Post When You Complete A Game 2013

[Snaggletooth]

DragonBall Z Budokai HD
Dragons Dogma
Need for Speed Most Wanted.

[maf-me-quick]

01/01/13 - Sleeping Dogs (X360)
06/01/13 - Fez (XBLA)
25/01/13 - Dust: An Elysian Tale (XBLA)
27/01/13 - Farcry 3 (X360)
30/01/13 - Forza: Horizon (X360)
01/02/13 - Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)

08/02/13 - Pokémon: Black Version 2 (NDS) - Champion.

[DifferentClass]

19/01/13 - Binary Domain (PS3)
27/01/13 - Anarchy Reigns (PS3)

05/02/13 - Doom 3 (PS3)

Too long. Too long. Though it's my fault as I did play the full game plus the added episodes back to back but it's a brilliant and simple game that hangs around beyond its welcome. It's still kinda a good but the classic it could be is half its length.

[Superbeasto]

Far Cry 3 - 360 (normal difficulty) 4/5

Gears of War 3 - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5

With Judgement coming soon I had a batter through the whole trilogy again. Going back I found 2 to be my least favourite and 3 to be by far the best. Such a fantastic action game.

Mass Effect - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5

Looking to do an Insanity playthrough of the whole trilogy, and to do that I had to unlock Insanity on the first game (it's a little confusing how the difficulty levels aren't uniform across the 3 games). I still love this, it's a bit rough now in comparison to the sequels (especially mechanically) but going back I just get chills. Such an incredibly realized universe, fantastic.

[Superbeasto]

Gears of War 3 - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5
Mass Effect - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5

Aliens: Colonial Marines (Soldier difficulty) 4/5

Yes, really, 4/5. The aliens universe and trappings definitely add an extra point for me. I know the plot and graphics aren't any great shakes but I grew up obsessed with the movie and reading the expanded lore, and a lot of those old Dark Horse comics played incredibly fast and loose with the canon. I didn't care at the time, I just soaked it all up because I needed to see more pulse rifles, more aliens, more Hadley's Hope and more marines.

This was a lot like that, and I enjoyed it a lot. I've put my thoughts in the other thread, and I know the vocal majority disagree with me, but I think even taking away the nostalgic buttons it pushes for me this is an average shooter, no more, no less. Not deserving of any great praise, but certainly not deserving of the kicking it's been getting. Each to their own though, already playing through it again and getting pretty stuck into the MP, happy with my purchase.

[merman]

10/01/2013 - Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7, 100% complete, 1000 Gamerscore
21/02/2013 - Lego Indiana Jones, 100% complete, 1000 Gamerscore

Got the last 60 points today I needed to finish this one off, my 5th Lego game completed to 1000 GS

[DifferentClass]

19/01/13 - Binary Domain (PS3)
27/01/13 - Anarchy Reigns (PS3)
05/02/13 - Doom 3 (PS3)

21/02/13 - Batman: Arkham City (PS3)

That's it done on New Game+ now. Some of the new enemy arrangements were really tricky later on, I'm surprised I saw it through.
While I still maintain the structure of Arkham Asylum is better I think now that Arkham City is probably as good as an open-world Batman game was ever going to be and they got so much right that could have gone totally wrong. While too numerous and overwhelming the Riddler trophies and riddles really bring a great challenge to every nook and getting around is just quick and fun; no mulling around, just slick navigation. I'm glad I went back to it as it's just leaped up in my estimation. You can rest easy now, Rocksteady, I really like your games.

[DifferentClass]

19/01/13 - Binary Domain (PS3)
27/01/13 - Anarchy Reigns (PS3)
05/02/13 - Doom 3 (PS3)
21/02/13 - Batman: Arkham City (PS3)

22/02/13 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3)

Great game. I'm still not sure if it's as good as Bayonetta or Ninja Gaiden 2 but it's a damn fine action game never the less. In fact, I think I'm going to play it again.

[Superbeasto]

Gears of War 3 - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5
Mass Effect - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5
Aliens: Colonial Marines (Soldier difficulty, Hardened difficulty) 4/5
Far Cry 3 - 360 (normal difficulty) 4/5

[Snaggletooth]

DragonBall Z Budokai HD
Dragons Dogma
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Ni No Kuni - This game is amazeaballs

[Superbeasto]

Gears of War 3 - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5
Mass Effect - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5

Aliens: Colonial Marines (Soldier/Hardened/Ultimate Badass difficulties) 4/5

Just battered through this again on the hardest mode. A real challenge in places I thought, still enjoying this, although today is the first day I've not been able to find a MP game so might have to give up on getting all the challenges sadly.

