VideoGame_Discussion

A super kamehameha bullet sir.

Scott wrote:

Yeah I debated having it on my list or my backup. Put it on my backup and then took it off a few days later lol…phew

You all chose wisely. I on the other hand, did not. But it’s all good. One year I’ll wise up and vote with my head instead of my heart.

Nah man, so much more fulfilling to go by heart/gut.

You’re right. It’s also why I can never breach the top 5 in these rankings haha

It’s cool. I did that with Horizon: Call of the Mountain last year and it probably cost me a shot at the top spot, but I don’t regret it. I still think it’s an underrated game.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Yeah it happens. I’m just more like boo since it’s my 2nd year guessing something with either a low ish score or missing something completely and guessing wrong. Like in 2022 I thought God of War Ragnarok was gonna miss the year completely and get delayed to 2023 like most other games due to the pandemic yet it slid in a month or two before 2022 wrapped. Still kicking myself for that one since I’m such a die hard GOW fan.

Yeah, I did that was Helldivers 2 this year. But only as an alt. I can't wait for it and I just have a feeling it'll review really well. I was surprised to see it on 3 other lists. I thought I'd be the only one.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

That's what I did last year with Spider-Man 2. I really thought it would get pushed to 2024 for sure so I left it off my list. Regret that one big time.

Oh bummer dude. Guess that happens to all of us at one point!

So, I started Suicide Squad tonight, and, while I was getting bad Gotham Knights vibes at first, once I got past the tutorial stuff and into the story, it hooked me. It looks good, the traversal is decent once you get used to it, the combat is more my cup of tea than the Arkham games, and the story is actually pretty solid so far. Potential downsides: no real enemy variety so far, and some of the dialogue is really cringy, although it’s growing on me a bit. Captain Boomerang is fun to play as but super annoying anytime he speaks. Still, it’s fun so far.

Okay guys OP updated with scores for Suicide Squad. It's at 62 on OpenCritic from 30 reviews

https://opencritic.com/game/14351/suicide-squad-ki...

Not that I have any stake in it, but I for sure thought it would jump up to a 70 with more reviews. Good game (as in R.I.P.) for anyone who picked it. Its hard to come back from a low 60's score. Especially with the bangers that have already dropped this year. And honestly even a low 70's score will be hard to come back from this year again just like last it seems.

Suicide squad now down to a 59 from 54 reviews.

Has anyone here played it? Is it really that bad a game?

Archer wrote:

No. I’m 14 hours in and loving it. Had super low expectations though. Also, I’m not a huge DC or superhero fan and don’t read comics or anything. Also, only beat Arkham Asylum (played the other two but didn’t finish). The story is a ton of fun and legit funny at times. I think too many people are upset it’s not what they wanted them to make.

Shane12m wrote:

That's my thoughts. I'm holding off for a sale or for it to hit either Game Pass / an upcoming Humble Bundle. The game seems like a fun experience if taken on its own.

I think everyone's upset because this is the same studio that brought us 3 AMAZING Batman Arkham games. I think if this had been released by a subsidiary, similar to Arkham Origins, the reception would have been better.

Ironically, Gotham Knights sort of proves that theory. It has a 67% on Metacritic, yet from what I've heard, it runs somewhat poorly on console. Where-as from what I've heard, Suicide Squad runs really well.

I agree with @Shane12m. It’s better than the reviews. I like the combat a lot better than the combat in the Arkham games, the graphics are solid, and the story is interesting so far. The only things I don’t like are the lack of enemy variety and the sometimes cringy dialogue. Also, Captain Boomerang grates on my nerves despite being really fun to play as. I’m only 4 hours in, but, as of now, I’d probably give it a 7/10. It’s a fun game to just pick up and play for a mission or two.

(For context, I should also note that I really didn’t like Gotham Knights.)

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Boomerang is definitely annoying and not funny but I don’t think he’s meant to be as the other characters make fun of him a lot lol.

I played through Gotham Knights after getting it on a deep sale for like $30. It was ok, but way more fun coop with a friend. It had an ok story. Pretty repetitive though and the framerate at times was ROUGH. Mandatory 30fps in the modern era is just not very sexy.

And I’ll get Suicide Squad when it too hits that $30 mark. You betrayed us for the last time Admiral WB and I’m not paying full price for your live servicey crap.

Helldivers 2 comes out tomorrow. Reviews gonna drop tomorrow?

Shane12m wrote:

Doesn't look like they sent out early review codes for this one which is always a little worrying. But I played it for about an hour this morning and it's fantastic! It'll be interesting to see how it reviews.

