2016 -- Finished
Games (from any year) which I completed or just played enough to comment on in 2016.
List items
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01/02 -- Interesting storytelling, but Her Story didn't live up to the hype for me.
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01/10 -- Cool atmosphere and curious themes. Puzzles were good, though I found two or three tedious.
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01/27
-- *spoilers* --
The Talos Principle presents multiple themes as you play, including humanity's mortality (and possible extinction), Artificial Intelligence, generational algorithms, morality, temptation and sentience/"I Robot" themes. The game's larger context was an almost-perfect fit for the written excerpts it included (many from ancient religions or famous philosophies).
Gameplay-wise, the Talos Principle is too long with 20+ hours of puzzle-solving and exploration. Solving some of the puzzles felt like an accomplishment, but many others were tedious. Amusingly, the NPCs also voiced a lot of complaints about being forced through so many puzzles.
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01/24 -- A swing and a miss. Cool concept but poor execution. The crass quips and profile text also didn't help.
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02/07 (book four) -- Not too much to say. There were fewer decision points, as the story wraps up and past decisions are resolved.
Waiting for the episodes hasn't been a problem for me so far, but I'll probably avoid the model in the future. (Waiting for the final book is a bit of a bummer.)
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02/10 -- Cool concept, but simply not fun. I toughed out normal since it was only a couple hours.
Numerous and challenging boss fights can be a core part of fun games. As examples, Valdis Story has mechanics and Dark Souls has depth. Both games have a story and rewards for victory. Titan Souls has none of that -- it's a minimalist experience hampered further by pointless map traversal and clunky, randomized gameplay.
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02/13 -- Fantastic.
-- *minor spoilers* --
Fire Emblem: Awakening rekindled -- and surpassed -- the series' magic I experienced with the first US GBA release (nearly 10 years ago). I liked nearly everything about the game, from the 3D combat animations (which flowed nicely with characters' attacks, dodges, assists and commentary), to the classic turn-based gameplay with new "pair up" and reclassing mechanics.
Awakening's characters and dialog really made the game shine. Nearly all of the lines were well-written, interesting and/or funny. And there were a lot of them. Even your semi-customizable protagonist, "Robin", has a unique personality and backstory. Inserting a player into a strategy game as a strategist or tactician isn't entirely new (e.g. StarCraft, Command and Conquer, XCOM, etc...), but "Robin" was interesting enough for me to care.
The story arc sticks close to Fire Emblem traditions. Fire Emblem's formula has a few weaknesses (especially villains), but with a strong cast of characters, a number of interesting twists and a solid conclusion, Awakening's story finishes strong.
Awakening also offers a lot of side missions and content. These generally stood well on their own, and a few fit nicely into the main campaign's flow. Several of them come as late add-ons though, so I suggest picking-and-choosing a certain number to play.
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02/14 (multiplayer) -- If Helldivers had a serious brother, I imagine he would look like The Red Solstice's multiplayer. Both feature top-down team-based gameplay, mission maps with objectives, hordes of enemies and limited ammo. However, TRS replaces the silliness, quick-reinforcements and zany friendly fire with a gritty veneer, a slower pace and more complex gameplay.
TRS' multiplayer is fun, but overall I wouldn't recommend it. The game requires you to unlock and level up classes ("suits") to complete even the first mission on the easiest difficulty. Expect to grind the first mission for a long time -- you start out with only one suit, unlocking new suits is slow and suits level up -- slowly -- one at a time.
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02/28 -- My thoughts will probably read like many of the XCOM 2 reviews on the Internet right now. If you haven't bought XCOM 2 as of now, you may even want to wait.
At its core, XCOM 2 is more XCOM: Enemy Unknown (a great start). 2 also makes several smart sequel updates, including upgraded graphics, more ambitious (destructible) environments, soldier customizations and new and rebalanced gameplay mechanics (like concealment and melee). I'm especially a fan of the story updates -- XCOM: EU had a cool theme, but was mostly gameplay-focused. 2's plot points, supported by cutscenes and character dialog, add a lot of atmosphere and depth.
