Review The Last Game You Beat

[Thief]

Just beat Resident Evil 5 for the first time. My brother and I have been playing through all the main resident evil games in chronological order (numbered games plus revelations 1/2 and code: veronica). Anyway, I didn't know what to expect really but I ended up enjoying it a lot more than RE4 (which I thought was just ok). The game just felt really refined, and each situation was fun and not annoying (except for those damn insta-kill bugs lol). Really like the improved inventory system, it's easy to switch between weapons quickly and there's no need to play tetris just to make stuff fit -- plus it really felt like I was finally managing my inventory and worrying about supplies (in a true survival horror sense). Plus, co-op Resident Evil is amazingly fun. This may be one of my favorite Resident Evil games hands down. Truly great.

[Henry Spencer]

RE5 is one of the best, agreed. Director of that is one of the guys leading the REmake 2 project, I believe.

[OL]

Plus, co-op Resident Evil is amazingly fun.

I think it was RE5 that actually sold me completely on the joys of online co-op. Was never interested in online game at all before that, but once I started playing that with my brother, it opened a floodgate. Any time I can find a genuinely great co-op mode, I'm there. That's a big part of why I had very little problem with RE6 as well; whether or not the game itself was as solid and potentially iconic as the rest of the series, I still had a blast playing co-op.

Anyway, just finished Max Payne 3 on PC for the first time (though I'd already beaten it on PS3 way back at launch). The Steam summer sale is to thank for that.
I think Max Payne 3 almost universally holds this position as being an okay shooter, but "it's nowhere near as good as the first two." I think that's the usual sentiment from fans, right? That is, if they don't outright bash it completely, just for being different from the others.
Well, fuck all that. I was in the mood for a good, solid dose of third-person gunfighting, and MP3 delivered the goods, even more that the first two games would have right now. Phenomenal gameplay. Some of the most satisfying shooting you can get in a videogame.
And story-wise, I now feel like the actual narrative itself is even better than the first two ever were. Or, at the very least, it feels far more grounded and plausible than the nutty drug conspiracy yarns from before (ignoring the crazier bits of action found in MP3, that is, which are usually more over-the-top than the others).
There is still that one thing that just eats at me about the story though: the fact that Max doesn't outright kill Serano when he sees him late in the game. The dude executed an innocent woman right in front of Max earlier on, almost like it was a joke. It makes no sense whatsoever that Max wouldn't put a bullet in the guy. Hell, Max shot some Jersey douchbag in one of the flashbacks just for hitting a girl; he ought to have done the same to Serano, if not worse. And it's all made even dumber by a detail I missed way back in 2013, where Max looks back on the events of the game and, when reminded of Serano, mentions that a part of him hopes Serano got away alive.
WHAT.
The rest of the story is pretty great, but this stuff about Serano always killed me with how wrong and out-of-character it was for Max. Women are supposed to be kryptonite for Max, and the death of one always drives him harder than anything else, so this one part of the story is just downright frustrating to me.
Regardless, in the grand scheme, I still think MP3 is easily the most fun-to-play of the entire series. Most fans will disagree, but eh... suck it.

[Riku Rose]

^Don't stray to the dark side of PC gaming! Before you know it you'll be telling us how many FPS you're getting and be getting excited about graphics cards!

[Raithos]

As much as I liked MP 1&2, I enjoyed MP3 the best. Played it on PC as well. The final shootout, holy shit! Still one of my all time favorites. The Health song playing while I put bullets into skulls will be something I always remember.

[OL]

