by justin258
I have finished more games in 2014 than I think I have in any other single year since... well, ever, maybe, at least when counted individually. I thought I'd list them here, with a 1-5 rating denoting what I thought of them and maybe a paragraph or two about them. I'll also note whether or not I've finished the game in years past.
Showing 1-10 of 15 items
3/5 I thought it was the least that a Ratchet game could be while still qualifying as "good". And it is good, it just feels like a lesser game than the other Ratchets that I liked. I wrote a review on it right after finishing it, too.
4/5 My opinion on this game wavered a bit. I remember thinking that some parts of its story didn't work, but looking back I can't tell you which ones. It still does this thing where the game feels like it should be more atmospheric, but it's not because someone is there to talk to you. Still, you're left alone far more often than you were in 2033, or at least from what I played of 2033, and the actual gameplay can be fun this time. I'm either forgetting the parts I didn't like or the good parts made a better impression on me than I thought, because I feel pretty good about this game when looking back.
4/5 One of my favorite games of 2013, but man I wish enemies didn't spawn in as much. It would be great if Codename STEAM found other ways to throw a wrench in my strategies, without deciding to spawn in new guys halfway through the match. There's something extremely satisfying about clearing a map that you obviously can't get from maps that send new dudes for you to fight every turn. Regardless of this one complaint, I had a ton of fun with Fire Emblem Awakening.
5/5 Yep. Dumb? Yes. Sometimes too dumb for its own good? Yes. Still tons of fun to play? Absolutely. This game also has the honor of being the only game I have ever played where stealthily killing dudes with a bow is just as satisfying as re-enacting the last twenty minutes of Commando.
4/5 I beat this game almost as soon as I got it, something that doesn't happen often these days. I only have one real complaint - the proper ending of the game can be completely missed if you don't know what to do/didn't grind for souls/didn't happen to equip something you got at the beginning of the game when entering a room in the center of the castle. It's not quite a "guide, dang it" situation, as you could figure it out on your own, but it was still pretty annoying to stumble on the worst ending in a game where multiple endings just sucks and doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
4/5 (PSP Version) One of the better FF's. It's a simple, cliche-filled story, but it paces itself excellently and takes you to the bloody moon. There needs to be a save point before the final boss in the next re-release, instead of in front of one of the most difficult rooms to get through in the game, but that only affects one little part of the game.
5/5 I doubt a better first person shooter will come out this year. Destiny might be more ambitious, No Man's Sky might be more expansive, but for sheer story-driven traditional shootery - the kind of thing that will exist as long as 3D video games do - you can't get much better. Will likely be on whatever GOTY list I come up with at the end of this year. Play it, no doubt about that.
5/5 Much like Persona 3 FES, I ended this game at just the right level and I was pretty satisfied with the level of challenge that the final boss gave. As someone who enjoyed the sometimes masochistic difficulty of Nocturne, that's saying quite a bit. I can't name many other JRPG's that do difficulty pacing as well as this one does. Mechanically, this game is pretty great and the battles just do not get old - that's another thing that I can't say about many JRPG's. The story is a bit wonky and the dialogue repeats itself a little too much but the characters are pretty great and... well, you guys get the picture. Marie, the new character, actually kind of sucks and I REALLY (I can't italicize!?) hope that is not representative of Persona 5, but it doesn't hurt this game too much.
5/5 PS1 Version I felt like I had to do a little too much grinding there towards the end, and a fair bit of the endgame stuff is just a little too obtusely hidden and random for my tastes, but few games have a story as well-done as this one and none save Mass Effect 2 and Persona 4 balance out their ensemble casts quite so well. And even with P4 and ME2, you don't shift perspectives so often that there is no clear main character. Terra is the best candidate, but I don't really want to call her the main character when you spend a large part of the last half of the game controlling Celes. Speaking of Mass Effect 2...
5/5 PC I also finished Mass Effect 2 this year. I have finished this game twice on the 360, but this is my first PC playthrough. Tali died, unfortunately. I'll have to go back in and save her.