Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen and Pokemon Sun
Dragon's dogma is the type of game where I plan to play for an hour, and end up plying for 4 hours straight. It's too fun.
A bit disappointed with the new Pokemon though. It just hasn't pulled me in.

Mafia 2´s dates gameplay burned me out and the one in Mafia 3 looks even more pointless, so i skipped playing it. I looked up all cutsceneses on youtube though and the Spec Ops: The Line writer did an amazing job! The documentary style presentation is top notch too, so make a "movie night" out of the game.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided I was a fan since the first game and the direct prequel by Eidos Montreal undoubtedly returned the series to greatness, after the flawed 2nd game.
This sequel was highly anticipated by me and the somewhat flawed technical side of the last entry was fully fixed now. The console version got a notable downgrade from the gorgeous PC version, but the jump in graphical fidelity is still immense. The gameplay and character-building was further perfected here and the previously lame boss battles have been replaced by almost none at all, hm. The soundtrack and sound design remained on point too. The story though, an essential hallmark of the series, took a step down.
I overall enjoined it, a side-story about a transhumanist cult was especially great, but I felt that I only scratched the surface for large parts of the narrative. The game is also a bit shorter than expected and story DLC is being sold during the month of release too, sigh. Not the smartest of moves to keep the fans going and the in-game purchases + the random multiplayer are about as pointless as they are harmless. I certainly saw worse in the last gen but i ultimately felt that I was “only” playing a standalone addon to Human Revolution, with a shiny new engine, in the end. 4 years of development are a bit much for this. Fans of the genre + stealth games and the series overall still need to get it but the next entry will need to put more meat on the plate, in terms of narrative and scope. B+

Fast Racing Neo F-Zero and Wipout are basically dead, so a niche German developer decided to revive the genre for the smallest audience possible, hm. I only heard about it due to the high review scores + the lack of WiiU games in general and this is entry No.2. Who bought the original WiiWare game though? Shin'en thankfully stuck with it but giving the game a nostalgic F-Zero skin would have raised market interest. The multiplayer would have gotten more online players, as it´s a near wasteland, too. I am still amazed how much polished content the game has for a budget title. The DLC tracks are also included in the (EU only) retail release and 25€ is a price more console developers should try out. The amount of modes could have been increased, but I also played full price PS4/Xbone games will less in them! The racing itself feels like F-Zero, the high difficulty is similar too, but getting into the top 3 is enough to progress. The smooth graphics are quite good for an indie game and the music is very Wipeout. Starving genre fans need to get it on principle alone but be aware that the content package is somewhat limited and “unoriginal”. B-

Forza Horizon 3 I skip the (admittedly well done) regular entries, as i have a car for my “racing sim” needs, but always liked these more unrealistic entries. This spin–off can again be adjusted to play like a semi-serious arcade game and the outback setting is obviously way out there too. The presentation that guides the campaign is so well done that other car games need to steal it, and the whole world is very organic. I would have liked the ability to warp to races and i dislike that you (usually) leave the race in the car you used specifically and not the one you drove to the race location to. The graphics are a noted highlight, downright mind-blowing even, and the audio presentation is also flawless. I have no idea how much "serious" racing fans will like it, but old school Need for Speed fans in need (hehe) of an actually good entry should get it immediately. B+

Gears of War 4 Judgment suffered a somewhat incomprehensible fan backlash, as it was “too same”, but I liked the no-nonsense approach to the campaign and story. I love the 1st revolutionary GoW entry and the overall trilogy had great gameplay but the narratives and presentation were utterly cringeworthy. The Coalition mostly followed Judgment here and they gave me another straightforward campaign with little fluff, besides the last 2 chapters (the game randomly turns into Bayformers!). Even the evil lizard people were replaced by… other lizard people. Another over the top, but less tone deaf, black bro-friend is featured, another barely there romance is present and so on. Halo 4 was a better and way bigger step forward by a new studio, yet the even more radical Halo 5 then nearly fell off a cliff, so I wouldn´t mind another "meat and potatoes" follow-up. The more colorful visuals are a noteworthy positive too, the game is actually more beautiful than it first seems, but more enemy variety (robots get introduced and then mostly disappear after 1,5 hours) and much better new guns will be needed next time. The multiplayer is also exactly what one would think it is. B

I Am Setsuna describes itself as a “homage” to 80s / 90s J-RPGs, primarily Chrono Trigger, and that´s the main problem. Don´t get me wrong, it took great games to imitate, but an imitation is all it is. Dreamcast level production values, one note characters and a melodramatic story that can be figured to the very last scene, by looking at the cover art, aren´t helping either. The gameplay works fine, genre completionists may even last the distance, but I didn´t. Play or replay the classics as Chrono Trigger DS or any of the Dragon Quest/ Final Fantasy re-masters instead. Skip.