Far Cry 3 - 360 (normal difficulty) 4/5

[DifferentClass]

19/01/13 - Binary Domain (PS3)
27/01/13 - Anarchy Reigns (PS3)
05/02/13 - Doom 3 (PS3)
21/02/13 - Batman: Arkham City (PS3)
22/02/13 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3)

09/03/13 - Tomb Raider (PS3)

I have my issues with it, most notibly the scaling back in inventive puzzle/platforming and dumb violence; but overall I will be amazed if a better AAA game comes out this year.
And nu-Lara is fantastic. She can stand proudly amongst the Alyx Vances of the gaming world.

[Superbeasto]

Gears of War 3 - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5
Mass Effect - 360 (hardcore difficulty) 5/5
Aliens: Colonial Marines (Soldier/Hardened/Ultimate Badass difficulties) 4/5
Far Cry 3 - 360 (normal difficulty) 4/5

Dead Space 3 - 360 (Hard difficulty solo) 3/5

Dead Space and Mass Effect are probably my two favorite game franchises in existence, and I always bring up Dead Space to colleagues as a great example of perfectly focused and harmonious design. It's a bit of a shame then that this is a bit disappointing.

There are moments that are truly epic, set-pieces which are Dead Space at its absolute best, but it falls apart whenever there's an enemy encounter. The problem isn't that it's an action game, it's that it's a very poorly thought out action game. DS2 was action-packed, but the encounters had been meticulously put together so that even when you were being rushed, the environments allowed for tactics and just the right amount of pressure was on to keep things thrilling. In 3 there doesn't seem to have been any thought put into these (frequent) moments beyond just spamming you with as many enemies as they can render, regardless of the location. Most fights began with necros appearing in front and behind simultaneously (making it impossible to not get cheap-shotted) before being jammed into a corner so tight your health bar isn't even on-camera and then hitting you with appalling stun-lock attacks while you mash the buttons until death, or miraculously (by virtue of hammering B to use every health pack you have) make it through. For a series with so far impeccable design values, these are some of the most poorly designed fights I've seen in years. I was on Hard, so playing it on Normal will likely make for less deaths, but they'll still be horribly thoughtless encounters. Also, the generic ammo and reduced weapon slots was a bad choice, as it meant there was none of the resource management that came from running dry on a gun and being forced to switch to another weapon. With this you just pick or manufacture what you think is the best all purpose weapon and use that for the whole thing, and I hit on battle late on which was almost impossible with the loadout that I had. It was the equivalent of an RPG hitting you with a fight you could only win if you'd put all your XP into a particular skill, without making you aware that would be important.

I'm looking forward to re-appraising it in co-op, as standing back to back in those tight corridors would at least stop you getting blind-spotted constantly. As it stands I've got mixed feelings. I loved so much about this game, but the one thing that the majority of the gameplay hinges on is badly crafted, so I've finished the trilogy with a bit of a sour taste.

It's not awful (sometimes it's fantastic) and it's possible I'm just feeling more negative because the benchmark was so high for me with the first 2, but the fact that it spends a lot of its time being an awesome Dead Space game makes it that much more frustrating when the next round of beasties attack and the annoyance/boredom sinks in again. I have all the cheevos on the first two, and the hardcore cheevo in 2 was one of my favorite gaming moments, but the thought of doing this on even harder difficulties so that all those cheap encounters get even cheaper just puts me right off.

Bah, I don't really know how I feel, maybe I'll love this 2nd time around, who knows. All I do know is I spent about 30% of my playthrough feeling that proper Dead Space awe, and the other 70% groaning and moaning and wanting to put the controller down. Blarg.

[maf-me-quick]

01/01/13 - Sleeping Dogs (X360)
06/01/13 - Fez (XBLA)
25/01/13 - Dust: An Elysian Tale (XBLA)
27/01/13 - Farcry 3 (X360)
30/01/13 - Forza: Horizon (X360)
01/02/13 - Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)
08/02/13 - Pokémon: Black Version 2 (NDS)

10/03/13 - Tomb Raider (PS3) - Uncharted territory

(**** you Eurogamer I was holding on to that for 3 days)

[maf-me-quick]

01/01/13 - Sleeping Dogs (X360)
06/01/13 - Fez (XBLA)
25/01/13 - Dust: An Elysian Tale (XBLA)
27/01/13 - Farcry 3 (X360)
30/01/13 - Forza: Horizon (X360)
01/02/13 - Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)
08/02/13 - Pokémon: Black Version 2 (NDS)
10/03/13 - Tomb Raider (PS3)

15/03/13 - DmC (PS3) - Idle hands are the devil's tools.