VideoGame_Discussion

LEGO DC Super Villains

The last LEGO game with a more diorama feel before 'The Skywalker Saga,' it definitely feels long in the tooth. I've always approached LEGO games more like puzzle games, but the puzzles are too easy. The game itself is solid, though the camera can still be really problematic in levels. The open world is better than LEGO Marvel 2, but not the city specific open-world LEGO games. There's a ton of characters, and the voice cast is impressive (Mark Hamill is back as Joker!). The story starts off pretty interesting, but then devolves into the similar story line most DC comics, games and movies were following at the time; the same McGuffins.

I stuck to the story missions after doing a few side missions at the beginning. I think my own personal issue is that I'm just not a fan of almost all of the DC heroes and villains, so nothing really stuck with me. It didn't help that the humor was more hit or miss than usual for a LEGO game either. Like I said, it's a solid game with a crap-ton to do, but after 'The Skywalker Saga,' I hope Travelers Tales continues in that direction.

Super Mario World via Switch Online

10/10

I guess the old expression never dies or falters when they say something ages like fine wine. Super Mario World is a testament to that statement and the test of time and then some to still be probably the greatest Super Mario sidesscrolling game that I’ve ever played and like many of you I’ve played them all. Simple yet effective and leaves a long lasting impression that will be with you until the very end and beyond. From the music to the gameplay, everything was and is just sensational no matter how many times I experience it.

Dragon's Dogma 2 - 9/10

What a game! Just completed the endgame stuff. Spent a total of 80 hours with it. DD2 is a weird, wonderful, insanely addictive, incredibly fun, and deeply flawed masterpiece. Just like the original. There is literally nothing else like it on the market and the things it does well it does SO well. This makes it easy to overlook its flaws, and trust me it has flaws. It won't be for everyone. It's not a modern RPG that'll hold your hand. It's very old school in its sensibilities and goes against many modern conventions, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It helps it stand out in a sea of open world RPGs that feel like you're just ticking things off a checklist. DD2 in comparison feels like a real adventure and it is at its very best when you're out exploring, experimenting with vocations/party composition, getting completely distracted and discovering things off the beaten path, and coming up against ogres, and cyclopes, dragons etc. I couldn't get enough of the gameplay loop and I honestly want to start up NG+, but I think I'll hold out until we get an expansion/DLC hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

Tails of Iron

I did not start this game with the intention of playing it all in one day, but I ended up 100% it with all trophies except the hardest difficulty trophy.

In a medieval world ruled by rodents, an old king falls to their centuries-long enemies, the toads. It's up to his son, Redgi, to prove himself to lead, rebuild the kingdom and forge new alliances. Despite some claiming this is a Souls-like, it isn't. It's a 2D Metroidvania with combat. The game is gorgeous and the parallax is impressive. That's a good thing, because about half the fast travel points only work one way, so there's a lot of back and forth traversal. The opening of the game can definitely feel like one fetch quest after another, and that doesn't really change, but the story and foes keep things interesting. Redgi regularly gets new armor, and armor types can be extremely resistant to certain enemies, so switching armor is a constant. It's not too bad, and it's easy to see what armor and/or weapon will work best, but it's a lot of time in the menus too.

Combat is designed around blocking and dodging more than direct attacks, though sometimes those are essential. The dodge roll works well, and there's a parry, but in the late game, it's easy to get juggled or blocked from moving, which can feel cheap. There's no stamina bar, however, and as long as the appropriate armor is equipped, the game is very manageable. Outside of a few collectibles for more fights, and some side quests for more fights, the story is the only draw. That said, and the game is well regarded, it kept me engaged way more than I thought. Though the well-paced missions and upgrades really helped. A definite recommendation.

Heavyd814life wrote:

Id be playing this if I wasnt so slow to play the recent games. Ive barely scratched the surface of FF7Rebirth so I reaally shouldnt buy this yet. If Stellar Blade ends up being good Ill want to buy that as well. 2024 started with heavy hitters.

Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League

4/10

I truly disliked this experience. Not as a whole but the live service aspect gave me such a sour taste for this game as to what it could have been that I’m forever going to be salty because of it as I once held the developer Rocksteady in such high regard. Now that they have been consumed by the dark side all we have left to do is roll with the punches in a hollow game that’s filled with repetitive missions, combat and loot to an extent of insanity. The only thing holding this game somewhat together is the interesting story that adds some levity and depth to what’s otherwise a very poorly constructed game. Even the controls are bonkers at times, asking you to hit a random combo of buttons to weaken certain enemy types or bosses that just feels manic and unnatural. But getting back to the only saving grace of this game for me. The story is pretty good for what it’s worth and the team had kind of had a Guardians of the Galaxy like feel and humor surrounding the Suicide Squad. I did enjoy their banter and chemistry and felt that they achieved decent character development by the time the game’s story wrapped. Braniac is an intriguing villain to boot and I thought was a good choice for this type of story and setting. However with that being said it’s just a shame this is how the late, great Kevin Conroy had to be remembered as The Batman before he passed on. I’m sure this is not how he wanted his legacy of Batman to end, going out in such an underwhelming fashion. In fact this game and story is not considered canon to me in the Arkham-verse. Arkham Knight was his last great video game role as far as I’m concerned. This was Earth-2 Batman and friends in a sloppily crafted world. And speaking of world I did not think Metropolis could be so boring and dull even with the highly chaotic things transpiring. It just felt like all I was doing was going from point A to B and ignoring the silly side missions which were just copy/paste wash, rinse and repeat even with some of the familiar Riddler challenges scattered throughout which just felt tacked on with an all too familiar, been there done that with numerous repetitive riddles to undertake. And lastly but certainly not least, it is HIGHLY laughable that the devs think anyone in their right minds would continue this game after the credits roll and go on to defeat Braniac a total of 12 more times in this type of utterly tedious environment. Shame on you Rocksteady and even more shame on you WB Games. You have deeply failed this city.

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I beat another Yu Suzuki masterpiece.

Sonic the Fighters (PS3 port).

It's certainly something. Don't quite know what yet. I feel like I didn't know what I was doing most of the time. It's not as clear cut as Virtua Fighter that's for sure.

Maybe I should put some lab time in to figure thr game out a little better

Warhammer 40k Boltgun 7/10
Played on medium difficulty

As a retro Boomer Shooter it's pretty solid but it almost felt like 2 games in 1. The levels were decently designed with a good bit of looping back over one another, but you could get a little lost or turned around at times trying to relocate a keyed door that you now have said key to. So exploring was decent, leading you to run into frequent but very easy to dispatch enemies - the titular boltgun was very good at 1-hit kills on the basic enemies - which left that part feeling pretty easy. Then there were 'purge' events where you'd get locked into an arena and the screen would get a red tinge and foes would spawn in a LOT in waves and it got very hectic, those sections, as well as some of the boss sections were really the only challenges and caused that 2nd feeling of the game. I wouldn't say it was poorly paced, but it did feel rather different. Then the final boss fight was crazy.

Pros were the feeling of the weight of being a Space Marine, you felt heavy and substantial which was good. The overall atmosphere was decent and it was overall enjoyable to play.
Cons were the too accurate aim assist, the story gets lost b/c you have this floating head that goes with you and talks, but it's not comprehendible so you need to read the dialog if you care or can focus on it, since it will talk during firefights. The levels could've used a means to get a directional assist as I got turned around a few times and annoyed with not finding the way forward. Enemy variety could've helped some too. There are 2-3 human enemies but they felt nearly identical, there are 3 enemies much like yourself, they acted differently with a normal one, a stronger but slower one and a fast one that rushed you and would often respawn once (he royally sucked). Then there were 2 versions of hopping little imp-like things, and 2 sizes of a spitting toad. But the bigger letdown was the bosses. A huge winged thing, a huge imp that would spawn lots of the normal imps from himself and a larger, golden form of this relatively rare ape-like enemy that would bum rush you. That was basically it for bosses beyond an overpowered version or the similar version of you. Then you fought these bosses at least 3 times each with the final fight having the winged and marine, then imp-spawner and marine and lastly a third marine - crazy fight. Some additional variety would've helped a lot with the bosses, but also with the hundreds of enemies that you mowed down. I killed a LOT of imps and cultist humans.