Assault Suit Leynos on PS4.
As an Assault Suits nut, I'm ridiculously happy to even have the chance to play this. The original ASL (Target Earth in western territories) for the Genesis/Megadrive was a helluva lot of fun, but it's so damn obscure that I never would have imagined we'd get a remake.
And it is quite a spiffy little remake. It features both a classic mode, which is basically the original game with new graphics and mechanics, and an arcade mode, which is the same basic story and sequence of the original, but with voiced dialogue, re-synthesized music, a few new bosses, and slight alterations to the scenario to make it a tiny bit more involved and cinematic. Somehow I ended up playing the classic mode first, thinking that was the actual remake, and I was pretty happy with it all around; it's the original game, just prettier. Not a damn thing wrong with that. Then, after I'd beaten it, I realized I was supposed to start the game from the title screen to access the actual remade version. So, after experiencing the original style first, it made the new version seem all the more epic and polished. It's certainly easier than the classic mode, but overall more enjoyable as well.
It's funny, as this series goes, I've actually always been a bigger fan of Assault Suits Valken for the SNES. So it was a great surprise to find that one of the levels in the arcade mode for Leynos was pretty much re-structured to turn it into the first level from Valken. Hit me with a wave of nostalgia, for sure.
For any fans of the original games in this series, I recommend the hell out of this sucker. Twenty bucks might be a little steep for the amount of content, but it's a great time nevertheless. Here's hoping for a full-on Valken remake in the near future. Or hell, maybe even a remake of Leynos 2, which was originally on Saturn. Either one would be a joy.

[Axm]

Resident Evil 6 is a decent game and incredibly underrated.

That's not to say that it's the best game by any means, and it's certainly way worse than RE 4 and 5, but holy wow is it not nearly as bad as everyone says it is. The sheer amount of content this game provides, interesting set pieces, gorgeous graphics, new melee combat system and sliding/rolling, four campaigns, driving segments, flying segments, really unique enemy designs (and lots of them), MERCENARIES MODE, decently fun multiplayer mode.

This game sort of tried to do too much, but everything has incredibly high production values -- that, plus the sheer ridiculousness of every situation had me enjoying myself the whole way through. That's just the thing though. Resident Evil 6 is ridiculous, but if you embrace that side of it, it turns out to be a really fun ride. This game is Resident Evil: The Action Set-piece Extravaganza -- it's Resident Evil: Uncharted, except with a more interesting core gameplay mechanic (and a worse story lol). It's just... you know... kinda fun. And that's honestly what I want in the end from a video game.

This game is seriously flawed, sure -- quick time events are of the pointless kind (not reactive but just a tedious motion to do a task), overall level design is lacking in purpose and creativity, Inventory system was a mess and a huge downgrade from RE5 (which nearly had it perfect), too many running and on rails segments, a sometimes wacked out camera, lack of focus, too many cutscenes everywhere, Ada's campaign is absolutely BROKEN if you play it co-op, cutscenes don't pause the game leading to enemies getting free cheap hits, and a million other annoyances that I can't seem to remember right now. But the game is decent. It's not that bad and is probably at least worth one playthrough (co-op with a bud). It's a good enough, solid 7/10, above average game.

[AnimeGamer183]

Yakuza 4

I just want to first of all say that this game has restored my faith and devotion for the series, Y3 almost killed the whole series for me (well the nerfed western version anyway). Y4 did so many things and made so many changes that this series needed and refreshed things like pulling your favorite comforter out of the dryer with a couple sheets of fabric softener thrown in. First of all the progression of the story through the eyes of the multiple characters you get to control, from a basic story telling level on up to the sequencing of how the story was split into 4 consecutive character perspectives then brings them all together at the end and still tells a seemless tale, to the 4 fun and different fighting styles you got to play with among these characters, down to each characters exclusive side missions, distinct game play variations, and mini games/quests for each character, they absolutely nailed variation in this one and its the hallmark of the game.

Yakuza 4 ranks high in the series, it consists of interesting characters with unique back grounds and intertwining stories and doesnt focus mainly on Kazuma like in the first 3 games. I am going to say that Yakuza 2 has a SLIGHT edge on this one and I only say that because of its variety of locations, but really its a toss up because Yakuza 4 gives you variety is many other areas, I think I just like Yakuza 2s story a little bit more but im not even sure on that. Its also hard to think of a game series that can get away with being set in the same town on the same exact streets with the same exact maps and buildings/places to go and open world and still have me be completely fine and nostalgic making another trip into basically the same exact place, BUT at the same time thats probably one also one of the games issues, some new areas would have been nice.

The Yakuza influence comes in full effect here, the whole mafia/mob/gangster premise is there, although really a Yakuza is honestly something so much different than that, I think thats one of the things these games teaches you. And being a fan from a different culture I think it gives us something a little more and different to take away from these games, and expands our understanding of what Yakuza actually are. This whole premise is where this series really hits home for me, and these games in general give you such a street feel if you understand what I mean by that, this feeling of running the streets has alot to do with how I identify with these games, and how I have a greater understanding and just get something extra from these games because of the similarities of my past and way of living and mental philosophies and approach to life and people. These games really go deep in the feels factor for me and getting the japanese perspective and flavor on it just makes me that much more interested and engaged in it.

