askew
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Posts: 6,603
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Post by askew on Sept 14, 2022 7:38:13 GMT
Toem (PS5) - 8/10 Played through and completed this today. Quite short, just under 5 hours to platinum it, but very enjoyable. You just walk around, talk to characters and take photos but it's done so well. I really liked the visuals too, although the music wasn't really my cup of tea. Would recommend.
I <3 Toem. There's an update coming out very soon with a new region to explore. If you liked Toem you might enjoy Chicory.
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Post by dfunked on Sept 14, 2022 7:55:30 GMT
That was one of the PS+ freebies wasn't it? Could do with a short and sweet game to get stuck into, so I'll have to take a look.
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mrpon
Junior Member
Posts: 3,552
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Post by mrpon on Sept 14, 2022 8:04:26 GMT
Yeah just added it this morning, looks serene!
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Post by LockeTribal on Sept 14, 2022 18:13:51 GMT
Toem (PS5) - 8/10 Played through and completed this today. Quite short, just under 5 hours to platinum it, but very enjoyable. You just walk around, talk to characters and take photos but it's done so well. I really liked the visuals too, although the music wasn't really my cup of tea. Would recommend.
I <3 Toem. There's an update coming out very soon with a new region to explore. If you liked Toem you might enjoy Chicory.
Cheers askew! Just read about the new update to Toem last night so will have to go back to it once that's released. Must take a look at Chicory too. Currently playing Little Nightmares which is another "small" game but with a very different vibe to Toem.
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Vortex
Full Member
Harvey Weinstein's Tattered Penis
is apparently a mangina.
Posts: 5,249
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Post by Vortex on Sept 14, 2022 21:55:05 GMT
Life is strange true colors.
Lovely as ever.
So long as they keep making these things and they're enjoyable, I'll keep playing 'em.
Relaxing. Occasionally moving. Not as great as the first, but well worth a run through.
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Post by Rubicon on Sept 16, 2022 8:53:01 GMT
Betrayer (PC)
This is a first-person adventure with some horror elements.
Positives first: it looks gorgeous with all the colour drained from it and not bad either with colour restored. The 17th century (think Assassins Creed III) setting might interest some but as with the rest of the game is not used to its full potential.
The game essentially asks you to wander about several small, open world areas listening for an audio cue to tell you something is nearby, then walk around in circles till you find it. This includes notes someone has tossed about which act as story, chests for gold to buy items and clues which are used in the spectral world. It put me in mind of a Slender Man type game without the chasing or any modern Ubisoft game with just the collectibles.
The spectral world is reminiscent of Limbo with its atmosphere but again underused. You will come across a ghost who is looking for someone and this is where the horror part kicks in. Speak with them and it becomes clear something horrific has happened but you have to faff about moving back and forth to advance the story with clues you've found. Don't have the right one then you have to wander about until you find it. Normally I like this sort of thing but I glazed over. There is no voice acting so all text and I'd pretty much forget what had been said with no way to go back and reread. There is no cinematic or recreation of events to show you what happened once a story is completed which would have been interesting and helped break the game up. It's Ace Attorney at its most basic.
This is all wrapped in infuriating combat. The game pushes you to be stealthy but enemies seem to see you halfway across the map (long before you hear or see them) and so it quickly becomes pointless.
You would need to be role playing pretty hard to get any enjoyment from it. The game has an interesting idea but suffers from being open world and I think what it might have been like had it been more A Plague Tale that made better use of the setting and stories.
3/10
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Sept 16, 2022 19:07:53 GMT
You clearly gave it more of a chance than I did. I couldn't really get into it and outside of style a little bit nothing impressed me enough to stay with it. Combat, exploration, storytelling, atmosphere; it all just seemed kind of mediocre.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2022 12:13:00 GMT
A Plague Tale
It's an Aldi Naughty Dog game, so close to being great. Story is well told and there's some good set pieces and doesn't outstay its welcome. Even though it tries it's hardest to at the end with the combat. Hugo is really annoying.
7/10
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Gruf
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Even more taciturn than my name suggests
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Post by Gruf on Sept 19, 2022 12:21:17 GMT
The Artful Escape 8/10 Thought I would get my PS EXTRA money's worth so downloaded a bunch of games, this being one of of the few I didn't delete almost right away.
Terrific, looks gorgeous, no risk gameplay, just the right length, lovely music and a few chuckles. Completed over the weekend, well worth the time.
