It's surreal to think that 10 years ago, I was more active on this site than I do on any other social media. Made so many good friends here; In the OLD Gamespot before the site was revamped in 2013. Many have left the site since then. I assume most of the people I knew are inactive by now.
I wouldn't expect anyone would be reading this blog... I mean, is blogging even a thing on GameSpot anymore? Do people still do this here? lol But I wanted to make this post, for the sake of nostalgia and as a personal journal for myself.
So what I have been up to...
5 years ago, I took a break from gaming because it was starting to get overwhelming and tedious. I concentrated on my studies, and work and also started some new hobbies. After I graduated from Uni, I tried out a few older games that I haven't played before. Specifically from 2000-2010. I played some amazing games like Beyond Good and Evil, Half-Life 2, Psychonauts, Tomb Raider Trilogy (The older one) and Jade Empire. These games were a real breath of fresh air and took me back to why I loved gaming in the first place. No empty open worlds with repetitive side quests, no high-demanding graphics, no pay-to-win services, Just simple creative games with tons of fun.
Then came an all-new time period of my life: Sims 3. It's not the kind of game I would usually play but I was very curious to see what it's all about. Never imagined I would get so hooked on it. For the past year, I spent SO many hours on this game. SO. MANY. HOURS. It has been a few weeks since I last played and I'm already itching, coming up with new ideas for new stories, characters and house designs.
After my blast to the past, I have just decided it's time to come back to present-day gaming...
I started out with...LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. I'm a huge fan of old LEGO Star Wars games so I was really excited to play this one. I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed so far. The prequel levels were really short and scripted and didn't have the creative level designs that made the older games so great. It seems they have concentrated more on making a giant open world with ludicrous 1000+ collectibles! I just finished Episode 4, and this had better level designs than the entirety of the prequel levels. Hopefully they could keep up the pace with the next 2 movies of the Original Trilogy.
Up next I'm planning to play Dishonored 2; A game I was really looking forward to since back when it was first announced. Right now I'm replaying the first game to refresh my memory of the story so far. It's good to see that this game is as amazing as it was a decade ago. I'm going on a complete pacifist and stealth playthrough, killing absolutely no one. lol
So...that's what I have been up to. I'll post an update at some point, maybe soon, maybe later. But till then...
I know it's kinda LATE to discuss about a game that has been released 2 years ago and I've seen some good ratings and reviews for this game but am I the only the one* who found it tediously boring?
- The storyline is short and dull with some blatantly uninteresting characters and lacks anything that made first movie trilogy so unique. As a matter of fact if they changed the game title and protagonist's name, it makes absolutely NO difference.
-The rest is just.....grinding.....pure.....unrewarding....grinding. As a matter of fact I was OVERWHELMED by how big this deserted land of nothingness is, and how many times I'm gonnna have to do the same scrap over and over again. One can argue that ANY Open world game is like this, but when you take away interesting landscapes that are worth exploring (Like Witcher 3 or Assassin's Creed), side quests with actual variety, freedom to approach those said quests the way you want with multiple weapons, powers and equipment, (just a shotgun? Really?!) then all you're left with is a long checklist of shit to do and be rewarded with literal scrap. So you can use that scrap to upgrade the character & car and repeat that same checklist.
-And then there's the poor man version of Arkham Games melee combat system. Shadow of Modor got some heavy inspirations from Arkham too, but at least it brought its own flare to it. Max on the other hand is just tedious cycle of attack and parry with some decent finishers in between.
-The car chases and races are fun though, and it's great to see a well optimized PC game for once.
I think the biggest problem with this game is that it's open world game in the first place. What can a developer really do when all they have to work with is a literal wasteland. It could have been much more solid game if they instead focused on story and action either as linear missions or a limited hub-like world with side quests. OR GO FULL RPG.
Thoughts?
(* NOTE: 'Am I the only one' phase is not to be taken literally. Regarding any product at any given time there is always a group of people who share the same view and opinion )
"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire."
Story:
The basic plotline is pretty much everything you already know by now. Unlike the main saga that follows the adventures of wizards and dashing heroes, this is a much darker and grittier story that depicts the grey area of war; That not all rebels are clean coat heroes who always do the morally right thing, and not all Imperials are evil dictators who want to rule the galaxy. For all intents and purposes, it's a war and espionage story that also acknowledges that it takes place in a Science Fantasy universe and the movie excels at balancing both these elements.
Characters:
The cast done a truly top notch job to bring their respective characters to life. Each main character has a different personality, ideals and different perspectives on what goes around them, which makes their interactions compelling and fun to watch. And every one of them gets a moment to truly shine in the movie, whether it's by dialogues or badass action sequences. However the movie didn't spend much time to flesh out and develop these characters as much as it should have been, but that may be due to giving precedence to story and mission, over exploring characters .
Action:
One of the things that truly distinct this from the rest of the saga is how much heavy and fast paced its action sequences are. Shooting with blasters and dogfights aren't something new to Star Wars, but this movie has given a new level of weight that made them much more engaging, and in turn making it even more so in to an actual WAR movie, rather than a Fantasy Adventure. And how they seamlessly blended the Ariel battles with the ground battles, making it in to one brutal battlefront (AH HA! ;) ) must be commended as well.
