Ulythium
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Lily-livered
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Post by Ulythium on Mar 16, 2023 23:31:48 GMT
BioShock Infinite.
There were some gameplay changes on which I wasn't quite so keen (e.g. only being able to carry two guns, and first aid kits not being portable consumable items anymore), and others I really liked (e.g. being able to equip a Plasmid Vigor and a weapon at the same time), but overall it was another superb experience.
As much as I loved Rapture, I was ready for a break from it after two full games, and Columbia made for a great alternative setting.
Elizabeth was an NPC companion done right - likeable, helpful, and never made me feel as though I was playing Escort Mission: The Video Game.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that it's the newest of the bunch, the combat in Infinite was better than ever; not on a par with dedicated FPS games like Titanfall/Apex [insert your own benchmarks here], perhaps, but very good indeed all the same.
It's with a small measure of sadness that I leave the BioShock series for the time being - I've had The Witcher 3 on my desk for two months, and I've been waiting to play the PS5 edition for two years, so it's high time I jumped into that! - but I'll be back in the future to play Minerva's Den and Burial at Sea, to which I'm already looking forward. (Oh, and I officially can't wait for Judas, now.)
Probably my second-favourite gaming trilogy after Dark Souls.
9/10.
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Frog
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Post by Frog on Mar 17, 2023 10:57:22 GMT
Steamworld dig 2
Completely missed it at the time. It's an excellent metroidvania game and well worth your time.
Only criticism is that there are more upgrades than game length so you are unlikely to get anywhere near using them all. Also the combat isn't great but it's not really a massive part of the game.
Solid 8/10 from me.
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JonFE
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Uncomfortably numb...
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Post by JonFE on Mar 17, 2023 11:13:16 GMT
Ulythium I really should stick with the Bioshock games, but every time I start one, I get sidetracked by other games; glad you liked them mate!
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Post by dangerousdave on Mar 17, 2023 13:15:15 GMT
I loved Steamworld Dig 1 and 2. Great little games. Hope there is a third and final one down the line.
I'm also playing Bioshock Infinite, albiet very slowly. Hopefully my next post in here is for finishing that and not something else.
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rhaegyr
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Post by rhaegyr on Mar 17, 2023 13:19:42 GMT
I loved Heist just as much as 1 & 2 - would love a sequel.
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Tomo
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Posts: 3,261
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Post by Tomo on Mar 17, 2023 13:26:36 GMT
Bioshock Infinite is the best Bioshock. Haters gon' hate. Glad you enjoyed it Uly.
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Post by deekyfun on Mar 17, 2023 13:36:24 GMT
I'm also one of those Bioshock Infinite people (scurries back under his rock).
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Duffman5
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big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
Posts: 1,332
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Post by Duffman5 on Mar 17, 2023 18:20:57 GMT
I'm also one of those Bioshock Infinite people (scurries back under his rock). sublime trilogy, each one is a stellar 10/10. I even enjoyed the mp in Bioshock 2.
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Frog
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Post by Frog on Mar 17, 2023 18:39:08 GMT
I loved Heist just as much as 1 & 2 - would love a sequel. I loved Heist as well, being an ex worms player it really scratched that itch brilliantly.
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Post by Hanimalle on Mar 18, 2023 17:01:49 GMT
Beacon Pines
This was an emotional rollercoaster for me, so much so that I might have teared up once or twice despite the fact that I'm not usually prone to bursts of emotion. The mix of cuteness and creepiness worked particularly well in this game. I also loved the narrator who brought this whole story to life with quality voice acting.
I could say more but I don't want to risk spoiling anything, just give it a try would be my recommendation for anyone who likes Visual Novel/Adventure games.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Mar 18, 2023 19:35:10 GMT
I played through Reveal the Deep today. It's a small side-scroller with navigation and some puzzling that takes place in a sunken ship. The story was serviceable, but it was really the atmosphere that carried it. Getting around could be a bit confusing.
Edit: Forgot to say that it essentially is a typical Lovecraftian story.
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Post by Trowel 🏴 on Mar 19, 2023 12:04:22 GMT
Played through Valiant Hearts recently. It's an odd piece of story telling that it occasionally hits you right in the feelers with the impact of WW1, and the next moment it completely breaks the immersion like the awful QTE medic mini-games. Also a lot of the scenes initially have some novel gameplay moments, with the dog and levers and pulleys... and then the next scene is the dog and levers and pulleys... and then the next scene is... So probably outstays its welcome by the end, but it's certainly a novel experience.
7/10
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Post by Rubicon on Mar 19, 2023 21:34:30 GMT
7. Resident Evil: Dead Aim (PS2 - 2003)
I had a hankering for some classic Resi cheese (boy does it deliver) so thought I'd give this a blast. It's the last in the light gun/Survivor series and mixes first person with third person camera. I played it with a controller without any issues.
