VideoGame_Discussion

Age of Wonders 4 - 9/10
Best 4x game I've played in awhile. One of those 'one more turns before bed, and then it's 2 am' games for me.

Nice! I’m interested in this one. Just waiting for a PS5 physical version or for the digital price to go down.

Archer wrote:

Recently came across a Goemon game for the GBA I had never heard of. Goemon New Age Shutsudou!

Played the first couple of stages, it's a fun little platformer. But I don't like young female Ebisu as much as the standout weirdo Ebisumaru from the original series.

Ratchet & Clank {} 8/10
Regretfully I just never got around to finishing the original Ratchet & Clank after starting it for the first time a few months ago. The end boss, combined with all the grinding I'd need to do for bolts each time I'd die (because you have to repurchase any ammo used before you died) was just too much. That was my introduction to the series and I really liked it besides the grinding and stuff that caused me to not finish it.

So I'm giving this PS4 version a try and it's a remake of the original game and like any remake should be, I think it is a better game and improved on most of the issues I had with the original.

First off the controls were improved over the original, not that they were all that terrible in the first place, but they definitely are better now.
In addition to that, the graphics actually impressed me. If this is what PS4 can do, then I'm really looking forward to starting the PS5 Ratchet & Clank next just to see how much better it looks.

Also added this time was a much-needed difficulty setting. The original game lacked that and I can certainly understand why so many YouTubers that played it as kids say they really struggled with the original game because I'm a grown ass man and I struggled too. I would have continued on with it, but again, that grinding is a mood changer. Thankfully there is a lot less grinding in this version and when you die you won't have to repurchase ammo.

I thought I'd get bored of trying to play this so soon after giving up on the original, but the updated graphics and improvements to controls help make me want to continue and I will complete it this time.

As big of a fan of 3D (and 2D) platformers as I am, I really don't know how I slept on this series for so long. I blame Super Mario Sunshine for almost killing my love of 3D platformers for most of the GCN/PS2/Xbox era. I slept on Jak & Daxter too, but I'm hoping to change that this summer and play through the trilogy.

TMNT Cowabunga Collection - 8-10 I loved this, finished so many Turtles games that I never played before and beat a few that I have many times before. It was nice to finally beat Ninja Turtles (Nes) after all these years. The collection also introduced me to my new favorite TMNT game Hyperstone Heist.. not sure why but I loved the hell out of it. I also would not mind a new Tournament Fighters game...

I need to finish Shredders revenge but I am a tad burnt out right now, maybe I will revisit it in a few months.

I started a couple of games in co-op with my friend a couple nights ago. I didn't like 2 out of the 3, but the one I did like was just far too difficult.

Wild Guns Reloaded {} 6/10
This is the one I did enjoy...for the little bit I played of it in single player. I didn't intend to play it solo though, I really only downloaded it for my friend and I to play in co-op, and for that the game is ridiculously hard and was a big factor in the score I gave it. In co-op the developers had the bone-headed idea of having the players share the same pool of lives (of which there are only 3 lives for you to share!) and there are no continues, so once you've used up those limited amount of lives, you are stuck having to start from level 1 again. You can select what difficulty to play on in single player, but not multiplayer. Again, I didn't download this to play in single player, so once my friend and I got frustrated by dying repeatedly, I uninstalled it immediately. Retro gamers will probably really like this one, though.

Haven {} 5/10
We only played this for about 2 hours, then my friend asked if we could just play something else next week (she almost never does that, if we give up on a game it's usually because I'm the one who is not enjoying it). This feels like a VN, sprinkled in with some turn-based RPG battles and then you and the other player going around these big fields collecting crap, and it's easy to get lost because too many of the areas look the same. There's some love story between the two characters that I recall reviews saying was actually decent and the best part of this game, but when the gameplay is as boring as this is I'm fine with not knowing how that story ends.

Enter The Gungeon {} 5/10
Of these 3 games this one was requested by my friend for us to play. It's no secret I despise pretty much the entire roguelike genre of games, and my friend is more of a casual gamer herself, so I don't know what it is about these games that she likes, but I'll try and stick with this one long enough until it gets frustrating enough that she finally accepts it's time to move on to another game.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond

8/10 so far from me and I’m on the second gym. Taking me straight back to my late early 20’s here.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Shame you didn't enjoy Haven. Loved it personally. It's just such a chill adventure game. The RPG mechanics are very standard and unremarkable, but battles are few and far between and I enjoyed that. Loved the traversal and the survival elements as well. It's funny because I don't know anyone who enjoyed it as much as I did. The people I know who have tried it also said it was boring. But yeah, the story and the interaction between the two characters is the main hook. It's honestly some of the most organic writing I've seen in a videogame.

Barro {} 3/10
I was browsing through my Steam library and I have no idea where this came from. I can't recall if it was in a Humble Bundle or if the developers had made it free at one point, but either way I decided to give it a shot and boy is it garbage.

