Which was the last game you finished?

[byrnezy]

Well I just finished Uncharted 3, I disagree with alot of things that Jarrod says in his write up above, but I guess thats what opinions are all about. I thought the models of Chloe and Elena where massive step ups from UC2, but each to their own.

Absolutley loved the game, it takes you on a massive roller coaster an tbh I was hooked as soon as the game loaded up. For me I would easliy give it a 9.5/10... for me it was pretty much perfect. Now enjoying MP an Co-ops... Co-ops is sensational if anyone is into playing some please add byrnezy_07
_________________
Solid Snake is the shit

[Benza]

Holy shit this game was good.

Like not even "That was pretty good for sonic' good just actually good.
The controlls are spot on, the level design is pretty much perfect, the story is unobtrusive and the challenges are a blast to play.

The loading though... fuck me the loading is a pain in the arse. It just takes so long to do everything, also I'm not sure they chose the best representiative levels from each game. I get that they went with the most iconic levels from each game. But it kind of leaves them with the problem of all the levels being pretty similar.

you either have an idyllic green paradise level or a crazy mechanical city scape. With the one deviation being the destroyed city from sonic 2006.

You don't get a snow level, a space level, a water level, casino level or any of the many mainstrays from sonic games cause it focuses more on the iconic levels that everyone remembers. I would have much prefered to see say the avalanche level from sonic adventure replace city escape. Or one of the crazy later levels from sonic 3/knuckles with all the gravity switching to replace sky sanctuary.

But at the end of the day they're minor complaints on a great game, and it ends up letting you be super sonic in any level after you beat the game wich is something that's been missing since like sonic 3/knuckles
_________________

[embersilvermoon]

Managed to beat the Dungeon Defenders campaign last night. It was an epic final boss fight as part way through the final wave one of our more powerful players disappeared - the host had horrible lag as well and caused a lot of problems for me and the other remaining guy.

We ended up having to defend the final wave with three of us whilst the system assumed there were four of us defending. Passing that, the final boss fight continued on to four players as well, so we were getting absolutely hammered by monsters from all sides. Somehow we managed to bring the boss down after a 30 minute fight or so, with myself getting through some horrible lag. Great fight though and got some decent rewards out of it.

Now the real fun begins with Dungeon Defenders, getting the achievements and attempting to do the insane challenges to see what I can pull off with my tower build wizard
_________________
Recently Finished: Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky (8/10)

[juicyman]

Just finished Uncharted 3 on Hard mode first time through. Took me 11 hours but they were oh-so-sexy hours.

Absolutely love it but wasn't that of a huge step up like 2 was from 1 imo.

Before that just finished Batman AA. Glad I got that taken care of before I tackle AC.

[LeonJ]

Uncharted 3.

Clocked in @ 9 hours on Hard, 58 treasure found. Good solid game but certainly not great. Didn't have anywhere near the impact as 2 did. The game itself is in need of major overhaul. It tries to be Gears, Assassins Creed and Batman but falls short. Lots of issues with pacing in this title, the first half of the game is basically a bore compared with the last. I found the last few chapters to be at times unplayable as well due to the slow down and mess of a level design. I think Naughty Dog really need to refine and go back to the drawing board for the next installment gameplaywise. I found a lot of bugs in my play through as well, it was no where near as polished as 2.

Some really nice additions to the mechanics with genade toss back but the aiming and overall feel of the game feels wrong (like 1 and 2). Likewise with the cover system. If you play Gears, you understand what I'm talking about. They did implement a much better fist combat system but again, Batman takes it to town.

Story was pretty average and at the end I was like 'what was the point'. I was into it most of the way but the ending is pretty poor and a let down. Again, 2 is the best in the series for story.

Apart from that, the set pieces, graphics, sounds and settings are as beautiful as ever. While I don't think Uncharted itself is really a GREAT game, we all play it because of the crafted worlds and sheer of the adventure we won't forget. The drop jaw moments are the BEST in gaming history. Great stuff.

I have no desire to play the multi-player at all though. I mean really, it's half baked and you'd be better off sticking to a game that does the mechanics well.

