Rate the Last Game You Played

Tales of Monkey Island

captions11b.png

I loved the Monkey Island adventures back in the day. Plus I later played all the sequels and then even the remakes. Telltale games are also huge favourites of mine. So it is with some regret that I have to say that the Tales of Monkey Island was rather average.

The story was alright and it did make me laugh a couple of times but overall it felt weak. And the puzzles were crazy hard! I can't remember a Monkey Island that was this hard. Maybe I've just become old? But wow I had a walkthrough ready the whole time while playing through these episodes.

Some of the characters that were introduced are really cool though. Morgan and mr. Winslow comes to mind especially.

Oh and I would have preferred to click and walk instead of the weird walking mechanism they have in this game. You can see it was made for consoles most likely and playing with the mouse just felt wrong.

Still if you like Monkey Island and wish to continue with Guybrush's adventures then it's a must play.

6.5
 
Dead Space 2

1692827-deadspace2screen5.jpg

It's about time that I played Dead Space 2! I played the first one so long ago and now I look forward to playing the third one.

As a horror game it isn't one of the scarier ones though it does have a lot of jump scares and I must admit to gasping quite a lot. The game's sound is outstanding and the "children" probably have the most spine chilling scream that I've ever heard in a game. I love it.

The game itself is pretty much an action shooter with a decent story, yet nothing spectacular. And one thing that I don't like is that in some places you can get one shot killed by some actions.

It's a good game though but falling short of being brilliant.

8.0
 
Ori and the Blind Forest

I've always enjoyed a good platformer game, from the days of good old Apogee platformers to the beauty and immersion that a game like Flashback offered. Recent platformers have been largely a hit and miss for me, with the only ones tickling my fancy a bit being Dust and Fez (due to its innovative level warping mechanism).

When I first read of Ori I thought it's just going to be another generic platformer with a pretty paint of coat on. I heard of the supposedly "sad" story pulling you in to create that emotional bond and how the musical score adds to the atmosphere of the game. Truth be told, you hear claims like that all too often and few games ever live up to that hype.

During the Steam Summer Sale I saw Ori going for 66% off quite early on in the sale. I was tempted to buy it, but didn't cave just yet. When it came back on sale a couple of days later I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and bought it. Best, decision, ever.

The game immediately grabbed me during the prologue with its masterfully crafted graphics and stunning soundtrack. I have to admit that a tear was on the edge of welling up in my eye upon the conclusion of the prologue and Moon Studios immediately grabbed hold of me on an emotional level. I was hooked like I haven't been in a game in years. I really cared about the characters. I felt sad for Ori and his (her?) loss. I wanted to save the damned spirit tree.

...and damned is how I felt throughout the game. Make no mistake, this game has got a deserved notoriety for its difficulty curve. You will die. Hundreds of times. The best thing about it? You won't really care! You will want to get past that thorny cavern or ride the wind up the icy shaft. There's an immense sense of satisfaction in getting past a difficult section, being rewarded by a serene new setting and a new ability that grants you access to areas you weren't able to access earlier on. Just make sure you play this game with a controller - I can't imagine how you would play it otherwise.

Just sitting here, typing this 5 hours after finishing the game makes me want to go back and experience it all again. I honestly haven't been impacted by a game this much in a long time. Here's wishing Moon Studios many more succesful games!

10/10

Would die in a pit of thorns again. And again. And again. And again...
 
FATALE

fatale.jpg

I bought a Tale of Tales game pack a while back. They make art games. Short games that are in actual fact very difficult to call games. The worst of them was The Graveyard and the best was The Path. FATALE sits nicely in the middle of them.

It's based on Oscar Wilde's play Salome. Salome is the person who asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter in the Bible. Basically you play as a prisoner whose head is chopped off and then you fly around a small area and um not do much really. The story of Salome is told in whispers and is actually quite interesting. I just can't help but think that they could have made this game so much better. There are some interesting things that happen but overall I think most people will hate this. In fact when I just started I thought it was horrible, until the story and some ideas changed my mind.

Is it worth a play? Yes. If you own it or can get it for free. And if you go in with an open mind and not really expect a game at all. It's not worth the buy though. It's not even an hour long.

6.1
 
Dragon Age : Inquisition (PS4) - 8/10

Struggled to get into at first, as I felt a bit overwhelmed at how much you can do in the game. After giving it some time, the game just clicked for me. 88 Hours and 11 dead dragons later and I stood victorious on my balcony. I tried doing all the extra quests I could get and managed to get my character up to level 24.

Graphically it was adequate, but nothing amazing. I did experience a few graphical glitches and texture pop-ins on occasion, with some NPC's doing the superman thing and whizzing off into the air. The sound also had some issues every now and then.

All in all a huge improvement on DA2, and hoping they do bring out more titles of similar quality :)
 
The Stanley Parable

stanley.jpg

First released as a mod, the Stanley Parable is a walking simulator that actually made me laugh. It's incredibly short though and even with multiple playthroughs I played it for less than an hour. It's currently available at the Humble Bundle as part of a good bundle though which makes it worthwhile getting.