This was clearly something thrown together in Unity with little effort by someone hoping to make a quick buck off achievement whores (apparently they don't only exist on PlayStation and Xbox) and I'll tell ya why: I booted this game up, then let it sit at the title screen for a bit while my Xbox controller was syncing to my PC via Bluetooth and I noticed a random achievement popped up, titled "a". A couple seconds later another popped up, titled "b". Again, this time titled "c". More and more achievements kept popping going through the entire alphabet (twice, capital and lowercase) and then some named after symbols like "/" and ">". I played a couple of races while they continued popping up. Within 15 minutes I noticed they finally stopped and I had unlocked 100 achievements out of 109 in total. It took around another 30 minutes to continue unlocking the ones that didn't automatically pop and you actually have to earn.

As for the game itself, it's garbage like I already said. There's no career mode or anything, just single races. 19 tracks in all, but you only need to race on the first 10 if all you're playing it for is the achievement points. The graphics are crap that would look outdated even on a PS1 and the engine noises/audio is so dull. If I could say one positive thing about the game, it'd be that the controls are alright, I guess. I mean, you're pretty much just pressing down the A button and steering the car, it's not complicated and I never needed to hit the brakes a single time because you're never going fast enough that you would need to brake. I kept the difficulty at whatever it was set to by default and I never lost a race.
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@Heavyd814life admittedly Haven is probably not the type of game I normally would play. It only made it onto my radar because it had co-op (though it feels limited for whoever is player 2). Do the choices you make really have any outcome on the overall story? Just from the couple hours we played I didn't get the impression they mattered very much.

Dead Space Remake (PS5) - 9/10 - DS via back-compat on XSX is rather fantastic, and I played the entire DS trilogy on XSX last year. But even still this is such a wonderful game.

I know a lot of where I need to go and what I need to do but have still enjoyed every minute of this. I just played through RE4 Remake (PS5) before this and honestly this feels very similar. So this feels like where we are in this gen's tech right now. But I find DS more interesting and engaging than RE4 Remake. RE4 was amazing until about 1/2 way through when it turned into a different game.

I don't want to start getting neg'd for RE4vsDS comments but DS is so damn good. The HUD being your character and weapons has never been done better. The 3D audio isn't as good as Callisto Protocol (where I could hear enemies in specific pipes above and around me) but it is nice and the controller rumble is constant and well done. Plot is great. I'm a fan.

I had a nice bit of luck when I found a flea marketer selling Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion for $5. I'd heard it was an underrated gem for the early 3DS, and I was looking out for it, so $5 CIB was a great deal.
[imgt w=1536 h=2048]https://i.imgur.com/twnRAcU.jpg[/imgt]

As it so happens, this is an amalgamation of the semi-recent Disney Epic Mickey series and Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse . So unlike the rest of the Epic Mickey series, this one is a 2D platformer that uses old characters, terminology, and moves. The evil witch Mizrabel has taken over the Castle of Illusion in an alternate world called Wasteland, where forgotten characters and video games wind up. She plans to steal Toon Heart Power from other Disney characters to get back to the Cartoon World and wreak havoc, so Oswald the Lucky Rabbit summons Mickey to thwart her.

The platforming is pretty good. You can bounce off enemies to gain vertical height and make them drop hearts or money. You also have the Magical Paintbrush from Kirby: Canvas Curse to fire paint or thinner projectiles. At certain times, you may be forced to use the Touch Screen to draw or erase objects from the world, whether it's creating a cannon to launch yourself or removing a spiky block. This becomes a minigame of tracing a predetermined shape or efficiently scratching out that shape, respectively, and the better you do on the minigame, the more effective the results. While I do like the concept, it honestly gets pretty repetitive tracing the same outline or deleting the same hazard a dozen times in a world. I also wish Mickey could run faster or dash forward; he's pretty slow on the ground and has a floaty jump.

Throughout the game, you'll run into many classic Disney characters in need of rescue. While GameTZ's audience may be familiar with the likes of Snow White and Pinocchio , Renaissance characters like Ariel and the Beast also appear. The most recent faces here are Rapunzel and Pascal from 2011's Tangled. (I personally think adding Wreck-it Ralph could've been a clever choice--this game released a few weeks after his film, and forgotten video games are established to enter this world, so it would've worked perfectly for everyone.) Either way, the developers clearly did their homework on these characters. They all talk convincingly like their movie counterparts and reference lines any fan will appreciate. The Peddler from Aladdin, for example, notes that I'm "only interested in the exceptionally rare," and offers to sell Mickey magic beans at one point. Mickey turns him down, saying that he knows magic beans all too well--a reference to the Mickey and the Beanstalk segment from 1947's Fun and Fancy Free. Donald none-too-subtly hits on various princesses, which seems to be a facet of his character, and I think started in 1944's The Three Caballeros. It's entertaining seeing Mickey meet and pleasantly chat with all these icons!