7/10 from me.
_________________
Shin J Leon.

XBL - LeonJ
PSN - LeonJ

[Shadow Wave]

Halo anniversary:
LOVED IT, all the glitches, all the random events, all the punching your co op partner in the back is back! And the library got arrows and colour coded!!!

By far IMO the best looking and best playing Halo made now that they are all (cept for Halo 2) graphically similar.

Don't understand how reviews say Reach looked better? Reaches frame rate was sort of a joke and i thought had a slightly different graphical style compared to the rest of the Halo games, and Halo anniversary takes it back to the original style, with great graphics and solid frame rate.

Just a shame they wiped Halo's original glitchy and ultra fun multiplayer in place of Reach's MP. I wanted to do more stupid crazy warthog stunts in blood gulch!
_________________
http://bencadphotography.com/
http://OXCGN.com/
http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-7wrp-49-en.html Cheap Games!

[Benza]

Assassins Creed Revelations
Unmarked spoilers below, so watch the fuck out.

Ok overall I'd rate this game about even with Brotherhood, in some ways it's a lot worse then brotherhood but in other ways it's a lot better.

The open world area's are a lot more dull with a lot less to bother finding, they're was a lot of awesome stuff in brotherhood that's just completly missing in Revelations, hell there's basically no side quests at all.

But on the flip side, brotherhoods weakest aspect was it's story. Ezio's entire story was kind of... inconsequental. The whole Ceasere story just seemed like filler. And Revelations absolutely fixed that. The story not only felt like an important part of Ezios life but also had some of the most interesting characters out of Ezio's games so far. 2 and Brotherhood just overstuffed there cast, I mean we had Mario, La Volpe, Claudia, Catarina, Machievellie, Leonardo, the nun whore, the chick and the dude from the venitian thieves guild, the dude who loved his sword, your mum, dude who loved his swords wife etc etc. That's only dealing with the guys on your side, not even touching the like 20 memebers of the pazi conspiracy etc.

Revelations kept it way simple, I mean all up there's basically, Sofia, Yusuf, the Prince, his brother, the fat bad guy and the dude with a mask. Keeping it simpler let them develop the characters more. Wich really helped the story. I mean in 2 when you are reliving the repressed memories of Christina I... just didn't give two fucks about her. She died. Eh. When you have to save Sofia at the end of revelations, I actually cared about her enough to be invested in the story. I was sad when Yusuf died because he was a bro. Etc.

The writing and story stuff also crept it's way into the recruiting your assassins. Actually giving you little mini quests to recruit some of the assassins was a brilliant idea. In Brotherhood they were all pretty much faceless mooks that if they died on a mission the only thing that mattered was i'd have to train up another assassin. Giving them a story and a personality (Or atleast some of them) even if it was only a tiny bit helped me care about what happens to them. I got a thief chick as an assassin that I recruited by having a pick pocketing contest with her. She was awesome and mouthy in the quest so I actually liked her and would make sure she was safe on the missions I sent her on.

Adding to the fact that the writing and story are better, the set pieces you get towards the end of the game are fucking awesome to compare to Brotherhood where you get the apple. The apple sucks compared to the pissed off assassin guild ready for war you get at the end of the game.
Infinite assassin marks wave after wave of assassin behind you murdering the fuck out of everyone in your path, raining arrows from the sky on anyone that approaches you. Especially one bit where your parachuting from the top of a massive tower with a bunch of guards below you shooting at you and you can just see the dark shadows of the assassins crawling over all the building below you taking out all the guards to keep you safe. It's just fucking awesome.

Altair's story plays out similarly. Although I'm pretty dissapointed he didn't get his own animations and ended up just playing as a skin for Ezio. After you get to play as old Altair though it's pretty awesome.

I also really enjoyed the tombs in it. They kind of fit into the whole awesome set piece thing, my fave is the boat chase thing which while being pretty linear is still a lot of fun.

The ending twist was pretty weaksauce for an AC game, but it does kind of lead into explaining maybe how Desmond will be able to work in the real world without the animus helping.

Can't fucking wait for AC 3.
_________________

[PixieGirl]

I was about to snap at you for putting spoilers then I realised I missed the first line where you said unmarked spoilers below. Doh

Good review Benza!