I recently got into the newer boomer shooter games and Boltgun was disappointing. Some levels I had to look up a guide and where to go next and a lot of it was very un fun waves followed by the same sort of boss from a precious level. If you want a really good modern Boomer Shooter, go for Dusk, Ion Fury, Postal Brain Damaged. Not sure if they're on console though.

Kommie wrote:

Thanks, I'm not fully focused on Boomer shooters yet, but have a few on my Steam wishlist and almost pulled the trigger on a humble bundle with 5 from said list. Ion Fury is in my library already as is Project Warlock so I might get to them soon.
I could've played Boltgun on PC thanks to GPU, also used a YT Let's Play a few times when lost. I got away from playing fps games on PC b/c they wrecked my left hand with WASD for a while, but that's not an issue anymore apparently, I beat Trepang^2 on PC last month and my hand was fine.

The current humble bundle with all those Games, Prodeus, Ultrakill, Turbo Overkill and what not is totally worth it.

Kommie wrote:

That's the HB I was referring to, might snag it, was on the fence and already beat Quake 2 and Prodeus in the past 6 months or so.

Only 5+ hours left on that HB as of now, so ends around 9pm tonight Eastern.

I'd buy it but I have everything in it but two games, and I'm not really interested in them anyway

I snagged it, not interested in the Quake 2 nor Prodeus codes, so if someone wants them, LMK.

I'll still be playing this for awhile, bit I finally beat Nuclear Throne which is apparently hard, given the low percent of people who've beaten it:

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I bought this 2 years ago but didn't realize it had a 60FPS mod of sorts, cause default it's 30 FPS. Super fun, if you do beat it, it can take 20-30 minutes but after you beat it, you "loop" and go back to the beginning and start over. So, really you technically can't "beat" it in a traditional sense. I've unlocked all but one character.

Pistol Whip on 2

I kinda almost skipped playing this today because my shoulder was kinda sore from playing it yesterday. This game can be quite the workout. Like Metal: Hellsinger this is a first-person shooter where you're shooting enemies to the beat of the music, but also having to dodge enemy fire and obstacles. There are two campaign stories and they only last around 35-40 minutes each (not counting the time you'll spend dying and retrying on the boss fights), but there is still more to the game to keep you busy than just the campaigns.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

I almost got this for PSVR 1 when it was on sale. I don't think it ever drops below $20. I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Beat Final Fantasy VII Rebirth it is around 30 hours to beat. The mini games to 100% the game make it extremely unfun to me. This game needed better mini games and other activities that are fun. Combat and the open world portion are the highlights.

Alone in the Dark is okay 6-8 hours long but the story made little sense to me somewhat despite reading the files. Spoiler heavy if I mention the story. The weapon count is lacking 4 guns + melee weapons that are the same and the combat isn't the greatest. It needed a better story

Princess Peach: Showtime!. Playing as the pastry maker was annoying. The rest of them are fun but swordfighter felt bland to me and the mermaid one was interesting but not that enjoyable. Extremely short and not going to 100% it. Around 5 hours long.

Gave up on Rise of the Rōnin. The system for equipment is terrible even with options to make it better and the game isn't that fun.

Dragon's Dogma 2 was lost in the mail and is the only game in my backlog. Hopefully it is enjoyable.

South Park: Snow Day! was okay. The ranged combat was terrible and the random "bullcrap" wasn't fun at all. The lack of checkpoint system and other issues are present but it is okay. Even at the lower price point it wasn't worth it at all.

Sandland and Stellar Blade demo aren't games for me. Didn't care for the gameplay for both and the lack of story for Sandland was a big drawback for me.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the next game I know I am buying so I am pretty much waiting for customer support to fix my issue with Dragon's Dogma 2 being lost and then my backlog is once again empty.