Music:
I'm perfectly fine with John Williams not composing for this since it's an Anthology movie and he's probably busy with Episode 8 soundtrack, but to be honest I can't say I found Michael Giacchino's soundtrack to be memorable or inspiring. Soundtracks of Star Wars were always universally praised and awarded for their uniqueness and how they conveyed the personalities and motives of characters, and emotions and tension of scenes. In this movie, I felt it got lost between being faithful for the classical soundtracks and trying to be different for the new genre of the movie. It's not bad of cause, but given the milestone that has been set by the previous movies, it could have been better.
Final Scene:
I'm not going to say much on this, but the final moments were a roller coaster ride of emotions. Not only did it come in full circle and connected to the beginning of Episode IV, but in a way it connected to childhood and nostalgia as well. It's not something that can be explained but a thing that need to be seen and experienced. :)
In Conclusion ROGUE ONE did everything it supposed to be; It was a great and unique Star Wars movie, a solid beginning to a new line of Anthology movies and at long last, a flawlessly executed PREQUEL. ;) Needless to say, it's a must for ny Star Wars fan and an awesome film for any moviegoer.
Rate: 8.75 /10.00 (Because Star Wars movies need 2 decimals to be accurately rated. :p )
If there's one thing that can be learned from gaming is that you can't expect nor hope much from anyone or anything. First of all I don't play games as much as I did. I'm not very interested in most current-gen games and I don't anticipate much from them either. But there are STILL few games (mostly sequels) that's I am (was) excited about. Batman: Arkham Knight, Dishonored 2 and Mass Effect were my most anticipated games of the year of those respective years.
Hell, One of the reasons I even upgraded my PC rig is because of Arkham Knight. (As said so in this 2 year old blog) And....we all know how much of a clusterf*ck mess turned out to be.
Good job Bethesda. You somehow managed to shatter what's left of my hopes for PC gaming. Conraguf*ckinglations.
If it isn't obvious yet, I am mildly inconvenienced with this utter bullcrap. BUT it's actually not surprising for anyone. A bad PC port? At this point it's like saying water is wet. Every time we hear about PC Port of a game, it's about how sh!t it is. Developers treat PC gamers like sh!t. PC ports are sh!t. As a matter of fact, PC Port should be a synonym for sh!t. If your friend is sick and having a bad hair day, tell 'em, "Dude you look like a PC Port"
I'm done. I'm so done right now. I'm tired, I haven't slept for god knows how many hours because of work, and now this sh!t comes up, and I feel even more sh!t right now. Sh!t. I'm out.
OK OK maybe the title might be a bit exaggerated. My first idea for the title was "God is Dead". But then I edited it because that would be too......much for some people.
The biggest game convention of the year is finally underway and new announcements are coming from left and right. And how is it so far? Did it live up to expectations? Exceeded it? Or the biggest letdown since first Watch_Dogs? Here are top game segments that I was most anticipating or caught my interest and what I personally think about them.
EA Conference
EA conference: 90% Sport games. 10% Games that actually matters.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
This was probably my most anticipated game in E3, but unfortunately it didn't reveal much about the game other than showing a trailer which gives more or less details from what we already know. I was really hoping it will give more insight on the timeline, story, characters and gameplay. What was even more disappointing is that they put so little time on this game but went forward to spend a LOT longer to promote the annual sport games.
NEW Star Wars Games
Probably the biggest let down of EA Conference. I was looking forward for a major announcement fn an upcoming game especially with a reveal trailer but all we got was a video that confirms that Visceral Games are working on an open world game that takes place in Imperia Era and Spawn seems to be developing a Lightsaber dueling centric game. Other than that they are also making new content for already released games like The Old Republic and Battlefront. It's been years since EA was given license to develop future Star Wars and they are a long way from proving themselves that they are up to the role.
Battlefield 1
At this point this doesn't even need an introduction does it? ;)
Titanfalls 2
I wasn't interested in the first game so didn't buy it but the new story mode and different types of Titans looks interesting. I can't say that I'm thrilled, but going to keep an eye on this one.
Bethesda Conference
What I loved about Bethesda conference is that most of it consists of presentations of actual gameplay instead of flashy eye candy trailers.
Dishonored 2
The first two I noticed: Emily is finally addressing Corvo as her father, putting all those theories and hints to rest. It will be really interesting to see their interactions with this new father-daughter relationship and how it affects the story. The next thing is Corvo is much more talkative and has more personality in contrast for the first game, where he was more of a silent protagonist. The gameplay also seems to be a lot improved; Other than the fact we can play as both Emily and Corvo (Which means you can have 4 different playthroughs :D ) we also get to see the new world and the unique powers each of them has. The most eye catching powers were Emily's ability to manipulate time and the domino power. In short, I'M SOLD. :D There's no more need of spoiling surprises with story trailers nor gameplay videos, this is in top of my 2016 Wish List.
Prey
The development of a sequel to the 2006 Prey has been going through a lot of hoops for quite some time but after a decade we're finally seeing the reboot done by Arkane Studios, the guys who are behind Dishonored series.
Microsoft Conference
Gears of War 4
Gears of War was the first game of the conference that was announced to have crossplay across Windows 10 PC and Xbox One. There are many more games that were announced to have this feature and I really do believe this a step toward the right direction.
We happy few
This is probably the strangest game of the conference. Even though we didn't see that much gameplay footage I do like the story concept and has a Bioshock: Infinite vibe especially with its visual art style, time periods it is set and similar political philosophies. Fortunately we don't have to wait long as the game will be released next month.