So why wait? XCOM 2's biggest issue is quality. In my playthrough, I encountered gameplay glitches, crashes and had to rebuild corrupted sound files. The game also regularly pauses during or after AI actions and reaction shots. It didn't stop me, but gave the experience a slower, technically shakier feel.
03/16 (Commander, no reloads) -- This time around was better, probably because of a few patches plus I bumped down the graphics. (There were still a few minor gameplay glitches.) Playing without saves is intense.
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03/15 -- Hearing orcs scream "Mommy!", "My dignity!" and a surprising variety of other cries didn't get old. I probably wouldn't play it solo, but as a tower defense game Orcs offers a number of challenging maps and a variety of playstyles.
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03/19
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03/26 -- Sheltered is a game I backed on Kickstarter, so I have a bit of history with it. Unfortunately, my early relationship with the game was disappointing. Sheltered's Kickstarter campaign mentioned that it was inspired by FTL, but its randomization and events aren't that meaningful. The developers also rushed from pre-alpha to early release within 2 weeks -- doing so cheated backers out of an exclusive testing and feedback period.
Sheltered's release version feels like a high-end Flash game. That's not necessarily a pejorative -- it's a catchy, endless-sim game with a cool theme and pixel art. On the other hand, there are a few polish issues and the gameplay lacks depth and challenge.
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04/02 -- Well, on the 40th grueling game day I'm finally giving up my current run. My three remaining survivors are all severely ill and/or depressed. I don't plan to give it another go.
My run so far has had its ups and downs. My own story had plenty of interesting moments: for example, after being raided early on, I soon became desperate for food. I turned to scavenging a dangerous house, which led to one of my people being shot and killed. Things were looking grim, but then I met someone new, found some new scavenging locations and learned to trade. The challenging experience definitely imparts struggle and tension.
Unfortunately, game mechanics eventually bit me. Not knowing how the heating system worked, my people started to fall ill during winter despite my heater and fuel. I eventually had to look up the weather mechanics, along with sickness and mood mechanics. Falling behind, I tried violence to keep up with necessary materials, which somehow made things much worse. I became increasingly unsympathetic and frustrated toward my people as caring for their needs, managing their moods and spending scarce in-game resources on medicines repeatedly failed to improve conditions.
I don't mind some of my sub-optimal decisions while I was learning, but it is a bummer to "lose" a 40 game day, almost 10 hour run.
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04/08 -- The Internet seemed to think this game was too hard... I'm still not sure why. Overall it was a solid game with a great look. The gameplay was fun with a satisfying amount of challenge -- I would compare it to a short but polished SNES game.
I was expecting a little more depth to the game, perhaps because of the hype. The game's progression and ending felt pretty cut and dry. The no-dialogue storytelling approach was interesting at first, but hard to follow (especially at the ending).
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04/18 (Birthright, Lunatic) -- Following in the 3DS footsteps of Awakening, Fates is another solid entry in the Fire Emblem franchise. Fates makes a few smart improvements in gameplay, though I would give a slight overall nod to Awakening for novelty and a more consistent story. The multi-game format is also a cool take on the franchise. While I have yet to play another entry, my general impression is that they've done it well.
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04/24 -- At its core, The Banner Saga 2 is more of The Banner Saga (which is a good thing in my book). My TBS2 playthrough didn't feel quite as desperate as the first game. The combat, with its handful of updates, is generally enjoyable though generally not challenging.
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04/29 -- I'm happy to see Nintendo finally give its Star Fox franchise some serious attention, but Star Fox Zero misses as much as it hits. Nintendo treated Zero like a reboot, but the gameplay and controls have issues. The first playthrough is especially jarring, with missions requiring four different vehicles, stick and motion controls and both television and gamepad screens. Zero's retelling of Star Fox 64 is also mostly bland. There are a couple cool fan service references, but too much dialog (and too many mission layouts) are copy/pasted, mostly from Star Fox 64.
