by mento
Webster's Dictionary defines 2017 as "a number, sitting between 2016 and 2018."
I could've found a better way to introduce this year's list of completed games, but chose not to.
Showing 1-10 of 80 items
06/01. The first Indie Game of the Week. I quit Flywrench near its conclusion to write a scathing review, waited a day, booted it back up and spent an hour clearing its last few horrifying levels. Besides the cruel difficulty spike right at the end, the game's got an excellent sense of flow: the way you'd enter a stage, find the solution, practice until you get the timing right and move onto the next sounds like an arduous process but in reality can take anywhere from a minute to a handful of seconds, such is the game's pace. Good game for speedrunning, I'd imagine. (4 Stars.)
07/01. Uncharted 4's amazing, but at the same time still beholden to flaws that have persisted throughout the whole series. I don't think anyone *loves* the combat, and it can get a little dependent on following breadcrumb trails of evident handholds and cliffsides for each of its traversal sequences. At the same time, the quality of the script and acting has never been better, and the game looks absolutely breathtaking. You are definitely getting more of the same from this one, but at least it means the Uncharted games can end on a series peak. (4 Stars.)
12/01. The second Indie Game of the Week. Refunct is a sliver of a game, but it packs in a few neat ideas and first-person platforming controls that don't suck, so it's a case of "short but sweet". With the systems it already has in place, I could see a greatly expanded sequel come out of this. (4 Stars.)
17/01. The first of many PS2 playthroughs this year, courtesy of my ongoing The Top Shelf feature. Onimusha Warlords straddles the line between awkward and clunky third-person Capcom action-adventure games and the new wave brought about by the likes of Devil May Cry and the irascible but gifted Kamiya. The usual ResEvil tank controls and key puzzles are a lot more fun when couched in a decent combat engine. I can't wait to finally get around to its sequels too. (4 Stars.)
22/01. The third Indie Game of the Week. A brilliant SpaceWhipper with a lot of heart and a surfeit of artistic talent. I played a number of SpaceWhippers at the end of last year, which caused me to defer this one until 2017. In retrospect, I probably should've played this one first. (5 Stars.)
26/01. The fourth Indie Game of the Week. Wadjet Eye Games has produced better, but Shardlight's still a solid adventure game with logical puzzles and a straightforward and engrossing story. It lacks a lot of the clever ideas of its contemporaries, however, and some of those puzzle ideas get recycled one too many times. I also didn't care for its sudden multiple choice ending either. (3 Stars.)
29/01. I poured almost 200 hours into this thing. Whether you interpret that statement as a recommendation or a cry for help is entirely up to you. I loved, loved, loved this game, though I don't quite hold it in the same esteem as the original Xenoblade. It is, essentially, an anime mech equivalent to a Bethesda game with a(n un)healthy amount of Monster Hunter, Phantasy Star Online and No Man's Sky thrown in for color. It's such an impressive accomplishment of game design on both a micro and macro level and is, along with Metal Gear Solid V, a curious case of a Japanese studio tackling a predominantly Western genre and excelling in it. Some weird musical choices though... (5 Stars.)
02/02. The fifth Indie Game of the Week. Abzu wears its influences on its wetsuit sleeve, but it's still a profoundly attractive game that clearly puts art direction above all else. That doesn't leave a whole lot for involved gameplay or challenge, but it's such a pleasant and serene aquatic adventure that it scarcely needs it. (4 Stars.)
07/02. I thought this game was delightful, and surprisingly long given the relative smallness of its diorama-style levels. Losing the ability to jump recontextualizes the world of Mario and its many recurring foes, like the now-deadly Goombas and Shyguys, and the game is packed with collectibles, secrets and additional challenges built with the engine. It's not a core Nintendo game that saw a lot of fanfare compared to Super Mario 3D World or Maker, perhaps because many like myself erroneously regarded as a shorter variant intended for a younger audience. It absolutely deserves a better reputation though. (4 Stars.)
11/02. The sixth Indie Game of the Week. A visual novel that breaks its talky sequences apart with a perfunctory drink-mixing mini-game that ever so occasionally finds itself involved with the narrative, VA-11 Hall-A's true strength is in its writing and cast of characters - a rogue's gallery of sci-fi archetypes from all corners of anime and western movie genre fare, fleshed out to resemble human beings likely to want to vent their worries to an empathetic (if reserved) bartender. (4 Stars.)