Dead Rising 4
I still haven't played the previous games of the series (Bought DA2 from a sale though. :P ) so I can't tell how much improved the game is from the predecessors but it does look really fun especially with the Christmas themed weapons.
State of Decay 2
At this point Zombie games have become its own genre and I loved the first State of Decay for taking a different path from the traditional hack and slash games. Much like how Telltale's Walking Dead was story centric, this game is more survival centric where you're trying to survive in an open world with limited resources. There are no main characters, anyone can die at any time due to the choices the player make. I don't usually like Zombie shooter games but every now and then you get a unique game like this so I'm very interested to see what the sequel can offer.
Scalebound
An extreme version of "How to train your Dragon". ;)
Sea of Thieves
Monkey Island meets Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. :D With all these big and complex games around this one looks very light hearted and simple but also has enough to make it a lot of fun.
Halo Wars 2
This is not what people had in mind when they asked to bring Halo to PC. :p
Ubisoft Conference
The best part of this conference was probably Aisha Tyler with her witty and sometimes cringe worthy comments. :p
Watchdogs 2
At this point this game does look promising, With improvements upon the features of the predecessor, more expanded story, more alive open world, and new game mechanics. And since it's coming in a few months, chances of it being downgraded are low as well. So hopefully this game will live up to the expectations that are set by trailers. Hopefully.
Steep
After seeing so much dullness of FIFA and Madden, this game was a real sight of sore eyes.
For Honor
While I do like the story concept of this game, I feel the combat system seems very basic even for a hack and slash game. Hopefully in the coming days we will see more gameplay elements and how it differs from the rest.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
I'm a bit behind when it comes to Tom Clancy's series but this looks awesome. I've already bought Conviction and Blacklist so hopefully I would be able to finish them before this is released.
Trials of Blood Dragon
I haven't played any of Trials games but I loved Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon for its nostalgic retro theme and witty pop culture references. I wish we had a full sequel instead of a Trials spinoff but we'll see how it goes.
South Park: Fractured but Whole
I don't usually watch South Park, but I like this game purely for its adult humor and banters, especially how they are taking shots at Marvel, DC and J.J. Abrams.
Sony Conference
I personally think Sony won this year with many new game announcements and promotion of PS VR and VR exclusive games. Also they had an epic orchestra.
Spider-Man
Good bye Activision! For over a decade they made more than a dozen of Spider-Man games till 2014 when their license expired. As a big Spidey fan myself, I have played almost every video game and can say while most of them were good and enjoyable, it was in need of a new direction and fresh ideas to reach its full potential. And that's where Marvel and Insomnia games comes to play. Insomnia have already proven themselves with the highly successful Ratchet and Clank series, Resistance and Sunset Overdrive so I hope they will do the same thing to Spidey what Rocksteady did to Batman.
The bad news is this being a PS4 exclusive, most likely due to a deal made with Sony. A game about a pop culture icon like Spider-Man shouldn't be available for just a part of its fanbase. I hope this is only a timed exclusive like Rise of Tomb Raider because otherwise I would very disappointed.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
I love everything about this game: The story, the open world, game mechanics, everything. Making epic games like these to be console exclusives should be made illegal.
Detroit: Become Human
One of the most unique games that was announced in the conference. I love story driven games like these where the player can observe situations and surroundings and make different choices that leads to different conclusions. And the fact that is neo-noir sci-fi game featuring Androids makes it even better. The trailer that was released last year had my curiosity, this has my attention.
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
With all the hype for the big games I forgot all about this one. One thing I need to point out is giving voice to LEGO characters really doesn't work with games like these. It works on LEGO movie and games with original stories like LEGO Batman, but not with movie adaptations in which you directly put dialogues from the movie in to the game's scenes. Without the complex facial expressions and emotions of the movie, hearing those dialogues coming out of cartoonish mini figures looks like a really cheap voice dub. It loses the uniqueness and charm of traditional LEGO games that made is so fun and humorous.
Days Gone
I can't say much about the story and open world since we didn't see much, but that horde in the gameplay was impressive. Though I did notice that the Zombie AI is literally brain dead considering how the main character runs directly toward them and they just moved out of the way. Hopefully there are enough elements to make this a unique game considering this is like 4th Zombie game that was featured in the conference. (Others being Dead Rising 4, State of Decay 2 and Resident Evil 7) That's a tough competition especially considering this is new IP of a way too worn out genre.
Call of Duty
Even though Infinite Warfare got a lot of 'criticism' from people, (including me :p ) to be honest the gameplay itself looks pretty decent and they seems to have put effort to set themselves apart from the predecessors of the series, especially by adding space combat. It still seems to suffer from traditional restricted mission design and 2007 graphics design though. I'm sure most would jump to the bandwagon of hating COD, and review sites will give it a good 'ol 9/10 but I think I'll wait and see till the game is released before judging whether it's worth buying or not.
VR Games. VR Games Everywhere
One thing that was very eye catching this year, especially in Sony and Ubisoft conferences, were the introduction of new VR exclusive games and VR Tech. Not only there were original games such as Farpoint and Eaglepoint but also licenced ones like Batman Arkham VR and Star Trek VR. There were also games that supports VR gameplay like Final Fantasy XV and Resident Evil 7. Then there is the promotion PS VR. The concept of Virtual Reality has been around for some time and now we're seeing a leap with all these big commercial games which would decide how successful this tech will be in long term. While I don't see myself buying these any time soon, (I'm poor. :p ) it will be very interesting see where this will be headed for in future and how it will affect gaming industry as a whole.
