R2's linear progression for throttle? I found I really had to take out the enemies to avoid death and no grenade launcher this time but instead a pistol and your ride was affected by the current... Yeah it was crap. But I'm past that and based on the setting am not thinking I'll get another section unless it's headed back to the coast.
Game reminds me a lot of the first 2 Tomb Raider games of the latest reboot trilogy (haven't got to Shadow yet) and I suppose that doesn't surprise me. Obviously TR and Rise are more open world and have crafting/upgrading baked in and are better in some ways, but they came after this game so I'd expect them to be stronger.

Sun
GameTZ Subscriber Silver Good Trader Gold Global Trader (7) Has Written 5 Reviews
3-Jan-2023(#47)
The last 2 games I beat were indie games:
Unmetal (Metal Gear parody)
Blazing Chrome (a very good Contra-like game).

Trying to figure out what next game will actually keep my attention. I've started the following recently but none of them have me wanting to play every night and I haven't touched them recently.

DmC: Devil May Cry - Definitive Edition
God of War (2018)
Live A Live
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy


Games that I'm considering:
Axiom Verge 2 just came out today on PS+ Essentials.
Ghost of Tsushima - Director's Cut
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition
nonamesleft
Double Gold Good Trader
3-Jan-2023(#48)
Mom Hid My Game

It's a puzzle game. You have to find what looks like a DS by interacting with the items in the environment.

For a game that doesn't have all the bells and whistles, this is surprisingly solid. It's funny at times and clever.

Puzzle games like these, I typically play gradually, as opposed to bingeing the levels.
EB

(frozen)
3-Jan-2023(#49)
@Sun What were your thoughts on UnMetal? I almost picked it up in the latest Switch sale but held off.

@Slickriven Yeah, the upstream jet ski section was the one I remember really being terrible. I liked the first two TR reboot games better than Uncharted 1 for sure, though like you said they are newer and therefore should be less janky.
Sun
GameTZ Subscriber Silver Good Trader Gold Global Trader (7) Has Written 5 Reviews
3-Jan-2023(#50)
EB wrote:
> @Sun What were your thoughts on UnMetal? I almost picked it up in the latest Switch sale but held off.

I found it enjoyable. The humor was funny enough and the gameplay was decent (think old school Metal Gear). The game was decently challenging, but rooted in pattern recognition and timing. Difficulty can be adjusted as well. There are some puzzle aspects to the game as well. I picked it up on sale as well and enjoyed it. I would wait for the next sale. Not overly long (an hour a chapter spread over 10 chapters).
Slickriven
GameTZ Subscriber Double Gold Good Trader Has Written 1 Review This user is on the site NOW (7 minutes ago)
4-Jan-2023(#51)
EB wrote:
> @Slickriven Yeah, the upstream jet ski section was the one I remember really being
> terrible. I liked the first two TR reboot games better than Uncharted 1 for sure,
> though like you said they are newer and therefore should be less janky.

I pushed through the ending of this tonight. I'll add that the Roman Numeral section was a pain and really the gunfights seemed to ramp up in difficulty in the final 15-20%. There was 2 aspects after that Roman Numerals section that I didn't expect and they sort of felt out of place but eh. I'd add that the final time you regain control of Nate and have only a shotgun sucked too as that section was a PITA with that gun - which you keep into the next section too... which also wasn't well suited for it either.
But it felt like a decent conclusion to the game and didn't feel like there was any cliff hangers or suggestions that a sequel was coming - likely b/c there wasn't until Sony got the review and sales figures to decide upon.

After beating, I had found 50% of the collectables and unlocked some concept art - interesting to see so much of Drake's designs had him with 2 pistols yet that wasn't in my game at all. I also unlocked some graphic filters and tweaks and the 'next gen' filter looked pretty good on the opening boat scene.