Super Mario World Yoshi’s Island via Online

8.5/10

I haven’t played this one in about 5 years or so and it still holds and stands the test of time. Especially with some of the more clever platforming puzzles and creative boss fights. You can definitely see how it translated into modern day Yoshi titles. Some of the controls though I felt need to be tightened up a bit back in the day as Yoshi sometimes moves a little bit too fast and feels a tad too slippery. And also keeping baby Mario from getting kidnapped always irked me a bit. Other than that it’s still a grand old time.

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown

9/10

What a breath of fresh air this experience was. When I first heard the series was getting a new entry I was very excited but also a tad disappointed seeing as though the Sands of Time remake was put on hold in favor of returning to the roots of the series as seen here but low and behold it was worth it and then some. I thought it was going to be yet another simple Metroidvania, but it turned into having elements from other game franchises like Dark Souls like shortcuts and even some boss encounters in tandem with the treacherous platforming and puzzles of, well, the original Prince of Persia games! Man, some of the puzzles and platforming challenges in this game was so damn clever and even a little frustrating but in a good way. No challenge ever felt too tough although I will say some of the more several minute long gauntlet infused challenges could have used better payoffs than simple colored character skins. But besides that little minor gripe and the fact that some of the side quests leave a little to be desired, the game is a delight. Air tight traversal controls and a pinpoint precise combat system makes for quite the delicacy. The sense of wanderlust believe it or not is quite immense as well in the massive interconnected map. Countless times I found myself just going off the beaten path just to see what was around the corner only to find myself rewarded with slews of treasures, upgrades or optional boss battles. The story is pretty cool too about a tale of betrayal and redemption that has some twists, turns and revelations along the way with a cast of interesting memorable characters. I didn’t like Sargon’s overall look though and the character models graphics wise are a little rough. You can tell the budget did not go deep into rendering those models to their fullest potential. The visuals within the environment though are a different story entirely. Gorgeous vistas and saturated portraits of a ruined yet mystical place within and surrounding Persia await you as you soak in all of the vibrant and vivacious color palates. In regards to your arsenal you are equipped with two swords and a bow which can be upgraded 4 times and you get amulets that work as perks to enhance your skills in combat. You can also possess special abilities called surges that you can equip 2 at a time that unleash a variety of overpowered attacks to either counter or do massive explosive damage to foes. And lastly the numerous boss fights in the game range from quick and simple to quick, fast and furious. There’s one boss in the game that took me so many tries to beat all because of his nimble nature and how hard he was to catch. Seriously this game pulls no punches when it comes to it’s fluidly fast nature. Jedi reflexes preferred. Overall, I loved this game and would gladly replay it on a new game plus. I just hope the Sands of Time remake is around the corner too because this game got me jonesin’ more for it.

LEGO 2K Drive via

This game throws a lot at the player pretty quickly, and I wasn't enjoying it at the beginning. Eventually I came around and started to have fun, but I stuck to the story missions and only a few side quests.

The world is fun and not overly big. There's a lot to collect. This being LEGO, you're free to drive into and destroy just about anything with no consequence, as whatever is destroyed will get rebuilt. Everything is bright and colorful, though I turned off the motion blur. I think this was attributing to my early dislike, as it was actually giving me a headache. I didn't bother with any of the actual building. In fact, I stuck mainly with the starter vehicles since vehicles that are unlocked typically have too big of drawbacks that the three allotted perks can never offset.

Racing for the most part is fun, but it has weird rubberbanding. It's more like all the other racers stay close to you, and then drop off the later in the race you go, which leads to almost exclusively tight wins. It's very strange, and races are so short, it's impossible to gain any sort of lead. Like 'The Crew 2,' your vehicles change based on the terrain. A racer for roads, something off road for...of road, and a boat for water. Changes are quick, and there can be multiple loadouts.

Ultimately, I had more fun driving around outside of races, enjoying the world than racing in it. And yes, there is a battle pass. It's mostly for cosmetics to build with, and any vehicles and characters unlock for free, but arguably, this being a LEGO game, the cosmetics are the better rewards. Other items can be won and collected through regularly play, but there was no need for a battle pass especially one tied to single player.

So I do recommend this game, but I don't see myself going back or picking this up outside of * (it's also currently on Game Pass).

