Francium34

Great news, I was definitely staring at the digital deluxe version for too long (I decided I wanted to switch to the Chinese version, since I don't recognize any of the English names of the era).

PC version also has the added benefit of cheat engines and such, because otherwise I may never see the DLC content (which are stories that follow the end of the game). But the port quality is never guaranteed for Koei Tecmo....

@retrometal: The Japanese Complete version for PS4 was announced previously. Still no word on the western release (but very likely)

NBA live is actually pretty good. Plays more arcade-y than 2k. Presentation gives me nostalgic from the early 2000s.

Brad's tweet got my hopes up that the campaign story would end strong... but I can't say I am impressed.

At first the setup had potential: What happens when all guardians lose their light? Were the non-guardians on earth treated poorly? Why did the traveler choose us? Why is the traveler's fragment corrupting but gave us the light back? Is the speaker a fraud all along?

Anything interesting and maybe mildly disturbing gets dropped. In the end we got a one-man action hero story where the boss says, unironically, "I have become legend". Also for all the atmospheric stuff in the beginning about the pain and suffering, it seems only 1 named character died through this whole invasion. That about sums up the lame story.

Nice write up!

The new alien concepts and storylines were the most inexcusable part. Squadmate writing was closer to the Citadel DLC-level of cheesiness, but I can tolerate it. Fetch quests were super dull but I learned to ignore them. Weird animations at least have been patched. But the aliens are unfixable.

The remnant (and SAM) were basically space magic hand waving away actually interesting problems. The Kett "twist" was so obvious it just made Ryder seem stupid. The Angara are actually fine, but their first official contact with us was so uneventful (the computer panels on their home world also were displaying letters and Arabic numbers???).

I will say ME:A did one other thing well (aside from combat): the ending fight tying into decisions and completed quests. A couple lines or bit of animation for each force/faction that you recruited through the game. It wasn't mind-blowing, but fans would have been very satisfied if that was the ending of ME3.

:(

Destiny 1 was my turn-off-the-brain-and-shoot game. Destiny 2 so far is more of the same. Less loading screens is welcome, hint timer on when the next public event is is neat. Lack of sparrow to start is kind of annoying.

Story-wise...I'm not convinced yet. It brings up a couple potentially interesting points, but we'll see if the game has the guts to actually go through with them. There is a lot more dialogue and cutscenes, but I'm not really impressed by any of it. The opening also has a bit of "slowly limp for a while and listen to our great music" that I hope never comes up again. Also platforming and invisible walls/instant deaths...ugh.

I've also seen some of the legacy bugs and minor issues come up again. "Destiny but without the bullshit" is not a slogan I can endorse yet. We'll see how the gear grind and end game goes, as that was where most of the BS was in 1.

Ori and the Blind Forest is a great metroidvania, be warned that the platforming is very hard at times.

Pit people (previously known as "game 4" from Behemoth) is still in early access, so the story only is about 3 hrs with more side missions. But it has online and local 2 player coop, which is rare for turn based strategy games. I bought the game ($15) when a friend was in town, and we really enjoyed the game. Goofy writing and strange mechanics, also on the easy side.

Xbox has some decent exclusives that were seen as disappointments at release. With patches and lower price points, they are interesting to consider visiting.

If you had xbox live gold in the past you might already have a lot of characters unlocked in Killer Instinct. So check that out. It has 3 seasons of characters and an ok single player mode (main complaint for the shadow lord mode is the business model is similar to free2play mobile stuff).

Recore Definitive Edition added new (glaringly missing) content and patched load times, making it a competent platformer. (Brad really liked the vanilla game until the end)

Quantum Break is a strange one. It's an interesting idea, but a lot of people ended up hating the 20 min TV cut scenes. Others swear by the game as underappreciated.

Zoo Tycoon is actually remembered fondly, but unfortunately had a building limit that players would hit far too early. The new "4k" version coming soon supposedly has no such limit, and new animals. So keep an eye on that for the holiday season.

Ryse is beautiful to look at, but the combat is somewhat repetitive. But if you are looking for a setting in Rome, or online 2 player coop, maybe take a look.

It is encouraging that Alex has already tried a bit of Kiwami, as mentioned on today's podcast. At the same time, does this mean he's less likely to be at the helm? Next year would be my guess as well.

I'll choose whatever is left over after my 2 friends pick :)

Last time it was hunter. Titan armor also looks cool. Warlock, meh, but at least I'll reminded of Vinny's Warlock cameo on UPF every time.

All the recommendations here are great games, but I worry some might be too complex for newcomers (for example, if you want to try xcom, I would recommend the 2012 vanilla release over xcom2+new expansion)

I'll list a few lighter-weight indies:

Pit People, from the makers of castle crashers. It's still in early access, but has ~3 hours story + other side quests, supports co-op, and an enemy capture/recruit system like pokemon. It is also pretty easy.

Frozen Synapse. Turn-based but simultaneous action, nothing else like it, Premise is very simple, but AI offers great challenge.

Skulls of the Shogun

And don't forget Invisible Inc, Austin's GOTY 2015.

Is Rayman in it :( ?