Anxiouz
900 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
4-Jan-2023(#52)
Days Gone (PS4 on PS5) - 8.5/10 - This starts off really rough and is kinda confusing but after sticking with it, it started to come together. Although really heavy-handed at times, I enjoyed the overall story and there are a few nice surprises along the way. My biggest complaint is that the game is just far too long and the pacing is inconsistent. The story and the map could have been chopped in half to make this a tighter experience. I don't know what my total game time was to beat this but it's gotta be 40-50h+ at least. I can see how not everyone likes this but I really enjoyed it.
Anxiouz
900 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
7-Jan-2023(#53)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5) - 7/10 - Playing this 2 years late without the new-console launch-title rose-colored glasses on...it's alright. Zero surprises other than you not actually playing Ratchet with Clank together. Things I don't like:

- The extra characters play identical and weapons are shared so it doesn't feel special.
- The pull-the-rift-towards you gimmick is no different than just using a grapple or doing a big air dash. Walking between worlds is cool but the standard gameplay traversal mechanic didn't deserve all the attention it got.
- The maps encourage exploration but you get stuck on geometry regularly. Lots of thinking you can jump on top of something but the game doesn't want you to.
- Cutscenes are not great quality and feel rushed. And the story really isn't very interesting.

It's still been fun as a pallet cleanser after spending an eternity in Days Gone though. And I dig the rocket boots.
Heavyd814life
GameTZ Gold Subscriber 600 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (13)
8-Jan-2023(#54)
I'm a couple of hours into Gotham Knights and it kinda sucks. Looks like the critics and gamers were right about this one. It just feels off. Combat is slow and clunky and boring. Traversal as Batgirl doesn't feel good and the batcycle doesn't feel fast and isn't exciting to drive. I booted up Arkham Knight for a quick comparison and it's amazing how Gotham Knights manages to look worse than an 8-year-old game. It's inferior to Arkham Knight in every imaginable way. And honestly, releasing something this meh with a property this valuable is unacceptable. I knew to temper expectations when I saw it was a WB Montreal game, but this is a pretty big step down from their last game Arkham Origins. Also Batgirl's voice actress is kinda awful. To be fair, it could just be the voice direction and not the voice actress herself, but I really only want to play as Batgirl and I may have to mute it so I don't have to listen to her crappy dialogue.

So yeah, this definitely isn't worth the $70 they tried charging for it at launch. It feels directionless and after only 2 hours, I already know it's going to be a slog. I hope I'm wrong, but this certainly hasn't made a great first impression.

Dasgessabel
Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
(abandoned)
8-Jan-2023(#55)
Callisto Protocol Steam 7/10- Took me a little over 12 hours, playing on Max Security (hardest setting). Honestly, save for one part a decent ways into the game, this was an overall fairly easy game. The way the core combat mechanics of the melee works, you just hold a direction and dodge or block, then strike back with counter/melee combos. You eventually get guns and they work about like you think, so nothing too out of the ordinary there. Had some choppiness in random sections, but runs pretty decently now with a couple of patches under its belt at mostly highest settings at 1440p - ray tracing definitely had to be turned off, but the game is gorgeous for the most part even without it, so not worth the performance hit in my opinion. Overall, I enjoyed it for what it was but Dead Space is still king of this hill. If you need something to play, pick it up in a few months when it goes on sale and maybe by then some story DLC will be out as well since the ending is a dangling carrot.
Frank
GameTZ Subscriber 800 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (13) Has Written 11 Reviews Secret Santa
8-Jan-2023(#56)
Dasgessabel wrote:
> Callisto Protocol Steam 7/10- Took me a little over 12 hours, playing on Max Security
> (hardest setting). Honestly, save for one part a decent ways into the game, this
> was an overall fairly easy game. The way the core combat mechanics of the melee works,
> you just hold a direction and dodge or block, then strike back with counter/melee
> combos. You eventually get guns and they work about like you think, so nothing too
> out of the ordinary there. Had some choppiness in random sections, but runs pretty
> decently now with a couple of patches under its belt at mostly highest settings at
> 1440p - ray tracing definitely had to be turned off, but the game is gorgeous for
> the most part even without it, so not worth the performance hit in my opinion. Overall,
> I enjoyed it for what it was but Dead Space is still king of this hill. If you need
> something to play, pick it up in a few months when it goes on sale and maybe by then
> some story DLC will be out as well since the ending is a dangling carrot.


I'm really hoping for a DLC expansion where you escape with the doctor... Or even better yet, somehow DLC where you play as Dani.



