Recently completed game(s)

Just completed Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes today. I really like the idea behind this game, as a short prologue to a main game. It's neat, and a cool little self contained world. The shortness of the game doesn't bother me, particularly as this was a free PS+ title, but the fact of repeating the game with different missions is good. But I didn't get on with this game at all, and is easily the worst in the series that I have played (I've dropped in and out of MGS. My favourite, if you are interested, is actually Revengeance.) The controls were a constant battle, the military base seemed quite lifeless and dull, and ultimately the reward for this game is surely only valid if you play MGSV, which is not something I'm that interested in.

Updates in bold.

January
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor [PS4] - Platinum Trophy Unlocked 08/02
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood [Xbox One]
Valiant Hearts: The Great War [PS4]
Final Fantasy X: HD Remaster [PS Vita]

February
Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords [PS4]
Super Mario 3D World [Wii U]
The Order: 1886 [PS4]

March
Hyrule Warriors [Wii U]
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2: Atlas Mugged [PS4]

April
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

May
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

June
Halo 2: Anniversary [Xbox One]

July
Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition [PS4] - Hardcore Mode
Journey [PS4]

August
Batman: Arkham Knight [PS4] - Story Complete
Curse of Naxxramas - A Hearthstone Adventure [Mac/iOS]
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [PS3]
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes [PS4]

Just completed Resident Evil Revelations 2 and it's actually pretty good and certainly the best Resi since 5. I think it's better than the first Revelations too. It's not perfect though. It does have a budget feel to it belying its roots as a DL game. And despite being fully coop throughout isn't actually coopable! It would have been so much better with another human playing. And yeah the first episode is pretty sucky. But the other three episodes were great, with varied locations, some good puzzles and gameplay variation that made it a lot of fun to play through.

Inazuma Eleven on DS.

Loved it. Put just over sixteen hours in to complete the main story, still lots to do but I'm not going to bother.

Tomb Raider on the xbox one.... I loved it so much on the PS4 I couldnt help but play it again

I've just played through Tomb Raider again too, via Games With Gold, ahead of ROTTR which I'm getting at Christmas. 

Updates in bold.

January
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor [PS4] - Platinum Trophy Unlocked 08/02
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood [Xbox One]
Valiant Hearts: The Great War [PS4]
Final Fantasy X: HD Remaster [PS Vita]

February
Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords [PS4]
Super Mario 3D World [Wii U]
The Order: 1886 [PS4]

March
Hyrule Warriors [Wii U]
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2: Atlas Mugged [PS4]

April
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

May
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

June
Halo 2: Anniversary [Xbox One]

July
Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition [PS4] - Hardcore Mode
Journey [PS4]

August
Batman: Arkham Knight [PS4] - Story Complete
Curse of Naxxramas - A Hearthstone Adventure [Mac/iOS]
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [PS3]
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes [PS4]

September
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

October
The Beginner's Guide [Steam]

Updates in bold.

January
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor [PS4] - Platinum Trophy Unlocked 08/02
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood [Xbox One]
Valiant Hearts: The Great War [PS4]
Final Fantasy X: HD Remaster [PS Vita]

February
Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords [PS4]
Super Mario 3D World [Wii U]
The Order: 1886 [PS4]

March
Hyrule Warriors [Wii U]
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2: Atlas Mugged [PS4]

April
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

May
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

June
Halo 2: Anniversary [Xbox One]

July
Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition [PS4] - Hardcore Mode
Journey [PS4]

August
Batman: Arkham Knight [PS4] - Story Complete
Curse of Naxxramas - A Hearthstone Adventure [Mac/iOS]
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [PS3]
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes [PS4]

September
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

October
The Beginner's Guide [Steam]
Destiny Expansion II: House of Wolves [PS4]
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered [PS4]
Blood Bowl II [PS4] - Campaign


I had a weekend to myself so I got some serious gaming in!