Every toon you save gets or joins a room in the Fortress, your home base. They then give you sidequests to do, which upgrade their room when completed and earn you Toon Heart Power. Since you need a certain amount of power to unlock the next world, doing these quests is inevitable. They usually task you with retrieving an item/character from a previous stage or talking to another rescued Toon. While I didn't mind it at first, it's definitely needless padding. Whenever they ask you to find their thing, the thing then appears in an already-beaten level, so it's not like you can pick up their item on the first trip to save time. The best you can do is take on as many sidequests as possible and then collect numerous things in one go. Additionally, upgrading every character's room to the max doesn't do anything whatsoever--not even a buff against the final boss or something. I needed to grind a little money to get that 100% completion, but I'm not sure that was worth it. The final world gives out the most cash per stage, and the stages there are a drag.

Lastly, the music is unremarkable, and Mickey never shuts up in play. He makes sound effects wth every action, which gets grating. Fortunately, the art direction is very high-quality! The sprites, backgrounds, and portraits are shockingly good, which made it all the more enjoyable to play. My total play time was 20 hours, though apparently most people complete it faster.

My rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix {} 5/10
A month or two ago I bought a Humble Bundle of kart racers and I decided this will be the first one I try. I hope the rest in the bundle can only be better than this.
Overall I'm not impressed with it. This is one of the most bland kart racers I've played in a while. It's not that it's a bad game, it just feels like wasted potential of the Nickelodeon license because they didn't even bother getting voice clips of any of the characters, which kills a chunk of the nostalgia factor that I wanted to play this for in the first place. When you hit an opponent with an item you don't hear anything from them that even acknowledges it, just the boring music that plays through each race. As for the controls, the karts handle alright, but the default assigned buttons are not ideal. The gas is assigned to RB and the drifting to LB. I'd personally rather have those assigned to the right and left triggers, so I go into the options menu to change it (it's a very basic options menu btw, you can't even adjust anything like the resolution) and while it does let you make some changes to the controls, you can't assign anything to the left and right trigger buttons specifically.

There are 32 tracks to race on, which is a good amount, however most just aren't well designed or fun to race on. A diehard Nickelodeon fan might be able to guess what track is from which franchise, but some of them still have me stumped. They just don't scream "Nickelodeon" the way that recent Disney kart racer got it right with that IP. The character roster is a decent size with 30 characters in total, but I'm not familiar with some of them, they're from series that started after I outgrew the channel. They should not be charging $40 for this and I'm glad I didn't pay anywhere near that for it.

MotorStorm: Apocalypse {} 8/10
Do you wanna know how I know this game released in 2011 without having needed to look it up? Because the minute you reach the title screen they start assaulting your ears with dubstep music. Gross.

Crappy dubstep soundtrack aside, this is a damn good game. I really wish Sony didn't kill this franchise off. These were good games, and among the nicest looking racing games of that console gen. Obviously they're no match for current gen racing games, but this one still looks good, and I really like the way the environments collapse around you, altering the track layout for the following laps (you can argue Split/Second might have done it better, but I think both games do it well for different reasons).

I have no problem so far with the track designs, though I haven't raced on them all yet. And the vehicles all control well (thankfully haven't been noticing any input lag because I'm streaming this on PS+ Premium instead of playing on the actual PS3). I really am liking this game, but if I could change anything about it, it'd be the soundtrack (I miss when consoles let us use custom soundtracks) and maybe the cutscenes (or how they're written) because some are just really corny. Oh, and also make the difficulty a tad easier. As much as I enjoy some of the MotorStorm games, I have not been able to actually complete one because they always reach a point where the CPU is just too damn good.

I’m up to the final boss, and Dead Island 2 has been a great surprise. I really expected it to be bad given how long it was in development and all the drama with new devs coming in. It’s really quite fun though (especially in co-op) and is giving me more Left 4 Dead vibes than Back 4 Blood did.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Great game, had a blast with it. I didn't do any co-op my first play through but I wanna go back and play as another character and try.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

It's been years since I played it but once I started getting familiar with the tracks I had a lot of fun with this back in that era. Learning what jumps between buildings were death pits vs potential shortcuts helped. The first couple times around each track was a bit too much trial and error though.

Layers of Fear {} 9/10
I'll start off with a pet peeve of mine regarding games like this: when I'm playing a horror game, I want to feel like I am constantly in danger. What I don't want to have to do, is stop and read these torn papers/newspaper articles that are scattered around an abandoned house/mansion just to be able to get a little backstory. So many horror games these days are guilty of this, and it just bugs me to the point where I just skip most of them. The only time I want to stop and have to read something is if there's an upcoming puzzle and the solution will be in whatever document thingy I'm reading, otherwise just find a different way to fill me in on backstory at the start of the game. At least this game works it into the story, because you're playing as an alcoholic husband whose marriage is falling apart and you and the wife are not on speaking terms, so you each leave notes to each other and that's basically how you'd communicate.

So that's pretty much my only complaint. The rest of the game is solid, and is one of my favorite horror games since Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The game does a good job of playing mind games with you, kind of like Eternal Darkness did back in the day, but this is way more scary, Eternal Darkness was like a kids game in comparison. There's a good amount of jump scares, but they don't overdo it with them. Keep in mind this is one of those "psychological horror games", so it's more about giving the player a creepy experience, there's no combat in it and you're not fighting back against these ghosts and demons because they only exist in the character's mind.