I've been playing Arcade Paradise on PS5. I've got 20-something of the 35 games, and am really enjoying my time with it. I'd probably give it a solid 7-7/5/10. Some of the "arcade" games are actually really fun, albeit knockoffs of preexisting games that I like raspberry
Kommie
250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
8-Jan-2023(#57)
Dasgessabel wrote:
> Callisto Protocol Steam 7/10- Took me a little over 12 hours, playing on Max Security
> (hardest setting). Honestly, save for one part a decent ways into the game, this
> was an overall fairly easy game. The way the core combat mechanics of the melee works,
> you just hold a direction and dodge or block, then strike back with counter/melee
> combos. You eventually get guns and they work about like you think, so nothing too
> out of the ordinary there. Had some choppiness in random sections, but runs pretty
> decently now with a couple of patches under its belt at mostly highest settings at
> 1440p - ray tracing definitely had to be turned off, but the game is gorgeous for
> the most part even without it, so not worth the performance hit in my opinion. Overall,
> I enjoyed it for what it was but Dead Space is still king of this hill. If you need
> something to play, pick it up in a few months when it goes on sale and maybe by then
> some story DLC will be out as well since the ending is a dangling carrot.

I liked this too, nothing special but not as bad as reviews showed. I just wish I had known to not even bother with the Tactical Pistol. Was absolutely worthless and I just sold all the amm I got.
TalonJedi87
GameTZ Subscriber Triple Gold Good Trader Has Written 4 Reviews
8-Jan-2023(#58)
Heavyd814life wrote:
> I'm a couple of hours into Gotham Knights and it kinda sucks. Looks like the critics
> and gamers were right about this one. It just feels off. Combat is slow and clunky
> and boring. Traversal as Batgirl doesn't feel good and the batcycle doesn't feel
> fast and isn't exciting to drive. I booted up Arkham Knight for a quick comparison
> and it's amazing how Gotham Knights manages to look worse than an 8-year-old game.
> It's inferior to Arkham Knight in every imaginable way. And honestly, releasing something
> this meh with a property this valuable is unacceptable. I knew to temper expectations
> when I saw it was a WB Montreal game, but this is a pretty big step down from their
> last game Arkham Origins. Also Batgirl's voice actress is kinda awful. To be fair,
> it could just be the voice direction and not the voice actress herself, but I really
> only want to play as Batgirl and I may have to mute it so I don't have to listen
> to her crappy dialogue.
>
> So yeah, this definitely isn't worth the $70 they tried charging for it at launch.
> It feels directionless and after only 2 hours, I already know it's going to be a
> slog. I hope I'm wrong, but this certainly hasn't made a great first impression.
>
>
>

Yeah without a buddy to play with to ease and soften the blow the game is severely lacking in most areas. What a disappointment.
PizzaTheHutt
GameTZ Gold Subscriber Gold Good Trader Has Written 3 Reviews
8-Jan-2023(#59)
Happy Game {Nintendo Switch} 7/10
That title is a ruse, I tell ya. They just wanna trick you with that title because this game ain't happy at all, it's psychotic. And that's what I liked about it.

You start as a little boy just before he goes to sleep and has one heck of a nightmare. I don't know how to describe the actual game beyond that other than it's a point-and-click game with some puzzles that aren't really too difficult to figure out. Actually due to the on-screen cursor controls I would probably recommend playing this on PC instead if you have the option, because the controls are a little clunky at times with analog sticks (I didn't play in handheld mode, so I don't know if it supports the touchscreen or not). It's a short game at barely 2 hours long, but I guess that's better than overstaying its welcome.

Sun
GameTZ Subscriber Silver Good Trader Gold Global Trader (7) Has Written 5 Reviews
9-Jan-2023(#60)
Borrowed TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge PlayStation 4 from the library and played through the first 4 stages with my 4-year old. He’s having a blast. Raph is his favorite.
nonamesleft
Double Gold Good Trader
9-Jan-2023(#61)
Sun wrote:
> Borrowed TMNT: ShredderÂ's Revenge PlayStation 4 from the library and played through the
> first 4 stages with my 4-year old. HeÂ's having a blast. Raph is his favorite.
Every once in awhile someone mentions taking video games out from the library. Pretty cool that some libraries offer this.
Sun
GameTZ Subscriber Silver Good Trader Gold Global Trader (7) Has Written 5 Reviews
9-Jan-2023(#62)
nonamesleft wrote:
> Every once in awhile someone mentions taking video games out from the library. Pretty
> cool that some libraries offer this.

