by johngpr
Showing 1-10 of 10 items
This is my Diablo, my WoW, the game I can constantly go back to and have a seemingly bottomless amount of interest and fun with. Most of the bits that I disliked in Borderlands 1 (story being told through text, dumb as a sack of rocks AI that only moved towards you with no lateral movement to speak of, weapons that had changes that really mattered) were altered and improved in this sequel. Not just that, but playing with friends increases enjoyment ten fold. I was actually pretty surprised by how much I ended up liking/like Borderlands 2. I wasn't even planning on playing it right away until my wife offered to buy it for me for my birthday to play with some of her coworkers that are gamers (who are friends of mine now thanks to this game). The fun isn't over yet, I still have DLC to look forward to!
There's not a whole lot I can say that hasn't already been said about this game. TWD is extremely successful at making you feel as though the decisions you make are your own. Much like Journey, this game is much more than the sum of its parts.
It's one of the few games that transcends gameplay systems or graphics, it's just an amazing experience. It's one of the few games I've ever played that evoked genuine emotion out of me, not by manipulating the story to make me to feel a certain way, but by expressing what the creator's had in mind in a very profound way. A bit hyperbolic perhaps, but it's really hard to put to words what Journey does well over the rest of the games below it on this list. I don't get wrapped up in "are games art?" all that often, but this is as close as I've seen the industry get to that reality.
One of the best stealth games I've ever played. The art direction, gameplay systems, and attention to detail is top notch. More than any other game, Dishonored made me feel like things were happening on the fly and did a great job of not letting you see the puppet strings that is making it all work. Some people complained that the ending was disappointing (I got the low chaos ending) but I liked it. It reminded me a little bit of Bioshock 1's ending except that it didn't totally suck. It could have used a little more resolution from a few characters but it was nice, albeit a bit simple.
Being a huge fan of Hong Kong martial arts movies growing up, this was the one game that I was really hoping end up being good. It definitely had a lot going against it, but I'm glad that it turned out as good as it did. The combat was a lot of fun, the driving is arcadey but got better once you unlocked the higher end cars, and the story was a little predictable but really solid. Some of the missions were probably some of the more fun, diverse ones in an open world game. A lot of this game had the polish of a 3rd person action game, which is rare in the genre. The only knocks I have against the game is the fact that it gets a little too easy once you start unlocking more moves and you upgrade your health, but it's not really an issue while you are playing it...it just leaves you wanting to play a hard mode after you are done. Really looking forward to playing the Zodiac Tournament DLC.
Yea, some were disappointed by the ending of the trilogy (to put it mildy), but hey...some of us didn't mind it! I LOVE the Mass Effect universe. I don't care if I'm judged, I'm more invested in the ME universe than I am in the Star Wars universe at this point. So yea, I wish that more information was given to us...hell I wish that the Extended cut and the Leviathan DLC were an initial part of the ending, that would have went a long way. Ultimately, I still enjoyed the game and choose to remember it for all of the great moments like SPOILER Legion becoming free of consensus and sacrificing himself to save everyone, shooting bottles with Garrus on the top of the Citadel, Thane's Prayer, Mordin's sea shells, a mother fucking Thresher Maw taking out a Reaper...THOSE are the things I'll remember most about Mass Effect 3.
Far Cry 3 is straight up some of the best open world shooters I've ever played. The randomness of the world really adds to the game where you will have experiences and stories that no one else does. Overtaking outposts doesn't get old for me because things can go very differently from moment to moment. I'm deep into the game and haven't finished it yet, but even if the story doesn't deliver from it's captivating beginning, FC3 has great gameplay to make up for that.
Despite the fact that I found the ending to be disappointing, Assassin's Creed III did lots of things that made it a more enjoyable experience from a gameplay standpoint compared to previous installments. The streamlining of the controls are subtle, but different enough to give you a smoother feeling of rhythm and flow while jumping from rooftop to rooftop or tree to tree. The naval warfare was also much better than I had anticipated. I'd say that 80% of the story was really great, it's a shame the 20% came into play at the very end of the game.
I've always loved the Halo universe but often felt disappointed by the stories Bungie decided to tell in that universe (Halo Reach notwithstanding). Halo 4 is the first in the series where I felt invested in Master Chief and Cortana's relationship. Although the story takes a few missteps and mars itself in some of the minutiae of the fiction, it strung me along enough that I'm looking forward to the next installment. As far as multiplayer, I feel that this is some of the strongest yet. I still plan to go back to it eventually, but what I've played of it thus far is a ton of fun. Even if I wasn't doing great, it never felt frustrating like Call of Duty feels frustrating when you are getting your ass kicked. The multiplayer has new elements (new to Halo anyway) from other FPS muliplayer games without feeling homogenized.
I really enjoyed this game despite the steep learning curve with the controls/camera system. Think Japanese version of Crackdown where collecting orbs becomes really addicting. I really like Kat as a main protagonist and it's one of the few games that is better with some of the Vita's hardware functionality. Just a really enjoyable experience overall, and challenging as well if you are trying to go for gold medals in some of the challenges.