If I could change one thing, I think I would have chosen to buy this on PlayStation VR instead, as all horror games are just automatically going to be more scary in VR, like, that's been scientifically proven. I've heard it was a bit of a lazy port though.

Gotham Knights (PS5) - 6.5/10 - I finally put some real time into this and although you can find some fun here, it's clumsy, kinda dull, and the inventory stuff is overly complex. Being able to choose from a few characters (each with their own play style) is nice. But once I used Red Hood who had a distance gun weapon, that's all I'm ever going to use.

Crafting new equipment and merging/applying mod gems(?) to things makes you constantly check if you can upgrade something...and usually you can't. Most upgrade unlocks happen in batches as you complete core missions.

Because of how sparse and simple the game is, the "it's only 30fps" argument isn't an issue for me. It plays fine and looks ok. I got this for maybe $20-$25 and it's not terrible at that price, but it definitely doesn't have the fun factor of the Arkham Batman trilogy. For $20 or less this is decent. But I'm also starting to see (like Assassin's Creed) where you get to a point, and then are required to level up (to have a chance) at certain missions to continue the core plot. That blows. And I've seen more than a few side missions to clear buildings of enemies that literally have the same exact floor plan, same exact enemy placement, and same chests in the same locations. At this point when I start one of these I can breeze through the pattern in like 2 minutes now since I've seen it 4-5 times.

The batcycle is a nice ride but it feels SO unbelievable slow it's shocking. Eventually you earn traversal skills (Red Skull can just "magic jump" in the air continually to stay afloat) and although they are ridiculous, it does make the game more fun.

@PizzaTheHutt I presume that's the newest rerelease, if it's out now, correct? I played the original a few years back and the sequel earlier this year and found them both to be decent games, but near completely non-scary. Atmosphere was good in them, better in the first, but once I caught on to the idea that if I turn around the scene might change completely, then that tactic lost it's chance to affect me and the scare fell apart from there.

I finally tried out Immortals: Fenyx Rising (got it as part of a b2g1 sale at gamestop sometime last year)

I am sad that it is as good as it is. I really wanted to hate it. But it's really good. Totally a breath of the Wild ripoff in terms of gameplay so far except I haven't had my weapons break.

So because of that, BETTER THAN ZELDA.

I know that last line is trolling but I really liked Immortals and had far more fun with it than BotW.

Anxiouz wrote:

It's only a little trolling. I think the games are on pretty equal footing gameplay wise. Yes Ubisoft did a Ctrl-C Ctrl-V on a lot of the game mechanics, but they were great in BOTW and are great in Immortals. The obviously fake accents in Immortals are made up for by pretty decent writing.

Only got through the prologue but the lack of breaking weapons is pretty much the only substantial difference so far.

I guess that and you don't have to collect a million ingredients to craft/cook stuff. Which is also a plus for me nowadays after being crafted to death in so many other games recently. It's nice to have a game that is so straightforward for a change.

So yeah. better than BOTW so far.

I hear you. Immortals is great that you can just look out and see a ton of activity and stuff to do everywhere. So it was easy to find (or avoid) things and keep engaged constantly.

Been playing a bit of Pokémon Violet. I’m not sure what to think. I’m only a couple hours in and it feels disjointed. After the intro you’re pretty much left to your own devices. Which, ok, I like the idea of not being hand held. But I’m randomly running into battles where my opponent is an extremely higher level than me and I’m getting my ass handed to me and losing $800 poke bucks or having to forfeit and losing $800 poke bucks. If there’s a way to identify these higher level opponents (pre battle) I haven’t figured it out yet. There’s also noticeable performance issues (as others have mentioned). Like NPC’s looking like there walking through one those strobe lights at rave.

Yeah, I liked the game overall, but the execution of the open-world design was not done well.

Scott wrote:

Because its an Ubisoft game. This game is basically just Assassins Creed with a new overlay. Map barf galore. See that tower? You can climb it! And you have to. Otherwise how else will you unlock the rest of the map barf!

Archer wrote:

There is Tower climbing to unlock the map too? It really is Breath of the Wild 1.5!

benstylus wrote:

You mean Assassins Creed: Breath of the Wild. Copyright Nintendo.

benstylus wrote:

I felt this in my soul. My biggest complaint about the new Zelda games are weapons breaking like toothpicks. And Immortals is on my hit list next to play so good to know it isn’t sucky!

Again all I can comment on so far for Immortals is the prologue. But it was good!

Yeah I remember playing and enjoying the short demo of Immortals which is why I bought it. Been sitting in my queue for a couple of years now and finally going to get to it in another week or so.

The Fenyx formula gets old imo about half way through. Typical Ubisoft game.