King's Quest The current adventure renaissance has been going for quite some time, especially in Europe, but games focusing on mostly the gameplay have now become somewhat rare, outside of the (ultra) Low-Budget indie scene. One of the franchises that started it all is now back to fix that and no previous knowledge of the series is required. The last ep. had great callbacks though, and even 2 old engines were used. This overall story is a take on The Princes Bride and the characters are all charming. I can´t say that this is one of the premier adventure titles on the market but most previous entries weren´t masterpieces either, to be honest. The next season should work on the pacing and the inconsequential decision making bits can go but this reboot was all in all a success. (VI +VII are the best entries btw.) B-

Mother Russia Bleeds Side-scrolling beat 'em are nearly dead, yet Mother Russia Bleeds is holding the motherland´s flag high. It´s Street of Rage meets Hotline Miami so the right audience will automatically be intrigued by this sentence. 3 hours of good old extreme ultra-violence, why not? B-

Paper Mario: Color Splash I wasn´t as harsh on the previous game, that introduced the sticker system, but it drained me be the end. This game is very similar and the new color mechanic + the bloated duel screen setup for the tedious battles finally finished me off. Fans if the series should still last to the end, the style is again very impressive, but I can´t take 2 Mario RPG series at the same time. Both went into questionable directions too, so the overall direction needs to be reassessed for me to return. Skip.

Shadow Warrior 2 The developers technically did everything right in terms of designing a sequel. The budget increased and they put in more of… everything. Way too much actually! Does a simple arena shooter as this really need an involved leveling system, 100+ customizable weapons, crafting, magic abilities, an in-game-economy, side-quests, trials and a build in Wikipedia! I can't fault them for trying though but a sequel will need to crash diet all of this to a more manageable volume. The graphics are certainly top of the line, even if the human character models and animations could have used more work. The voice acting is a bit forced but the actors had nothing to work with. Especially if I consider how forced the humor is in light of the rather dark story. I also don't remember any of this being build up in the prequel. Not that anyone bought this for the story and the game just end almost mid-sentence. The everything and the kitchen sink approach may have been a bit much in the end but the overall experience is very unique and the core blade combat is top of the line. Feel free the skip the now redundant 1st game and start here. B

Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalypse is both a parallel story and a sequel to the original, so it´s comparable to a standalone add-on. The story has the usual problems the main SMT entries have. The interesting themes are drowned out in an over the top plot that can never stop to breath and acknowledge the world changing implications. The main cast is also sparingly juvenile but the presentation itself is rock solid, if I forget that Japanese VAs are again not an option. The gameplay has been streamlined quite a bit over the years but fans will again feel right at home. My favorite feature is that the demon fusion function automatically suggests you the best combinations and the combat is as tactical and challenging as it ever was. A bit more forgiving too. My biggest gripe, besides the forgettable story, are the last 2 acts /dungeons. Both drag on a sizable game to an unreasonable degree. Especial the final dungeon, which is the usual floating labyrinth hardened JRPG fans have come to fear over the decades. No more… This is unsurprisingly a must buy for SMT fans but newcomers should try out some of the better known spin-offs first. B

Street Fighter V I waited half a year to get the game (from my library), to have actual content on my hands, but the original assessment from the community still stands. This isn´t a full price game and this is coming for a 2 decade Street Fighter fan. That you need to unlock the now released returning (!) fighters and stages with actually money, as the amount of in-game currency you get for playing the game soon turns into a joke, is further unacceptable. The now released story mode isn´ t good either. I wouldn´t usually care, but I need to play something besides survival in the single-player portion. Seriously, it´s either that or 2 equally uninteresting story modes! Even the new character designs proved problematic. Cammy´s story costume, that consists of a military jacket as the top and panties as the bottom, takes the cake. Get it together C(r)apcom, this isn´t DOA.... and DOA 5 is better too. The actual fighting engine is great, but nothing is wrong with one in (Ultra) Street Fighter IV either. Everyone who isn´t a hardcore fan should stick with that game and the rest of us will get V once the price becomes low enough for the amount of content to be worth it. Online players will still be the only ones who will stick around for long. Evolve Stage 2 recently showed how this game should look like, so there are no more excuses. The actual gameplay is great but supporting greedy nonsense as this can only harm the franchise in the long run. C+