Can the Star Fox formula work in 2016? I think there's still room for something that looks like Star Fox, albeit with some necessary changes and modernization.
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05/25 (Infected DLC) -- At this point, it's obvious Chronicles is suffering from a lack of development support (probably due to sales). The missions are reasonably fun. The game suffers from quality issues, and the new content reemphasized the game's loot, progression and lack of respecing issue.
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~05/30 -- Cool gameplay concept, and pretty fun. Star Fox Guard is more of an action-oriented tower defense game than a strategy-oriented one. There was a light progression system and a few upgrades, but none of them seemed particularly impressive or necessary. Overall it's a nice value-add to the Star Fox Zero package, and a co-op mode or deeper strategy could be super-fun.
It's great to see Nintendo experiment with a few gameplay concepts which really justify the Wii U gamepad... too bad they've all but pronounced the system dead.
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06/04 -- Generally fun. Sol Survivor is kind of like Defense Grid 2 with a little less polish. I mostly focused on one co-op mode with a friend, but it offered several multiplayer options. The strategy depth was somewhat... limited. Tower upgrades are absolutely necessary, and I found a single tower strategy which worked on pretty much every map.
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06/19 (Conquest, Lunatic) -- Almost exactly two months after wrapping up my Birthright playthrough, I finish my Conquest run. Overall, Conquest is the better (and more challenging) of the two. Its story had more depth and a little better delivery, and gameplay-wise the map design was much more involved.
The Lunatic experience was pretty intense, even with Birthright under my belt and planning ahead. Stat debuffs ftl!
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06/29 -- Massive Chalice is a fun game with some cool concepts, but polish issues and a few frustrating design decisions. (I suspect this sounds like other reviews.)
MC follows an XCOM-style format, with an overarching campaign tied to a series of turn-based battles. Battles are not nearly as polished as XCOM, but the three classes (+ variants), abilities and enemies were generally interesting. The campaign has research and build elements like XCOM, but adds in a complex family and generational system. Your heroes grow older and can have children, possibly passing both positive and negative traits. It creates a series of interesting decisions -- do I retire my best hero in hopes of having children with the same traits?
Frustrations include micromanagement effort, no-win situations and randomness. In-game years pass in real-time seconds, so it's not uncommon to retire a 50-year old hero only to have them die 2 seconds later (prompting a replacement). The game provides a lot of choice and detail for most heroes. Decisions are short-lived, considering that heroes are only active for a few battles and inherited traits are somewhat random.
MC's campaign also differs from XCOM's in some of the punishing, no-win scenarios it throws at you. For perspective, I played on Normal difficult, never lost a battle and only lost one hero in combat (...due to an accident involving alchemy.) I only remember one sub-optimal map choice, yet I still lost 4 out of 10 map regions. The game's events are particularly hateful. Events often ask you to make a sacrifice, only to punish you anyway -- one event in particular asked me to sacrifice three heroes. The outcome was a point of corruption, killing a territory with a keep full of trainees.
The battle system works OK, though it lacks variety in mission objectives, enemy types and player strategies considering the lengthy campaign.
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06/30 -- Retrovirus is an indie game with a really cool gameplay concept and theme. The co-op play was a nice bonus. I enjoyed it, though I'd really like to see a much more polished version of the concept (in terms of both gameplay and technical quality).
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07/10 -- Eh... I guess I see why people like it? The combat wasn't that interesting or satisfying for me and it's generally unpolished -- not a winning combination with its freemium business model.
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07/22 -- One of the better ARPGs I've played recently, Victor Vran is a lot more polished than most indie ARPGs. Its gameplay is a little more action-focused, with a dodge roll and weapon-based skill sets (not unlike Guild Wars 2). Vran's theme is (blatantly) Diablo/Van Helsing-esque, although it has its own flavor and sense of humor.
The main campaign seemed a little short (at least based on my level and equipment at the end), but I also skipped a lot of side rooms and challenges.
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07/24 -- It's a shame that DST lacks an end-game. Sandbox games are fun, but generally require too much time and commitment. It is really polished and intricate for what it is.