Probably just me! I've played through a number of single-player games this way:

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope
Horizon Forbidden West (didn't even install it)
The Last of Us: Part II
Life is Strange: True Colors
The Quarry
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (I only played Bowser's Fury since I beat 3D World on Wii U)
Tactics Ogre Reborn (didn't even get a chance to play it)
Tiny Tina's Wonderland (didn't play it very much)
TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

I don't check out longer games since I know I won't finish them.

I put Marvel's Midnight Suns, Hogwarts Legacy and God of War: Ragnarok on hold request as well. Maybe I'll finish God of War (2018) by the time it's my turn for Ragnarok.
nonamesleft
Double Gold Good Trader
* 9-Jan-2023(#63)
Sun wrote:
> nonamesleft wrote:
>> Every once in awhile someone mentions taking video games out from the library.
> Pretty
>> cool that some libraries offer this.
>
> Probably just me! I've played through a number of single-player games this way:
>
> The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
> The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope
> Horizon Forbidden West (didn't even install it)
> The Last of Us: Part II
> Life is Strange: True Colors
> The Quarry
> Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
> Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (I only played Bowser's Fury since I beat 3D
> World on Wii U)
> Tactics Ogre Reborn (didn't even get a chance to play it)
> Tiny Tina's Wonderland (didn't play it very much)
> TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection
> TMNT: Shredder's Revenge
> Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
>
> I don't check out longer games since I know I won't finish them.
>
> I put Marvel's Midnight Suns, Hogwarts Legacy and God of War: Ragnarok on hold request
> as well. Maybe I'll finish God of War (2018) by the time it's my turn for Ragnarok.
Wow. Some great games on there. And they have Switch games? Your library is yes

I'm not going to even bother checking my local library to see if they carry games. They almost certainly don't... okay, fine, I'll check, but only because you insisted grin
Anxiouz
900 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
9-Jan-2023(#64)
Somebody didn't like my R&C Rift Apart 7/10. Would love to hear from folks that would rate this higher in 2023.
Dasgessabel
Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
(abandoned)
9-Jan-2023(#65)
Anxiouz wrote:
> Somebody didn't like my R&C Rift Apart 7/10. Would love to hear from folks that would
> rate this higher in 2023.

I didn’t neg you but I loved R&C A Rift Apart. Easy 8-9/10 for me.
sa330206
500 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
9-Jan-2023(#66)
Finally finished Yakuza 0. I'd give it a 8.5/10. Great game but got a bit repetitive.

I started Yakuza 1 (remake) the other day. Very similar to 0 except a little more lifeless? Hope I can make it through, it's OK so far.
Sun
GameTZ Subscriber Silver Good Trader Gold Global Trader (7) Has Written 5 Reviews
10-Jan-2023(#67)
sa330206 wrote:
> Finally finished Yakuza 0. I'd give it a 8.5/10. Great game but got a bit repetitive.
>
> I started Yakuza 1 (remake) the other day. Very similar to 0 except a little more
> lifeless? Hope I can make it through, it's OK so far.

I played 0 last year and enjoyed the story, but the gameplay does get repetitive. That’s why I haven’t finished Kiwami yet. It’s good in small spurts and will take a long time to finish as a result. I have all the games on PS4 but it’s gonna take a long time to get thru them all.
nonamesleft
Double Gold Good Trader
* 10-Jan-2023(#68)
@Sun

I checked and, from what I can tell, only books and some movies. No video games. I didn't think they'd have any. Checked on the very slight chance that they would.
Dasgessabel
Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
(abandoned)
* 10-Jan-2023(#69)
Frank wrote:
> Dasgessabel wrote:
>> Callisto Protocol Steam 7/10- Took me a little over 12 hours, playing on Max
> Security
>> (hardest setting). Honestly, save for one part a decent ways into the game, this
>> was an overall fairly easy game. The way the core combat mechanics of the melee
> works,
>> you just hold a direction and dodge or block, then strike back with counter/melee
>> combos. You eventually get guns and they work about like you think, so nothing
> too
>> out of the ordinary there. Had some choppiness in random sections, but runs pretty
>> decently now with a couple of patches under its belt at mostly highest settings
> at
>> 1440p - ray tracing definitely had to be turned off, but the game is gorgeous
> for
>> the most part even without it, so not worth the performance hit in my opinion.
> Overall,
>> I enjoyed it for what it was but Dead Space is still king of this hill. If you
> need
>> something to play, pick it up in a few months when it goes on sale and maybe by
> then
>> some story DLC will be out as well since the ending is a dangling carrot.
>
> ...
>
> I've been playing Arcade Paradise on PS5. I've got 20-something of the 35 games,
> and am really enjoying my time with it. I'd probably give it a solid 7-7/5/10. Some
> of the "arcade" games are actually really fun, albeit knockoffs of preexisting games
> that I like raspberry
>

