Have you been genuinely impressed by a game recently?

Now, there's games I tremendously enjoy, and I know I'm going to enjoy that game before I even play them (Pokemon, Far cry, Uncharted, Pikmin, Mario, Zelda) so I have no problem dishing out the cash for them.

I purchased Tomb Raider from Steam 3 days ago for $4 and it's been the most surprisingly pleasant experience I have had in a very long time with any video game. Before even considering purchasing the game, I was turned off by the gritty, survival horror, and overall depressing nature in which the game was presented (because that has never been my cup of tea in video games). But, after actually playing it, that has to be my favorite part. The unrelenting gloominess and the feeling that Lara Croft is so fragile and vulnerable really builds some emotion to the character I'm playing, and makes me try harder not to die. Not going to touch on the mechanics of the game, but overall it was presented beautifully (especially for a franchise that need it).

Has there been a game recently that you have been impressed by? and list the reason if you'd like!

Uhm..... Nope.

Honestly my buddy was playing some AC Black Flag and once I saw the gameplay I was sold on it. It looked like a solid game and it looked like it would be a good purchase to tide me over until I load up on some games come Christmas and Boxing Day. I ended up purchasing it over a week and a half ago and I have been thoroughly enjoying it.

as a stealth fan i've been quite impressed with how accomplished the stealth mechanics in alien isolation are. the motion detector and the ability to lean horizontally and vertically to see over and around obstacles when crouched (instead of having the ability to just see through them like in tlou, splinter cell, hitman, dishonored etc) coupled with the excellent intuitive controls really help to create a sense of realism and tension. i'm only a few hours in but so far i've been pretty impressed

Ive been impressed with the graphics in AC unity but not the bugs.

Driveclub's photo realistic graphics.

Alien isolation impressed me the most this year. It was immersive and you really had to think about your next move.

PGR 4 and how gorgeous the game is.

I'm really enjoying Far Cry 3 on the PS3. Really interesting and fun concept--open world FPS. It's like Battlefield and Just Cause 2 got married.The Takedown animations are flawless--Grenade Takedown FTW. Every area, Outpost, hill, can be approached from so many ways. FPS and open world games are two of my favorite genres so it's great fun.

I've been impressed with Hyrule Warriors. Loads of content, fun gameplay, and plenty of fun.

More then a handful to be honest, I will break them Down by platform and only from this year.

Wii U:

Super Mario Kart 8: It is hard for me to state what exactly impresses me so much about MK8, maybe it is the near perfect Visuals, the way the game moves, and feels. It is one of the few games that I have Little issues with at all, maybe outide of the lack of arenas. It is the closest Ive had for playing a Disney cartoon, atleast it felt like when I was a child and first saw a new Disney cartoon. Just sheer happiness. The DLC however I felt was a letdown.

Bayonetta 2: Ok this is one of the few games that remembers that it is a game, it is loud, it is silly, it is stupid, it is outright fun, it is near pitch perfect in controls and pacing. For it to be on the Wii U impresses me to begin with, and the game itself is outstanding in its genre. It is rare I play a game that simply leaves me with a silly smile throughout.

PC:

Divinity Original Sin: This game impressed on a wide range, but mostly or how excelent the combat was and how good a co-op game is, likely the best co-op game Ive playied all year. I was afraid it would be a slow boring slug, but nope, it was fun, with a good sense of humor, and an absolute blast that gave you alot of control over the actions you could take. I might expect it for a 50$ release, not this. Perhaps the best actual of the year.

Dragon Age Inquisition: It is rare nowadays to have Visuals that awe me, but the areas in DA:I were stunning, not graphically, (although they look good) but the vision of them. The storm coast were the first time where I stopped, looking at the waves and thought "ok, I am not sure how, but goddamn that is impressive"

So this year alone, its been atleast 4 games. Likely a few that Impressed me, but not enough to make me remember.

I've been impressed with Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor ever since I started playing it. The Nemesis system, even with some of its faults (the personality traits sometimes copy themselves, and the strengths and weaknesses don't have much variety to them), is nothing but a barrage of endless content that's refreshing, satisfying, and challenging all at once. I love how it gives you incentive to actually hunt an enemy down for true vengeance instead of being an arbitrary completion reward. I'd love to see it used in more open-world games, as it gives a way for players to carve their own stories within the context of the world they're in.