I want to talk about how the Yakuza games rank in the collective gaming universe. I know there are alot of comparisons to GTA, and how its basically an extremely trimmed down version of it, but in all honesty I prefer it that way. I think you get to know everything and there is more of a sense of home and familiarity that games like GTA could never pull off, you just feel the love for the environment more in these because its not so expansive its overwhelming (and for me to the point its just too much and I cant even enjoy everything because there is so much going on at one time in GTA). No i prefer the strolls down Kamurocho's main streets and enjoying what will be different and new this time around in a place I already know and have played in before. Yakuza really is a fan/franchise series, and I think nostalgia plays a huge part in the fan enjoyment and cult status of the series. I think its easy to admit that Yakuza is not of a super high quality of games, but what it brings and the way it brings it is certainly enough to have many people hooked on these games and want to see the new iterations localized. Maybe this is due to japanese development conventions and for some thats what makes these games just a trimmed down GTA that can be ignored and to others its what makes it special and stand out in comparison to the hyper realism and extreme scale of other more "advanced" games in a similar genre.

My final thoughts on Yakuza 4 are good ones, there is just enough here to satisfy, while making long fans of the series happy, and presenting it in a new and refreshing way that makes you wonder will happen next and see the game through till the end. I am very glad that I ultimately made the decision to continue on with this series and this game really reminded me of what I enjoyed in the past games so much, and gave me more characters and reasons to love it that much more. There was a time I was ready to give up on this series, but in all honesty not only do these games strike a certain chord for me, they are just a different and refreshing departure from the usual game genres I play. I realize now that I need to continue this series if only for that reason alone, Yakuza is kind of like a get away for me when I need break from my usual, so every few years when we get a new Yakuza I can always look forward to playing it. Here is to looking forward to Yakuza 5 and Yakuza 0 when ever I finally end up playing them, this series has solidified its self with a special place in my favorite games after completing Yakuza 4 and my love for it is back.

[Henry Spencer]

Yeah, I'd say Y4 is my second favourite behind Y2 as well. Game is great and one of the best games on the PS3.

So I beat a few more games including some more that were in my backlog for a long time the other day:

Disaster Report / SOS: The Final Escape (PS2)

Orange reviewed this far better than I ever could already but all I really have to say is that I've never played anything else like it. Felt so fresh to finally play a game set during a disaster and trying to survive. The gameplay felt so organic and i never got stuck. It was pretty amazing trying to escape some of those scenarios where the world is going to shit around you. It's a great little adventure game (only took like 5 hours to beat). I do plan on getting the other ending and going the other route next time I play. Definitely gonna get the sequel on PS2 in the future too and pre-order the fourth game on PS4 since there's nothing else like it out there.

Last Window: The Secret of Cape West



Game is easily one of the best adventure games I've played in a long time. I enjoyed Hotel Dusk (which was a loooong time ago since I played that) but for some reason never got around to picking this up until a friend lent it to me. I was really engrossed from start to finish and it didn't disappoint. I only got stuck like once in the whole game too, which for an adventure game as long as this was (like 10 hours) with all sorts of puzzles is a testament to how well put together the game was. Game had such a nice atmosphere and kept me playing well into the night wanting to see the answers to the mysteries. The characters were all distinct and memorable. Thinking it over, this is one of the best adventure games on the DS and makes me want to track down the Another Code games from Cing as well. Can I just say how frigging good this game looks to me as well? I love the dated PSX graphical style melted in with the fantastic black and white manga styled character artwork? Nothing else like it. I need to replay Hotel Dusk again now too.