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Post by bichii on Sept 20, 2022 17:34:37 GMT
Hellsinger.
Doom meets guitar hero. Great soundtrack, great gameplay. Flows so well and when it as comes together it's a beautiful game like doom. Some annoying boss fights sour it a little bit but still a great fun game.
7.5
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Post by Trowel 🏴 on Sept 20, 2022 17:40:21 GMT
Maquette - 6/10
A decent concept let down by its execution. The designers either lost their nerve or ran out of ideas halfway through, and fell back to some generic FPS puzzles which really spoil the overall experience, not to mention the key controls for picking up and placing are absolutely awful at times. A great soundtrack, but sadly the game is swamped in an endlessly derivative West Coast narrative overlay.
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Duffman5
Junior Member
big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
Posts: 1,332
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Post by Duffman5 on Sept 21, 2022 8:32:46 GMT
Dragon's Dogma DA and it was feckin brilliant. 10/10
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Post by FlexibleFeline on Sept 21, 2022 13:27:36 GMT
Steelrising - 7/10
Finally got to the end. The game outstays its welcome by 3 or 4 hours; the issue being I was pretty overpowered and when the challenge is sucked out of encounters so is the fun. And it was really annoying that one of the burette (i.e. estus flask) upgrades simply didn't appear in my inventory after raiding it from a chest.
But overall, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who fancies the idea of a slightly rough very souls-y melodramatic romp through steampunk droidtastic revolutionary France.
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Post by dominalien on Sept 21, 2022 19:45:34 GMT
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox on Steam Deck
Not as good as VIII, but still excellent. When I first heard about the premise with the city I wasn't enthralled, but they pull it off very well and it's all just great. Standard Ys fare, really, but obviously it's a high bar on any given day.
The Deck plays it just fine at 40 fps and 10W TDP, with some dropped frames when traversing the city and in some dungeons, especially when using the seeing skill. A single instance of graphical errors on some huge blocks towards the end in one level.
And since playing on the Steam Deck makes everything automatically 1 point better, it's a hearty 9/10.
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hicksy
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I'm good for some but I'm not for everyone
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Post by hicksy on Sept 21, 2022 20:27:12 GMT
The Quarry (PS5)
I am a fan of this style of game and for the best part the graphics and delivery of the story are terrific and really builds a sense of dread and pressure through and into the mid game. In the final third I felt that in some scenes it was too difficult and I lost characters to what felt like quite cheap and unavoidable deaths. I also felt that once the big reveal took place on the type of threats you face a lot of the fear fell away and it was more just a straight up fight for survival. Some good characters and competent to well acted scenes. Good setting.
All in all very enjoyable and well worth a few play throughs but maybe not subsequent and could use a break in between. I do also wish that they had a unique filmed ending for each set of characters who survived rather than the checkbox style end they went with regardless but can see how that would be very complex.
8/10
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malek86
Junior Member
Pomegranate Deseeder
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Post by malek86 on Sept 21, 2022 21:00:41 GMT
Sunset Overdrive (PC)
Ok, so I guess open world is very hard to do right for my taste. Traversal here is pretty fun, but also quite shallow and after a while stops feeling rewarding. Shooting is passable, but missions and sidequests are quite repetitive. Style in spades, but that's not enough to cover for the gameplay really.
Basically it's just the story and dialogue that kept me from dropping it early, and good thing Insomniac made sure the dialogue is as funny as they come. Also, the game is not that long, so I was done with the main story in about 12 hours.
The PC version runs at 60fps so that's much nicer than the Xbox One version, even if on my laptop it did have some annoying stuttering. It also includes all the DLC, but I'm not really up for more. Maybe in a far away future?
6/10
I really do wonder, from people who have played both, is Spiderman any better?
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scanline
New Member
Building a better whirlpool
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Post by scanline on Sept 22, 2022 6:50:34 GMT
I really do wonder, from people who have played both, is Spiderman any better? Yes.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2022 7:02:35 GMT
Absolutely.
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rhaegyr
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Post by rhaegyr on Sept 22, 2022 10:13:06 GMT
Spiderman absolutely nails the traversal and combat but the actual tasks/side-quests are the usual Ubisoft open world copy and paste fluff that get boring/repetitive very quickly.
Didn't love it as much as other people did and think it got more of a pass than similar open world games simply because it's Spidey.