(Spoilers for Callisto Protocol in the spoiler tag for those who haven't played, don't click it)

I concur on a Dani DLC, that would be neat. As odd as it is, I feel like Jacob's story should be done. The revelation towards the end where he KNEW they were transporting something potentially bad, but did it anyway, kinda ties in with his idea of staying behind. I feel like they shouldn't have added that bit with the doctor potentially finding a way out, because now they have to add more with him. Either way, I enjoyed the game enough I'll play the DLC as long as its story stuff.




Kommie wrote:
> Dasgessabel wrote:
>> Callisto Protocol Steam 7/10- Took me a little over 12 hours, playing on Max
> Security
>> (hardest setting). Honestly, save for one part a decent ways into the game, this
>> was an overall fairly easy game. The way the core combat mechanics of the melee
> works,
>> you just hold a direction and dodge or block, then strike back with counter/melee
>> combos. You eventually get guns and they work about like you think, so nothing
> too
>> out of the ordinary there. Had some choppiness in random sections, but runs pretty
>> decently now with a couple of patches under its belt at mostly highest settings
> at
>> 1440p - ray tracing definitely had to be turned off, but the game is gorgeous
> for
>> the most part even without it, so not worth the performance hit in my opinion.
> Overall,
>> I enjoyed it for what it was but Dead Space is still king of this hill. If you
> need
>> something to play, pick it up in a few months when it goes on sale and maybe by
> then
>> some story DLC will be out as well since the ending is a dangling carrot.
>
> I liked this too, nothing special but not as bad as reviews showed. I just wish I
> had known to not even bother with the Tactical Pistol. Was absolutely worthless and
> I just sold all the amm I got.

Yeah the tactical pistol was given way too late. Should have been the first gun, honestly. The five round burst is fun but overall, a worthless gun because you get the last gun not too long after.
benstylus
GameTZ Subscriber GameTZ Full Moderator 550 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (9) Has Written 26 Reviews
* 10-Jan-2023(#70)
As a normal adult man doing normal adult things, I tried out Teddy Together on 3DS today. It's basically like Nintendogs but with a talking teddy bear.

I got to Level 2 friendship and he went outside to see if he could make friends. Lots of kids around but he lamented there were no other bears so he couldn't make friends.

The dialog choice was between "I'm sure you'll make friends soon" (or something similar) and "Yep! No friends for you!" (That exact wording).

This game is simultaneously charming, a bit creepy, and hilarious at the same time.

Orlandu
Double Gold Good Trader
10-Jan-2023(#71)
@sa330206 Definitely don't try to play the Yakuza series back to back. They will feel insanely repetitive if you don't put some other games in between them. I try to play one per year. Out of the five I've played, I still like 0 the best.
thenadz
300 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
11-Jan-2023(#72)
Also beat the Callisto Protocol - 8/10 for me

Visually, one of the most impressive games I’ve seen this generation. It’s not exactly scary but I do like the atmospheric dread and melee heavy combat. I liked it more than most people because I felt like the length was just right for a single player game. Once I upgraded my grip gun, combat became a lot more fun. Not replayable but DLC would intrigue me to jump back in
PizzaTheHutt
GameTZ Gold Subscriber Gold Good Trader Has Written 3 Reviews
14-Jan-2023(#73)
Stray {PlayStation 5} 7/10
I had heard the usual complaints about this game, such as the final game being different than what people were expecting from the initial announcement trailer. I guess you can put me in that category too. What's the deal with all this robot stuff? I just wanted to play as a cat, but they felt the need to complicate things with this super uninteresting story about robots.

