While this year had the biggest games that I've hit the digital shelfs, not counting the thousands of cheap green-light games, there has been some disappointing games that have came out this year. Some of these are on a personal level, but don't worry, none of these are shovelwere or easy targets, as that would be too easy as a choice. These are the disappointing games of 2015, plus at least one inde game!
!) Armagrogg
This one is personal as I am a fan of Doug Tennaple's past works from Earthworm Jim to even it's spiritual successor Neverhood. The biggest problem of this game is that it lost it's core audience as much as Broken Age did, as it tried too hard to catch past audience as well as it's modern audience. Even after fixing many of the bugs, it feels like they didn't have the programing know-how and felt like the game is incomplete. While it tries to be for both type of gamers, the puzzles end up being mixed and even pissed of a major of backers for their refund. I'm sorry, Tennaple. I hope you'll forgive me.
2) Mortal Kombat X
Mortal Combat 9 was a great remake AND reboot that helped bring newcomers and old fans together to break skulls and pull of fatalities; even pulling off ideas that even Marvel vs Capcom fails to advance on. Sadly, Mortal Kombat X stepped all that down as many of the hit features are removed for Downloadable content. Want to play as Goro, who is ON THE DISK? Five bucks! There's a reason WB's marketing is getting a lot of slack for their business decisions. It also didn't help that they porked the PC port like they did with Mortal Kombat 9, which is a reason PC gamers hate High Voltage studios.
3) Mad Max (The game)
Sandbox, the sandbox game. No seriously, the game personally over-did the sandbox portion of the game to the point that it over-burdens the story part of the game. It wasn't a bad game, mind you, it just dose the sandbox too well to the point of being mundane. Graphics wise, it did the nicely programed MGSV magnifier to help the game run. However, as I would put it, there's too much sand, not enough box for me personally as an experience. It doesn't help that they are competing with games like Batman and Fallout 4, as even those game's mechanics where built around it's open world.
4) Halo 5
I personally gave up on the Halo series after three as I have moved away from the Xbox counsel gaming ever since the XBone has a disappointing release with the many things that gaming should never have invented. While the online portion is somewhat untouched from Halo 4, the story as absolute "Meh" at the best of times and bad at the worst of times. Personally, I wouldn't touch this game with an eight foot pole if it wasn't part of my job. Why did I make it part of my job? So I know what and what not to do when I make an inde-title. Running a series to the ground is one of them.
5) Battle Field: Hardlines
While most cop-based games that are usually third-person sand box games, shooters, or even point-and-click games, this game is merely a shooter dressed as a cop game. This game is so basic and out-of-logic that all the past shooter games blend in like a Martynne and you end up with a below-average experience. While games like Splatoon try it's best to mix up it's gameplay like how in hardline you could arrest perps, there was no reason to do so as it seems pointless as it just gives you lethal upgrades. There's a reason I don't review shooters anymore!
6) Evolve
I played this when it was in beta and as soon as I played it, I knew it would end to be a horrible running simulator. From the same dev teams as Left 4 Dead one and two, they tried to make a game just as fun. However, this ends up being the most repetitive game that I have ever played more than even most Zombie sandbox games that have hit the market that has hit the shelfs. Not only that, but they try to resell cosmetics and recolored guns that anyone than the art-team could do. It was a mess for both human and monster players and I'm not sure if the game is even still up as it was. The sad thing is that games like The Devil's Bluff did this idea better than the Tripple A devs of this game. Keep away from this game!
Friday, November 27, 2015
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Games of the Year: 2015
Well, its that time again to see which games are the best of this year. You know what that means: idiots fighting over numbers with other idiots about which games are the best and CoD fanboys fighting with MW. You know what, I'm not going to put numbers on them, instead I'm going to just list them in letters just to add confusion. Please note that ONE of the games I actually got for free when I updated my computer as a promotion by Nvidia, and yes, that counts as well since I got this game for free. These are usually games that I have played or have on a review account to help as not all critics can afford to review most games.