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Post by Phattso on Sept 22, 2022 12:31:58 GMT
Spiderman absolutely nails the traversal and combat but the actual tasks/side-quests are the usual Ubisoft open world copy and paste fluff that get boring/repetitive very quickly. Didn't love it as much as other people did and think it got more of a pass than similar open world games simply because it's Spidey. Being a bit harsh there. While there *is* a lot of Obi-trash in there, the mainline story has a bunch of really cool set pieces and encounters and some of my favourite boss fights of recent years. The moment to moment combat is also arguably better than most games in the genre, albeit a little repetitive by the end against the rank-and-file enemies.
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rhaegyr
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Post by rhaegyr on Sept 22, 2022 12:38:32 GMT
Spiderman absolutely nails the traversal and combat but the actual tasks/side-quests are the usual Ubisoft open world copy and paste fluff that get boring/repetitive very quickly. Didn't love it as much as other people did and think it got more of a pass than similar open world games simply because it's Spidey. Being a bit harsh there. While there *is* a lot of Obi-trash in there, the mainline story has a bunch of really cool set pieces and encounters and some of my favourite boss fights of recent years. The moment to moment combat is also arguably better than most games in the genre, albeit a little repetitive by the end against the rank-and-file enemies. I thought I was pretty fair - I even agreed that they nailed the combat and spoke specifially about the tasks/side-quests being dull and repetitive, not the main story. Agree about the boss fights (except Rhino, bleurgh).
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Post by Phattso on Sept 22, 2022 12:52:17 GMT
No. It was 100% unfair and you're a big stupid head and I hope you're ashamed of yourself. I'm not a comic book guy, so it being Spidey means fuck all, but it was a decent enough romp for me. A lot of people criticised the Arkham-lite combat and the cut 'n' paste side quests too if I recall, so it didn't even get all that much of a pass. Solid 8/10 for most people, I'd imagine, and for sure brings more to the table overall than Sunset Overdrive. Especially in the story stakes. I think I gave it 6 or 7 by the end, because the combat really did grip my shit in places with some annoying difficulty spikes.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Sept 22, 2022 13:08:09 GMT
I think the problem is that it made use of an already pretty stale formula and one that has been improved on in the four-ish years since it came out.
I really enjoyed it on release but I did find it dragged and skipped the side content when I replayed the remaster recently on the PS5. I dont think its the fault of the game, specifically, its just that the ubi map spam is absolutely done (for me at least. I started playing fenyx rising, my first ubisoft open world game since AC3, this week and am on the verge of dropping it entirely).
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MolarAm🔵
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Bad at games
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Sept 22, 2022 13:26:23 GMT
Feels like it might be better to wait for a price drop on PC then. I'm sometimes in the mood for icon-clearing, but the current price for the Spidey version of that is pretty steep.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2022 13:32:18 GMT
Don't even know what they can do to keep it fresh for the second one, especially if its just set entirely in New York again. Not sure I can really be arsed with another expansion pack type game.
I'm hoping the Wolverine game they're doing is just a straight up linear stab em up.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2022 16:21:21 GMT
Yeah, I'm more optimistic about Wolverine too.
I do agree that the story and set pieces are what make the Spidey games great. If you're talking about side content specifically, it is a lot of Ubi bloat, challenge rooms and the like. People have said Miles Morales is paced better, but I disagree. The story is shorter, but it still has the same repetitive side content, so if you were interested in 100%ing it, it's actually worse.
They're really fun games though, from the campaign, to swinging around the city, to the combat.
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Post by simple on Sept 22, 2022 18:56:41 GMT
I think Miles is worse for being repetitive than the original game. Its the base clearouts that are the weakest part of both (and 1’s dlc is almost exclusively those) but the story content and the amount of fun playing as Spiderman is balances it out for me.
Stuff like the backpack collectible and pigeon hunts don’t feel like Ubi-chores because the traversal is so good its just lovely having another excuse to swing about.
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Post by Trowel 🏴 on Sept 24, 2022 22:10:13 GMT
The Artful Escape - 8/10
I can't remember who mentioned this recently, but: thank you! (it's on the PS+ collection at the moment)
I went into it completely blind (strongly recommended), and what I initially feared would be another twee West Coast acoustic guitar-backed adventure rapidly turned into a game with some of the best sound design in... forever? Beautiful audio throughout with many uplifting moments, backed by an incredibly stong voice cast.