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Of cause these are the ones that took my personal interest, There were many awesome games like God of War, Final Fantasy XV, Resident Evil 7, which I'm sure many are excited for.
E3 is all about presentation and promotion, and I think this year was pretty solid one with announcement and demonstrations of new games, sequels, reboots, remasters, new hardware, tech, Hideo Kojima and whatnot. I didn't get to see much about my most anticipated games but at same time found new and interesting games to look forward to. What did you think about E3 2016 and what game segments did you love/hate the most?
Well, E3 is only a few days away and new game announcements are already kicking in, With latest additions being Watch_Dogs 2 and Injustice 2, which trailers were released few hours ago. Hell it's difficult to keep track on all these games. ;) Here's a list of titles that I'm looking forward to seeing in E3 2016.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Mass Effect series is one of the best Sci-Fi Roleplaying games of all time and it's enriched lore ranks among classical franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek. Even though this game will not be released till early 2017, I hope they'll share more details such as the new timeline, locations, new characters and how it links with the original trilogy.
Dishonored 2
I can't tell how much I loved the first game in the one mere passage; The story, the setting, unique atmosphere, stealth gameplay combined with other worldly powers, music, they are all simply amazing. The sequel is already showing so much major improvements as it now let the player choose between two characters with distinctive sets of powers. (I still haven't decided which one I should choose for my first playthough :p ) As a matter of fact I'm not sure if I really want to know more about this game. This is already a must buy for me and I want it to be full of surprises.
Injustice 2
The game was only announced a few hours ago and I'm already excited. The first Injustice was a truly amazing game because of its competitive gameplay, an impressive roster with each having a unique set of combat powers and the original story. They confirmed that you can customize suits and I already have a wish list of characters who should be in the new roster.
Watch_Dogs 2
Watch_Dogs 1 is one of those games that had an interesting and innovative concept but couldn't fully reach its true potential, especially because of the linear and restricted gameplay, lifeless open world, and card board characters in a generic revenge story. Which is disappointing to most since it has been hyped up for several years. Thankfully this time it doesn't take that long, but I need to see more of what it offers before deciding whether it's worth buying.
Battlefield 1
This game is already blowing away both competitors and fans' minds with just one trailer. The game looks promising at the moment, with its new direction of going backward to World War 1. I hope they keep the authenticity of that time period so that the player can experience the historic events as they were. I'm not so sure about the name though; That name and partnering up with Xbox One for EA access can't be a coincidence. ;)
Agents of Mayhem
I love Volition's Saints Row series especially The Third simply for its fun, crazy and mindless gameplay. So I'm looking forward to what they are going to do next with the new IP. By purely judging the 2 minute trailer, I feel the main plotline and characters seems generic, as a matter of fact if it wasn't already revealed to be single player open world, I would have concluded that it's a MMORPG. But what really caught my eye are those subtle nods they gave to Saints Row, leading me to think that this might be connected to that series or perhaps even a spiritual successor. Either way we'll know soon enough.
Oh and I just posted a IGN Video. Am I in trouble? ;)
Next STAR WARS Game
It's been some time since EA became the licensed publishers of Star Wars games and ever since then, they released Battlefront, which didn't even reach halfway to living up to its name and some mobile games that I can't care less about. Needless to say I'm not impressed at all with what they have been doing. With reports that Visceral Games are making a "open world fully customizable" Star Wars game and Bioware doing a RPG one, I hope they reveal either of those in coming days. With all these new movies and cartoon shows, a great memorable Star Wars game for this generation is long overdue.
Assassin's Creed 2017
Assassin's Creed was one of my favorite game series of all time because of its story, characters and exploration of open world locations during historical time periods. But because they were keep making games annually without much improvement and very little attention to its main plot, it didn't take long for it to become very fatigue. Unity was a pile of mess because of its technical issues and I skipped Syndicate entirely because of the said fatigue. I don't have my hopes up for the next game but I do look forward to seeing what kind of improvements are they doing for their already worn out gameplay over the 2 year development.
Batman: A Telltale Series
With the conclusion of previous combat and stealth oriented game series, this is a real change of turns for the caped crusader. Telltales has been doing some impressive titles with the licenses they get (Especially Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us) so it'll be very interesting to see what they are going to with one of the most infamous action heroes of fiction.
Cyberpunk 2077
There's no indication whether this game will be in E3 or not but considering they just finished the Witcher series with the last DLC "Blood and Wine", there's a chance they will reveal more about their next project. CD Projekt done a magnificent job with its fantasy series, now let's see what they are going to with the Sci-Fi one. ;)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Honestly I'm a bit behind when it comes to Tom Clancy's games but by the looks of the trailer, this looks promising.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
I haven't even started Human Revolution yet. :p
Horizon: Zero Dawn
All my hype for this game depends on whether this will be eventually announced for PC or not. ;)
Need for Speed: Edge
Even though this wasn't a big blimp on the radar, the game has been reported to be the next NFS game that'll be released 2017, and a closed beta was done last year exclusively in South Korea. So there's a very good chance they might release an official announcement and trailer. Though I must say, I'm not impressed by the gameplay videos which looks like a weird mashup between NFS: Rivals and Mario Kart, especially with having these 'power ups' on the road. Hopefully it's better than it looks or they just dropped the title after realizing how stupid it is.