Super Mario Maker is what it says on the box. The easy to use tools all work well, but I am not a game designer and relied on the highlighted community levels. Most only proved to be experiments in what one can create with the tools. These and the single player mode, in which short and easy levels are randomly configured in a set of 8, won´t replace a “real” Mario experience but the basic game has a future. Yoshi tools and the ability to create worlds would be a start. The game´s biggest downfall is lastly the strict limitation to the already limited WiiU community. Nintendo should expand the game, open the gates to a mobile device and the reply value will increase exponentially. I will return then. C+

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel I bothered to finish the first psp entry, due to its manageable size and decent amount of charm, but I called it quits soon thereafter and watch the "summary" OVA instead. I only lasted a few hours with this first entry in a new trilogy and I won´t bother with the sequels. This game is best compared to early PS2 JRPGs, due to the low budget presentation and the turn based combat. It all functions just fine but everything feels at least 10 years too late in a post Valkyria Chronicles or Persona 3 age. The also disappointing Valkyria Chronicles II is the best comparison I can make due to the comparable settings. I bothered to complete that game though, as fun gameplay could be found behind VK II´s similar and highly cliché driven anime students fight a one-dimensional fantasy war story. Monster filled labyrinths and a time filling school year simulator are your main dish here. I will lastly never understand why Nihon Falcom makes all these endlessly wordy games, that barely leave Japan too, as they still haven´t managed put tougher even 1 engaging script over the decades. Their Ys games have fun gameplay though, so I will just wait for Ys VIII. The LoH series is now dead to me, unless they vastly revamp it, but fans of the series will probably love this one too. Skip.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE I am a longtime fan of both franchises and this crossover is a clear cut Persona light (in every sense of the word) with combat elements and names from Fire Emblem thrown in. Imagine a very fluffy and upbeat version of Persona 3, with minimal time jumps between chapters, and less involved “social links”. The game´s story further sucks and features about every shounen anime + power of friendship cliché there is.
It is also technically a harem game but none of these relationships go anywhere.
That´s what happens if all your characters are J-pop idols, I guess, and the game´s version of Tokyo completely revolves around idol worshiping. The horror. The game further lacks many comfort functions, as proper fast travel or battle animation skipping.
You can also only track 1 quest a time! You can´t play it on the gamepad alone too, due to it being burdened with menus for the sake of it. Meaning that many hours of grinding will be done in front of your TV, due to the surprisingly changing difficultly. The highly tactical battle and character building systems are great though and the actual gameplay flows well, if you forgive the crazy amount of backtracking. I ultimately had fun, despite the game, and what else is one supposed to buy for the WiiU? Just don´t expect it to feel very “modern” and more like a PS2 era game. B-
PS: Look up the harmless, yet utterly ridiculous way the game was censored. BigN even re-recording sizable parts of the Japanese dub, but the original game is more tame than let´s say Persona 3/4. Lol.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 6:40 am, May 26 2017

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

Dragon's Dogma.

Dark Arisen I assume? Loved that game on my PS3.

Bought The Witcher 3 a while ago and I can finally play it a bit.

Witcher 3, Yokai Watch 2: Fleshy Souls, Feel the Snow, and Meadow.

Final Fantasy XV

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~4400 manga completed
~1700 ongoing...

lol I'm jelly
Wasn't able to find an English version in my place

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Tournament Round 1
Round 2

Spelunky, Binding of Issac, and Path of Exile :3

Diablo 3... and I will be playing Gears of War 1, 2, 3, Judgement and 4 with a friend over the weekend if things go as planned...

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~4400 manga completed
~1700 ongoing...

Yeah, Spelunky is a great game, I love playing this game, I've spent too many hours in it. The only problem is that I suck at it. I can't even reach the jungle scenario. This just shows how bad I am at this game.

Completely stupid amounts of Nioh. The game has my soul atm.

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Fallout 4... And I don't know how to stop... (logged ~60 hours in 6 days)

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~4400 manga completed
~1700 ongoing...

I started playing Minecraft and my god that is such a time sink. I have no idea how I started to play it, but I can't stop. I'm so tired T^T but I keep playing it for hours and not sleeping.