The Quarry {} 7/10
It kinda bugs me that I had to "downgrade" to the PS4 version because I wanted to play this online with my friend and she doesn't have a PS5 yet and the devs made it so the PS5 and PS4 versions can't play together. Dumb decision if you ask me. You know what else bugs me? The whole reason my friend and I each bought this game is because we like this genre, and we are fans of The Dark Pictures Anthology co-op games this dev also makes. This too was advertised as a multiplayer game, but it's a freakin' lie. I guess it's multiplayer if you play locally and pass the controller around to the other player(s) in the room, but there's no true online multiplayer like The Dark Picture Anthology games have. By that I mean whoever is host is the one playing, and the guests (there can be up to 7) can help decide what choices to make during the story, but they'll never get to control any of the characters or unlock any trophies for themselves. I equate this to the same as you watching a YouTuber play this game and you type your suggestion in chat for what choice he/she should make and hope that they pick it. Other than that, unless you are the host you have no real control over anything and are stuck watching a 9 hour horror movie. I took off a point for that.

Alright, so besides that, the game isn't that bad. I do feel like the online multiplayer might've been false advertising, but the rest of the game is alright. We're liking the story so far. There's only a couple of chapters left and due to the lack of true multiplayer I don't think my friend and I are in a rush to replay this immediately after we finish, the way we do with the TDPA series.


@Slickriven It was the the original release. I didn't know there was a re-release, but I guess that makes sense why it is listed in my Steam library as "Layers of Fear (2016)". I guess I'll check out what the differences are between the two.

loztdogs wrote:

Looks like it takes about 28 hours if you focus on the story stuff.

If you focus on the ubithon of side quests I can imagine it would get less interesting over time.

Just like BOTW! The similarities never end

I liked Fenyx Rising but never finished it. Didn't get any of the DLC either. Maybe someday...

According to my Xbox profile I played Fenyx for 30 hours. I do remember hitting a point where some of the side activities felt too grind-y, but I spent plenty of time doing optional stuff to upgrade my equipment and I enjoyed that. Once you have lots of arrows and the skill that lets you control them in the air, it helps you chip away at tough enemies from a distance.

benstylus wrote:

The only part of BOTW that was crack to me side-quest wise were those shrines. Couldn’t get enough of them.

Ethan: Meteor Hunter {} 7/10
I had never heard of this game before coming across it in the PS+ Premium selection of Cloud Streaming games. It's a 2D puzzle platformer where you play as a mouse working your way through stages and you have to collect these things that allow you to freeze the world and manipulate certain objects to help you reach a higher platform (just as an example).

Why is the mouse doing this? Well, I couldn't tell you. I didn't bother to read the description in the PS Store if they explained anything, and the game itself had no opening cutscene to fill you in on any kind of story. Yet the game manages to be fun despite not knowing why I'm doing any of this.

It does get pretty frustrating though, and not only the puzzles but the sections of straight-up platforming too (I knew 8 years of playing troll levels in Super Mario Maker would come in handy someday). For that alone I will likely not finish it, but I'm enjoying it until I reach the point where a puzzle stumps me good enough, because this game isn't exactly a high priority, so I'm more likely to quit than to resort to looking up a guide.

Uncharted 3 via the Nathan Drake collection
9/10 so far.
After beating 2 Among Thieves in May, I didn't love that game and gave it a grumpy 6/10 on the Last game you beat thread and really that was dumb. It was a better game than that, just some things got frustrating for me and overall it was a bit too fanciful with over the top moments and bad stealth parts. I'm only a short ways into 3 Drake's Deception and really liked the story and setting and surprise of the opening. The backstory bit was cool and while the game still isn't great with stealth, so far the few levels and areas have been more enjoyable to play.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor (PS5) - 7/10 - This is more of the same, and it's still quite fun, but it's buggy as hell, the graphics are a bit of a mess at times, and it just feels like it lacked focus during development. I honestly don't know what the core plot is and I'm 4 planets in. It's a parade of characters, rumors (side missions), and lots of traveling. Adding fast travel is great but it's only necessary because the maps are larger than they need to be. I'm having fun but this definitely feels rushed out the door, even now with several patches.

Even bumping down to 1440p Performance mode results in regular screen tearing and bouts of poor framerates. I've encountered many times where it appears to be hitting 20fps in both modes. And I get about 2 crashes a night. Disappointing but I'm still having fun.

WWE 2K23 {} 7/10
I hadn't bought one of these games since the 2K16 version and a bit has changed over the years since then. I wish they'd just simplify the gameplay a little bit more.
I hate to compare this to the WWF games on N64, but I'm going to do just that. One of the reasons those games were so popular (and apparently still are, even though I feel they haven't aged too well) is because when a friend or relative would visit, they'd usually want to play even if they didn't give a crap about watching WWF on TV, the games were just that fun, and you could hand them a controller and explain everything they'd need to know to play within a minute. I don't think you'd be able to do that with this game. The matches are a lot more slow paced, just mashing buttons won't get you anywhere (so it's not noob-friendly). It's way more realistic than those N64 games which is both good and bad.