I started off by going back to Destiny and clearing off the remaining bits of House of Wolves content I needed to do. It also meant I could do a bit of "try before you buy" for the Taken King and the gamewide changes it has introduced. 

Overall I really enjoyed House of Wolves, the story missions were fun and it told a reasonably self-contained story of warring Fallen factions. It really helped flesh them out and made it clearer than ever to me that they are Destiny's version of the Green Martians from John Carter of Mars. The Trials horde mode is also a lot of fun to play. Even if though to the caps imposed on me for not owning the Taken King made said enjoyment short-lived. 

Still the game wide improvements Taken King brings mean that the grind of the game is mitigated and you are now receiving a steady stream of new gear and loot rather than the old model of getting one bit of good gear every now and then. There is now always something new to get/do and you can get to it quickly. 

The downside for me at least is that because I don't own the Taken King (yet) I feel like I am being punished for not upgrading to it. Daily Missions, Strikes, etc. are now locked off to me. As are the scaled Vanguard Playlists. Then there is Crucible which is limited to me playing on three "Classic" playlists with a strict selection of game types and maps. Finally the game's new Marks currency is completely locked off to me, meaning that even though gear for my current level cap (34) is available for me to buy with them I can't actually get them!

I can understand balance and compatibility issues being at play for some of these but things like the Vanguard Playlists, Dailies and Marks not being available to me just seems like Bungie are intentionally limiting my experience with the game so I am pushed into buying the Taken King sooner if I want to keep playing.


I then spent Friday night and Saturday playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered and really enjoyed it. The first Uncharted game is perhaps the weakest out of the three but it was great to re-visit it and see where the series has gone from relatively humble beginnings. (Pun intended!)

The scale of the first game is much smaller and intimate compared to 2 and 3's globetrotting adventures. It takes place across a few key locations and even has the player backtracking over a few of them towards the end of the game. Yet it doesn't feel forced or less of an experience because of it. 

The improvements made in this remaster are very welcome. There are now unified controls across all three games meaning that the refined shooting and grenade mechanics of 2 and 3 are in the first game. Drake's Fortune also sees improved character models to bring it up to date along with the overall improvements. The framerate jump from 30-60fps was a bit jarring at first because it made the animations seem off, particularly in cutscenes. But after a couple of hours of play I got used to it. For me though that just seems like a bullet point improvement to appease the graphics snobs of the world. The improved resolution, draw distances and models are bigger wins for me. 


Finally I finished the Campaign mode for Blood Bowl II on Sunday. The Campaign itself serves as a good gradual introduction to Blood Bowl and teases out a tutorial over several games. Ending with you having a few games with all the rules in place with the odd twist or task being introduced. It wasn't overly challenging with games I lost mainly being down to a bit of bad luck (such is the nature of the "sport"). Also if you know the rules for Blood Bowl inside and out that the first half of the campaign can be a bit of slog. I did enjoy the story it told though. I thought it used the lore of Blood Bowl well and wasn't afraid to have a few laughs at itself. So if you are a fan of the older more wacky Game Workshop before they went full on into Grim Dark it is worth checking it out.

I've still got both Singleplayer and Multiplayer leagues to enjoy and so far my Dwarven team is doing rather well in an online league I am a part of

Finally completed Sonic Advance 2 on DS.

That final boss was a right pain in the arse.

Completed hard mode on Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

Updates in bold.

January
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor [PS4] - Platinum Trophy Unlocked 08/02
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood [Xbox One]
Valiant Hearts: The Great War [PS4]
Final Fantasy X: HD Remaster [PS Vita]

February
Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords [PS4]
Super Mario 3D World [Wii U]
The Order: 1886 [PS4]

March
Hyrule Warriors [Wii U]
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2: Atlas Mugged [PS4]

April
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

May
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

June
Halo 2: Anniversary [Xbox One]

July
Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition [PS4] - Hardcore Mode
Journey [PS4]

