Monthly Summary - November 2011
By darkfury 1 Comments
COMPLETED
Batman Arkham City (9x)
- Fantastically scripted and atmospheric, with a large variety of villains and gadgets, and combat scenarios that increased in complexity but always left me feeling in control. At least as good as Arkham Asylum but I was never compelled to do any side activities or riddler challenges.
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (10x)
- Still a fantastic game and such a step up in visual quality, animation, sound design. Much easier to go back to several years after release and highly recommended for anyone unfamiliar with the series.
Dead Island (7x)
- Finally got to the jungle and powered through to the finale in a few long sessions with Jay. A title update released just as we went back to it messed up my weapon pickups and I ended up losing at least 4 of my favourites due to a stupid glitch. After looking to tool up and finish as many sidequests as possible, we got fed up of finding items and went for the final section. This is definitely a case of good premise with potential under the right developer but ended up a buggy, ridiculous mess that still managed to be entertaining.
Need For Speed: The Run (5x)
- Excellent tracks and feeling of speed, but suffers from a protracted development time. Very short single player mode where the story is so loose fitting and underdeveloped, great ideas but not enough gameplay. Challenge Series is good fun and offers a few more hours of racing. Strange driving model that kind of fits the gameplay and track design but frustrates, and the off-track reset is frustratingly inconsistent.
Saints Row: The Third (11x)
- Stupid, crazy awesome game. They cut out the filler and concentrated on making each mission make as little sense as possible was being as entertaining as they could. Highly recommended for anyone who ever loved a sandbox game. I want to got everything I can out of this game.
Halo Anniversary (12x)
- Great remake with awesome visuals, I love the terminal videos and will have to go back to find the ones I missed. Had some audio corruption occasion where a dead body or piece of scenery would 'vibrate' against the gameworld and make a noise, but apart from this it was fascinating to see how closely Anniversary sticks to the original title. There aren't many titles I'd play through twice in the same year.
ALSO PLAYED
Skyrim (11x)
- Daunting is the word I'd use to describe Skyrim. I've been put of by the complexity and lack of guidance in so many RPGs but I really want to get through this one. The hours I've played have been great, although being forced to improve my stealth and combat skills before continuing the main quest was disappointing.
Uncharted 3 (8x)
- Holy crap it looks good. Enjoying the ride so far, similar to Uncharted 2 but somehow more exciting and involving. Enjoying the story much more in this one.
Skylanders (7x)
- Levelling up each character, I have slowed down my progress through to savour my time with my 'investment'. Failing a level in the boss fight is disheartening as you're forced to restart 30-40 minutes of gameplay.
Battlefield 3 (7x)
- Played several hours online and a bit of the (rubbish) co-op mode. Great fun with a group of friends.
Rage (5x)
- 60 FPS rocks! Combat is good fun, weapons pack a punch, but it has started off slow. Wondering when the fetch quests will grow in complexity.
Just Cause 2 (5x)
- Enjoyable short sessions, a nice break from the newer titles I'm going through. Never hooks me in for longer than an hour and a half.
Test Drive Unlimited 2 (5x)
- Enjoyable progression through licenses and tournaments, want to play some more and is my current main racing game.
Dark Souls (3x)
- Thanks to Giant Bomb and Ryan, I got over the initial hump. Now to choose a time to get more into it, but again the thought of getting into it puts me off.
Homefront (2x)
- Slowly progressing through the campaign, its not keeping me engaged enough for me to play it for long stretches but the solid gameplay makes me want to jump in to play another level every now and then.
Blur (2x)
- Cleaned up a few events and unlocked the final set. Difficult but solid racing game.
Child of Eden (1x)
- Thought I'd try and set up the Kinect in my room. Results were sketchy, but I battled through one level of Eden.
The Gunstringer (1x)
- I then moved over to Gunstringer and it's pretty damn oddball. Gotta get me some more of this one.
Red Faction Armageddon (1x)
- Not very interesting, only played one level attempting to charge through. Will have to go back.
Trackmania 2 (1x)
- I suck! Played for a couple of lunch breaks and got chewed up by the french and german players. Should have got my dubstep fill in Jeff's server.
Eternal Darkness (1x)
- Still effective at producing scares. Started again from the beginning, I aim to get through this so-called modern classic and the only good original Silicon Knights IP.
Harm's Way (1x)
- Cleaned up on the achievements to S-Rank it. Stupid concept for a game, but its free.
Jet Set Radio Future (1x)
- Played through the first 30 minutes to show Lorena why its my favourite game ever. We then played a split screen multiplayer race.
Toy Soldiers: Cold War (1x)
- Playing in co-op, I picked this up in summer. Its great fun and change of pace.
Splinter Cell Double Agent (1x)
- Less exciting than Chaos Theory but still good.
From Dust (1x)
- Finally got through a level I was stuck on.
HOTLY ANTICIPATED
Rayman Origins
- After reading some reviews and playing the demo, I'm now very excited about playing this with Lorena. It's graphically vibrant and great fun to play, so I will be camping my Amazon shopping basket until it gets a bit cheaper. Something about paying full price for a 2D platformer in this day and age doesn't gel with me.
SCORES SUMMARY
Batman: Arkham City [2011] (5)
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory [2005] (5)
Dead Island [2011] (3)
Need For Speed: The Run [2011] (3)
Saints Row: The Third [2011] (5)
Halo: Anniversary [2011] (5)