Titanfalls 2
I thought Advanced Warfare was Titanfalls 2. :p
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
I'm looking forward to seeing how Activision are going to market this like it's the best game ever made, especially since it will be after EA's conference which includes Battlefield One.
The announcement. The hype. The Release. The disappointment. The cycle continues. How many games will be announced in the coming days, and how few will live up to its hype and be least disappointing. We'll worry about that when time comes to it, but now let us enjoy the big annual hunger games show of companies and consumers self pleasuring each other. :D
Sooo Far Cry Primal is actually happening. Initially I thought it's just a stand alone expansion like Blood Dragon, but nope; it an actual major game of the series. I'm a big fan of Far Cry 3 (not so much of 4) so I checked some game walkthroughs and these are the major things I noticed in the game.
1. Not truly 'Primal': If developers are trying to distant themselves from the rest of the series and make a more primitive style game, they should go through it the whole way; the fact that they are still using the modern looking UI really grabs you away from the experience. I wish they would have used more ancient style interfaces that goes along with game. For example it would have been a neat touch if instead of going to the map interface, the character take out a hand drawn map on a cloth made by animal skin and whenever we select a place to go, he marks the spot. And when he goes to a high point to reveal the map (which doesn't have to be the same old towers and instead be more diverse like a mountain or a tall tree) it shows how he draw the new found lands. That will add more to his character as an explorer and make the game distant from predecessors.
2. The new game features are either not developed enough or just downright stupid: The biggest new feature of this game is Animal Companions and while that's an interesting idea, taming prehistoric animals seems to be as engaging as cutting a herb plant. You just click a few buttons and the wild ferocious animal becomes your pet. It could have been developed to make the taming and controlling more complex and in turn, make each animal special and unique instead of just being another thing to add into the inventory.
Tame deadliest predators of prehistoric era and become the Beastmaster....by holding square for a few seconds.
And of cause there's that 'scanning' for enemies in perimeter using an owl.....I'm not even going go there.
3. Reskin: Here's Ubisoft at it's finest; Creating something new and fresh, and then hold on to it for the rest of their lives sucking it dry. When the animal companions and stick weapons are taken off, the game setting is the same old thing, the animations are the same, the whole enviornment and it's residents are a literal reskin of predecessors. This may not be an annualized game (though I feel it soon will be), I see more improvement and diversity in each Assassin's Creed than what's in this one. Hell, Blood Dragon had more changes than this; And that was a damn stand-alone expansion!
The only bright point that's worth praising is that they are using an older language for the character dialogues. I thought that was a good step forward
These are of cause just observations I made by watching walkthroughs, I'm not trying to judge the game before it's release.....Nah this is a pretty clear judgement before the game's release. :p What do you guys think about this one?
Well 2015 is over and boy wasn't it one heck of a roller coaster ride. :D And not the good and fun kind either. It had its ups and downs, but mostly downs. :p Right now I'm at the phase of trying catch my breath, trying to figure out where the heck did it all go wrong and wonder what next ride has in store for me. ;)
But hey that's not what this blog is about. Let's talk about Video Gaming of 2015. :D But before going through games of this year, first I want to take a look at the games that I bought and played that were released in previous years.
Need for Speed Rivals
It's a bird! It's a plane!
This wasn't really in top of my with list, but I bought it very early in this year, simply because of the reduced price. It's not one of the most memorable Need for Speed titles but it does has enough content to make it an 'enjoyable' game. But to be all fair, if you have played Hot Pursuit 2010, there's really no reason to buy this one. If you haven't played Hot Pursuit, buy that instead of this. ;)
In a world where there isn't as much as AC games as there are now OR to a one who haven't played the hell out of every one of them as I have, this game would be fantastic. To tell the truth the very reason I played this game is to find...."closure". Assassin's Creed Series is one my most favorite game series of all time; I loved it for its story, the history, the mysteries, characters, gameplay, open world, special features of each game and everything. So many of my most memorable and awesome game moments are within these games. But since recently the series has lost its magic and passion. They don't seem to care about creating a great story that has a beginning, middle and an end, but more like just making a new game every year without any direction on where they really want to go. It's still not as bad as Call of Duty but it has truly fallen from where it once was. The last game Unity pretty much hammered the last nail. And thus I decided not to buy any of its future installments unless it is better and much more than an annualized game. But at the same time I didn't want leave the series by playing one of its worst entries (Unity) which is why I played this game. So I can say good bye to a once beloved franchise in a higher note. Besides, what better way to end a series, than playing in a game where you are the villain of the story? :D
I'm not usually a fan of zombie genre (with Telltale's Walking Dead being an exception) but this game has some really interesting concepts. What impresses me most is the balance of freedom and limitations it has. The game has no real protagonist. It starts of as playing as one character and you meet different people (that varies in each playthrough) and they can become playable as well. And as such NO ONE gets plot armor. If you get someone dead, there's no restarting, that person is dead for good! And then you have to play as different survivor of the group. After playing as one character for some time, he can get fatigue and require food, medicine and rest. The melee weapons themselves can be broken if you use them too much. You don't find any of these spawned everywhere either. There's only a very limited amount of resources scattered in the world and you need to collect them and figure how and when to use them. You can build your camp in different places, upgrade it and even invite other survivors to your group. So as you can see, this is more of a Zombie Apocalypse Surviving simulator rather than the same old shoot and slash Zombie games, and I think that is pretty clever and unique for a genre that has been beaten for death. (and beyond)
Rate: 8/10
Star Wars: The Old Republic
This actually not game that is new to me. I subscribed to this game the very first 2 months it was released but unfortunately I didn't get to play it that much at the time. And after reinstalling and playing the game, I have to say they have really polished it up. The game is F2P now and since I'm not subscribed anymore, I have the preferred status.