Ichidant-R GG

One of the fun aspects from when I ran SegaFans 15ish years ago was discovering all the treasures in their back catalog. One series in particular that I fell in love with is the Puzzle & Action series. I first played Ichidant-R, then later discovered Tant-R (the original game in the series) and finally Sand-R when I was getting into Saturn imports. Never got a chance to play the arcade only 4th game in the series.

It wasn't until recently that I discovered the Game Gear ports! Now that i've picked them up, I can say they are almost as good as the originals!

They did Warioware minigame collections before it was cool.

Spider-Man Miles Morales

8.5/10

Pregamed before diving head first into Spider-Man 2 which is next and it was still for lack of a better word, amazing 3.5 years later. Short sweet and to the point with cool new Spidey abilities and some clever mini-games and lite environmental puzzles. The story was a bit expected here and there to the Spider-Man cliche storylines but overall, graphics, gameplay and presentation were just as awesome as the first Insimniac installment back in 2018. Can’t wait to dive into the sequel next.

Super Death Game SHOW! on PSVR2...I guess? I mean I survived through 10 mini-games and "won" more than once. I noticed the second time I did it the end screen had different text to it, so they at least did try to come up with a story, but failed to make a compelling game around it that I'd want to keep playing to find out the rest of it.

New Super Mario Bros via

8.5/10

As my replay of the Mario 2D sidescrolling games continue, I have now finished the 2006 entry and man I guess I'm just getting too old for this stuff because I do not remember this game being as challenging as it was in some parts back when I was playing it years ago. But nevertheless it's still a damn fun time. I think the controls feel a bit too slippery though because I could have sworn my timing was correct in some parts but it didn't register on my DS. Maybe my DS is just old like me hah. Anyways, next stop, New Super Mario Bros. 2!

TalonJedi87 wrote:

I would recommend taking a short break between the two. Spiderman 2 is incredible but coming right off replaying MM beforehand it felt so similar. And it's a big game so I would advise cleansing the palette with something different between the two games to make Spiderman 2 more enjoyable.

Good idea. I might just play one of the other FPS I have in my backlog to switch it up. Just picked up that indie game Trepang2 on sale. Looks like FEAR and I’m about it.

Just beat Hogwarts Legacy on the Switch. I think either Breath of the Wild (Wii U) or Fallout 4 (Steam) were my last previous last games beaten. Overall, I really enjoyed it. Some of the side quests feel a bit like busy work, but the main quest was pretty solid. I especially enjoyed the battle system. It was almost a bit like a modern Beat'em Up. You can bash buttons and it's going to do something cool, but chaining together long combos really pays off. I'll give it an 8.5 / 10.

Affected: The Manor on PSVR2
This, that rollercoaster game and the kayak game (maybe?) might be the only "VR experiences" PSVR2 has so far. I wish there was more to this one.

I just now finished the fourth Trails of Cold Steel. kinda sad now, gonna miss those guys. But moving on to play even more Trails games!!

New Super Mario Bros 2

9/10

My 2D Mario-A-Thon is almost over as I round the corner at watching the credits roll for this one and no real complaints here on this revisit other than it being far too generous in lives, coins and power ups which is not necessarily a bad thing. Although I watched a DYKG video the other day that explicitly said the sequel to NSMB was going to have a focus on coin collecting so that makes sense here why it has such a heavy focus on coins. Overall though it felt like it wanted to emulate Super Mario World in almost every sense outside of having Yoshi in it which was fine by me! Next stop the U Deluxe!

Dragon quest VIII via Anbernic rg405v.

Been in the backlog list for quite some time. Originally played near release. Have bought/sold/traded this game multiple times. Own it on the 3ds still. DQ is and always will be a favorite. I love the classic RPG adventure the series is known for. DQ8 is no slouch. I finished it near 60 hrs or so. Lots of loot, lots of exploration. The game is rather grindy tho; patience is key. At 60 hours the game does start to feel like it’s wearing out it’s welcome. There is post end game. I read some walkthroughs and didn’t seem to add anything to the story ala DQ11 so I think I’ll skip it. Over all fun and visually stunning for its age. I’d give it 8/10.

