As The Witcher 3, the second real big release of the year--for me--is fast approaching, it got me looking back at the games I've played/beaten so far this year. Here's my list so far, with some brief thoughts about them; what's on your list for the year up until now?
- JazzPunk: I started playing this last year and ended up beating this New Years day. While I enjoyed it, I don't feel like the comedy hit me as hard as it did Alex (who reviewed it). Still a very unique game with some great humor.
- The Fall: I picked this game up after the GOTY discussions, meaning I had the end spoiled for me. This is too bad, as the story of this game is a very good one, while the puzzles are more obtuse and abstract--I had to use a guide on a few in order to beat it. Still it had great atmosphere and some interesting subtext about women and the roles society wants them to play.
- Tomb Raider: I purchased this on a PSN sale for $12 and have gotten more than my moneys worth out of it. I feel like this game does everything Uncharted does but has characters you can actually like be doing them. It crammed a lot of mechanics into it that it never fully utilized and had a cliche story, but it was a fun ride.
- CounterSpy: A free PSN game that wasn't too hard to beat, but also wasn't a lot of fun either. I love the 60's spy motif of the game, but the shooting doesn't feel good and in the later levels you need to shoot way too much.
- The Order 1886: I decided to rent this game because I was getting into to many discussions about it on reddit without having played it. I don't think it is as bad as Jeff made it out to be but that doesn't mean it's good. It's pretty average. The shooting feels fine, there are some interesting weapons, and it looks incredible. But, it takes so much control away from the player and moves so slow it makes yourself question why you have a controller in your hand. It also ends in the most wait-for-the-next-game place it possibly could have.
- Hotline Miami: I played this game when it first came out and really enjoyed my time with it, but I never beat it. I bought it when it was on sale with the hopes of beating it before jumping into the second one. I ended up beating both endings. Some of the most satisfying twitch gameplay out there and so much styyyllllllleeeee.
- Unfinished Swan: A PSN game from this month. I really liked this game and thought it nailed the story book setting perfectly. It starts out with a really simple and novel mechanic that would grow boring, but they do a good job of incorporating unique ways to use it in every chapter. The first chapter of this game is so delightful and perfect I would recommend just playing it if you can.
- GTA V: I beat this for the second time--first on PS3, now PS4. Still a great game with some pacing issues in the back half.
Now the stuff I haven't beaten:
- Far Cry 4: It's more FC, just like I expected. I'm taking my time with this game and playing it every now and then because I learned my lesson with 3 when I solely focused on it and got burnt out 3/4 through. They do a great job of always having different things to do and the emergent gameplay that pops up in this game has created some of my favorite moments so far this year. There's also some dumb ass video game shit in this game, like the OP eagle. Every time I hear NPCs scream, "LOOK OUT EAGLE!!!!" or I see an eagle carrying a bore by it's talons I think dumb video game.
- Bloodborne: This is what I'm considering the 1st major release of the year. I've never played a Souls game before, but a friend of mine, who loves them, got me excited to try this. The first 2 days I owned it were the most frustrating a game has ever made me. But then I beat those two wolves on that bridge and it all got a lot easier. The grind is what kills this game for me though. Having to replay huge chunks of gameplay makes me put it down for a day or two before I come back to it. I'll beat it someday though, possibly.
- Battlefield 4: My main multiplayer game. Part of the reason I'm only drinking on weekends now is it's too easy to play this for a couple hours while drinking on a Tuesday and realize I've killed 10 beers.
- Mario Kart 8: This game didn't last as long for me as it did for others it seems. I ended up coming back it once both dlc packs dropped and got another good 8 hours of gameplay out of it. I'm too good to race against friends, I just destroy them, and I don't care about the online anymore.
- Smash for Wii U: I finally picked this up on sale, so for like $47. I've only ever played the 64 smash, but I have a group of friends that have put in an insane amount of time with melee. We get together and play this a lot and it's a blast. I've finally gotten to the point where I can hang with them, which makes the matched that much more fun now. For 2 seconds I thought about buying an amiibo because of this game.
- Super Metroid: I got this for free from the late Club Nintendo. I wanted to play it before I dove into Axiom Verge so I could compare the modern version to the classic. But like with all Metroid games, I played until I got stuck, then I turned to a guide, then I stopped caring because I used a guide. I don't know if I will go back to it.
There are probably some other free PSN games I dabbled in that I am forgetting but this list doesn't look half bad, imo. There's still a lot of year left and a lot of huge games (Witcher, MGSV, Xenoblade) that I will undoubtably not finish by the end of it, but it should be fun to try.
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