I've heard it's a short game, but at one point I didn't even know if I wanted to finish it. There's even a trophy for beating the game in 2 hours, but I spent that much time alone just getting lost in the slums and not being able to find my away around because so much of the area just looked the same. Really, that is pretty early on into the game and it had me wanting to quit. I haven't finished the game yet, but once you get out of the slums/rooftops section the game gets slightly better.

I do want to give some kudos to whoever was responsible for the game's music. The bass sounds so good with the Pulse 3D headset, in the rare times you actually hear any music. As for the rest of the audio, it is just environmental effects and those sound alright too. I feel like there's nothing special about the graphics. The environments look nice at times, but overall I was expecting this to look better than it does. I know it's from a small studio so I guess they can be forgiven, but early on I had to double check and make sure I hadn't downloaded the PlayStation 4 version by mistake.

I think the game is just barely above average, but I'll add a +1 to the score because once in a while I catch my cat staring at the TV when I'm playing this and he doesn't usually do that for too many other games (Animal Crossing is another one he seems to like).

=-=

KeyWe {PlayStation 5} 8/10
This is a pretty fun co-op game. You can play it solo, but it's clearly meant for two players, and you're playing as little kiwi birds working in a post office, sorting mail and stuff.
It sounds simple, but things can get pretty hectic in the later levels. This is definitely something where you can enjoy it with a friend that is as much into gaming as you, or a spouse that is more of a casual gamer.

Kommie
250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
14-Jan-2023(#74)
there was nothing really going for Stray other than "cat game" and even then it doesn't save it from below mediocrity.
DCGX
GameTZ Subscriber 450 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (11) Has Written 56 Reviews
15-Jan-2023(#75)
And yet 'Stray' keeps getting Game of the Year nods...somehow.

Kommie
250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
15-Jan-2023(#76)
I love cats but that game had nothing interesting going on. If it were more in line with a typical puzzle game like Limbo, Another World, Heart of Darkness, or Little Nightmares and removed the force story nonsense it may have been better. The whole robot part/story crap was so bad.
Bleed_DukeBlue
Triple Gold Good Trader
15-Jan-2023(#77)
The beginning where you just run and jump on stuff and be a cat was kinda cool, but the game lost me immediately after that.

Kommie wrote:
> I love cats but that game had nothing interesting going on. If it were more in line
> with a typical puzzle game like Limbo, Another World, Heart of Darkness, or Little
> Nightmares and removed the force story nonsense it may have been better. The whole
> robot part/story crap was so bad.
benstylus
GameTZ Subscriber GameTZ Full Moderator 550 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Gold Global Trader (9) Has Written 26 Reviews
15-Jan-2023(#78)
Been playing a lot of Fantasy Life for 3DS lately.

It reminds me of how much I miss Level 5 in the US market.

Not saying we need more Layton games after 5 and 6 though.

But their creativity when they aren't shackled to a single series/concept is pretty great.

Gypsy
GameTZ Subscriber 250 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader Global Trader - willing to trade internationally
15-Jan-2023(#79)
benstylus wrote:
> Been playing a lot of Fantasy Life for 3DS lately.
>
> It reminds me of how much I miss Level 5 in the US market.
>
> Not saying we need more Layton games after 5 and 6 though.
>
> But their creativity when they aren't shackled to a single series/concept is pretty
> great.
>
>

Looks like I got this one at some point but haven't played it yet.
Anxiouz
900 Trade Quintuple Gold Good Trader
* 15-Jan-2023(#80)
I've had The Last of Us Part 2 on the shelf for awhile now, and just never felt in the mood to start it. But it fit the bill perfectly last night and I'm enjoying the story beats and the quality is as impressive as I was expecting. Naughty Dog really is something special. I do think that they introduce far too many characters too early, and jumping between them works as a narrative for a film but it makes it tough to connect with who I'm supposed to care about. I'm excited to see where this goes though.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:
> Stray {PlayStation 5} 7/10
> ... but I spent that
> much time alone just getting lost in the slums and not being able to find my away
> around because so much of the area just looked the same.

I'm actually stuck here now. I felt like I mostly did everything in that area before stopping for the night. But then a week or so later when I resumed, I couldn't figure out where to go/what to do. I think I need to get 3 more soda cans for the merchant?, and then there is a clue about rooftops? (but I thought I did that already). But after running around the same area for 10-15 minutes I keep turning this off.

Topic   Post your scores/reviews on recent titles you've obtained/been playing. raspberry