Games (from any year) which I completed or just played enough to comment on in 2016.
Showing 1-10 of 50 items
01/02 -- Interesting storytelling, but Her Story didn't live up to the hype for me.
01/10 -- Cool atmosphere and curious themes. Puzzles were good, though I found two or three tedious.
01/24 -- A swing and a miss. Cool concept but poor execution. The crass quips and profile text also didn't help.
01/27 -- *spoilers* -- The Talos Principle presents multiple themes as you play, including humanity's mortality (and possible extinction), Artificial Intelligence, generational algorithms, morality, temptation and sentience/"I Robot" themes. The game's larger context was an almost-perfect fit for the written excerpts it included (many from ancient religions or famous philosophies). Gameplay-wise, the Talos Principle is too long with 20+ hours of puzzle-solving and exploration. Solving some of the puzzles felt like an accomplishment, but many others were tedious. Amusingly, the NPCs also voiced a lot of complaints about being forced through so many puzzles.
02/07 (book four) -- Not too much to say. There were fewer decision points, as the story wraps up and past decisions are resolved. Waiting for the episodes hasn't been a problem for me so far, but I'll probably avoid the model in the future. (Waiting for the final book is a bit of a bummer.)
02/10 -- Cool concept, but simply not fun. I toughed out normal since it was only a couple hours. Numerous and challenging boss fights can be a core part of fun games. As examples, Valdis Story has mechanics and Dark Souls has depth. Both games have a story and rewards for victory. Titan Souls has none of that -- it's a minimalist experience hampered further by pointless map traversal and clunky, randomized gameplay.
02/13 -- Fantastic. -- *minor spoilers* -- Fire Emblem: Awakening rekindled -- and surpassed -- the series' magic I experienced with the first US GBA release (nearly 10 years ago). I liked nearly everything about the game, from the 3D combat animations (which flowed nicely with characters' attacks, dodges, assists and commentary), to the classic turn-based gameplay with new "pair up" and reclassing mechanics. Awakening's characters and dialog really made the game shine. Nearly all of the lines were well-written, interesting and/or funny. And there were a lot of them. Even your semi-customizable protagonist, "Robin", has a unique personality and backstory. Inserting a player into a strategy game as a strategist or tactician isn't entirely new (e.g. StarCraft, Command and Conquer, XCOM, etc...), but "Robin" was interesting enough for me to care. The story arc sticks close to Fire Emblem traditions. Fire Emblem's formula has a few weaknesses (especially villains), but with a strong cast of characters, a number of interesting twists and a solid conclusion, Awakening's story finishes strong. Awakening also offers a lot of side missions and content. These generally stood well on their own, and a few fit nicely into the main campaign's flow. Several of them come as late add-ons though, so I suggest picking-and-choosing a certain number to play.
02/14 (multiplayer) -- If Helldivers had a serious brother, I imagine he would look like The Red Solstice's multiplayer. Both feature top-down team-based gameplay, mission maps with objectives, hordes of enemies and limited ammo. However, TRS replaces the silliness, quick-reinforcements and zany friendly fire with a gritty veneer, a slower pace and more complex gameplay. TRS' multiplayer is fun, but overall I wouldn't recommend it. The game requires you to unlock and level up classes ("suits") to complete even the first mission on the easiest difficulty. Expect to grind the first mission for a long time -- you start out with only one suit, unlocking new suits is slow and suits level up -- slowly -- one at a time.
02/28 -- My thoughts will probably read like many of the XCOM 2 reviews on the Internet right now. If you haven't bought XCOM 2 as of now, you may even want to wait. At its core, XCOM 2 is more XCOM: Enemy Unknown (a great start). 2 also makes several smart sequel updates, including upgraded graphics, more ambitious (destructible) environments, soldier customizations and new and rebalanced gameplay mechanics (like concealment and melee). I'm especially a fan of the story updates -- XCOM: EU had a cool theme, but was mostly gameplay-focused. 2's plot points, supported by cutscenes and character dialog, add a lot of atmosphere and depth. So why wait? XCOM 2's biggest issue is quality. In my playthrough, I encountered gameplay glitches, crashes and had to rebuild corrupted sound files. The game also regularly pauses during or after AI actions and reaction shots. It didn't stop me, but gave the experience a slower, technically shakier feel. 03/16 (Commander, no reloads) -- This time around was better, probably because of a few patches plus I bumped down the graphics. (There were still a few minor gameplay glitches.) Playing without saves is intense.
03/15 -- Hearing orcs scream "Mommy!", "My dignity!" and a surprising variety of other cries didn't get old. I probably wouldn't play it solo, but as a tower defense game Orcs offers a number of challenging maps and a variety of playstyles.