Before Minecraft I was playing Pokemon Duel. I like the game, and I prefer it over Pokemon Go, but with Pokemon Duel I was able to sleep. Certain limits in the game forces you to stop. Not literally forcing you to stop, but you feel you can step away from the game and do something else, like eat food, or sleep. XD

There's a new event going on in Pokemon Duel, so I wonder how I'll manage both games.

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Yes yes, I know I make longwinded comments, but that's just me >.<
I should proof read my comments more, but I won't...
So keep in mind I'm filled with typos

Check out FAQ and Forum Rules if you haven't yet.
For errors linking in threads

Replaying Skyrim, because I can...

....and because I'm waiting for Mass effect: Andromeda.

I ended up having 2 month off university, so i kind of kept up with the relentless release onslaught. Mass Effect and Nioh await, so on to my Imdb dream log:

Battlefield 1 The series was on the right track regarding single player campaigns with Bad Company 1 and the dropped the ball till the barely connected (as it was secretly a stealth game) Hardline. This semi-reboot of the series though got about every single thing right that a shooter can do. The campaign is divided is 5,5 short stores that greatly vary in play stile. Avanti Savoia was my favorite, due to the well done flashback structure, and i liked Nothing Is Written the least, as the sneaking didn´t feel right. The game also somewhat demonizes the German forces and don´t expect much narrative depth. All of them are still memorable but the player jumping gimmick from the prologue should have been feature more than once. The unfairly overlooked Modern Combat spin-off introduced it btw. The multiplayer is pretty much what one would think it is. Meaning that it is way too fast to fit into the period, the guns are also too precise, but it works well, so who am i to argue. The new and very involved mode Operations is the highlight here. I can only conclude that this is the best overall shooter of the generation, with CoD: BO 3 as the runner up. A-

Batman: The Telltale Series All of TT´s games after TWD all followed a now set in stone formula. So does this newest series and you even have to choose who to “save” during ep. 02, in a scene taken right out of TWD S01E01. Something most of them didn´t bother address are proper consequences. Batman on the other hand already delivers in this regard, as a few key decisions lead to you playing one of 2 unique scenarios multiple times. I expect the next season to set the record mostly clean again but the gimmick felt real, for once. I was also surprised how well the creators nailed the characters, despite taking many noticeable departures from canon. The game further earns it´s M due to unflinching gore and the ability to play Batman like a near unhinged sociopath. Bruce Wayne is also as much a fleshed out character as Batman himself, arguably more so. I like the 1st half a bit more than the 2nd, but i don´t have any serous complains. The writers also nailed Catwoman, unlike Rocksteady. The whole season even came out on time and ep.4 features a very effective setup for S02. I can´t wait. B+

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Infinity Ward has fallen in quality since MW 2 (the studio heads were fired), but none of their last 2 entries fell off a cliff either. Thus I expected another solid, yet forgettable, paint by the numbers entry. What we got is no AW or Black Ops but the studio clearly found their footing again. I can´t say that I liked the overly scripted 1st hour, and the overall revenge story is very one-dimensional (John Snow is wasted as a villain), but the extremely bleak tone still ended up being memorable. It´s still a shame that the robot partner is the only character with depth, as tragedies need a relatable cast to emotionally resonate. Well integrated set pieces, a more open campaign structure, and varied space battles or flying segment all ended up amounting to a much better game than i first expected. Even if the Veteran difficulty was again reduced to what older shooters would qualify as “normal”. The regular multiplayer is exactly would you would expect, so I immediately moved on, but the zombie mode ended up being another surprise. This is the 1st time I enjoyed it, since its introduction. The amusement park map very open and the game mechanics got streamlined a lot too. The competing Titanfall 2 is slight better, but shooter fans should get both. B

Dead Rising 4 The game got a lot of (arguably fake) outrage when it was announced that the timer would be dropped. That I am fine with, as only the 1st game was truly build around time management. What I am less fine with is that the developers turned out a game that looks worse than the underappreciated 3rd entry, that features a completely flat story and that dares to keep the final act gated a way as DLC. The game is best described by comparing it to the slimmed down Wii version of the first game, as it has a the same bare bones approach. The game works fine but also feels vastly out of date. This one is a rental for diehard fans of the series only, as not even a veteran as I could be bothered to finish the campaign. Get any of the 3 previous games instead if you want to jump in the series. Skip