[Benza]

oh shit sorry Pixie, posted in here specifically so the people following the AC thread that hadn't played yet like you wouldn't accidentally see it.

edited post to make it more obvious it's full of spoilers.
_________________

[emwearz]

Magicka - PC

I completely loved Magicka, the atmosphere, the original and fun gameplay, all of it. I played through the entire thing with a buddy and for the most part it made the game easier, but the second last level, the lava part, I have never been so frustrated in co-op in my life.

A real challenge and a real treat, cant wait for the new DLC campaign, finally something worthwhile, only the Vietnam DLC is worth money.

[PixieGirl]

I just finished LA Noire (PC)

I would say its one of my favorite games this year. I really enjoyed reading peoples faces and connecting the dots, and I seem to be really good at it! Must be womens intuition I loved how the game tried something different; its kind of like an adventure game for the modern gamer.

I really was not impressed by how a lot of chapters devolved into shootouts, and especially that the last chapter was basically one big shootout because they couldn't think of any other way to make it an interesting ending. This was punctuated by bad movement controls which painfully reminded me of GTA4. Moving around, taking cover, and shooting, is all really clunky.. Luckily this isn't why I was playing the game and it isnt the real point of the game.

I also felt there was a lot of disconnection between the different cases. Particularly with all the DLC (which the PC version comes with by default) sometimes they are like completely seperated from the rest of the storyline, and then it picks up again straight after. They kind of feel out of place. I thought the overall story was pretty good though, definitely ahead of most rubbish that passes for a game story.

Graphically the city looks nice, facial animations are amazing, but the faces themselves are quite ugly. I think it's a result of the motion capture technology they used and its particularly evident on the PC when you're close to the screen in a good resolution. Eyes are flat and blurry, when mouths move theres a blur, in general peoples heads blur out as they move around. I also thought the characters looked quite plastic in general. The animations themselves are a big part of the game though and being able to read someones expression to tell if they are lying is a really unique feeling in a game!!

4 sprinkles of Pixie Dust out of 5.

aaaand of course, 1080p screenies!

[emech]

Uncharted 3

And done. Its good. Its uncharted. Its linear, and totally scripted events. The puzzle design was good, excepet I hate his magic notebook that gets filled in with hints as you enter room. Some of the room puzzles were more interesting than AC:revelations. Unless your into multipler its a 7 day rental though. I don't see any real incentive to play through it again, and due to this it gets an 8.5/10 from me.

EDIT - having played some multiplayer now you can rasie that to a 9. Its everything i had hoped Brink would have been......(except that it seems we are shooting rubber bullets with (what seems like) 30 bullets needed to get a kill.....
_________________

[Benza]

just a heads up pixie, LA Noir wasn't made by Rockstar, just published, so the bad controlls etc would be pretty much on Team Bondi's head.
_________________

[emwearz]

[PixieGirl]

That's interesting, I guess I thought Team Bondi were like a subsect of Rockstar (like they have Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North, etc.) But really it plays like a Rockstar game through and through, I'd be really surprised if Rockstar had no input at all.

Edit: according to the credits here, a bunch of Rockstar's Studios were involved in a lot of different aspects of the game:

http://www.lanoirecredits.com/rockstar.html

anywho i'm still going to edit my post for accuracy

[mikezilla2]

err pixie erm , id rather not repost a months worth of info on just how they were all involved , all the info you seek is a few of the threads around the place

in short they were thinking of helming it as rockstar sydeny that never happend becasue - rest is history
_________________

[Aussie XP]

I just finished 4 semesters of Uni squashed into 15 months, so I've been going mad finishing my backlog of games, some from up to 3 years ago.

Last week I finished:

Battlefield 3 Campaign - It was meh, I am a huge BF fanboy, so I wasn't really expecting much from a BF campaign and my expectations were just about met. It was worth playing I suppose, but nothing great.

Modern Warfare 3 - The exact opposite of how I feel about BF3. MP is terrible, Campaign was great. I liked how it tied into MW4, and overall it was just a good cheap thrills campaign.

