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Completed on: January 5, 2014 ~ PC At first, I only played this game for one race and came away unenthusiastic about its style of arcade racing. Later on, I played it with a friend over the internet and decided to give it another shot. After exploring most of what this game has to offer, I am of the opinion that it is way better than Mario Kart's most recent entries. If Nintendo doesn't hit Mario Kart 8 out of the park, Sega is definitely primed to take the throne of the kart racing genre.
Completed on: January 16, 2014 ~ Wii U The demo didn't grab me, but I figured the game would be worth a shot at its new price of $30. Unfortunately, the early parts didn't grab me either, and I was left wondering what all the fuss was about until I turned down the difficulty and committed myself to learning the combat through extracurricular means. Eventually, the game clicked with me, and I'm glad I experienced Platinum's craziest title to date. I'll give Kamiya credit for not selling his audience short, but it's a shame I needed to wade through so much stuff to appreciate why this game was worth its initial $60 cost.
Completed on: January 17, 2014 ~ PC I bought this on the day it came out, and issues with freezing have prevented me from finishing it. After new drivers have come out (since the developer has long abandoned fixing any lingering issues) and I'm happy to have made it through a game with lots of potential. The setting, music, narrative themes and combat were good, and it's a solid foundation for whatever Dontnod will hopefully do in the future. The ending kinda fell flat, and I'm wondering if it played out the way the developers intended. Either way, it's nice to see Capcom take a chance on an original title, though I doubt they're rushing to make a sequel.
Completed on: January 22, 2014 ~ PS3 I don't really take to art games all that much, but there was something about Rain's reveal that made me think, "I'll get around to playing that eventually." What I expected was a calm adventure about a boy in a rainstorm, but what I got was a balance between that and some tense stealth-centric gameplay. I loved the soundtrack and sound design, and some of the puzzles were creative in spite of it's simple control scheme. I didn't really get the ending, but the romantic in me appreciated the leaps in logic the developers made; even if the payoff wasn't all that effective.
Completed on: January 22, 2014 ~ 3DS This game isn't good, and a part of me can't believe I spent just short of 41 hours to solidify that opinion. Almost every aspect of this game is poorly designed, from the flow of battle to the lack of combat variety to the complete absence of unit starting positions in conjunction with constant party splitting. Even a story that should've been an epic crossover of three Japanese companies' numerous heroes and villains comes across as elementary fan-fiction. A part of me was wishing the developers would do something, anything to spice up the game, but that never happened. I am thoroughly convinced that Banpresto cannot and should not handle another crossover of this sort again. The sprite art and animations are great though.
Completed on: January 24, 2014 ~ PS3 For me, the allure of Brothers was due to a seemingly tenuous connection with Starbreeze Studios. After hearing people gush over the game and its obvious emotional grabs, I'll admit I had a repellant attitude toward the game. From the start, this is the sort of game where you know someone's going to die at the end, and that event will be the crux of the narrative's poignancy. I don't mean to downplay what is clearly a personal and rough tale, but there's no subtlety to the foreshadowing and, as a result, very little resonance or attachment to what's about to unfold. Regardless, this game has excellent settings and consistently clever gameplay mechanics. Were there ten games in 2013 that were better than Brothers? In my opinion, yes.
Completed on: February 17, 2014 ~ 3DS The game was teetering on the brink of brilliance until I got to the midpoint. It's when the plot contrives reasons for why it goes on as long as it does. While the allure of "I wonder what happens next" hung over my head, I kept thinking about how the game could've been much shorter if both the heroes and "villains" had half a brain. There's no reason for the plot to head in the directions it does, even if the latter portions are pulled off creatively. What saves this game are the options that adjust encounter rates and battle speed as well as abilities that reward, encourage and expedite heavy grinding. This is one of the better JRPGs to come out in recent memory, and it builds off of Final Fantasy III and V really well. However, if I were to place it among its obvious contemporaries, I have a hard time putting it above anything except the original three and the XIII saga.
Completed on: February 21, 2014 ~ PC I've never played a game in the series, but I can't help but feel that Double Helix was phoning it in on this one. When I've hit a nice flow with the movement and combat, I think the game is amazing. I expect something a bit more combo heavy than what I got, and mashing the entire way through seemed be the only viable option. I'm usually not one to skip cutscene, but I started doing so a little bit past the game's midpoint. Also, the audio mix is terrible.
Completed on: May 12, 2014 ~ Vita Supposedly better than Uncharted 3, which makes me look forward to playing that even less. While this game captures the core of what makes an Uncharted game, it definitely feels watered down compared to its console counterparts. The characters aren't memorable (though I've obtained a deeper appreciation for Sully), the flagrant display of the systems gimmicks were poor (though I loved the gyroscope aiming) and the whole thing just felt like it was going by the numbers.
Completed on: May 14, 2014 ~ PC I've had this sitting in my Steam library for a while, and I'm not sure why it's taken me a while to get to it despite liking the first game a lot. At first, the plot was extremely confusing, but piecing together the events along with the character made me very excited to see what happens next. The combat seemed significantly easier than the first game from what I remember, and I still find the whole flashlight-then-shoot mechanic unique and fun. Plus, the slow-motion that occurs after clearing an area is extremely satisfying.