Dishonored 2 has a nearly identical problem to Deus Ex - Mankind Divided. Both look much better than the predecessor, both play better, both have more varied level design but both also feature a noticeably inferior story, while coming out during a way too crowded release window. Dishonored 2 fares even worse with its narrative, as the 1st game´s DLC went over similar territory. Calling both of these a well done standalone add-on is fairly fitting and the ability to either play as Emily or the returning Corvo (appropriately voiced be the former Thief VA) doesn´t change all that much. I even played thought the game as both, while going for opposite play styles and even forwent getting the supernatural powers for Emily. My reward were many trophies but the song mostly remained the same. I would even say that playing aggressively is more fun than trying to be a ghost but the first game had the same issue. The game is also again too cartoonishly violent for its own good. Stealth fans will obviously need to get it but the longer Definitive Edition of the 1st game feels like a more complete package and a sequel will need to break new ground in terms of setting and themes. Not that I expect one due to the middling sales. The same goes for a new Deus Ex game… (The stealth genre is apparently going through rough times.) B

Final Fantasy XV I saw the debut trailer for Versus XIII back in 2006 and the quality of this game was thus in question to the last minute. The director change to Tabata undeniably saved this troubled production but it´s very clear that he still needed another year to complete his ambitious vision. The game is divided in 2 parts. The first half is a fun road trip that put exploration first. The ultimately large game world is a bit more fractured into „arenas“ than i would have liked and you will need to rely on Chocobos or teleportation to get around, as your car can only go on roads and most drives itself. The slightly weirdly battle system frankly feels like a step backwards, as even the problematic XIII trilogy had a better one. They should have gone with a true hack and slash battle system, instead of this tactical Kingdom Herat approach, yet it ultimately works. The graphics, soundtrack and voice acting are great. As long as you use the superior Japanese VAs and i noticed that the translation takes many liberties, as the subtitles are based on the English script. Characterization is where the game shines, so on to the „boyband“. All 4 are some of the best characters SE ever brought to life. The story is fairly engaging too, as long as you kept up with the media-tie ins, as neither the world nor the boy´s backstories are properly explained. This half of the game barely features villains and i just kept going on hunts, went fishing or hunted the royal arms. Luna, her guardian and Aranea (i cheated her into my party) are further great female characters but Cindy turned out to be the sexist otaku bait all expected in the end. None of them are seen all that often though. I ended up spending 60 hours till my quest log was all out of missions and on i traveled to the Venice equivalent of the game. This second half took me about 10 hours to complete but i will admit that i could 1-hit-kill half my enemies at this point due to being overpowered. Most of the game´s surprisingly dark story is told here and what a skeleton it turned out to be! Characters randomly show up and disappear without warning, the open world returns to the „running down corridors“ design of XIII and i had to look up a fan explanations to understand what even happened. And most imploringly why it happened. Meaning that SE published a 2nd Xenogears, with the difference that this borderline broken 2nd half was still fun. My investment in the characters ultimately made me focus on the good sides, even if i barley played less complete games. The much dreaded Chapter 13 was actually a slightly flawed highlight (your 1 weapon is a bit too weak), as enough of it is finished to understand what happens and the survival horror atmosphere was a welcomes change of pace. The game´s finale is further a masterpiece, so the team at least focused on landing the ending. I then returned to the open world and spend a final 20 hours on doing everything and getting my Platinum. I will never deny that the game shouldn´t have been shipped in this from but the devs are focused on delivering the necessary patched and content to fill in some of the blank canvas. I finished all offline FF games + most spin-offs. FF XV could have been a top 5 entry if the game was done but the finished product is still a modern RPG highlight and ultimately a success, after 10 years in development hell. B+

Ghost Recon Wildlands The Ubisoft sandbox design finally stared to wear me down last year and this former tactical shooter franchise now got hit with it too. To a degree that I can´t even recognize the series anymore! I have no problems with the barley there narrative (the ending is a huge middle finger btw.), it´s a Tom Clancy game after all, but can anyone name me even 1 thing that makes this game “special”. The shoehorned in skill tree frankly breaks the do-it-your-way design, as you need to grind your way to a good character build and gameplay variety is near nonexistent. Especially if I consider that the main missions play just like the utterly interchangeable side-quests. I wasn´t crazy about The Division or Just Cause 3 but these at least had elements that made then unique. What does Wildlands offer? The facts that most of your in game time will be spend driving or flying to your next objective? I can see a certain appeal to the 4 player co-op but who has 3 dedicated friends on standby? Back to the drawing board Ubisoft, as this one is a nice looking washout. Skip