The game is truly amazing. It has 8 classes and each of them have unique story, characters, weapons and powers. And the galaxy is MASSIVE. There are so many planets and they all have their own stories, people, creatures, mysteries and quests for you to explore. You can do space missions, customize your own strongholds, do various kinds of missions by yourself or with a group. So even though technically this game no longer part of Star Wars Canon, it still worth playing for all the fun it contains.
Also the community is very friendly and helpful, they are not as immature as Call of Duty ones or big headed and elitist as in more famous MMOs like WoW or DOTA.
Rate: 8.5/10
Fallout 3
I'm going to be honest here; I didn't find the game as awesome as the majority of this planet claims it to be.....(please don't kill me. :p ) Sure there the game has nothing to complain about but I didn't much to praise either.
The story is pretty much everything you expect from a post apocalyptic game. Some doomsday weapons blew up, everyone died except some people who took shelter and they come from their hiding only to witness a desolated place with some generic mutant/zombie creatures. Now I admit I haven't played Fallout 1 & 2 but as a one who watched/read/played so much post apocalyptic stuff, I didn't find this to be anything special. The open world and visuals aren't anything remarkable, just a big junk yard, but hey it did survive nuclear war so I'm not going to judge. The gameplay is pretty much everything you expect from a RPG; character customization, upgrades, weapons and loot to either use or sell, various dialogue options and choices, random side quests and such.
The combat system....well I'm not sure if one even exists. The gun mechanics are really sloppy, so most of the times you end up using this V.A.T.S system which pauses everything and let you decide which body part of which enemy to shoot at. It feels something out of a turn based tactical game, except way less fun.
Now as I said I have much to complain about it, but for a game that is worshipped by majority of gaming community as if it's the second coming, I didn't see anything unique or memorable in this game at all.
Portal
Never trust anyone who promise free cake
I am so glad I finally played this game. It isn't a big game with a deep story or visuals or heavy combat system but a simple puzzle game with an interesting and unique idea. The objective is to escape a lab that is filled with obstacles and run by a psychopathic A.I. and your only weapon to win these challenges is a portal gun that can open up 2 way portals on surfaces.
The puzzles are very clever and challenging, and I loved playing with portals and breaking rules of physics. :p Another thing I loved about this game is passive aggressive personality of A.I GLADOS. She was cunning, hilarious, pure evil and cute at the same time. This is a short, simple but a very entertaining and memorable game.
That's what truly matters in the end, and that is something I can't say to most games these days...
Rate: 8.5/10
The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings
Words of wisdom Witcher.
I'm not a big fan of games of fantasy genre, but this game looks fantastic. I bought it just a few days ago so I didn't get explore that much but I am impressed with what I have seen so far. Now I'm not a one to judge a game by its graphics but it would be a crime if I didn't praise the stunning and detailed visuals of this game. I admit it's what really drew in to this game in first place. It is such a fantastical and lively open world to be in. The combat system is pretty fun and challenging and makes you use all the weapons, magical powers, herbs and equipments that are in your arsenal, instead of simple sword slashing. I've to say, I haven't played the first game or read the books, so some times I have no idea what some characters are saying and I get the feeling they are expecting me to do so. :p
Overall this is a magnificent looking game and I look forward to playing it more.
Saints Row: The Third
You get to run completely naked and beat people with a giant dildo. I think that's enough to give a perfect idea what kind of a game this is. :D
This game is just crazy! Every element of this game is just over the top. The story is that you are the boss of 37th street Saints which was once simple gang in Stillwater but has been expanded to an international crime organization and its leaders are now considered celebrities. But a new organization called Syndicate is trying to overthrow Saints regime. And at the same time government has formed a new military unit called S.T.A.G to get rid of all criminal activity in the city with extreme measures. The objective is to fight against these challenges.....by driving a tank through mid air, raiding BDSM clubs, wrestling people with chainsaws, becoming a prostitute and surviving zombie apocalypse.....and no I'm not exaggerating.
It's like Grand Theft Auto....if it was high on drugs. :p
I really loved the character customization options. You can choose gender, facial appearance, voice options, body weight, and most importantly, how big your 'sex appeal' is. ;) The amount of cosmetic options are awesome; I loved customizing and trying out different combinations of outfits that were either badass or offensively bizarre. ;)
There is a huge array of weapons which are either explosively awesome or just damn ridiculous. As mentioned, yes giant dildo is a weapon option. :p There're also rocket launchers, chainsaws, air strikes, drone strikes, fart grenades etc. You know....just day to day crime weapons. ;) There are also collection of customizable vehicles such as bikes, cars, boats, tanks, planes, helicopters and of course VTOLs.
The soundtrack is pretty good and varied as well. There are Rock, Hip Hop, Rap and whole collection of classic music. Nothing like running over people and destroying the city with a tank while listening Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. ;)
Simply put this game is awesome, extreme and hilarious in every way. Playing this gives a sense of fulfilment; you know, those games that makes you feel "Damn this has everything!" That's how I felt when playing this and I love it because of that.