It ticks all the boxes of things you'd expect from a Resident Evil but not quite to the same high standard. Bosses are a mixed bag and some of the enemies are irritating but overall I completed it in a couple of sittings and only died once. It's OK but no more than that.
6/10
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EMarkM
Junior Member
Well, quite...
Posts: 2,149
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Post by EMarkM on Mar 20, 2023 10:31:44 GMT
Pikuniku – Xbox Series X Game Pass
On our continuing quest to find family-friendly games that require more intellectual puzzle-solving than physical skill and twitch reactions, we selected Pikuniku from the Game Pass catalogue.
This whimsical "platformer-with-puzzle-elements" soon brought smiles to our faces, with its pleasant music and charming characters.
The story starts with a bit of a mystery, which I'm not sure ever really gets solved, but you soon get the hang of moving around and using the simple abilities that Piku has at hand (or foot...).
I won't spoil anything here, but it's easily found from reading the summary on the Store page that you find yourself in a village where all is not as it seems, and your objective becomes helping the locals to solve a major problem, whilst you also aid them with smaller, personal quests along the way.
It's great fun for everyone to join in on, swapping the controller around, voicing suggestions for some of the trickier bits and yelling encouragement (or groaning in sympathy) during the more technical platforming sections, which never get frustrating.
Looking at the achievements, we still have plenty to do having completed the story, so we're going to have a couple more evenings on it to see what we can squeeze out.
Highly recommended to its intended audience. 8/10. At least as good as Halo.
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Post by brainbird on Mar 20, 2023 12:45:26 GMT
If you like Pikuniku you might want to have a look at Carto, Wandersong or Donut Country.
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EMarkM
Junior Member
Well, quite...
Posts: 2,149
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Post by EMarkM on Mar 20, 2023 12:47:43 GMT
If you like Pikuniku you might want to have a look at Carto, Wandersong or Donut Country. We’ve done Donut County. It’s ace! Will take a look at the other two: cheers :-)
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Post by dangerousdave on Mar 20, 2023 13:31:09 GMT
I loved Carto. A very charming puzzler.
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Vortex
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Harvey Weinstein's Tattered Penis
is apparently a mangina.
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Post by Vortex on Mar 20, 2023 13:49:25 GMT
Turnip boy commits tax evasion is also a lot of fun like donut county. Not finished it yet, but getting pretty blimmin' close to it. I could have been done ages ago, but use it as my get 3 achievements for the weekly set for xbox rewards, so only play a bit every 2 weeks.
Mostly because I am still mainlining CoD MW2 DMZ like it's supplied via a digital crack pipe.
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Post by simple on Mar 20, 2023 19:05:45 GMT
Alien Isolation
Visual design and atmosphere, perfect. Obviously. Music, perfect. Gameplay, hasn’t lost an beat of tension. For a game getting close to ten years old that came out on the 360 its graphic and UI all still hold up remarkably well.
One minor issue, and something I think is ageing it quite badly, is that its very obviously too long. The main game should be 10-15 hours not 15-20 hours. The gameplay and story are both good but it does start to outstay its welcome in places. I think the recent Resident Evil games have shown that we’ve moved on from the length=quality attitude that was widespread at the time, especially when the game is so good and warrants replaying. There are even at last two natural conclusions along the way they could have used as a jumping off point.
Overall though, holds up very well and is still a very good game.
8/10
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Mar 20, 2023 19:16:04 GMT
Another even smaller game: Murder Dog IV. The titular Murder Dog is put on trial for a massacre and the player is tasked with going through it in some way. It's a mix of childlike drawings and selfironic writing as well as a lot of straight-up silliness. The game takes place in "Shit City" and one of the witnesses is the "Police King" for instance.
The mode of play is to click through the various options on screen, mostly by talking to witnesses and by dealing with evidence. Visual organization is pretty messy and the bits of text did cycle a bit too fast. It's not always clear how to progress to the next bit or what options are available.
The outcomes I got:
- Plead guilty and got executed.
- Mishandled the trial and got executed. - Won the trial and got acquitted.
- Ate the Jurors and Bailiffs and got killed by Napalm Bomb.
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Post by bichii2 on Mar 20, 2023 21:06:17 GMT
Breath of the wild for the second time. Didn't do as much this time but still did about 40 shrines and 60 seeds etc. Got all towers by one near the hidden forest. Pretty much the best game ever I think.
100/100
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malek86
Junior Member
Pomegranate Deseeder
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Post by malek86 on Mar 20, 2023 21:20:23 GMT
Another even smaller game: Murder Dog IV. The titular Murder Dog is put on trial for a massacre and the player is tasked with going through it in some way. It's a mix of childlike drawings and selfironic writing as well as a lot of straight-up silliness. The game takes place in "Shit City" and one of the witnesses is the "Police King" for instance. Murder Dog is, in very few words, the best indie game I've ever played.