Final Fantasy XVI - via PS Portal

This game is not for me. I finished it but it felt like such a chore from Act III on. This game is 80% cut scenes followed by the same boring redundant battle formula that doesn’t deviate in the slightest for 3 chapters until the credits role. You can pretty much guarantee each quest will end with an area battle followed by “new enemy approaches” area boss/mid boss/ story boss, cut scene rince and repeat for houuuurs. I found most of the loot was crafting items and you can’t sprint unless the game allows you to sprint (there’s no sprint button it just occurs when cranking on the thumb stick), even when entering open areas. The presentation is top notch tho. The environments and many of the bosses are crazy cool looking. At the end of the day that didn’t impress me enough to score this release more than a 6/10.

Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League - 7/10 - This game was fun, repetitive but it felt like Crackdown with superheroes/supervillains. I enjoyed the humor, the visuals were good, some good boss battles and some disappointing but overall, I enjoyed the time I put into it. I'm done with it for now though, the added live-service content for season 1 doesn't sound significant. If they don't expand on the story more in the future, I doubt I'll start it up again just to play as new characters.

Bugsnax on

Didn't expect that twist at the end, and I don't just mean with

Strawbby?

Beat Dragon's Dogma 2. The gear system was okay but having to pick up drops from enemies bodies was tedious. Also accidently destroying bridges and towns learning mechanics like Dragon's Curse was annoying. You literally have to resurrect NPCs for quests if you make that mistake. The traveling system is also terrible. I highly do not recommend this game simply due to travel and other mechanics dragging this game down. Oh and the quests are terrible for the most part. Go here, slay or collect that, go back. Rinse and repeat 100s of times minus some interesting boss fights.

ued222 wrote:

If you don’t enjoy the travel of dragons dogma it’s likely not going to be a game you’d enjoy. For myself- encounters are the meat and the more the merrier. Personally I never destroyed a bridge nor did I notice the loot system to a degree it irked me. There really is no GOOD loot aside from mats except for chests. I do see lots of complaints about both- but I also played dark arisen for hundreds of hours so I knew what I was getting into a bit.

For what it is- more of a redo of DD- DD2 hit all the sweet spots for me. It’s my GotY currently. I can definitely feel the pain of those who grabbed it as it went mainstream not really knowing what it was always going to be. It’s a janky, more old school arcade like action game with RPG elements. It’s definitely not a super polished contemporary RPG.

Super Mario RPG

I never played the SNES original, but I can only imagine being blown away by it upon release. After all the 'Paper Mario' and 'Mario & Luigi' games, 'Super Mario RPG' seems quant with its tiny screen to screen progression.

Overall I enjoyed my first playthrough though. The story was simple, but it kept things fresh and moving. Combat is fun, though I had trouble with the timing which never caused an issue for me in the other two series. I know it's not a platformer, but the platform jumping is atrocious. This is still a Mario game. It shouldn't be this bad. Most of my failures by far came from the stupid diagonal jumping. Yeah, Mario has a shadow, but it doesn't appear until right before he lands. I played on Normal, and the game is really easy. I only got a Game Over once in battle, and due to a succession of unblockable attacks. My only real gripe with combat.

I think I prefer the 2D art, but the game does look really good. The CGI looks fantastic (I played entirely in handheld mode on a trip) and the music is also extremely good and catchy.

I didn't do everything or find all the hidden chests, and I'm good on this game for some years, but the nice thing is it's relatively short for an RPG, so repeats playthroughs won't take long but will still be enjoyable.

Turbo Overkill - 9.5/10 ---------- Do you think Doom Eternal is too slow? I sure did, and also didn't much like the "trapped in a room and kill everything to proceed" vibe of it. But Turbo Overkill is super fast, not violent at all and only suffers from minor issues. The game has some kind of story, IDK you're a dude who was killed and you come back to kill bad guys. There is a chainsaw on your leg that you can slide and hug enemies with. It's good, non violent fun. Kinda long though, but still fun. If you upgrade your leg you can just hug enemies till they fall asleep pretty quickly. Same with bosses. No idea if it's on console but definitely a great FPS.