Rate: 9.5/10
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And that's what it's really about in the end; It doesn't matter if it's a short puzzle game or a fantasy game with deep story and beautiful visuals or a wild open world shooter game. What defines a great game is whether it can attract people with a good concept and design, keep players engaged in it with compelling gameplay and elements, and let them leave with fulfilment and a memorable experience.
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Now, without further delay let's get to the list of 2015 games I played and countdown to GAME OF THE YEAR 2015!! :D
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??. Urrr......let's see urrrmm....
Well truth to be told.....I haven't actually bought ANY game that was released this year.... hmm.... well.... this is awkward.....
So yes, even though I anticipated many games at the beginning of this year, I ended up buying none of it because of various reasons. Most of those reasons goes along the lines of "Utter Disappointment". But, that's a story for another day. For now.....
Happy New Year Everyone! May the force be with you this year to live long and prosper! :D
Since 2008 for nearly 8 years I have been a Hardcore Gamer. OK that may not sound like an accomplishment for those who have been gaming since they were little kids but I can definitely say over that short time period I played and done everything a gamer would do. From AAA action games to small time licensed games, I have played em all. And I haven't just players games but done other gamer related activities as well. Made game reviews, blogs, participated in competitions (and won), was part of some awesome game unions here in Gamespot (before they were all shut down), and of cause argue about gaming stuff and insult others' intelligence over the internet. lol Hell I even got banned from this website! :D (But that's a story for another time) I even had plans to open up a new dedicated Youtube channel to upload gameplay videos, walkthroughs and video reviews. In short, in this 8 years I've made my own "gaming career". I played a lot of awesome (and not so awesome games), had a great time doing all this and have very fond memories of them.
But as everything, all good things have to come to an end at some point. And I have decided to put an ellipsis to my gaming career. Why? I have my reasons.
One is that, well I'm actually losing interest in new games. Most games I see these days seems to have developed with no passion nor innovation. It always looks like something that has already been done or straight out cheap knockoff. Now I'm not speaking out for all games. There are some impressive upcoming titles. But most of them are not my type, and fails to catch my interest and thus there are only handful of games I'm anticipating.
In a way it's kinda sad how I once though gaming would be a part of my life forever but turns out to be just another hobby that comes with time and fades along with it.
But more than that I need a change of course in my life. Since the beginning I feel like I had a very simple and linear life style with so little actual achievements. Now that I turned 19, I realize I have to do much MUCH MORE than this. Start from the ground zero and work all the way up. I have so much plans to improve myself in many ways but I can't do them if half of my attention goes to staying in internet, watching movies and playing video games.
Of cause this doesn’t mean I COMPLETELY going to stop playing. There are a handful of awesome upcoming games that I just GOTTA get my hands on. (In a managed time schedule of course) There's also a few games that I have my eyes that I may or may not buy. And hey, usually most of my blogs have at least one game list; why change the habit now eh? ;)
MUST BUY GAMES
Batman: Arkham Knight
I would like to take this space to appreciate these awesome developers. Not for just creating THE best superhero game series of all time, but also being a true inspiration to other game companies out there. Just by the 2 games they released and the one on the way they have shown a great deal of passion to their work that I haven't seen in other developers for a long time. While others create mediocre excuses and unmemorable licensed games that relies on making a quick cash grab by selling the name itself rather than putting much effort to craft quality, or sequels that also try to cover behind the fame of its predecessors with a few features or plain reskins, Rocksteady takes a superior path. They take the already successful license that is Batman and put all their effort to create the BEST game they can build not just to make money, but to compete and put itself among other high quality and infamous games as well. (Which is something they were very successful of doing so by the looks of the wide critical acclamations by everyone and dozens of awards they achieved) After that, they continue to impress by making bigger and better sequels that surpasses its predecessor while also branching out in storyline. So much success and yet they limit their most prized game series in to a trilogy to preserve its quality and to create a memorable and great story with a beginning, middle and an end. These are traits I don't see in many companies these days and which is exactly what make Rocksteady awesome.
So in short why I'm so hyped up about in this? It's a goddamn Batman game! It's the grand finale of an amazing and long remembered trilogy. And in the end, it an piece of art by a group of dedicated people.
Star Wars: Battlefront
(And any other major Star Wars game)
This is a glorious year for hardcore Star Wars fans. In one hand after 10 years we have a brand new sequel movie coming up (which is by the way going to be the first Star Wars movie I'm going to watch in a theatre :D ) and on the other hand one of the best Star Wars games of history finally returns after SO much pleas and petitions. And by what's look of it both of these seems absolutely fantastic and well crafted. As a matter of fact I don't believe I been THIS excited about a video game for a very long time now. I may be in tight schedule but like hell I would let that get between me and my most favorite franchise since childhood. :D
New Mass Effect
(And its sequels)
As a big Sci-Fi fan I must say in my opinion Mass Effect Trilogy is the best original Sci-Fi game series ever. It has a great story, interesting characters, and almost everything else I want from an awesome Sci-Fi RPG Game series. (Including but not limited to, exploring new planets, customizing awesome armours and pushing people out of buildings when I feel like it.) I admit that I was disappointed with how they handled the ending(s) of the last game but that didn't shake the affection I've to this series. And thus I'm more than excited to know more about this new game and finally return to this astonishing universe.