I feel like the Create-A-Wrestler Superstar mode is a little too in-depth for its own good. In WWF No Mercy I could spend about 45-60 minutes creating my own custom wrestler, and that would include his entrance, moveset and alternate attires. Just on my one custom wrestler so far in this game I've spent almost 2 f'n hours creating him, with over 45 minutes of that being spent on his entrance alone (which I'm still not satisfied with due to glitches involving pyro), and spending a lot of time on his moveset but there's no way I'm sitting there to preview every available option. 20 years ago I would have, but not anymore.

Having not played one of these games since 2K16 version, I feel the graphics in 2K23 are a little bit of a letdown, or maybe I just expected a little more from the PS5 version. I felt the PS3 and Xbox 360 WWE games were held back a lot because they kept supporting the Wii and PS2 for longer than they should have instead of just taking full advantage of the next-gen hardware and I don't want a repeat of that with PS5 and XSX, so maybe just cut the PS4 and XB1 versions after this.

I had fun with the showcase mode, however it overall was not as good as I was hoping for. It focuses only on John Cena and he's one of those "love him or hate him" guys for most fans. I personally am somewhere in the middle. I realize there will always be a place for guys like him in the the industry (good physique, charismatic, but somewhat limited in-ring ability) so the women and children have someone to mark out for. It was fun to revisit some of his more famous matches, but I do have some complaints:
- They really botched some of the presentation in this mode. There is no commentary in any of the matches except for the last two, it's all just generic rock music in the rest of the matches.
- At a few points some of the FMV clips are pixelated and gross, almost as if they ripped the clips off of old YouTube videos instead of getting them from WWE directly.
- During the matches some parts turn into a cutscene (a mixture of the in-game character models and FMV clips) to segue you into the next point of the match, but some of the cutscenes felt too long.
- They had to censor way too much stuff in the FMV cutscenes. Referee faces (wtf?), commentary team's faces, faces of the ringside photographers, and also the logos on John Cena's sneakers and wristbands. It looks terrible when you see all of those things on-screen at the same and having to be blurred out.

After that I tried out the MyRise mode which you use a created character to play through an original storyline. It offers two storylines and I've only played through one so far, but I liked it and it offers a few kinda inside references to the "smart" fans. They encourage you to play through it twice to see the different available paths you take depending on choices you've made but I don't know if I'll be doing that.
My original intention was to play through the Showcase mode and then toss this up on Craigslist by WrestleMania weekend to get some of my money back. I eventually decided I'm not doing that. After exploring more of the game's features and what it offers, I'm okay with keeping this in my collection for good. I doubt I'll go back to where I buy these games yearly, but I was pleased with this one after being away from the series for so long.

Slickriven wrote:


As good as the Uncharted games are, I feel like stealth is one area they never quite got right.

Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure! {} 4/10
Okay, let me explain why the heck I'm even playing this is because I had one of those moments where I loaded up the PS+ Extra/Premium Game Catalog and closed my eyes while pressing the d-pad wildly and I'd play whatever it landed on. Well, it landed on this and I wasn't backing down. I'm committed to finishing this turd.

I have not watched any of the Ice Age films (though I've heard by many they are considered the Citizen Kane of children's CGI films) and so I have no connection with this character or why he is the standout character of the series (at least I assume he is, since he earned his own game), but to put it simply, there is nothing remarkable about this game.

Even by "low budget licensed games aimed at making a quick buck off of clueless parents and their children who don't know any better and will play anything" standards, this is a pretty bad game. First off, the game itself plays like the generic licensed kid games from the GameCube-era, and in fact if I was watching gameplay of this on YouTube and the uploader said it was indeed a GameCube game being upscaled via the Dolphin emulator, I don't think I'd have a difficult time believing that, because nothing about this looks like it belongs on a PlayStation 5 (or PS4 or even PS3 for that matter). In addition to that the camera doesn't always play nice, so that also makes it feel like it fits in that GameCube-era of 3D platformers. They also don't take advantage of the DualSense unique features like the rumble (it is disabled by default in the options menu) or gyro, where there's one section specifically where the character falls off the edge of a cliff and you have to aim him through the center of hoops as he falls and that could have been cooler to do with gyro instead of the analog stick. The character is also silent the entire time except for some grunts when jumping or taking damage, that could've been covered up if the music was at least catchy but most time I don't even notice any BGM playing.

You might think I'm being overly harsh on a game that I'm clearly not in the target demographic for, but someone has gotta look out for these kids, so leave it to ol' uncle PizzaTheHutt.

There are much better licensed games for children to play than this, and I suggest starting them out with one of those South Park RPGs. That'll open their eyes real quick and as a bonus will give them something to talk about with their therapist when they get older.

Polyball {} 6/10
Basically this is a ball rolling game inspired by titles like Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball while also taking inspiration from games like Sonic The Hedgehog, Super Mario Kart and Trackmania.

I don't find it to be as fun as any of those games though. And graphically it has a kind of minimalist look to it. It's definitely not as colorful as Super Monkey Ball, instead it uses lots of gray and brown (at least in the dozen levels I've played so far).

There is a multiplayer mode, but at this point there is nobody playing online. There's also a message when you select the multiplayer mode saying something like "we know multiplayer is buggy and it's a miracle that it works at all", so that could have something to do with why nobody is playing it.