A) Undertale
This short, inde-RPG game that was made by Toby Fox, an Odd-ball EarthBound fan who worked on rom-hacks and is known for that one awesome song Megolavina. Common, folks! He left that songs in most of his works to show that he has worked on the game before. Except for that Concatenation game; that didn't count as it was borrowed with Fox's permission. That song is not really a spoiler. A game that remembered your actions as you replay the game over and over again. This gets an honorable mention because it did something that most RPGs don't usually do by playing on almost all RPG tropes with the endings sticking onto the players. Also, ten US dollars! That's about what I pay for lunch!! Get it, because the demo actually sucks becasue the intro is harder than the main game.
B) Batman: Arkham Knight
While I do agree that the plot is disappointing, the bat-tank is tacked-on, and the completion bonus is not worth it, I would still recommend the game as it ends the game of the trilogy. However, the PC port is still broken as of today, so I would have to recommend the Playstation 4 version as it seems to be built for that system. It would be lower on the list since WB tends to porked their ports, which happened before with games like Mortal Kombat 9. Run it on PC if your dare. However, the plot-twist in the opening of the game what redeemed the game to me, even though it was false advertisement on WB's end.
C) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
This is the game I got for free while updating my computer so I can work on my other PC game reviews and is probably the BEST looking out of the series. However, it's also has the WORST story of the franchise and is probably the last good game from Konami as Kojima has officially left as of 2015. The best part of the game is its gameplay, as it's sandbox stealth at it's best while it stays challenging with three different endings, but a sad plot-twist at the end. While Snake Eatter will always be the best with the Solid Snake remake for the GameCube behind it, this is not a bad game; Just yet another game where the completion bonus SUCKS!
E) Fallout 4
I know I am going to get slack for this game, but this is the most optimized Bethesda Game that I have played ever. I have just finished the game and it is such a doozy. Without spoiling much, the player star as a survivor of Vault 111 out to find your lost child as he was taken as a baby. The player must then escape and decide which path to go upon to survive the wasteland. While some found that a gray plot and moral lines may have hurt it's viewpoint and disappoint some looking at the game, I found that it dose more from doing less. Besides, looking back at Fallout 3 and New Vegas, the two games did NOT age well as both games are littered with far worse issues than Fallout 4. At least the Wounderer's not a child killer. No, seriously; he/she can do that in uncensored versions of Fallout 1 and was even an unused perk!~
F) Super Mario Maker
It was either this game or Splatoon. While Splatoon was a fun, it then had power-issues where some weapons are too over-powered and quickly faded away as well as it's hype. However, with check-points just added on for free in the latest update, this is a great game to play with your friends. Make from the noob-friendly levels to teach players about a gimmick to something that even evil itself would not even publish, like the meat-boy levels! This is a game for both casual and hard-core gamers. I just wouldn't recommend it to children, as they tend to break all sorts of games.
G) Just Cause 3
With the ever new ways to travel via flying suit, new ways to use your tethers, updated bomb with a new booster, and new weapons like the multi-launcher, the readers understands why I added this game to my list. This time, however, it's personal for Scorpio as the game takes place in his home country, meaning he has no reason to hold back anymore. He sets out to save his own country from a dictator who has Scorpio's loved ones under his boot. However, the story missions is not the main focus as causing mayhem will help get income called chaos, which you can use to buy planes, cars, and all sorts of goods to help cause chaos to help liberate his country. I would like to talk more about the game, but S-E embargos are usually too strict.
Which numbers they belong to is up to the viewers, as I personally feel these are my top games of this year. Hopefully, there wasn't as much disappointing games as there was last year, but there are some games that where very disappointing. So Next time, the six most disappointing games of 2015!
A) Undertale
This short, inde-RPG game that was made by Toby Fox, an Odd-ball EarthBound fan who worked on rom-hacks and is known for that one awesome song Megolavina. Common, folks! He left that songs in most of his works to show that he has worked on the game before. Except for that Concatenation game; that didn't count as it was borrowed with Fox's permission. That song is not really a spoiler. A game that remembered your actions as you replay the game over and over again. This gets an honorable mention because it did something that most RPGs don't usually do by playing on almost all RPG tropes with the endings sticking onto the players. Also, ten US dollars! That's about what I pay for lunch!! Get it, because the demo actually sucks becasue the intro is harder than the main game.
