Review The Last Game You Beat

[OL]

^Yeah, I was disappointed with it. It's not bad, but definitely forgettable. Did you ever get around to playing the other Sparkster games that Konami made back in the day? I never did finish Sparkster on the Mega Drive...and I've never played Sparkster on the SNES.

I haven't finished either of them, but I have at least played both versions of Sparkster.
Much like the 2010 game, they aren't terrible, but they also aren't anywhere near as great as the original. Fun little diversions for an afternoon, but compared to the first game, they're kind of forgettable.
I will say that the SNES sequel is actually better than the Mega Drive one though, if only for the fact that the gameplay is closer to the original game.

[OL]

I recently got the urge to play Messiah for PC, so I redownloaded it off of gog.com and went to town. Kind of a nostalgic game for me, mostly because I played it as a budding teenager and liked that it had hookers in it.

My experience with it this time was interesting though... not because it's a particularly amazing game by any means (it isn't), but because as I was playing through it, I spotted so many places where a few modern changes certainly could turn it into an amazing game. Conceptually, it was ahead of its time, but it didn't seem to have the budget or the development time to properly exploit that concept to its full potential.
I'm not usually one to clamor for remakes; most people who do that tend to want remakes of games that were already great. Read through a youtube comments section and it's all "this game needs a remake, it was so great!"
I usually say if the original is so good, just go play the original. And I stand by that.
Messiah is not particularly great though. It's good, it's passable. But the thing is, the concept has so much potential that just wasn't exploited, like I said, and it damn near pains me to think about how mind-fuckingly amazing it could be if someone were to pick it back up and run with it.
For anyone unfamiliar with it, you play as a little cherub angel named Bob, who's been sent to Earth by God to stop humanity from tampering with genetic manipulation (can't have humans playing God and all). The hook is that while Bob is relatively weak on his own (he's the little winged baby in my avatar), he has the ability to possess anyone in the environment to exploit their abilities/weapons/rank. Something that's been done to perfection in more recent games, but was totally new fifteen years ago.
Somewhere along the way you realize that Satan is looming around, and Bob decides to go put a foot up his ass.
No, seriously, that's from Bob's own dialogue, which is brilliantly recorded using an actual 3- or 4-year-old just to make it even greater. It's hard not to love it:

phpBB [video]

I totally want that on a tshirt. A picture of Bob, with the words "I'm gonna put my foot up Satan's ass, that's what I'm gonna do."
So anyway, the mix of baby cherub and dark, distopian cyberpunk city; there's just so much potential there, but the actual game is kind of a simple mix of platforming and poorly-programmed shooting, with only enough story to move everything along.

But just imagine if someone picked the concept back up; give it a more open world to explore and poke around in (or a string of open world-type levels, like in Urban Chaos or Dishonored), a level up/customization system (something to give Bob new powers, like auto-body-swapping or something like that), maybe a morality system to determine multiple endings, more variation in the abilities of the people and creatures you can possess (it's pretty limited as the game is), better shooting gameplay, more cutscenes and story, more dialogue for Bob (there's just never enough of that)...
See, the original isn't terrible, but there's just so freaking much that could be done nowadays to make it better.
Make a remake of this, and it could be like the Ocean's Eleven of videogames, where the original is okay, but the remake is friggin' excellent.

But y'know. Wish in one hand...