Gravity Rush 2 The previous game was a fairly well done launch game for the Vita and I welcome the upgrade to the PS4. I also again like the color scheme / art direction and the basic gravity manipulation idea remains a standout feature. What I don´t like is that this sequel can barely be called one. The graphics look like a PS3 port, the simplistic motion comic presentation is unbelievably cheap (most aren´t voice acted either) and the developers didn´t improve on the 1st game but instead filled it to the brim with busy work. Collect this, solve random trail X, grind a few orbs to level up superfluous statistics, find hidden item Z and so on. The fights against the simplistic foes aren´t improved either and the basic game can be best compared to a N64 collect-a-thon, with the gravity gameplay serving as a borderline backdrop. The game is also “longer”, which was achieved by dumping the old words into the game too. Can you get more lazy? That´s why I had to stop halfway though, as the power of friendship story proved to be an equal bore. I recommend basically everyone to get the much more focused (and cheaper) prequel instead. Wait for a major price drop if you really need get this uninspired level pack. Skip

Halo Wars 2 Strategy games had a touch life on consoles till the 360 came along and the prequel ended up being one of the better such games of its time. The sequels sure took a while and everything seems great at first. The basic idea for the plot is strong and could work as a standalone Halo film. The technology is very impressive too (the army size in the last level is staggering!) and the controls are very fluid. The campaign though proofs as surprisingly restrictive. You again only play as the humans and nothing happens in the story till the final cutscene. You don´t even get to face the game´s antagonist at ANY point, meaning that Halo 2 doesn´t have the worst ending in the series anymore and Halo 5 doesn´t have the worst plot too. Lol. The campaign is still fun enough and the multiplayer modes are solid too, even if I can´t judge how balanced the new Blitz mode is. That one also relies on real money to buy new cards, which serve as your units. Halo and RTS fans should obviously get the game but I expect more from a sequel , so get the HD version of Halo Wars 1 first. B-

Hitman The more “mainstream” last game somewhat divided the community, it´s not my favorite entry either, but the negativity is a bit overblown. It certainly proved to be a clear stepping stone for this refresh of the series. The old canon still stands btw. but I noticed that a few of the targets aren´t “evil”, which was nearly always the case in previous games. The game is a bit more “goofy” too and could easily be reworked as a spy caper. The story is less focused on this time around, not that Hitman games ever managed to tell a good one, but this tale is overall fine. The main selling point is obviously the finely tuned gameplay and the levels are now more open than ever. The huge crowds are another plus and now feel less of a gimmick. The game is actually a huge technical accomplishment, outside of the again janky animations, and the levels all feature astonish attention to detail. The levels may even be a bit too huge and I would have broken some of them into 2 separate ones. I understand that the developers want the player to replay them multiple times, with changing conditions but less is sometimes more. The way the game locks away the new weekly targets after that very week is clearer misstep. Especially as you only get 1 try but the high amount of user created level remixes somewhat makes up for that. There is a lot of content to be enjoyed in this first “season” and playing though the game over 2 days felt like binge watching a Netflix show. I have full trust in the developers to deliver another quality follow-up and the retail version of the game is the best Hitman entry yet. I just hope that the “Bonus Episodes” will rely on more levels, as Sapienza now ended up having 3 separate missions assigned to it. The game is lastly a great entry point to the series. A-

Pokemon Sun This entry isn´t the evolutionary jump X/Y gave the series but the much needed modernization of the franchise still continues strongly. The graphical presentation is very involved (this sadly leads to frame rate dips) and only voice acting is “missing”. Which leads to a big problem. The story is again pure rubbish, yet the many cutscenes are unskippable. I understand that Nintendo put story last but annoying me is still inexcusable. Children deserve better and less text to read too. The high amount of feature creep is noticeable too but the overall product should be the best series entry, after Gen 2 and 6. I further recommend import Ash-Greninja from the demo. Him, my fire starter and that my Evoli accidentally evolved into a plant form lead to my first truly balanced team in years. The game is fairly long too and much of the postgame content is enjoyable too. I am ultimately a bigger fan of the deeper SMT/Persona games but Pokemen again remains in high form and should satisfy a very broad user base. B+