B) Batman: Arkham Knight
While I do agree that the plot is disappointing, the bat-tank is tacked-on, and the completion bonus is not worth it, I would still recommend the game as it ends the game of the trilogy. However, the PC port is still broken as of today, so I would have to recommend the Playstation 4 version as it seems to be built for that system. It would be lower on the list since WB tends to porked their ports, which happened before with games like Mortal Kombat 9. Run it on PC if your dare. However, the plot-twist in the opening of the game what redeemed the game to me, even though it was false advertisement on WB's end.
C) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
This is the game I got for free while updating my computer so I can work on my other PC game reviews and is probably the BEST looking out of the series. However, it's also has the WORST story of the franchise and is probably the last good game from Konami as Kojima has officially left as of 2015. The best part of the game is its gameplay, as it's sandbox stealth at it's best while it stays challenging with three different endings, but a sad plot-twist at the end. While Snake Eatter will always be the best with the Solid Snake remake for the GameCube behind it, this is not a bad game; Just yet another game where the completion bonus SUCKS!
E) Fallout 4
I know I am going to get slack for this game, but this is the most optimized Bethesda Game that I have played ever. I have just finished the game and it is such a doozy. Without spoiling much, the player star as a survivor of Vault 111 out to find your lost child as he was taken as a baby. The player must then escape and decide which path to go upon to survive the wasteland. While some found that a gray plot and moral lines may have hurt it's viewpoint and disappoint some looking at the game, I found that it dose more from doing less. Besides, looking back at Fallout 3 and New Vegas, the two games did NOT age well as both games are littered with far worse issues than Fallout 4. At least the Wounderer's not a child killer. No, seriously; he/she can do that in uncensored versions of Fallout 1 and was even an unused perk!~
F) Super Mario Maker
It was either this game or Splatoon. While Splatoon was a fun, it then had power-issues where some weapons are too over-powered and quickly faded away as well as it's hype. However, with check-points just added on for free in the latest update, this is a great game to play with your friends. Make from the noob-friendly levels to teach players about a gimmick to something that even evil itself would not even publish, like the meat-boy levels! This is a game for both casual and hard-core gamers. I just wouldn't recommend it to children, as they tend to break all sorts of games.
G) Just Cause 3
With the ever new ways to travel via flying suit, new ways to use your tethers, updated bomb with a new booster, and new weapons like the multi-launcher, the readers understands why I added this game to my list. This time, however, it's personal for Scorpio as the game takes place in his home country, meaning he has no reason to hold back anymore. He sets out to save his own country from a dictator who has Scorpio's loved ones under his boot. However, the story missions is not the main focus as causing mayhem will help get income called chaos, which you can use to buy planes, cars, and all sorts of goods to help cause chaos to help liberate his country. I would like to talk more about the game, but S-E embargos are usually too strict.
Which numbers they belong to is up to the viewers, as I personally feel these are my top games of this year. Hopefully, there wasn't as much disappointing games as there was last year, but there are some games that where very disappointing. So Next time, the six most disappointing games of 2015!
Friday, November 6, 2015
Beastly Byte: Undertale! A game where no one has to die (...oR NoT...)
Well, we all know this was coming since it a game that was reviewed by EVERY media outlet, as it was a inde-game inspired by Earthbound, Thohou or any bullet-hell shooter, and even Wario-Ware. I know people compare it with Cave-Story because it happens underground, but I don't personally see it since most of the music here is SNES based. And while some people dislike this game as it's fan-base can over-hype things at times, Alla Five Nights at Fready's, even not a fan of Thohou need to look at. Created by the creator Toby Fox of Earthbound Rom-hacks and co-developer of Home-Struck as his signature metal song is in all three of the series.
So how is the game? Dose it compare to Earthbound than the other tribute games like OFF and Lisa?