I think this one they were waiting on turning on servers and didn't bother with pre-release. Don't have it on my list but hope it's good.

Sounds like the PC port is struggling for people :(

The gameplay I watched of Helldivers 2 reminds me of firefight mode in Halo 3 ODST. (You team up with someone and see how many aliens that spawn in you can defeat.)

TalonJedi87 wrote:

I picked up Gotham Knights recently. I hope I'll still be able to enjoy it single-player. I haven't been able to convince anyone else to buy it

Frank wrote:

I finish every game I start. But Gotham Knights broke me. I couldn't do it. It's just soooo boring. Also worst Batgirl ever!

Yeah I would have likely given up on Gotham Knights too if I didn’t have a friend to play with to get me thru it. The repetitiveness and redundancy was just too much to bear. It’s a shame though. It had such potential to have a compelling story but it shat the bed liquid diarrhea like.

Heavyd814life wrote:

To reiterate, Helldivers rocks! Played it until about 3am last night with a few friends. Mind you, I'd be out by midnight on a normal night. Fast-paced and hectic. Tons to unlock and collect. A little disappointed by the in-game currency and battle pass type stuff, but such is the way of it now.

Finished suicide squad today and my overall impression shifted pretty drastically once I beat it. Went from a solid 8 to maybe a 6 if not lower. The gameplay got stale but that took 20 hours. The story had some really cool high moments but the last quarter of it really sucked.

Oh Rocksteady. How far we have fallen from the top. Went from Arkham games averaging a 9/10 to SS ranking with a 6. Where’s Ollie at? Because you have failed this city.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Blame WB for tasking them with chasing the live service train even though it left the station long ago

Absolutely. That was implied. And Rocksteady was probably against it too but what can you do when you’re owned by a greedy corpo? Go private I guess but I’m sure that’s more work than it’s worth sometimes.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

From a practical perspective, you can only go private if the corp is willing to let you. You can't just buy back your company stock unless the people that own it will sell it.

Oh then nvm. No way WB would let one of their cash cows go willingly like that. Unless they sell off their games division which I heard was a thing a year or so ago when they were hurting financially but I think since they merged with Discovery those woes have partially ceased for now. I was kinda hoping they would have sold off some of their gaming assets though to other companies because with the exception of a couple of newer WB games, like Hogwarts Legacy, most lately have been trashy and live servicey crap for the most part.

OP updated with scores for Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. It's sitting at 82 on Opencritic from 33 reviews. Very solid!

https://opencritic.com/game/15909/banishers-ghosts...

Another solid AA game from Don't Nod looks like. I'll have to check it out at some point.

Nice on Banishers! As soon as I saw who was making it and the trailer it went into my Amazon wish list. Looked like it had potential.

Helldivers 2 sitting at 82 with 14 reviews. Currently the same score the first game averaged.

Speaking of Banishers, Target is the worst. They never sent my Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince pre-order, and I finally cancelled after more than a month. Now, my copy of Banishers (that I pre-ordered months ago) is backordered to the end of February. I still have plenty to play, but they're super unreliable.

Shane12m wrote:

Thanks for the heads up! Just updated the OP. Still at 82 from 15 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/15908/helldivers-ii

Arzette releases today!

https://youtu.be/oki_dGhip3E

Mario v Donkey Kong currently at a 77 with 20 reviews

Damn so sad :(

https://www.reddit.com/r/EiyudenChronicle/comments...

Shane12m wrote:

I was really on the fence with that one, I had a feeling it would be in the 70s, or at best low 80s. Glad I at least only put it as an alt, but I wish I had just gone with something else instead.

Shane12m wrote:

Damn dude that's so sad...

benstylus wrote:

Weird one but I can't seem to find an OpenCritic page for this game. I do see it on Metacritic, though. It has 4 reviews so far. I'll check back later today.

OP updated with scores for Mario vs. Donkey Kong. It's sitting at 77 on Opencritic from 20 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/15498/mario-vs-donkey-...

Wow wrecked by a Nintendo game, oh well. See you all next year

I FULLY expected that.

I enjoyed Mario vs DK on GBA all those years ago, but cut it off my list at the last minute before submitting it. While it was a pretty fun game in 2004, that doesn't always mean it'll still be fun 20 years later. 77 sounds about right. And now that the remake exists they'll use that as an excuse not to put the GBA version on the NSO Expansion Pack service.

edit: I just watched Dashie play this on YouTube. It's a 50 minute video, but I was done watching after barely 20 minutes. It doesn't look nearly as fun as I remember it being. Not only am I kinda glad I didn't put it on my list this year, I'm glad I didn't rush out to buy it based purely on how fun I remember it being 20 years ago. Now I just hope Luigi's Mansion 2 and Paper Mario 2 have aged much better.