Resident Evil 7 I have been a fan of the franchise since the PSX days and I liked the last 2 action focused instalments a lot. The slower paced 2 Revelation games were fine too but the overall narrative of the franchise certainly took a dive since the borderline farcical RE 4. Bringing back the series to the pure horror roots wasn´t something i necessarily "needed" but getting new writers certainly was. The Fear / Spec Ops guy (the 1st western writer) certainly delivered with 7, even if he stayed fairly close to his roots. Especially with the 3rd act. The game´s fairly self-contained story ended up tying way deeper into the canon than I expected too and I like the ominous conclusion. The only problem here is that the DLC and a sequel will have to answer way more questions than anymore expected. The core experience itself is best decided as the Gamecube remake played from a 1st person perspective but the game isn´t as scary as advertised. The fights against the main enemies aren´t hard, or that frequent, and most regular enemies are borderline pushovers. These “mold people” should have been more varied too, especially due to the higher action focus in the surprise 3rd act. Even the game´s somewhat mysterious protagonist (not an avatar btw.) ends up quickly becoming an action hero in the vein of the earlier protagonists, before the days of Matrix-Ballet and QTE rock bashing. The game can be beating in 1 night long sitting too. That´s how I did it and the subsequent speed run took me 3 hours. What I am trying to say that this is RE game though and though but the last 3 shooting focused main entries were all more “fun” to play. I thus don´t view this as a 3rd start for the series. Pure horror games as this one and pure action entries should continue side by side instead, to avoid stagnation of both play styles. I lastly appreciated the return of real gore, as the series became way too toothless in that aspect since RE 5 but core gameplay modes shouldn´t have been gated behind DLC. B+

Sniper Elite 4 I was never a fan of the developer Rebellion and also never played a game in this series. This one is supposed to be a quality leap for the franchise and the basic idea is rather interesting too. I can´t say that I have a truly negative opinion of the game but it turned out to be the budget PC shooter (I played on Xbox One) I expected. The large levels aren´t all that detailed in terms of design and the game itself comes off as an HD re-release of a 1 decade old 360 game. It´s rather short too and clearly finished level are now expanding it quickly though paid DLC. The story/presentation is also barely there but who cares. I can see some of the game´s unique appeal, the gore is quite impactful too, but way better stealth games crowd the market in the end. I can thus only recommend the game to pre-existing fans and I now sampled all I need from this series. Skip

Steep The genre of extreme winter sports is basically dead, so I had to give the game a try despite the middling review. They were on the money. The game looks nice and there is a good amount of variety but the gameplay flows badly and this feels more like a skeleton than a retail game. The progression is very tedious and you basically have to self-motivate yourself to push though. I also hate the extremely tedious way of traversing the mounting, to unlock new events. I can see a sequel fulfilling on the game´s promise, a bit of a curse for Ubisoft, but this one is more of a weekend rental for genre fans. Skip

The Last Guardian I have been waiting for this game since the 2007 announcement and honestly never expected a masterpiece after all the development setbacks. At least finally know why it took this long. Team Ico never managed to get the core game mechanics to work, as I have no other way to describe the way the game fails to “work” at times. Most of the game revolves around making your companion Trico do the one thing that will get you to the next puzzle room and accomplishing that boils down to try and error. A 6-8 hour game thus becomes a 10-12 hour game. I would perfectly understand Trico having a mind of her own but that´s not what went wrong here. A game with a heavy amount of climbing ultimately NEEDS to work when the right bottom is pressed and this isn´t always the case here. You even get constant vocal cues on how to solve the next objective, as the developers seemed to understand that their own shortcomings. It´s also noteworthy that the game looks like a PS3 game (outside of the highly scripted last hour), while playing like a PS2 game, but these are secondly concerns. More music would have helped too and the solid story is a bit more straightforward than I expected. The 2 much older predecessors are thus much better experiences in the end. Even the similar Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom for left me less frustrated but I can ultimately recommend the TLG to the right audience. It´s highly unique, ambitious and you get to play as a “passive companion”, as Trico ends up doing all the heavy lifting. Newcomers should get the Team Ico HD remasters for last gen first though. I ultimately wish that I could love the game but I only somewhat like it in the end. A shame, as Ico is one of my favorite games. C+

Thimbleweed Park 100% Thimbleweed Park 100% succeed in feeling like a better looking late 80s adventure game. Just with great voice acting and more ambition, due to the 5 playable characters you need to control and freely switch. At least 2 too many if you ask me but the game fully achieves a sense of time and place. To such a degree that you need to be a fan of the games this one spiritually succeeds to like it. My biggest gripe is the way too meta and out of nowhere 3rd act twist that feels like a lamer version of the Monkey Island 2 ending. Fans of the genre already finished this game and no one else knows that it even exist. Just as you would expect from a crowd sourced game. B-