The Stanley Parable is a first person exploration game. You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley. You will follow a story, you will not follow a story. You will have a choice, you will have no choice. The game will end, the game will never end. Contradiction follows contradiction, the rules of how games should work are broken, then broken again. This world was not made for you to understand.

But as you explore, slowly, meaning begins to arise, the paradoxes might start to make sense, perhaps you are powerful after all. The game is not here to fight you; it is inviting you to dance.
Click to expand...

It's a great idea and definitely worth the play if you get it for free or really cheap. It normally goes for $15 though which is insane! Don't pay more than $2 in my opinion.

6.5
 
Endless Space - Emperor Edition

Endless-Space-Galaxy-View.jpg

When I saw this game in a Humble Bundle I had to get it. It's been on my wishlist for a long time and I've always enjoyed 4x games so it was a gift from heaven. Now that I've actually played it I'm a bit disappointed. It's not a bad game. But I've played better 4x games before so this one is decidedly average.

The biggest disappointment for me is that most of the time you would just go through a list of what your planets must produce and then click next turn. Battles are uninteresting so you'll almost always click on the auto button. So there really isn't that much to the game.

In the beginning it all looks and feels very complicated but you quickly come to realise that it's actually quite simple.

It really lacks character for lack of a word.

But then it is rather addictive... for a while.

7.4

Come on people! This thread isn't getting the love it deserves.
 
Alien: Isolation (PS4) 8.5/10

Loved this game. Kept me on edge most of the time. Its constant cat and mouse with the alien which is not too predictible at all. Cons: a tad bit too long and sometimes it can get pretty predictible.
 
Besiege (PC)

hrmbrfow14bsa1pz02yi.jpg

I'm not going to review Besiege quite yet. I've played just over an hour and it's a lot of fun but the game is still in early access and it looks like there's a lot to come. So I'm stopping for now until it's complete.

But Solitude, why are you posting about the game here then? Because you should get it. It's already quite cheap but wait until you get it on a special. Graphically it looks great. It's a lot of fun and can be played quite casually. Just now it doesn't have that many levels but it's coming! And that's awesome.
 
Recently had some time to finish some of the games in my backlog.

Farcry 4 (PS4) 7/10 - Somewhat short if you just do the story missions, fun non-the less although repetitive towards the end.

The Order 1886 (PS4) 7.5/10 - Also a bit short, which is made up with stunning visuals and a intriguing story.

Driveclub (PS4) 8/10 - Mixture of a sim and a racer, lots to do and to keep you busy. Recently got the DCL and it added so much more to the game.

Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor (PS4) 7.5/10 - Any fan of Tolkein would enjoy Shadow of Mordor. Fun Combat and good sneaking mechanic, although the nemesis system does have it's flaws. It's fun to play around with.
 
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Assassins-Creed-Brotherhood-Feather-Location-1.jpg

Yay I finally finished it!

I don't know why but I enjoyed Assassin's Creed 2 more than Brotherhood. It's not a bad game by any means though and I'm glad to be a little bit further in the franchise.

This isn't much of a review. Just so tired.

So

7.6
https://trello.com/b/WHCsPfF2/games
 
Glordit said:
Recently had some time to finish some of the games in my backlog.

The Order 1886 (PS4) 7.5/10 - Also a bit short, which is made up with stunning visuals and a intriguing story.
Click to expand...

Same for me, finished this off last night.

The Order 1886 - 6/10

As Glordit has stated, this is a short game, if you have a problem with spending around R700 for 6 hours of gameplay, you have been warned. Apart from that this game looks amazing! Graphically this is probably the best game on the PS4. The narrative is solid and well written, along with the voice acting. But that's about it really. The story was about the only reason I finished this game. There were times where I almost gave up because I really didn't enjoy the gameplay of it. The FOV horizontal is a problem and vertical is even worse given the black bars.

Ok, hold up! I get what they were trying to do and make a cinematic experience and I'm all for it. I don't mind paying X amount for a 6 hour game if the story and gameplay is enjoyable. I found the cover system to be too snappy and often I found myself repeating checkpoints because I couldn't see the person to the side of me, or the prompt was a bit late. This is a QTE game, get used to it!

I hopes were really high for this game and I found myself somewhat disappointed. Not because of the short game time, or the QTE gameplay. It was all brought down by the gameplay and/or mechanics and having to repeat checkpoints because of it. I found myself getting really frustrated with the cover system and the lack of view herein. Overall, I finished the game and the only reason I felt I did was to see the story/plot through.
 
Call of Duty Advanced Warfare (PS4)

This is only my second ever COD single player experience, with the first one being Call of Duty 1 way back then on PC. Thought I would struggle with the controller, but the more you play, the better you get at it. Must say I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and though the story and action sequences may be a bit over the top, I loved every bit of it and I'm considering a second playthrough. Graphics wise I was happy, though I have seen better looking games. Played it with earphones plugged into the controller and the sound was quite decent, and I could easily pin point where enemy fire was coming from. The advanced abilities and vertical aspect added to the game was also a nice touch.