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07/31 -- A Link Between Worlds stands as its own game, but it does resemble its predecessor (A Link to the Past). I'm impressed at how well those elements still hold up (after 20-ish years). The story has a nice little twist -- I am surprised they didn't make a more direct story connection between the two games.
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08/04 -- Furi came a little out of nowhere for me and I enjoyed it. It's a boss-fight focused game mixing 3D beat-em-up and stick shooting elements. It's stylized (like many boss-fight games), but I didn't find it over-dramatic or bizarre. The story is light and the presentation is mostly straightforward.
It's in-between battle sections were also way better than games like Shadow of the Colossus and Titan Souls. Furi's sections were generally short, one-time only and added a little narrative context about the coming boss and the overall setting.
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08/09 -- I'm glad to see that the RTS genre still getting a few entries. Kharak's main appeal (for me at least) was its setting and campaign.
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07/30 -- *Phew*. I almost gave up on Darkest Dungeon after two full rounds of bosses and a push. Time and repetition are two of its biggest weaknesses.
DD's combat is varied and feels tightly-balanced, and I like its dungeon-crawling elements. I did start using a guide after a couple of boss fights. (DD isn't fast-iterating like a lot of rogue-likes, and set-backs cost a lot of time.)
A handful of fights and set-backs were pretty epic: for example, my Vestal and Bounty Hunter died during my first Brigand Vvulf boss fight. Vvulf died, but things looked grim against his last minions. My Arbalest was completely useless, having shifted forward to position 2 *and* becoming afflicted. The fight was won by my Crusader, who overpowered his stress check and shrugged off two deathblows to barely carry the fight.
It's theme is... well, dark. A little more disturbing than I expected.
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Placeholder
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09/01 -- A seemingly simple (and partly low-tech) gaming concept, but it makes for a great time.
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09/04 -- I'm a fan. The digital version has the occasional gameplay bug, but it offers the advantages of a digital game: lower cost, automatic setup and online multiplayer. More importantly, XenoShyft is a fun game with a cool sci-fi/horror theme.
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09/11 -- Fortified is a charming, if unpolished, multiplayer tower defense game in the same vein as Orcs Must Die! 2. It's still a good time, and I likely would have continued to enjoy if it had more content.
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09/14
--* potential spoilers *--
You just solved a difficult puzzle? Here's your reward: even harder puzzles!
The Witness is a really polished experience for what it is. Despite my puzzle fatigue, there were quite a few gameplay moments. I also liked the visual style and presentation of the world in several places.
I don't consider myself huge on pure-puzzle games. A few stand-outs have grabbed me (Braid, Portal) and I've had a good time with several others, but I find myself fatigued during long ones like The Witness and The Talos Principle.
My favorite puzzle games also have dialog and humor or some kind of lore. For me, it creates a more interesting experience and a deeper world to explore. (It also adds a kind of reward for solving puzzles, and breaks up the puzzle grind a bit.) The Witness had a sprinkling of recorded quotes, but they seemed like just that -- a random sprinkling of quotes. In Braid, the dialog felt directly connected to the game and its objective, the princess.
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09/22 -- A pleasant surprise. It has all of the mobile game hooks, but a reasonably friendly model for F2P players. The graphics and voice acting are pretty good. The story is fairly simple, but the echoes from FF1 and a few self-aware pokes caught on with me.
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09/25 -- Hmm, well. In general, I like rogue-like elements, tower defense, co-op and sci-fi themes. Dungeon of the Endless happens to have all of these, but I find myself dropping the game due to the required time commitment and some frustrations. (My experience was mostly enjoyable but it doesn't seem worth a bigger investment.)
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10/14 -- Nailed it. Co-op style.
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10/07 -- Fire in the sky. An insatiable monster. My team's cooking skills were lacking and our co-operation was woeful. Traveling back to 1999, we were able to hone our skills and save the world.
Really fun couch co-op game.
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10/22 (Wii U virtual console) -- My least favorite Zelda game. Gameplay felt dated, and it didn't charm me. Very little made sense (Four Sword, Light Force, Minish, etc...).