There's a level editor and you can upload/download custom levels, but I didn't mess around with it very long. You can also race against ghosts of other players, but I didn't bother with that as I'm not interested in speed running these types of games, I more like the challenge of just trying to make it to the ending of each level. While I wouldn't call this a bad game, I don't know how much more I'll play it. I probably wouldn't have played it at all if Sega didn't screw up the Super Monkey Ball series because this game lacks any of that charm...and monkeys.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Not sure how I feel about this one yet/10

I mean the the new formula of actually running around in a semi open world and watching your Pokemon battle it out while you run around and survey them etc is kinda cool, but I’m not sure how I feel about ticking off so many damn research boxes in the Pokédex to progress in the game such as catch an X amount of the same Pokémon, battle them an C amount of times, etc. Maybe I’m just too used to and too accustomed to the traditional Pokemon games. I’m only about 2 hours in so far and hoping the more I play it’ll click.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

I feel largely the same way about it. The lack of Pokémon variety doesn't help either. I abandoned the checklists pretty quickly and focused on the missions. Then the game is much more fun. I view the checklists as something people can go back to if they want to play more, but don't want to start a new game.

Wait you can abandon the check lists? I thought you had to do them in order to rank up and progress in the story?

The arceus end game is great.

I just completed Super Mario RPG for the first time earlier today. I enjoyed it. It was fun to see those characters/world in a RPG format. As an RPG, it was pretty short and easy - I just powered through the story and didn't worry about all the items or side quests. In battle controls are a bit awkward, but you get used to it. I only died during main story boss maybe two or three times. The mini games are kind of blah, but you can do them over and over for coins. Would recommend. It is on my available list now too if anybody is interested.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Some of them are required, yes, but they aren't as extensive as the list that max out a Pokémon's entry information. Most of the required ones are low like 5 or 10, with basic tasks.

TalonJedi87 wrote:
I had a similar thought and didn't continue playing the game (I was a couple hours in).

@DCGX Without giving any spoilers, if I skip all the non mandatory checklists, do I miss out on things in the game that are very worth it? Or is it more like, "do a bunch of tasks, and get a uniquely colored t shirt" type of reward?

nonamesleft wrote:

Well, I obviously didn't do them so I don't know for sure lol but I don't even think it's that. It's mainly completing the Pokedex entries.

DCGX wrote:

Ah I see. Thanks for the info. I’ll see if I can stick with it then. I like the new feel minus the Pokédex check boxes. It’s def a different Pokémon game than traditional ones.

Immortals: Fenyx Rising

8/10

This game is way too good for an Ubi title. It’s like a Greek Zelda BOTW and I am OK with this. It has quirky corny humor too which I mildly enjoy. I’m about halfway through and I am pretty hooked. Oh and PS. No crappy breakable weapons! Haha

Strider 2014 release
8/10
It's generally not very challenging outside of maybe the first attempt against a boss but it's quite a lot of fun overall and not short. I'm at nearly 7 hrs and only around 60% overall completion, though I suspect that all of the collectables might count towards the overall and I've found a decent amount, but suspect there are a good bit left. I've also collected all 4 of the colored slash skills and a good bit of the upgrades, so I would think I'm actually getting nearer to the end vs. what that 60+% indicates.
It's also sort of surprising (to me at least) a Metroidvania, with doors and such you need upgrades to access later, and that causes 2 drawbacks as there's really not any fast traveling and the map could be better with indicating if you've already visited an area behind a formerly blocked, but now accessible, doorway. So you can end up (if you choose to) backtracking to an area you thought you maybe missed but hadn't. It's not terrible and seems like if you explore on your own then enemies won't spawn in as much or at all in some cases in non-active story sections.

The Pathless (PS5) - 6.5/10 - This is pretty chill and enjoyable, and I do like it, but it only rarely gels for me. I like just heading in a direction towards a glowy thing and seeing what i find when I get there. Having to shoot to keep your speed is interesting too, and it feels great when in a zone, but I'm also finding it annoying at times and for such a core mechanic it can feel clumsy all too easily. It can take just one "wait, how did I miss?" to ruin your flow.

I also often get to a staircase-like wall I can't shoot myself up without lots of backtracking so I use the bird to go straight up, land to reset the flaps, and repeat until I'm at the top. It feels like an exploit because it kills all momentum (which goes against the entire premise of the game).

I got this for $20 which feels about right and is a good time for that price. For $40, no way.

Far cry 6 and inscryption added to ps plus, nice, had both on wishlist and hoped this would happen

Inscryption is so geat. Far Cry 6 I just could not get into

started playing Tacoma as it was added to ps plus recently, really interesting,“walking simulator” in space where you basically piece together AR memories to figure out what happened to the crew, about an hour into it

Death Stranding: Director's Cut {} 5/10
I wasn't sure what to expect out of this. Of course I had read what other people thought of it (and it was mostly negative things), but I still wanted to give it a shot and use it as a make up badge in the Game of the Month thread. I won't be getting that badge though, because I don't wish to spend any more time on this than I already have.