Titanfall 2 It´s a bit ironic that Infinite Warfare and Titanfall 2 came out in the same month, due to the similar setting + gameplay and connected development teams. The more daring Titanfall 2 ultimately takes the lead, as it has one of the most memorable singleplayer campaigns in the shooter scene this decade. The vapid story makes no sense whatsoever and some of the extremely varied mechanics could have been used longer too, as the game constantly jumps in style. No other grievances exist though but the campaign is also on the shorter side (using the hardest difficulty + 2 saving mishaps made this an 8 hour game). The multiplayer is basically the same as last time, just with more mech variety. I honestly had my fill last time, as there were no other modes previously, and the majority of shooter gamers seem to share my opinion. I hope that the series will get a 3rd chance, as the sales weren ´t too impressive, but Titanfall now fully proved itself worth a hot new IP. B+

Watchdogs 2 The 1st game had a slightly slugging first half but I ended up liking it a lot overall. The often ridiculed and deliberately unlikable Aiden Pearce and the near nihilistic story stood out to me. The game had an identity, plain and simple. I only need a bit more gameplay variety for a sequel and I certainly got that… but at what cost! The admittedly more involved hacking is now suddenly Pipe Mania and the overall game fully transformed into Ubi-Collect-a-Thon No.X. It work fine, most Ubi-games do, but what makes this one special? I am willing to praise the variety of ways missions can occasionally be solved and the involved multiplayer component is downright fascinating. What can't get my blessing are the story and characters. This is basically Lizard Squad "The Video-Game" and a Best Memes of 2015/16 collection. A rarely skip cutscenes but I ended up being physically incapable of watch this rubbish. The tone is quite broken too. The game is about these oh so "diverse" 20-something hackers and their PC Culture enforcement adventures but multiple trophies demand to kill, despite most enemies being simple security guards. The protagonist even carries a gun on the cover and his stealth attacks only kills too. Again, nothing makes sense and diversity ain 't a checkbox dear developers. I myself am half black and the well done San Francisco setting is appropriately chosen but I abide no pandering, which this 100% is. I ultimately finished the campaign, these Ubi-games tend to work well after all, but the devs need to go back to the drawing board. They made 2 steps forward and 4 steps back. B-

Yakuza Zero The series peaked with the first game for me (if I forget the 2 Japan only samurai spin-offs) due to immediate gameplay stagnation and an incredible amount of reused content and filler. The rather generic story also completely fell off a cliff once the original writer left after Yakuza 2. I thus had zero interest to return to Sega´s yearly grind factory but the positive reception and the fact that this isn´t a continuation of the “save the orphanage” plot from Yakuza 3 and onwards gave me pause. I didn´t quite enjoy the first few hours. Most of the simplistic sub-quests lack basic presentation as voice acting and are all badly written. The game is further a PS3 port. The brawler gameplay still puts grinding and item abuse over actual skill, while only the medium and heavy fighting style of both characters are truly usable. The story barely makes sense too and the ending undoes all your accomplishments to set up Yakuza 1 instead. The weirdest bit is when Kiryu shoots a highway full of goons to death but the game still insists that he never killed. I can appreciate that halt the game is focused on Majima, who is the one major Yakuza character I can be bothered with, so there is that. Yet the game clock kept counting up and I ended up putting 65 hours into the game, while completing about 90 of the 100 subquests. I can´t explain it but the missions just started to flow into each other and I ended up being a nearly maxed out multimillionaire by the time the story reached the halfway mark. The sizable Host Club and Pocket Racing quests weren´t even half bad (outside of the juvenile writing) but the Real Estate quest certainly tested my patience. My main take away that is that I am still incapable of understanding why I ended up linking the sum of the game´s questionably parts but it has a certain kitsch charm. Or I may have needed a vacation to Japan´s well captured days of excess, who knows. My final impression of the game is this: The game demands you to play a perfect game of bowling (3 turkeys in a row) to progress in 2 sub stories and get a new business manager for Kiryu. That “manager” ended up being an actual turkey, with a salary. His stats aren´t even that good but what was I expecting? B-
PS: I also played Yakuza 6 and liked that it is a PS4 only game but the usual save the orphanage story was again insufferable. I´ll thus stick to the spin-offs.

Last edited by residentgrigo at 6:38 am, May 26 2017

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
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