Positive:
+ Interactions with enemies and characters, which influence the plot and endings of the story
+ Passive game designed that excels as an challenging experience, or you can do the normal RPG route
+ The game remembers what you do in past run-though, causing creative fourth-wall breaks
+ Funny and lovable characters, which makes players invested in the story
+ Great enemy designs, requiring players to think on their feet
+ SNES Music mixed with real-music counterparts, which is very catchy; sticking on the player's head for a long time
+ Game humor plays on RPG tropes, which help to the longevity of the game
+ A surprising Plot-twist which sticks with the player even after the game ends
+ Hidden secrets which includes two creepy back-stories, Easter eggs, references, and more
However, even a perfect game has a few nick-picks, as even a clean man or woman can get skin infections no matter how hard they try to wash it's skin. ew...
Negatives:
- The main character (Chara Frisk, as you find out later) tends to be the least interesting character because of it's pale skin.
- While it's cool that Toby Fox made it thought limitations of game-maker, the one-save system tend to be annoying since for lets plays and reviews, you have to modify the save-files delete the file to start again
- The biggest flaw is that genocide run is painfully less challenging than I though. On one hand, it makes the player realize how evil it is, but on the other hand, there's only two new bad-ass boss fights.
- Genocide also ruins a pacifist run on a new game, as the game remembers your past actions. Do genocide last!
Final thoughts:
This is a game that everyone needs to experience! Just like Earthbound, the characters are very charismatic, funny, and the player just want to get to know the characters individually. And in some points, it dose better results for not only being ten dollars (or the equivalent) and can last from five to ten hours - a perfect length for that cost. This game can be also considered best inde-game of this year hands down from me, but if you, the players, can wait until the hype dies down, that would be a safe bet to avoid spoilers. I would also recommend playing blind so the experience is full and rewarding...
...OR PuNiSHing...hehehehehe-MWhahahaha....hA...ha...
...I need to get Orta out of my blood stream...
...Then go for a pacifist route, but go for a genocide run if you dare, but I personally don't recommend it....
...Meanwhile...I need to rest....
...
So how is the game? Dose it compare to Earthbound than the other tribute games like OFF and Lisa?
Positive:
+ Interactions with enemies and characters, which influence the plot and endings of the story
+ Passive game designed that excels as an challenging experience, or you can do the normal RPG route
+ The game remembers what you do in past run-though, causing creative fourth-wall breaks
+ Funny and lovable characters, which makes players invested in the story
+ Great enemy designs, requiring players to think on their feet
+ SNES Music mixed with real-music counterparts, which is very catchy; sticking on the player's head for a long time
+ Game humor plays on RPG tropes, which help to the longevity of the game
+ A surprising Plot-twist which sticks with the player even after the game ends
+ Hidden secrets which includes two creepy back-stories, Easter eggs, references, and more
However, even a perfect game has a few nick-picks, as even a clean man or woman can get skin infections no matter how hard they try to wash it's skin. ew...
Negatives:
- The main character (Chara Frisk, as you find out later) tends to be the least interesting character because of it's pale skin.
- While it's cool that Toby Fox made it thought limitations of game-maker, the one-save system tend to be annoying since for lets plays and reviews, you have to modify the save-files delete the file to start again
- The biggest flaw is that genocide run is painfully less challenging than I though. On one hand, it makes the player realize how evil it is, but on the other hand, there's only two new bad-ass boss fights.
- Genocide also ruins a pacifist run on a new game, as the game remembers your past actions. Do genocide last!
Final thoughts:
This is a game that everyone needs to experience! Just like Earthbound, the characters are very charismatic, funny, and the player just want to get to know the characters individually. And in some points, it dose better results for not only being ten dollars (or the equivalent) and can last from five to ten hours - a perfect length for that cost. This game can be also considered best inde-game of this year hands down from me, but if you, the players, can wait until the hype dies down, that would be a safe bet to avoid spoilers. I would also recommend playing blind so the experience is full and rewarding...
...OR PuNiSHing...hehehehehe-MWhahahaha....hA...ha...
...I need to get Orta out of my blood stream...
...Then go for a pacifist route, but go for a genocide run if you dare, but I personally don't recommend it....
...Meanwhile...I need to rest....
...
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