August
Batman: Arkham Knight [PS4] - Story Complete
Curse of Naxxramas - A Hearthstone Adventure [Mac/iOS]
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [PS3]
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes [PS4]

September
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

October
The Beginner's Guide [Steam]
Destiny Expansion II: House of Wolves [PS4]
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered [PS4]
Blood Bowl II [PS4] - Campaign
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered [PS4]

Just completed Everybody's Gone To The Rapture, a flawed but interesting game. It is a walking simulator, as I've read it described. You just walk around this amazingly picture perfect recreation of countryside England. That was its biggest draw, and still the main reason to play it. The graphics are stunning, and it was a delight to walk around these familiar environments.It's just a shame that you walk SO slow. I understand that was part of the intention, so that the player doesn't rush, but when you really want to get somewhere, say, backtracking for example, going at such a slow pace is a pain. The story it tells is nicely ambiguous, partly on purpose, as there is a nicely building sense of horror as you play through, and you realise what is happening and there is a nice balance of soap opera style storyline, plus main end-of-the-world story. But at points the story is just too vague, too random, or too spaced out, it can be unclear, and it was frustrating not being able to follow it correctly. I tried my best to explore as much as possible, and the game took me over 7 hours to complete, which is more than what it appears most people complete it in, but still I have the annoying nag I missed stuff. Anyway, it was good, but make sure you know what you are buying and expect that, before jumping in with it.

You know you can move faster right?

There was big thing online about it after release.

Yeah...it's very much a LITTLE bit faster. 

I was thinking about the game last night and I did really like it. It's also hard to be too critical when only a small team managed to create all that great stuff that is in the game. But I realised it wasn't quite what I expected even though I did do a lot of research before deciding to get it to try myself. I think I expected more Alan Wake without the combat. I thought AW's creation of small town America and surrounding countryside was brilliant to explore. I would have liked more if that in Rapture. It's always a bit disappointing when you see a football and you can't kick it instead you walk over it. I still think there could be a good game in an Alan Wake style game but minus combat.

Wolvieware wrote:Yeah...it's very much a LITTLE bit faster. 

I was thinking about the game last night and I did really like it. It's also hard to be too critical when only a small team managed to create all that great stuff that is in the game. But I realised it wasn't quite what I expected even though I did do a lot of research before deciding to get it to try myself. I think I expected more Alan Wake without the combat. I thought AW's creation of small town America and surrounding countryside was brilliant to explore. I would have liked more if that in Rapture. It's always a bit disappointing when you see a football and you can't kick it instead you walk over it. I still think there could be a good game in an Alan Wake style game but minus combat.

 and minus Alan Wake

I've had Everybody's Gone to the Rapture on my to buy list for a while. I think I might pick it up sooner rather than later now.

I loved Alan Wake until any shooting or fighting or enemies appeared. As an exploration game like Rapture it created a very believable and enjoyable environment to explore. It seemed quite real like Raptures Shropshire.

Complet d Uncharted Remastered the other day. Enjoyed more than ever this time for some reason.

Just completed Until Dawn, and it's brilliant. We've all watched horror films and thought that characters made stupid choices. But with this, we are in control! And its great! It really is like choosing your own horror adventure, and later on in the game, seeing how choices have played out is just superb. It's a good mix of horror, mostly I Know What You Did Last Summer (Winter?), Saw, The Descent among others. And some of it is just gripping, my favourite scenes being an ouija board scene, a run through an asylum, and a haunted house segment. The characters are well done, from annoying, to likeable, and its interesting to see how their stats change throughout the game. Trophies are the bane of this kind of game, as they make you play in a certain way, so I avoided all knowledge of them (easy to do as they are all secret) and like Beyond and Heavy Rain, the intention was ultimately there to replay the game and see how it can differ, but having now completed, I don't really want too. My story has happened, and it might lessen it by seeing all the possible outcomes. I ended up feeling the same way with the Quantic Dream games. Until Dawn trumps those, I think. It is my favourite "interactive movie" and I couldn't put it down. It will make it onto my (very short) favourite games of the year list.