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Post by GiacomoHall on Mar 21, 2023 22:39:32 GMT
Yakuza (PS2)
Enjoyed this for the most part. The narrative is good and the combat is fun if a little clunky. The game is definitely showing it's age and I didn't do to many of the side quests, but I liked it.
7/10
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Post by fonzie on Mar 21, 2023 23:42:16 GMT
Wo Long Fallen Dynasty.
Finished this over the weekend and then went straight into ng+. I was expecting there to be more of a challenge in ng+ or maybe some new enemy placement but it’s not too bad. I then spent quite a lot of time helping out random players or invading.
Overall, it’s quite fun but I played through it without really understanding the way levelling works and how weapons and armour suits certain builds. I think now I understand that more, I can focus my build a bit better for my next playthrough. The story is quite weak though and I didn’t really follow much of it. The gameplay is great though once you get used to the parry system. Will probably get the dlc when it comes out.
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Post by harrypalmer on Mar 22, 2023 10:09:26 GMT
Devil May Cry 5 - 8/10
I loved this. It's crazy, funny and a lot of fun to play. I can imagine giving it a higher score if I bothered to master the combat with all characters and SSS rank all the stages, but I was content just to blast through it.
My only complaint is that there isnt much variety in enemies or locations, and each stage plays out exactly the same. Which is a shame because the early levels are really interesting, but once you get into Hell it all just looks the same.
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mrpon
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Post by mrpon on Mar 22, 2023 10:11:04 GMT
Sounds like Hell.
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wunty
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Pastry Forward
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Post by wunty on Mar 22, 2023 10:42:00 GMT
Wo Long It's like the game they did before Nioh 1&2, not after. The stages are less inspiring, the enemies aren't as interesting, the mechanics aren't as deep, the loot is shit, the levelling is basic, the boss fights are too easy apart from maybe two or three, there are no decent sub-missions with their own little areas like Nioh. It's just not as good as Nioh. Where does that leave us then? Well, Nioh (particularly it's sequel) is a very high bar in my opinion, so to be not as good as that still leaves plenty of room for a good game, and this is a very good game indeed. The combat is just fucking beautiful, and that is it's saving grace. It is continuously bloody good fun from beginning to end, and sometimes that's enough. Team Ninja have yet to produce a souls-like as beautiful and atmospheric as souls but what's here is fine enough, although it's mainly caves, ruined villages / temples and battlefields. Could have done with something else but their options are limited based on the story they are trying to tell. There were no "wow" moments though and all were perfunctory at best with the usual loops and shortcuts. Lots of things that were quite annoying (why can't I easily just lock a weapon and mark it as the favourite? The only way I could see to do it was go to the blacksmith and go into one of the sub menus there, by which point I couldn't be arsed and just sold everything I had equipped), which mount up as you are playing detract from the experience too, but in isolation they were all quite minor. Nothing game breaking. It's good. Really enjoyable. It just REALLY suffers compared to Nioh and as the game is aesthetically and mechanically so similar, it's impossible to hold it up on it's own merits. Wo long and thanks for all the fish / 10
P.S. It's very much a game that I am happy to replay regularly though, and the DLC will be a no brainer.
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Post by pierrepressure on Mar 22, 2023 11:34:45 GMT
Metroid Prime Remastered - 9.5/10
I have fond memories of this from the original release so picking up the remaster was a no brainer.
The atmosphere is still incredible, the music sublime and the level design ingenious. The only thing that let's it down really is the combat, the feedback you get is virtually non-existent.
It also made me realise I never completed the original, I think I got stuck at Ridley as I didn't recognise anything after that.
It's a masterpiece but then I do think you need to have experience with the original, I think a lot of people going into it for the first time will not really see what all the fuss is about.
Metroid Fusion - 8/10
I still wanted more Metroid after I'd finished Prime and Nintendo rather helpfully added this to the Game Boy Advance list of games through the Nintendo online expansion pass.
It's a lot more linear than usual which I actually appreciated, it's a fantastic continuation of the 2D Metroid games that came before however some of the bosses can do one, had to look up a guide for one or two.
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Post by dangerousdave on Mar 22, 2023 17:26:52 GMT
I am playing through Metroid Fusion alongside Bioshock and even though its my 4th(?) playthrough, I forgot about a number of the bosses. Weirdly, if you know what to do, or figure it out quickly enough, they're very easy. Otherwise they can feel like a brick wall.
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Post by dfunked on Mar 22, 2023 17:45:53 GMT
Does the Switch GBA emulator have save states? I abused the shit out of them on my last playthrough, as some of the bosses can be fairly nasty indeed. I think I'd just finished Metroid Dread and wasn't in the mood for more challenges after that!
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