Yeah Tomb Raider was pretty fantastic and it impressed me a fair amount at the time when I got it.

Any the most recent one for me is Dragon Age: Inquisition. I enjoyed the first two games and was pretty sure that I'd enjoy this one but it has impressed me more then even I thought that it would. The game is huge with a ton of things to do. There's a good number of varied backdrops that look great and are fun to explore. There's also been some encounters that I thought were just very cool.

MGS V TPP has impressed me, and it is not even out yet

I think Bayonetta 2 would get that vote. It literally is an insanely good fighting game with completely off-the-wall shit going on 90% of the time. Very impressive, Platinum know what they are doing.

I bought dragon age series bioshock series and skyrim yeah they are worth the money

1. KZ 4. I was very impressed with the lighting.
2. Unity. Impressed with the graphics and attention to detail
3. Dishonored. The stealth
4. Outlast, Stalker, Thief, Metro LL, Limbo. Impressed with the atmosphere

I was interested in that game as well, but I played a demo at Target once and wasn't too impressed. I have heard a lot of people like it though and generally positive remarks about it. So, I hinted and my girlfriend plans on getting it for me for Christmas, I'm very excited. I have low expectations for it, but I'm planning to be happily surprised.

Last game i was legitimately impressed with was Dark Souls, the first one. A successful game, or at least as i would describe one, focuses on particular strengths or selling points and accomplishes its goals very well, or does its job if you will. Dark Souls was marketed to the public as a very challenging and grim experience, both in gameplay and in story. It delivered on those ends beautifully and it did so through unique, interesting methods. It accomplished what it set out to do.

An exact opposite example of this would be Skyrim. Elder Scrolls in general has always been marketed as the ultimate playground for RPGs where the player can go wherever they want and do whatever they want but the nonsense restrictions put in place such as unkillable NPCs and strict storylines which discourage morally questionable behavior really contradict what i thought was a major selling point behind the game. The entire immersion aspect of the game relies heavily on the size and scope of the world with a large emphasis being on the visual details and sounds. While i'll admit it was impressive by itself, those selling points are diminished when i consider a lack of any interesting game mechanics that a player could actually engage with in this big world. The characters seem so robotic and boring in how they move and interact. The game completely lacks any sense of style or personality. So in other words, once you've been to a couple towns and spoken to a hanful of people, you've basically already seen everything there is to see.

Oh and the combat has got to be the most boring and awful experience i have ever seen in a game. That is something that no game should ever screw up. Combat mechanics being fun and rewarding should always be top priority even if everything else sucks.

@polishkid99: TLOU is the only game that really grabbed me in last 6-7 years.

DriveClub surprised me how good it was after Kevins terrible review. Stick to RPG's mate.

Probably Dark Souls as a whole, The Last of Us prologue, or the Bioshock Infinite intro church scene. Three things that come to mind where I just stopped and was like, "Wow."

Wolfenstein: The New Order's gunplay impressed me. Weighty and great sound.

@Shmiity

And then it all goes down hill after the prologue.

yeah the guns sound very meaty and they pack a punch

@polishkid99: Nope, last time i was impressed by a game was never.

Not really, the last game that impressed me was Gears of War 2 and Tom Clancy's End War. And they came out in the same month, guess which one I bought.

Bayonetta. Yeah, it's old but I got around to it only recently. Character and story-wise it's silly but gameplay-wise it's like crack. I completed it on every difficulty setting and 100%ed the achievements, not something I usually do, but I was hooked. A real bummer the sequel is exclusive to WiiU.

Not really. Lately I'm feeling nostalgic for the Sega generations and their counterparts.

Aye, Dragon Age Inquisition and Beyond Two Souls. Inquisition has been and is continuing to be very engaging and highly enjoyable while Beyond Two Souls was quite an emotional story that I enjoyed a lot and which I'm strongly considering playing though again.

I have been impressed by the game This War of Mine, and i plan to get it soon. I liked its gameplay and the story it offers.

Watching the wildlife in Far Cry 4, especially when carnivores meet up.