I played Until Dawn when it first came out, I agree it's really good and one of the best surprises of the year. I like the similar Quantic Dream games so I knew I'd enjoy it, but even so it was a lot better than I though it would be.

I did play through it a couple more times though because I wanted the Platinum, which is pretty easy to get once you know what actions to take and decisions to make, and I like to see the different outcomes and endings.

Jak and Daxter 1 on the vita.  They really dont make them like this anymore.  Colourful adventure platforming / collectathons are so rare nowadays and this is really one of the best.  The level design is frequently excellent with a nice range of platforming and general exploration.  The controls are a little bit rusty, which did lead to some annoying moments as more precision was required towards the end.  Yet these moments never ruined was a fun, nostalgic and highly enjoyable game.

Flower, Sun and Rain on the DS.

What a load of cack. The puzzles were OK but the plot, characters and endless running around were just absolute tosh.

Just finished Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered. This game is a classic, and one I really love. The Indiana Jones vibe is still strong in this one, and it's easy to forget how refreshing a main character Nathan Drake was back on release. That said, I've not been as enamoured with the Remaster as perhaps some others. Yes, it looks great, and controls better than it ever did, but this third playthrough for me really showed the stop start, shooty part, platforming part of the level design. It doesn't really flow as well as I remember, and I found it got a bit repetitive because of this. But not to complain about a game that is still absolutely brilliant, and far better than many other games released this year, just perhaps not quite as good as I remembered it in my head. This has made me really look forward to playing the sequels though, and their more cinematic, set piece style.

Completed Halo 2 last week via Halo MCC. Less of a slog than original Halo and a good laugh in online co-op.

Updates in bold.

January
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor [PS4] - Platinum Trophy Unlocked 08/02
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood [Xbox One]
Valiant Hearts: The Great War [PS4]
Final Fantasy X: HD Remaster [PS Vita]

February
Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords [PS4]
Super Mario 3D World [Wii U]
The Order: 1886 [PS4]

March
Hyrule Warriors [Wii U]
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2: Atlas Mugged [PS4]

April
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

May
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

June
Halo 2: Anniversary [Xbox One]

July
Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition [PS4] - Hardcore Mode
Journey [PS4]

August
Batman: Arkham Knight [PS4] - Story Complete
Curse of Naxxramas - A Hearthstone Adventure [Mac/iOS]
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [PS3]
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes [PS4]

September
- Work, life and games without ends got in the way! - 

October
The Beginner's Guide [Steam]
Destiny Expansion II: House of Wolves [PS4]
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered [PS4]
Blood Bowl II [PS4] - Campaign
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered [PS4]

November
80 Days [iOS]
I finished my third attempt at beating inkle's 80 Days based on Jules Vern's book Around the World in Eighty Days. My first two attempts failed, the first was dreadful coming in at 100+ days, the second just shy with 90ish days, however this time I was on the ball. 57 Days!

80 Days is a brilliant narrative driven choose your own adventure that plays perfectly in small doses. You take on the role of Phileas Fogg's valet,  Jean Passepartout and have to help your master complete his wager in the time allowed by any means necessary via any route you can discover. What you get is a brilliant steam punk set story full of twists, turns and choices that actually matter. There a loads of possible routes to take all with their own narratives, adventures, characters and setbacks to your journey. 

The thing that really holds it together is the brilliant writing. You get so invested in the story and the relationships between the characters. During my three playthroughs I went from despising Fogg to having a genuine affection for him that made the ending of finally finishing the bet with time to spare have great emotional impact. We'd been through some stuff as they say and the ending encapsulated that perfectly. It puts Telltale's games to shame with its simple presentation but deep impact.

If you're a fan of story driven games and in particular choose your own adventure games I would highly recommend giving 80 Days a go. It's on iOS, Android and Steam so you have no excuses!

Won all the cups on Pro Evo 6 on DS so I consider it to be completed.