GAMES I’M KEEPING MY EYE ON
Grand Theft Auto V
Basically this is the open world game fans' (life my self's) wet dream. It is a gigantic game that has EVERYTHING. I'm actually going to need another blog just to type what I love about this game. And that's just the standard version. The PC Version also comes with gorgeous graphics, The Rockstar Editor that lets player create actual movies out of gameplay vids and of course ridiculous mods. So in short this is a game that I would spend hundreds of hours in without any regrets... which is exactly why I skeptical of buying it.
Mortal Kombat X
Fatality! Well other than it's good looking story, new characters, brutal kombat, stunning graphics, the best reason I may buy this is that my friends are done competing in Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice: Gods Among Us over and over and are moving on to this game. So I should probably too. ;)
Assassin’s Creed: Rogue
(And sequels of the franchise)
Remember I said how some developers rely on the fame of successful predecessors to make more games? Well this series is walking on a tightrope at this point. Each of their games gives out something that makes it better/unique from the rest of the series but at the same time it falls on short on other points reminding us that this series came way too far. AC4: Black Flag was pretty awesome (it even won my Game of the Year 2013) but the last game AC: Unity was a complete disappointment mostly because of how of the technical issues if suffers with making it unbearable to play. AC: Rogue here seems to be a Black Flag 1.5. But yet it has a story that looks at the series in a whole new perceptive which makes it a lot more interesting that it's overhyped counterpart. Is that a good reason to buy this game? Perhaps. All I know for sure is that even though I'm a huge fan of this series for what it was, I'm going to think more than thrice before buying any of their future releases. (Which seems to have no end.)
LEGO Avengers 2 & LEGO Jurassic Park
What can I say they are the LEGO Versions of my favourite movies. :D If there are enough new content in these games (instead of same 'ol levels and puzzles) I'm definitely going to buy them. So we'll see.
So this seems to be it. I would probably blog once in a while about stuff and about game I bought, but then again who gives a crap right? It's not like anyone in this site read others' blogs any more. As a matter of fact I didn't type this for other people but as a memento for myself. To remind myself of this decision I made and why I did it. A written promise if you will. So finally I would like to end this blog with statistics that sums up the hobby that was once part of my life.
Statistics
Bought Games: 93
Completed Games: 84
Incomplete Games: 9
Most anticipated Games: 3
Thank you and farewell to whoever reading this. May the force be with you.
This game was bought during my "noob years" in racing games. I think the biggest problem was the cop cars; who were simply invincible and always catch me during races which was too annoying to go through. Who knows. Maybe my skills have been improved since then and maybe I'll give it another shot......someday. :P
Chances of finishing the game: Low
2) Zoo Tycoon 2: Ultimate Collection
Bought Date: 2011/5/10
Zoo Tycoon was one of my favourite games back then. In 2008 I bought ZT2 and it's expansion pack "Extinct Animals" and loved it's campaign, animals, gameplay features and such. Which is why after 3 years I bought rest of it's expansion packs "Endangered Animals", "African Adventure" and "Marine Mania". And I have to say after a while, it got a tiresome. Not sure if it's because I'm more in to story and action based games, or because I'm not used these kinda strategy games any more but after finishing a few of the new extra campaigns I gave up on this :/
I might try out this game in next year or so after I'm done playing the 2 dozens of other games I have in mind but till then.....
Chances of finishing the game: Low
3) Cars 2
Bought Date: 2011/12/20
What I really loved about the predecessor game "Cars: Mater National" is that it has a really simple but funny story surrounding the ever loving Cars characters, good free roaming world in Radiator Springs, lots of racing modes, side activities and of cause the simple but good customization options. This game had EXACTLY NONE of that. The objective is plain and simple. Go through races in 5 stages. That's it. No story, no free roaming, not even actual character interactions except for the beginning. Just go to menu , pick a mission, pick a character and finish the mission.
I don't say the game is total meltdown. It has new features like ability to fight with weapons and gadgets, great racing tracks and fun to play in co-op as well. But without the lively characters and freedom of the series we know and love, this game falls under being just another racing game out there.
Chances of finishing the game: VERY LOW
4) Need for Speed: Underground
Bought Date: 2012/11/1
I played A LOT of games in my life but other than RTS and Sports games THIS must be the most boring one out of em all. I seriously don't know why many people love this. Sure the new customization techniques they bought are great but other than that it's just plain and boring even for a racing game. Why? For starters the campaign mode is very linear. You only get to choose from 1-5 races at a time and all take place old limited amount of tracks. It's just going from A to B and then in next race B to A and in the other A to C with a SLIGHTLY different route and so on. Things get even more tedious in circuits when you have to go in same road over and over and over and over again.
Not to mention the roads. It feels more like ice skating rather than driving.
Chances of finishing the game: VERY LOW as in probably NEVER :P
5) Need for Speed Underground 2
Bought Date: 2012/11/1
This one on the other hand is simply AWESOME. It is major step forward from it's boring predecessor as it has a good open world with lots of tracks, not very linear and has ability to chose from many different races, variety to imported cars to choose from and not to mention, the BEST car customization of all the racing games I have seen so far. ;) Unfortunately the reason I wasn't able to finish this is because at the time I had awesome-er games to play back then and I simply didn't have time. But now that I'm not planning to buy any game for the next 3-4 months I might be able to get back behind the wheels again. ;)
Chances of finishing the game: Moderate
So there you have it: My wall of shame. :P The bright side is my game completing percentage has been increased to 93%; which is a good number in my books; though there is always room for more. ;)
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