At least it has the Gust Jar.
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10/25 (book five) -- Not a bad ending, but not a great one. It's interesting and effectively ties up many of the previous points, but inserts a barely-explained character to resolve some of the final events.
Echoing my previous statements, Dreamfall's setting is interesting but I don't always like the gameplay or story execution details.
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11/05 (Hard campaign) -- I liked the original Titanfall's colonial sci-fi theme, but its "story" multiplayer mode didn't convey much in the way of setting. (Lack of single-player also made its AAA price harder to justify.) Titanfall 2's campaign is what the franchise needed. It builds the setting with a solid plot, characters, environments and the AAA production quality you'd expect. The story strikes a nice balance in its action (memorably over-the-top, but not off-the-rails) and humor (some focused parts, lots of humor, not too emotional or self-serious). It also smartly adapts Titanfall's unique multiplayer mechanics (wall-running, pilot kits, infantry, and titan play) into single-player gameplay.
TF2's multiplayer is similar to the original, with some polish and rebalancing. So far, I've been enjoying Titanfall 2 more -- probably because I'm playing on console with more of my friends. Hopefully they'll add Frontier Defense back in (and titan voice packs!)
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11/08 (Cold War normal, co-op) -- Fun gameplay concept which works co-op but isn't super-varied. Campaign is quite short. 80's action-movie overtones included.
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11/12 (Hard) -- #FE takes a lighthearted, varied and often-humorous approach to its J-Pop story concept. Its colorful characters and pop-industry situations had me laughing regularly. #FE's JRPG production quality is also high with solid visuals, character styles, (J-Pop) music, combat mechanics and modern gameplay touches. The Fire Emblem theme is more style than substance (the art and writing clearly emphasize the "real world"), but is fit together reasonably well.
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11/27 -- Heart & Slash has a quirky sense of humor, interesting weapons and generally fun combat and gameplay. It's held back by uninspiring pacing and progression, bland level design with clunky platforming and (when I picked it up) a relatively high price tag.
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12/04 (Hard) -- Tyranny has the high-quality writing you would expect, and I like the Iron Age setting and conquest themes. Decisions matter -- many dialogue choices play into Tyranny's loyalty systems, while quest choices often play into outcomes or even the course of the game. Will your preferred method favor one of the opposing political factions? Will your loyalty be questioned if you show mercy? What will you sacrifice to complete a mission?
The writing is the main draw for a game like Tyranny, but gameplay has its place. It took me a while to ramp up before I started to enjoy its mechanics and systems. Sometimes they were more frustrating and harder to grasp than a turn-based franchise like Shadowrun. In other cases, real-time gameplay has its own dynamics like positioning, knockback and rooting effects. Or cheesing enemies by running in circles and popping potions.
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12/06 -- A cool gameplay concept that is almost more puzzle than action, and feels like playing fight scenes from The Matrix. The short, slightly disturbing story didn't sit that well with me. Nor did the bland visual style, especially considering Superhot's stubbornly high price point.
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12/10 -- Color me impressed. What starts as a gameplay-lite "walking sim" quickly turns into a thrilling story with impactful decisions.
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12/23 -- A respectable, yet incremental, entry in the Pokémon franchise. Unfortunately Gen VII's campaign sees a lot of reused Pokémon -- quite a few new 'mons are legendary and the regional forms, while cool, don't shake things up too much.
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12/28 (scenarios + campaign) -- Save the human race using capitalism! Offworld Trading Company has an almost-serious, somewhat-cheeky setting with fun character. The game’s unique market simulator mechanics are engaging and capture that goal exactly -- while you’re claiming map resources and deciding your production buildings, the real focus of the game is the ever-present list of commodity prices on the left of your screen. Don’t have any power production? You’ll need to buy power, driving up the prices if power is scarce. Producing a lot of water? You can hoard it or dump it, flooding the market and killing the prices.
(I like the game's little bit of writing. More of it probably would have added flavor to the campaign.)
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