Gameplay wise it's probably the most basic game you'll ever play - essentially Simon with a hint of Journey at times - but that passive approach fits perfectly with the concept of the soundtrack forming the landscape. Some more stage battles would have been most welcome, as it clocks in at 5-6 hours. Makes for a really easy platimum though. Special mention for the character customisation, which silently introduced one-stop shop navigation, which I now want to see more of.
It's not often I can genuinely say that a game will live with me for a long time, but this absolutely will. However, for now... The Furious General has left the building!
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Post by Samildanach on Sept 25, 2022 13:42:27 GMT
Detana Twinbee /Bells & Whistles (ArcadeArchives PS4) Feb '91 original release I've never been a fan of the Twinbee games due to the extremely irritating bell mechanic. Parodius did it far better employing the bells as bonus score or special attack items, as opposed to the very way to power up your ship like here. Other than that we have a decent game, like all Konami shooters, thet has some nice visuals and pleasingly manic but not excessively hard gameplay. That is however till you reach Loop 2 which has such a large increase in difficulty it clearly was designed as: 'get off the arcade machine and let someone else have a go'! Hmm...3/5?
OutZone (Astro Mini V) '90 A lesser know Toaplan shooter that plays a bit like a top down run and gun. 'Run' definitely, as you have an energy meter that constantly depletes resulting in you losing a life and going back to the last checkpoint if you don't get to the next energy pickup. That way the game is a cleverly often giving you the choice on whether to charge forward and hope you come through unscathed, or methodically move on, carefully taking out enemies in an attempt to not be overwhelmed. Obviously the correct thing to do varies a lot in each level. The visuals are astounding for a game made in 1990 and still look fantastic today. Yeah this one is great, my only criticisms being the lack of boss music (an issue in most of Toaplan's early shooters) and my personal preference to having the free motion of a flying player character, rather than a ground-based one. 4/5
Earth Defence Force (ArcadeArchives PS4) Mar '91 A horizontal shooter developed by Jaleco themselves that was later ported (with some changes to the later levels) to the SNES. This is the arcade version and I thought it was pretty good. Difficulty was about right and there was no annoying gimmicks to the gameplay. The levels begin on Earth, including an initial fight in the clouds, a slightly dreamy city, a generic lava cave, a sea battle with impressive weather variations before a generic baddy base. The final level tops it all as you lift into the stratosphere, fly through space wreckage before entering the creepily almost deserted final base, all to the tune of fantastic music. Indeed the OST is pretty good on the whole, with the very obvious exception of stage 3 which sounds like it was a placeholder track that never got replaced. The SNES version (which I will get to later this year or next), replaces the two dull levels with two better ones, but also changes the great sea based level for a generic watery cave. As a whole, it perhaps plays it rather safe and didn't do much to move the genre forward, but what it does do, it does very competently. 3.5/5
Hitman Season 1 After doing absolutely everything on the tutorials and Paris mission I got burnt out and just played each level (plus all dlc variations) once or twice. I'm not really the sort of player who likes to aimlessly pootle and experiment, so I won't be getting the other seasons. It was alright I guess?
Nier Replicant I loved the PS3 original but found replaying this game a bit boring...but replay it I did as I wanted to see the new content. One part is found in the second part of the game. Short but sweet. The second is found after beating the whole game once (of which the second half is essentially returning to the same areas and dungeons as the first half) before beating the second half again... before doing a lot of dull sidequests to get all the weapons and replaying the final level twice more to get all four original endings...before playing the first third a final time. The original PS3 playthrough was worth it due to the very clever different perspectives you witness once you repeat the game. This time, I knew it all and was bored out of my mind and so nearly gave up...would the very final episode be worth all this pain? How could it be after all this endless repetition?
It was. It was bloody awesome. Yoko Taro you are both an absolute bastard and a genius.
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Post by harrypalmer on Sept 27, 2022 10:39:37 GMT
Loop Hero (Steam Deck) 7/10
A super interesting game, with an ingenious concept. It's basically a rogue like deck builder where your character crawls around a procedurally generated loop fighting enemies which you spawn by placing cards around and along the loop. After 10 hours I thought this would be one of my favourite games, it has a lovely dark fantasy pixel art style, crunchy chip tune soundtrack, and the story is interesting and funny.
However, everything after that 10 hours (total playtime was 50hrs) was a bit of a grind! The gameplay just doesn't progress, and is simply not varied enough. I will say that the final act was a return to form as it forced me to adopt a much more aggressive playstyle - so perhaps if I'd done that sooner I'd have progressed a lot quicker.
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