Haven't tried online multiplayer as yet due to wobbly ADSL, so can't comment on that. Would like to try the exo Zombie storyline, but sadly you have to get DLC for that.

Overall I rate it 7/10.
 
STASIS

stasis_2_605x.jpg

For those who don't know STASIS, it's a game that's made right here in South Africa. I backed it during the Kickstarter phase and was hyped for the game. Those isometric renders just looked yummy!

So just before the game was released some reviews came out and they were great. Oh man was I excited! So I played it and in short the game is good but I maybe expected a bit more from it.

The game builds good atmosphere and I still love the graphical look. It would have been nice if they went with a higher resolution but I can understand why they went with the resolution they did. There's a lot of polish and one can see a lot of work went into the game.

I like point and click adventure games and play quite a lot of them. I like the stories and the dialogue whereas the puzzles are probably my least favourite bit. Which is a bit problematic with regards to STASIS. Because there are no dialogue choices and the actual dialogue that happens occur just every now and then. The voice acting is good though.

But there was something that spoiled the game for me quite a bit. The main baddie makes no sense. He turns the game into a b-grade horror cartoon. The character portraits already makes the game look a bit cartoony but when the baddie appeared it changed the game for me. He felt completely unnecessary and entirely unreal.

There are these personal diaries that everyone in the game carry around that you can read and I quite enjoyed those stories. As for the puzzles well they made sense once you figured them out. There were some very difficult ones though! Especially in the medical bay. I actually had to use pen and paper for that one and I read afterwards that that was intended.

I'm proud of Chris and his team and I can continue writing about good and bad things about STASIS but I got to start working.

I'd say buy STASIS if you have the money or wait for it to go on special. It's the best South African game I've played but I have played better point and click adventure games. I hope they learn from this one and make the next one amazing!

7.9
 
I just recently played Dishonored: PC (2012)

I decided to give it a shot because of the high ratings gaming sites were giving it. This game turned out to be absolutely EPIC!! From the awesome abilities you got to unlock to the interesting story-line. The game is mostly about stealth and there are various ways you can approach all the missions that you get asked to do (gun's blazing or sneaky like a rat ;)) all in all the game was interesting to play and gets more difficult as you advance through the story. I cannot wait for the second one in 2016 and would give this a rating of 8.5/10.
 
Last edited:
Mad Max (PS4).

Back when it was announced that Avalanche will be developing a Mad Max I started to get really excited. Just Cause 2 is one of the most fun games of the last generation and I'm happy to say that Mad Max is a ton of fun as well. In fact, it is the single most fun game I have played all year.

The hand-to-hand combat is very similar to that of games like Batman, Sleeping Dogs and Shadows of Mordor, but not as fluid as in these games. This is not a bad thing, Max is no Wei Shen or Batman. He is not as skilled a martial artist and he can't move about as quickly, but his hits feel much harder than that of the other games. The combat has a really crunchy, brutal feel to it and you can feel the impact of each hit.

The car combat in this game truly is something special. It really is a great deal of fun to take on a convoy of about 5 - 7 cars and start taking them out one by one with all the weapons at your disposal. There is the harpoon, which can be used in various ways such as pulling doors or wheels of the cars or pulling a driver straight out of his car. Then you also have sideburners, which go through enemy armour like a hot knife through butter, thunderpoon, which is basically an explosive spear, and Max's iconic shotgun,, which can be used to kill drivers, take out tires or gas tanks, etc. No encounter feels the same and the impact when you hit another car is awesome. The explosions also look and feel really awesome, the game enters slow motion for a few moments when you hit something which makes it feel even better.

The game also has a pretty robust upgrade system for both Max and the Magnum Opus (the car). Almost everything you do gives you scrap which can then be used to upgrade both Max and Opus. For Max you unlock things like knuckle dusters, extra ammo capacity, new outfits (which mean better armour), etc. For the Opus it is things like new engine parts, new weapons, more armour, paint jobs, nitrous etc. There is also a legend system for Max which provides additional upgrades. While you're playing, the game is constantly tracking your progress with behind the scenes challenges and each time you complete a challenge you gain a legend rank as well as an upgrade token, which can be used at a special vendor you can find in the world who will then give you upgrades such as more health, more melee damage, extra healing from food, etc. in exchange for the tokens.

The game is not without it's problems though. Side content can become repetitive and while this is an issue for some, I'm having so much fun with the game that I really don't mind the repetitive nature of the side content. Looting scavenging locations and taking out enemy camps is still as fun as it was the first time I did it. I also encountered one or two technical issues such as frame rate drops and other glitches/bugs. It's also really strange that you take more damage from being hit by enemy than being hit by car.

I enjoyed the game so much on PS4 that I decided to buy a copy on PC as well, and I'm very happy to report that the game runs at an almost solid 60FPS (drops to between 45 - 55 at points), on my crappy PC that doesn't even meet the minimum requirements. This is definitely one of the better PC ports in recent history.


TL;DR If you like having fun in a massive open world, get this game now. 9/10
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top