High 70s/low 80s kinda felt like the ceiling for Mario vs DK. I was actually pretty surprised to see that it made it onto more lists than Paper Mario did.

Oops. Bet that bites me in the ass later this year.

Completely forgot Paper Mario TYD remake was releasing this year. And Luigi’s Mansion 2 remake. So many games. So little time! (And room on lists)

Helldivers now sitting at 84. Going up
Played for a bit and it’s a lot of fun

Shane12m wrote:

Yeah, it's awesome! I've played it every night since launch. It's honestly the most fun I've had in a co-op game in a really long time.

OP updated with scores for Skull and Bones. It's sitting at 60 on OpenCritic from 10 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16299/skull-and-bones

@Archer that's probably GG unfortunately. Tough to stay in the hunt with a score that low. But maybe it'll go up a bit when more reviews come in?

Yeah, I knew it was a mistake not to edit my list and remove it. I even made a joke last month about not doing it. Should have actually done it. Oh well. Next year.

AAAA gaming's first game is a 60.

Kommie wrote:

Yeah but AAAAA is gonna turn it around. Once we hit that billion dollar dev cost games are gonna be good again. At least a 70.

I just watched some actual gameplay of the AAAA game, and wow. 60 seems about right. Looks like its Black Flag without all the actually interesting gameplay. This should have just stayed an addon for black flag like it was originally developed. Not sure how that took 11 years to make.

So is Skull and Bones just ship battles pretty much? Nothing hybrid on foot like in Black Flag? (Which I loved)

I've been putting Skull & Bones on my list for years...and this is the thanks they give me? Ubisoft titles are now banned from ever making my list again.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

My understanding is there is a wood harvesting minigame too.

benstylus wrote:

From the boat. All the mini games are timing mini games, and you do them from the boat. The start of the game has you running around an island to get supplies and money to built a boat. But it seems once you get the boat, that is all there is. The boat.

That is beyond pathetic. 5 delays and $70 later for a 16th century boat sim.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

At least you were smart enough to put it as an alt and not a main pick like I did.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Sounds like it was designed in the 16th century too

Heavyd814life wrote:

Agreed. So many people are playing it from my friend list. Usually I'm luck to have 2-3 people playing the same game I am. I have like 6-8 every night playing Helldivers. Always down to join a group and go bug/bot hunting. Looking forward to the return of mechs and all the other content possibilities.

After having watched around 3 hours of gameplay of Tekken 8, I'd say the 90 is deserved. Solid gameplay, good cutscenes, and a continuation to a story that, while I know little about, made me want to know more.

Found a little glitch in the gameplay. Not a big deal, just for fun:

image

There's a scene where the main bad guy is asked what his hobbies are.

Lol top game this year so far is Balatro. Can't believe nobody had that one.

sefjwm wrote:

Maybe because its rouge lite deck builder where you play poker indie game that no one knew existed until the other day, lol. I saw that score on there yesterday myself and was like, wtf is this game.

Oh noes, now it's dropping. I think there were a couple small indies nobody heard of last year in the top 10 as well.

Edit - looks like a bunch of them: Videoverse, Against the Storm, Turbo Overkill, Jack Jeanne, and even Pizza Tower kind of came out of nowhere.
And now I have a list of games to check out.

sefjwm wrote:

Against the Storm is fun, but I thought it lost its luster pretty quick. I played it for around probably 15-20, and it seemed like it would have taken five times that long to actually accomplish/beat this game. As a RTS Rogue-like this is definitely a unique one.

Turbo Overkill demo was cool. I picked it up yesterday before the same ended.

Reviews dropped for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth this morning. It's currently sitting at 92 from 57 reviews. Wow! It's on 26 out of 28 lists so almost everyone has it. I'll have the OP updated sometime this afternoon.

https://opencritic.com/game/15136/final-fantasy-vi...

Heavyd814life wrote:

I did not expect reviews to drop so soon. Nice!

lol of course eurogamer gave it an 8. I feel like they give most games an 8

Holy moley! It’s up to 93 now on OC. And even a 94 on Metacritic. Dayyyuuum!!!

Okay peeps OP has been updated. Looks like everyone is finally on the board!

This is going to be an interesting year! Thanks for doing these @Heavyd814life, they're always fun to participate in!

Wow another unheard of Indie over 90. Congrats FF Rebirth!