Word. I recently fired up a 2nd playthru of Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl and was mesmerized. the artificial intelligence is so awesome. Everyone is just doing whatever they are doing. You might see a dog dragging a dead body. You might turn around to see a full-on charging wild boar that opts to pass you by at the last second. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggh!" is what you and your early-game pistol will be saying in the meantime.

Switching out rate of fire and ammo on the fly while adjusting your stat-boosts gives you moment-to-moment tactical control. Navigating your way through electricity, fire, hostile animals, monsters, and I won't ruin any other surprises, forces you to become a bad*ss. The weapons and story really become your own as you work your way through the gorgeous, ugliness of an irradiated bloc of eastern europe hoarding powerful weapons and rare ammo along the way. Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl is awesome.

I just accidentally took a glimpse of it on tv and I have to say I didn't give a damn about the riots/protests prior to seeing this one but man this one is just heartbreaking...

A Story About My Uncle is the last game that comes to mind really really enjoyed that game really hope they do a sequel or at least another game that expands upon the mechanics improves introduced in this game if you have a pc that can run it highly recommend buying it. Only takes like 2 hours to beat though so may want to wait for a sale but the game really impressed me nice graphics short but touching story and nice game play that is actually pretty unique can't think of another game that's plays quite like it.

There been a number of games that has impressed me. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is fun. I enjoy watchdog. CoD:AW campaign was fun and different.

Current WRPG including Dragon Age Inquisition has not impressed me. Dragon Age Inquisition is by far one of the worse game I played recently even if I say it has good story telling in it.

Indie games have done not thing to impress in a long time.

Impressed, sure, especially with most of the PS4 games I've played so far. But I haven't been truly or genuinely impressed (which I consider a game I'd rate 9 or higher) by a game in quite a long time. Probably not since GTA V when that first launched, in fact.

Yeah Wolfenstein was probably the last game that really impressed me... such a solid experience!

Also the story-telling in Walking Dead & Wolf Among Us is amazing.

Why are you here? You're a top poster but in reading your posts you don't seem to enjoy games.

I agree with you on the TLOU part but what part of DriveClub surprised you? How broken it was?

^ I came here to say pretty much this.

@jasonredemption

I only ever bitch about 3 things when it comes to games, Abstract Stats, Cutscenes, and Challenge.

I enjoy plenty of games.... Games which nobody here talks about much.

WOAH! Sounds sweet. So it's sort of like Fallout but a few notches up?

Love the new dragon age game

This. Very rarely is there a topic about a game that interests me.

@Lulu_Lulu:

What are some of those games you enjoy? It's nice to hear the different views people have and what exactly makes a game worthwhile for them.

@EPICCOMMANDER

Nowa days its all Open World this and Resolution that....

@polishkid99

I don't know.... Uhm..... President Evil 5....

@jasonredemption: Great Handling, really balanced between sim and arcade. Having steering wheel is even better.

Great old school little aggressive and competitive AI. Online is amazing fun, plus everything you play contributes to the club.

The only thing that was broken was online, like some 80 percent of games that concentrate on heavy online integration.

EA struggled, MS struggled who have serves sticking out of their asses, Ubisoft struggled and many more high profile companies who should not have those issues.

Anyways, three weeks into it most heavy issues were resolved with servers, still some issues of course but you can go for 6 hours straight with no drop outs. Man servers are packed most of the time, mad fun.

You people act about this game as no game ever had online issues LOL. And yes, DriveClub review was one of two worst written from KVO this year. His field is RPG, period.

You people also say "enjoy your time trials". You do realize most people who play Racing Simulators such as iRacing or Assetto Corsa do more time lapping than racing, to become good, to learn the track. This game is supposed to be played properly and that means cornering, timing your braking and so on. perfecting in general.

No off roading or forests in a Ferrari haha.

To bad The Crew aint that good, open world is getting a bit old. Now give me Good Ridge Racer and im set for few years :).

Played Chrono Trigger for the first time this summer, it was great. Holds up extremely well to the test of time.

Also replayed Final Fantasy X when it got the HD remake earlier this year. I absolutely love that game.

Tell me a game you actually do like so I can make fun of it!

You are such a jokester! I don't even know what to say. Kid hates Dark Souls, Bioshock, The Last of Us, and enjoys RE 5. I'm going to pray for you.

Alien: Isolation

@Shmiity

I'm gona make this easy for you.... Disney Infinity. :)