Far Cry 2 - Kudos to them for trying to capture realism, but its not without flaws, the combat was a bit annoying at times and the ending was terrible.

Dead Space - Great great great game. I'd been on Chapter 9 since it came out way back, but finally finished it. Already half way through DS 2 and absolutely loving it.

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days - I enjoyed the first one even though it was far from perfect. I really got into the storyline and liked the chemistry between the two. This sequel was just awful though, it had virtually no storyline whatsoever. The "youtube" style they went for is to be commended for its originality, but it almost seems like they used it as an excuse to simplify the game in many ways.
_________________

[Phreakuency]

Skyrim PC main story.

Very good game. Better main story than Oblivion for me and better story-telling.

The last scene/fight wasn't as epic as it could have been. The 'enemy' should have been bigger and the strategy shouldn't have been like every other enemy of that type.

Still playing after and doing guild quests etc. I enjoy just roaming and stats/levelling than the story quests. Good fun.
_________________
My YouTube game videos!

[Cyph]

Uncharted 3
I didn't realise the time and played this from late Saturday evening through to Sunday morning. Personally, I absolutely loved it and don't get the hate directed towards the game. The graphics are lovely (except for the framerate issues), the script writing and voice acting is top notch, the puzzles interesting and the game plays out very well. I haven't jumped into MP yet but I will once I complete the game on Crushing

[Frozencry]

Serious Sam 3: BFE

Oh...oh God, where do I even begin with this game.

This is without a doubt my shooter of the year, and the golden example of how PC games should be shipped out.

Upon starting this game up, it auto detected Eyefinity: centred hud, fov optimised, the whole lot. Then it auto detected my system and ultra'd me up straight away, no buts or random compromises. And then I went to find that the game straight out is completely optimised for Crossfire/SLI. And lets not forget the fact that if you want to customise, you can change almost every god damned visual setting possible. Lightmaps, vertex maps, SSAO, SSAA, MSAA, AA filtering..tech jargon galore.

I fucking nerded out at this man. I haven't seen a PC game ship with this stuff in years, so it was Godlike to see it come out of a team as small as Croteam. They know what PC gamers want in their titles, and that's customisation and great optimisation. That and it's fully moddable. Unnghh.

And the game itself is just intense as hell. If you're not a Serious Sam fan or an old school FPS gamer in general then piss off this game isn't for you, but for those who dig those fast paced, super intense twitch shooters then this is for you. While initially starting off as fairly slow, it becomes apparent that the first few levels are a subtle troll by Croteam, demonstrating the more steady pace and steady stream of enemies that modern shooters tend to have. Then in comes the 4th level, and shit hits the fan.

Swarms of enemies from all directions. Explosions, destructible environments, crazy lighting and heavy guitar riffs. The game suddenly goes into serious mode and throws off cleverly designed combinations of enemies to make it a potent and extremely deadly mix. You can't just strafe left and right and shoot; you have to retreat, use the environment and outsmart the enemy. Kleers are more vicious this time around but their weakness is their linearity. Bomb heads are loud and obvious but one gets close and you're in trouble. The variety of enemies and the progressive reveal of new ones is fucking staggering. It really adds a lot more depth and strategy as you progress, and through trial and error you quickly learn which weapons are good for what.

The new melee system is also fucking awesome. The sledge hammer for starters is an ultra violent and satisfying way to destroy close range opponents, and using melee on specific enemies triggers awesome finishers like tearing out a grunts fucking heart and throwing it at another enemy. You can't use it all the time as when things go crazy you're kind of vulnerable, but they're awesome finishers for when you're done with the rest of the pack. There's also a wicked whip-like weapon you get a bit later on which wraps around enemies and tears them to shreds, and you've got your comeback weapons such as the cannon and rocket launcher, so you're set on variety of weapons and killing.

Level design and general aesthetic is also vastly improved from previous games too, with more interesting design and great breaks in pacing throughout. Choke points are used to both give you an advantage and screw you the hell over, and architecture is a great way of taking temporary cover to catch a quick breath, then getting it blown the shit out of by the 400 rockets coming at you in one fell swoop.

