Grant's 2022 Game of the Year ranking (in progress)....
I wasn't originally interested in GotG, not because I don't like GotG (which I love) but because the Avengers game was such hot garbage (what bit I played out of it).
I'm super happy I picked this up. Someone on Digital Foundry called this a "Mass Effect light" and I agree. Story heavy, with elements on the ship talking with crew members, and with enough satisfying combat to keep it all together.
It was probably a bit too long, and I think the game could have used some more polish, but I had a genuine good time with it and enjoyed it immensely. I can't wait for a sequel.
Played on Series X.
I realize that Arceus has some sore spots (particularly with it's open world design and technical issues on the Nintendo Switch), but my god... CATCHING POKEMON IS ACTUALLY FUN NOW! I finished up to the title screen, but I won't stop until I catch them all as it's just so darn entertaining. Love it.
I bought Horizon ZD on PS4 around the time my daughter was born. For reasons (baby, moving cities, etc, etc), I never started it... which is kind of crazy as a game with robot dinosaurs should DEFINITELY be my type of game. I picked it up for my Steam Deck a month or so ago to give it a fair shot.
It's an odd duck. In some ways, it feels like an Assassin's Creed game but with the emphasis being on long range rather than short range combat. It also seems to force you to jump around, as by doing so, it slow-motions everything as you take a shot. I found myself, particularly in tough battles, jumping around like a crazed rabbit... albeit with a bow and arrow.
The story missions also feel somewhat out of place with the open-world experience. Some story missions require stealth or straight up fleeing, which seems opposite to the awkward-but-satisfying combat. Also, on story missions you can't save at a campfire (the main save points in the open world), so it's hard to know where you last saved.
Still, the open world is gorgeous, the combat extremely fun and I love the concept... beating a pack of giant Tramplers out in the open is so much fun, I loved Alloy and the (major) companions throughout the game. I'm pumped for Forbidden West, and hope it comes to PC sooner than later.
Played on Steam Deck.
Specifically, the Frozen Wilds DLC.
I can't get enough Horizon Zero Dawn. After finishing the main game, I wanted more of the combat, characters, and lore of HZD so I sliced through the remaining errands/side quests. That left Frozen Wilds left.
HZD is not the easiest game, and the FW DLC ramps that up to (or maybe past) the difficulty of the final levels. Even with the over-powered shield armor you can find, you can get pretty easily overwhelmed... and the game even takes into account that you probably are wearing it, so the new "control towers" interfere with it.
The story, although not essential, does add to the universe, and a couple of the side missions are different than the average fetch quests you find in the base game...the drum quest is one of my favorites.
Flaws and all, HZD is probably one of my all-time favorite games. I wouldn't be surprised if I start another playthrough.
Similar to HZD, this is another PS4 game I just never really started. With the release of Spider-Man Remastered on the PC, I thought I'd give it a shake on the Valve Steam Deck.
I have mixed feelings after finishing the main campaign.
Some things that seem like issues didn't feel like it for me at the end. The combat starts off, particularly in/after the Kingpin part at the beginning, feels fairly button mashy at first... after several upgrades and practice, it's quite fun. I also didn't really like the forced stealth missions, but ended up enjoying some of the fun bits that mix things up (MJ getting Spidey to strike; MJ getting the stun gun).
Some parts are phenomenal. Web swinging through New York is better than ever. The combat is solid, the cinematics and special game play elements in the individual story missions are phenomenal, and it has a pretty decent (if cliche) story overall.
There are also some bits that just don't make sense. All three groups are basically reskins of one another, just with a couple of special roles in between. Low level thugs take as many hits to take down as the possessed/armoured enemies do.
Still, I enjoyed it... it's one of the best Spider-Man games in a long time, and I'm looking forward to playing Miles' journey when it arrives on PC.
I miss Borderlands. I've played through Borderlands 2 what -- 5 times? There was something about the loot, gunplay, aesthetics, and humor in Borderlands 1/2 that just resonated with me. Borderlands 2 also seemed to end so perfectly that you thought a "Borderworlds" was going to be the next thing.
Borderlands 3 wrecked that for me. Instead, they focused their cringe-worthy campaign on "influencers" that felt it was literally built to promote itself on Twitch. I hated the main villains, I hated the humor, I hated the story, I hated the LONG startup times even on SSD*... so much so I didn't finish it once.
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands was an amazing return to form. Excellent story, the humour is back, the main villian at least wasn't cringe worthy. My first completion missing quite a few sidequests ended at 35 hours... and I literally felt like I had played two hours max. That's how much I enjoyed this.
This will be sticking around installed on my hard drive for a long time. Thanks for fixing Borderlands Tina, it's nice to have you back.
*They need to fix that initial load time introduced with Borderlands 3 and continues in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands... it's brutal.
Played on Steam Deck (and also some remote play from my PC).
I loved TMNT and Turtles in Time when I was a kid... and there was no comparison to their original Arcade versions. I've always wanted a TMNT or Turtles in Time cabinet, but it's just not practical... and honestly, I don't think the original TMNT holds up very well these days.
...And out of nowhere this gem comes along. I'll be frank, I've only played for a handful of hours, but I enjoyed what I played. It recaptures all of the joy of the original arcade games, but still makes it it's own thing.
Played on Steam Deck (and a bit on Series X).
What? Arkham Knight? Isn't that a game from 2015?
I've found that the joy of the Steam Deck is that there is a reason to go through my existing Steam library and playing those for one reason or another I missed. I loved Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, but I never got around to the third game in the series and thought that would be the best place to find out. Around the time Arkham Knight came out, I had moved to gaming mainly on the PC, and the PC port was exceptionally poor (I've had a few crashes as wel on the Steam Deck, but I'm not sure if this is the port or the emulation layer).
After playing Spider-Man, I was really interested in how the Batman Arkham games compared to it... was the combat in those games more satisfying? How was the mission design?
Oh man... this is a hard one. I actually pre-wrote a whole blurb after going through two ridiculous machines in a row -- the Cloud Burst and the Excavator battles, and it wasn't kind. Both feature the absolute worst aspects of the game (the Batmobile), with the Excavator battle being a special sort of hell... a race against a tunnel boring machine that is faster than the Batmobile. I finished the main game the next day.
Other than these two sections, I got my answer. The game design as a whole -- the world, story, voice acting, graphics, variation of gameplay -- are so much better in the Arkham games than Spider-Man. I'm not usually a fan of stealth in games, but in Batman, it's just so enjoyable picking off guys one by one. And when you actually have to fight, the pacing of fighting is much more even, not nearly as frantic, but with just as much depth as it's spider companion.
I wish there was a bit more polish. Sometimes the only way you know to use a new mechanic seems like you have to fail a few times first -- the forced Batmobile race where you have to trigger the track to change by pressing a button is NOT clear and is a perfect example of how better game design could have alleviated that. Speaking of the Batmobile, it's used FAR too much... there is so much side content that I think some of it could have been baked in instead of relying on the Batmobile so much.
Still, this is going to go on my list of favourites. Glad I decided to give this one more try.
Played on Steam Deck (just to mention, I had a 3-5 crashes over the 15 hours I played the main game).
Now playing.
Now playing, again, on the Steam Deck when I can't play Pokemon Scarlet. :D