Devil Survivor: Overclocked (3DS)

This game is ridiculously hard, even for SMT vets. The final stretch in the toughest route (which is the one I took because I wanted to destroy the world and create a better one, since that's just the kinda guy I am) is crazy, especially the final map where you have to basically do a boss rush against all of the toughest bosses in the game with no respite and no chance of rest. The game's story was classic SMT feel, the world is going to hell and it's pretty much set dring an apocalypse rather than after like the mainline series tends to be. There's lots of routes to take, Law (God), Chaos (Lucifer) or Neutral (AKA "fuck everything"). It's a bloody hard game, so if you're in a masochistic mood play this game. It's damn good and from the developers of Langrisser (Warsong) and Growlanser [they got bought out by Atlus] so they know their Tactical RPGs. A really good game but not one of my favourite SMT games overall I'd say due to how cheap/unpredictable it is in parts. Clocked in at around 40 hours, so it's a long game, not even touched the other routes yet.

Now onto Yakuza 5 (Best free PS+ game yet!) Also getting a good ways into Vandal Hearts 2 since I felt like a classic Tactical RPG. Crazy how different it is though with the "enemies move at the same time as you do" mechanic which adds a lot more challenge to the proceedings.

[InsanityIsCrazy]

OK. Layers of Fear:

If you're familiar with PT, the concept is similar. Walk through a haunted house, trigger set-pieces, get scared, repeat.

What matters here, is the art.

Layers tries something that I haven't seen in earlier FPS haunted house dramas: they put the story on canvas. Throughout the game, your primary objective is to complete a painting. The set pieces are littered with paintings. The backdrops and stinger moments are essentially paintings given life. There's an actual artsy twist with everything that happens in this game, and it (to me) is beautiful. I'd hang any canvas these developers produced. Unfortunately, the first person indie horror genre is being beaten to death by every other developer on the market. The only major sticking point from Layers will be its art, which in my opinion is high quality and professional. If you like linear, story-driven horror games with moments of delicious, visceral artwork, I'd recommend this one all day. Probably not for anybody expecting major replayability.

[Thief]

Just beat AM2R (another metroid 2 remake) today. New boss fights (good boss fights), updated areas/graphics/mechanics, hidden mechanics (like speedball and bomb spread etc), new item progression.. etc. This is bassically Metroid 2 done in the style of Zero Mission and AM2R is likely my new favorite metroid just behind Super Metroid. Highly recommended.

[Thief]

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

I had played Symphony of the Night ages ago but never could quite finish the game. As soon as I got to the mirrored castle, I felt a little overwhelmed and uninterested in finishing... but I've finally done it. Dracula has been slain... but ultimately I was left feeling unimpressed. I admire SotN in concept. I love the idea of the game having tons of hidden junk/drops/areas/endings, but it really suffers from poor combat, level design, and direction.

This game's solution to level design seems to be, 1.) design a horizontal hallway or a diagonal hallway or a vertical hallway, 2.) throw a ton a enemies where ever, 3.) done. In Super Metroid, every enemy, every platform, and every situation had been thought out carefully in order to silently give the player the illusion of freedom and to give the player direction in order to explore the game with purpose.

There is very little direction in SotN -- in the sense that the game hardly gives you any reason to go to many of the places on the map, and most of the items you'll obtain have very limited uses (or will be completely pointless). You'll explore a whole area, come across a huge boss, and then be rewarded with some low stat sword that you'll never need and will only serve to clutter up your inventory...

The inventory has so many useless items... but the most annoying thing about it is how you use it to heal yourself. If you have a potion, you can't just use it by going into your inventory. Instead, you need to pause, equip it over a weapon slot, unpause, use it, pause, reequip, unpause, fight. It's annoying. Even more annoying is when you want to use a food healing item, because then you have to throw it on the ground and walk over it if you want to heal.

Regardless, probably the most disappointing thing about SotN is the boss fights. I can't remember one single interesting boss fight in the entire game. Every single boss fight was an instance of "jump and hit it a bunch"... that was it. No strategy and not even remotely difficult. Not a single one. That, combined with the awful knockback mechanic, that will have Alucard flying around with the slightest touch, just makes combat unenjoyable.

I really wanted to like this game, but I just did not enjoy it much at all. At the very least, I'll be fondly listening to the soundtrack, so that's something I guess. Anyway, I didn't want to completely give up on the Castlevania Metroid-likes with just one game, so I decided to also play the next popular game of its style, Aria of Sorrow.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Aria of Sorrow addresses pretty much every one of my complaints from Symphony of the Night. Bosses no longer yield pointless sword nonsense items, but instead they give you necessary skills to help the player progress through the castle (finally giving the player some direction), and the cool hidden weapons are still to be found, but are instead a reward for searching the nooks and crannies of the castle. The boss-fights feel like actual boss-fights in this game. They have actual patterns that the player has to detect and they come as an actual challenge.