The game while not stunning holds up pretty well nonetheless particularly because of its scale. Some areas are fucking insane looking with enormous vistas, and when you add in the dust, destruction and general chaos of everything trying to kill you, it's pretty amazing. And as I said, when the game wants to look really good, it damn well does. Music and sound effects are fucking fantastic though. Heavy metal works with this super well and the sound effects are positional and extremely accurate, so you can pick up on enemies from heaps far away.

So basically for those who thought "TL;DR, get to the point dudebro".

-Game is distinctly old school and extremely challenging (you either play hard or higher. Anything less and you might as well let a bot play for you)

-The best PC optimisation I've seen in a game this year, period.

-It's $39.99 and levels last like an hour each. The last level alone can take like 2+ hours.

-Insanely fun with friends. 16 player co-op and also several multiplayer modes like CTF and DM.

-It's not trying to be a movie. It's a game, and you play it and beat it and have a lot of fun with it.

-Headless men screaming at you and they have bombs for hands.

My rating personally? 5 stars. God-tier. This was the most fun I've had in a shooter this year and I'm keen on finishing it in SP now to get into the top 100 world wide, and then playing some online with mates and randoms.

BUY IT AND HAVE A PARTY WITH ME.

*goes to bed*
_________________

[GooberMan]

12 people got better than me overnight. Rank #99 now. Oh well. That's what I get for not playing on Serious or Mental to begin.

There's really only one hyperbole-laden way to put it: If you like shooters and don't like Serious Sam 3, then you pretty much only like movies where you hold forward to win.

I do have a couple of gripes with the game - those early levels were too long (even if the troll is great); the witches break up gameflow far too much, turning the game in to a hidefest to break the random line of sight; ditto with the helicopters; not as many silly secrets (although I dub this easter egg of the year); and where the larping hell were all the harpies? But in the scheme of things, they're seriously minor complaints. Every weapon feels right (including the new scoped assault rifle) and has its place. I even used the pistol on the final level. But mostly, they feel right. I can't think of a weapon set that's felt this right since Quake 3. Not even the first Serious Sam could claim this in my opinion as I barely used half of the weapons.

And as I said in the SS3 thread, the worm and the destruction are absolutely fantastic additions to the game. Every time I saw that worm, I'd say "I gonna kill ya one day worm" and, well, it didn't deliver on that front but it still caused a fist pump at the end of the game.

Definitely up in my games of the year.

EDIT: Also, this:

_________________

[jprockbelly]

Heavy rain: For some reason I kept thinking of Chubby Rain, and Steve Martins grinning face. Over all I liked the concept and direction but felt that the delivery ultimately fell flat, I mean the game was basically one big QTE. While I did enjoy it (mostly), at the end I thought that they should have just made a movie instead.

BF3 campaign: Bollocks, and quite boring.

Amped 3: Holy shirt this game is good. I played it a bit when the 360 was launched, but recently rediscovered it and finished the story. Massive open world(ish) snowboarding environments, buildable environments with loads of challenges, this game has a huge amount to get through. And to top it off the story is hilarious.. and stupid… and funny. Here is a taste:

_________________
Da Bessssss

[topaz]

Batman Arkham City

The story wasn't exactly cohesive, it felt like mini Batman episodes strung together, but having said that, you still want to keep playing to see what's gonna happen next. I've ignored most of the side missions during my playthrough, so there is still a boat load of content postgame, and I imagine this to be the case for most people. I spent about one hour last night just wondering around solving riddles and rescuing prisoners etc, and surprisingly, I felt more Batman-ly than I did when I'm playing through the story. Love it.

Bottom line, this game is impressive, and is a must-play if you love Batman or Arkham Asylum. Even if you aren't a Bats fan, chances are you'll enjoy the exploration and the deep-yet-accessible combat system.
_________________

[Benza]

Saints Row 3
MINOR SPOILERS
Hoooooooooooly fuck.

Seriously holy shit. This game is kind of amazing, it set out from the begining to top Saints Row 2 in insanity. And considering the game Saints Row 2 was that's a big fucking ask. But holy shit this game delivers in spades.