On the positive side, I like the 3D audio and it sounded very realistic the first time I heard a thunderstorm starting up (there was an actual thunderstorm happening outside irl too, so that was like hearing it in 4D or something). The soundtrack has also been decent, and I liked the ability to build bridges and ladders and leave them in the world for other players to be able to use. On the not-so-positive side, plain and simple I just find the game to be pretty boring. It's not even a bad game, and I've played and beaten plenty of bad games and posted about them in this thread, but I already know this would feel like a chore if I make myself commit to finishing this, and you know as well as I do that nobody likes chores.

Death Stranding is an acquired taste. I was not a fan of it for like the first 10 hours. Then it clicked. I still wouldn’t personally rank it higher than a 6/10 but I have friends who adore it for whatever reason. More power to them.

I finished Death Stranding, but didn't do any extra stuff. It was interesting, but not great.
It's too bad they are making Death Stranding 2 instead of something else.

I concur. Kojima could be giving us another Zone of the Enders but instead we’re getting Walking Simulator 2.

Walking Simulator 2 with more poison rain and Alan Wake enemies does not sound like a good time.

Oh yeah. I actually came to contribute something lol. Street Fighter 6 for PS5. Pretty dang good. Been doing World Tour mode the most because I don’t want to pay for costumes and colors. The grind is real, but enjoyable. I feel like they might have too many systems in place, and sometimes it feels overwhelming. Drive parries, drive impacts, different levels of super moves based on which button but you can only use 1 power of a super move (ie level 1 Shin Hadoken or whatever it’s called can’t be a level 2 or 3 no matter how many bars you have built up). Lots of returning characters have lots of different moves too, but still feel familiar. Graphics are great and the music is there. Nothing really that I’d listen to outside the game, but nothing offensive either. There’s a cool track that would be straight out of a Final Fight game if it were made today that’s pretty good. The new characters fit the aesthetic of what they’re going for in this game, but they wouldn’t have fit any other Street Fighter game. Capcom has been killing it lately, and I’m here for it. I don’t know if I want to give it a number score, but if you’re into fighting games this is a great one.

I suck at Street Fighter usually but I’m intrigued by the accessibility of SF6. I may pick it up on a sale.

Like a Dragon Ishin is just about what I’d imagine a Yakuza game being set in feudal Japan. 8/10 so far and I’m about 1/4 of the way thru.

They did make the controls a lot more accessible with the modern scheme. I defaulted to the classic because I’ve been playing Street Fighter for 30 years that way. I feel more in control with classic, but modern is also good.

Good to know. I played SF on and off for the past 30 years myself. I think I came close to being halfway decent at SF2 and almost SF4 for a bit but not without my hands needing wheelchairs for recovery first from all those ridiculous and complex combos haha if I get it I’ll def opt in for modern controls and be called a filthy casual and wear that title like a badge of honor. At least then my hands won’t need life support.

That’s fair haha. I’m a filthy casual myself. I don’t play online with others because I don’t need that negativity in my life. If there’s ever a GTZ Tourney involved I’ll do that but beyond friends I’m out haha.

Afterimage - This game is giving Hollow Knight a run for its money for how large the map is. I'd say it's at least an 8/10 game after around 10 hours so far. Some performance issues on Switch, but runs fine for the most part.

Guacamelee! 2 {} 8/10
It has been 7 or 8 years since I first played the original Guacamelee! game and so there are things I don't remember too well about it, but I enjoyed the game overall and got a few laughs out of the humor and the same applies to this game. It's a pretty good example of what a sequel should be: it takes what you liked about the first game and just gives you more of it. More of the same beat-em-up gameplay mixed with 2D platforming and Metroidvania elements (hearing a game described as "Metroidvania" is usually enough to make me skip it, but this one is doing something right) with more of the silly humor from the first game sprinkled on top. I think I'm nearing the end of the game already, I might have it beaten by tonight.

Trek to Yomi
7/10. Like the art style. Camera,reminds me of early Resident Evil. Neat little “pick up and play” game.

Finished SF6 World Tour mode. I’ll grind to get everyone’s second outfits that I can but otherwise it’s done for me. I did like it, but not enough to immediately jump into another play through.

Finished Tacoma the other day, short but compelling experience, recommended

Started Far Cry 6, so far so good but very early

Since the slay the spire topic is closed, just got to A20 with Watcher, that means all my characters have reached A20, i’ve beaten A20 heart run with Ironclad and Silent, haven’t done it yet with Defect, and haven’t tried yet with Watcher
A year ago i was convinced i’d never even sniff A20 or any kind of heart run, so im kinda proud of myself, just two more A20 heart runs to go and I can settle into more casually playing the daily climbs and random runs haha

you should be proud, way better than I'll ever be and I play often

Persona 4: Golden 8/10 so far and I’m almost done with the first palace. It’s a nice predecessor to P5 but so far for me P5 is still top dog.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

It’s funny how everyone’s fav Persona game is always the first one they played.

Pretty much! Haha