The inventory system is greatly improved, not only can you sell your equipment (which you couldn't do in SotN), but the whole equipment setup has been streamlined and is now easy to use. Plus using potions can now be done inside of the inventory, rather than having to equip them over a weapon slot.

The game also has a interesting gimmick where Soma will sometimes be granted an enemies ability upon defeat. That ability can then be equipped on your character and used as a special attack (similar to items such as Holy Water or Cross from the earlier castlevanias). There are three types, one that equips to your ^ + attack, one that equips to your R button, and one that is a passive ability. All three can be equipped at once and there are over 100 enemies in the game from which you can find abilities. It's really fun just seeing what types of cool abilities you can get from the enemies and just experimenting with them.

There's still the annoying knockback, but it didn't seem quite as infuriating in this game -- perhaps it's because I was actually enjoying the rest of the game this time.

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't stop after playing SotN because AoS is a truly great game. I'll be playing Dawn of Sorrow next, and perhaps the rest of the Metroid-Like Castlevania's after that.

[Axm]

Far Cry 4

The story felt a little weak at times especially the fact that there is no real reason as to why youre this super soldier that can take on an entire army on your own and that no one really doubts that youre capable of doing so not acting surprised at all after sending you in to fight with an entire batallion and you succeed in killing them all. Also the choice system feels kinda weak overall with its outcome. In the end none of it really matters to who your character is and it just changes who you made happy.

Gameplay wise I had a lot of fun although it felt easier than far cry 3, I didnt really have any issue finishing the game or taking over all the outposts playing in normal difficulty.

Overall it was a fun game but I wouldn't recommend it as a priority play.

[IrishNinja]

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain

I absolutely get why this wasn't everyone's bag, but i loved it. I think if you dug suikoden-like base-building from Peace Walker (and Portable Ops), the use of it here in building proto-Outer Heaven was fun. likewise, while i think ditching Hayter was a mistake, when it comes to Kojima's level of verbose storytelling, i'll take tapes over the mess that was MGS 4 any day of the week, personally.

the twist definitely divides people (again, i can also see that) but works for the story they're telling. glad i got to close out the series.

[ShenGCH]

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain

I absolutely get why this wasn't everyone's bag, but i loved it. I think if you dug suikoden-like base-building from Peace Walker (and Portable Ops), the use of it here in building proto-Outer Heaven was fun. likewise, while i think ditching Hayter was a mistake, when it comes to Kojima's level of verbose storytelling, i'll take tapes over the mess that was MGS 4 any day of the week, personally.

the twist definitely divides people (again, i can also see that) but works for the story they're telling. glad i got to close out the series.

Hayter should never have played Naked Snake/Big Boss in the first place, in my opinion. By that logic, both Liquid and Solidus should have sounded exactly like Solid Snake (i.e., voiced by David Hayter) with different accents. The only reason he was brought in to voice Naked Snake in Snake Eater was fan service, but they pretty much shot themselves in the foot by retroactively gimping it with that one. Then, of course, you have Richard Doyle voicing Big Boss at the end of Guns of the Patriots, which, by that same logic, makes even less sense. (Still a great performance, though.) Even though he doesn't speak a whole lot during the game (minus the tapes), Kiefer nailed his performance, especially in Ground Zeroes. David Hayer is, and always will be, Solid Snake, but the same shouldn't be true of Big Boss.

About the ending:

I was certainly disappointed with the ending at first, but I've grown to quite like it in time. Sure, we all wanted to see Big Boss become that Big Boss, complete with a Walter White-esque downfall, but instead we got something that spoke directly to the player; something that questioned the very nature of legend status and how it's basically nothing but a title. Anyone can be Big Boss, and we were the ones responsible. They retconned the series, but it was a retcon that worked and made sense, as you said. I really wanted there to be a repeat of that brilliant "Big Boss - Richard Doyle" parts in the credits, except with something like "Solid Snake - David Hayter" or even waiting 'til the credits reach the black screen before quickly cutting to a bullet hitting the wall next to a young Solid Snake, shot by Big Boss (Venom Snake), before their battle in Outer Heaven.