I once read an article on game design that stated that the first goal when making a game should be making moving fun, just navigating around the levels not achieving anything should be enjoyable. Then half your work is already done.

I sat down on Monday with a couple missions left and decided "Ok, I'm going to finish the storyline right now" 2 hours later I realized I hadn't achieved a god damn thing. I was riding a hover bike drawing crowds of zombies to chase me to the edge of a cliff where I lined them up and used them as a shooting gallery.

I got two story missions accomplished that night.

So I sat down last night and thought "Ok fuck it, I'm going to finish this tonight" an hour later I was riding a jet ski through the wreckage of an over turned freight ship, using the floating shipping containers as make shift jumps to jump over the oncoming cop boats shooting rockets at me.

I did manage to beat it last night, but not quickly.

Just playing the game is so much fun without even touching the activities or the side missions or the story or any of that.

But then you play them and... fuck me dead.
The activities range from great (Prof Genki) to kind of shit (Trafficking)
Prof Genki's activities are basically The Club, but funnier. It's one thing I noticed in no 2 as well. There are mini distractions in these games that other companies would sell as a full game on it's own. The new distractions are pretty much all golden, tank mayhem, prof genki, guardian angel, etc. The only problem with them I found is some of the returning activities are just balls.

Traffic just sucks. It's not fun, the companion AI is just balls. Same with Snatch. What I don't understand is why choose these two for returning activities but ditch The Fuzz and Bodyguard ones from number 2? I mean those two more then any other really would have suited the kind of insanity that they were going for in this game but instead we got two of the most mundane activities back? There's also some weird stuff going on in some of the story line missions you get to introduce activities. More specifically the trail blazing one. Trail blazing was my fave activitiy from number 2 and it returns pretty much unchanged (Driving a flaming quad bike through a course in a time limit and you get more time for running into things that explode) but the storyline mission to introduce it has... nothing to do with that and instead is some tron cycle driving through a cylander avoiding fire and hitting tanks? Huh?

Also what the hell with Guardian Angel? There are two in the entire game. And one is a storyline mission? That's not an activity, that's just... I don't know what that is.

The story missions pretty much constantly hit high notes. (Aside from the couple you need to do that focus on introducing you to the aforementioned shitty activities) They start off.... well they start off at about 10 on the crazy meter, then ratchet it down to around a 7 or 8, then go up to like... shit 20? The choice of music is pretty much pitch perfect for each scene, weather it's sky diving into a party to Kanye Wests Power, Chopping up luchadores with a chainsaw to 'The Best' or racing to save your crew to "I need a hero" it's just fucking awesome.

It's also one of the most consistently intentionally funny games I've ever played. A lot of games try to be funny and fail or are just illicite a smile. Multiple times playing the game I had to pause untill I stopped laughing from lines in it (Most of the stuff when you're pretending to by Cyrus that you say is fucking hilarious) The writing, esspecialy for The Boss is pretty much constantly spot on. I'm curious to see how it changes when you change your voice to see if how things play out. I played most of the game with the russian female voice, who throughout the game slowly revealed that she has a massive crush on Pierce. So I'm curious to see if the other female characters have the same script or if it differs, and what the male characters say in certain areas.

The amount of stuff you unlock is just crazy cool. Hover bikes, satellite rockets, shotguns that shoot flaming bullets, etc etc. But it felt a lot like the game was holding back on stuff to save it for DLC. The game tends to give you items after you have to use them in a mission. So for example you get mission to fly a VTOL jet around, then it's stored in your garage for later use. Wich makes the couple of times this doesn't happen really stand out (Like the chanisaw you get to use in a later mission that I can't figure out how to actually get as a regular weapon, or the nun outfit from the Nyteblade stuff) This would be a much bigger issue if there wasn't just so much stuff in this game already. But considering how the second game worked (Everything you saw or used you could own, every outfit etc) it just really stands out.


Overall I'd say the game surpasses 2 quiet easily, but the ommission of some of the cooler stuff from 2 while for the most part is made up for by new additiotns still kind of bugs me. Still probbably the best open world game on the current gens. Can't fucking wait to see what they try for a 4th game.
_________________

[Gamesta]