[Henry Spencer]

Finally beat Armored Core V (PS3) after playing it for almost 2 weeks - I'm going to break this down into pros and cons:

Pros/Cons:
+Plenty of missions this time around, in fact, I'd say the game is at least 3 times the length of Armored Core 4. All of the "optional missions" weigh in on the storyline too and give you some background on the various factions. The game length is a considerable plus over 4, which ended much quicker.
+-The game is far more cinematic than the other entries in the series that I've played. Constant radio chatter, constant cutscenes and constantly hearing what the enemies are saying as opposed to them being as mysterious this time around. So the narrative style in this one is very different from 4. I like that they went in a completely direction with this one, but I do enjoy the mysterious narrative style of 4 too.
+As usual, some of the bosses are huge and in typical From Software fashion, they are all challenging. The last 2 bosses are incredibly difficult, the former will kill you in one hit (and this attack is very quick) and the latter will do a lot of damage very quickly, one attack in particular is close to impossible to dodge in time.
+-The combat is far more ground based, in 4 it's almost constantly spent in the air. Some will have a big problem with that. In fact, I think the entire gameplay style of V is completely different. Enemies for example are completely different too. Versus 4, I don't know, again, I like both.
+Visual style is really grainy and has this cinematic like filter that I personally think looks really neat.
+Voice acting is surprisingly good. I especially liked the Chief's voice, he's really maniacal. In fact, I just like everything about the Chief, he's a great villain. This is something else completely different from 4 - in that game you're basically fighting faceless corporations, whereas in V you're basically fighting

Artificial Intelligence.

A good change of pace.
-Music is nowhere near as good as other Armored Core games, in my opinion, too cinematic, not weird, electronic or disjointed enough for my liking.

Overall, I really enjoyed it, but can see where die hard fans of 4 are coming from, since the game is completely different, in fact, if you were to tell me that Armored Core 4 and Armored Core V were from different series if they were named differently, like if V was a new IP that From Software made, I'd believe you. Still, I like that they vary it up so much between both games and enjoy both styles immensely.

[BlueMue]

I just finished playing through Metal Gear Solid 2 on Extreme on the HD Collection on Xbox 360.
Finally got the dog tag stuff done along with dealing with the annoying bosses. Thank god...

I have to be honest and say that I didn't enjoy the game all that much. I have played it on the PS2 somewhere around 2006 and I didn't find anything seriously wrong with it then. But looking at it now, it shows it's flaws.

The story is ridiculous and there is so much codec and cutscenes. They are well made and I know there's always a lot of them in MGS but I got really annoyed by how frequent they get thrown at you. Ofter you watch 10 minutes of story, get to actually do something for 1 minute and then it's 10 minutes of the story again. People say MGS 4 is the worst in this regard but there's definately more gameplay in that game.

The controlls are my biggest gripe with the game. Age really shows how roughly they are designed. If you've played 4 or V it's really hard to get back into them. Shooting in first person view and peaking around corners can be so clunky when you have to hold down 3 or 4 buttons at once. Ducking and going into crawling is also clunky, I wish you could walk while ducking. And of course move while aiming your gun. It's made even worse on the 360 with no analoge weapon button and overly sensitive aiming with the sniper rifle. All these hinderances in the controlls really make the game and the VR missions tougher then they should be.

Graphics and sound and overall presentation are still really pleasant and I still enjoy all the quirky moments that only a MGS game can deliver. The game really isn't that bad but the gameplay hasn't aged all that well and it's just overrated.

MGS 3 is just so much better and so are 1 and 4 and V will be too I guess. To me it's definately the weakest of the numbered games.

[NismoZZzz]

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

.....3 hours of bullshit I feel bad for anyone who paid $60 for this.

[sand4fish]

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

.....3 hours of bullshit I feel bad for anyone who paid $60 for this.

It's a masterpiece to me. 10/10 pure hardcore game. There is no better company at making Action/brawler games than PlatinumGames in this industry today.

[Kenny]

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

.....3 hours of bullshit I feel bad for anyone who paid $60 for this.

Load of crap it was.

It's a shame, it could've been a solid entry in the MG series. Especially since it's Cyborg Raiden we're talkin' here.

[Axm]

MGR was a pile of hot garbage.

[Thief]

I didn't enjoy Metal Gear Rising either. I've tried to avoid giving any opinion on the game though, because I legitimately cannot tell if I just don't like the genre or if the game is bad. Admittedly, I never would've even tried the game if it wasn't a Metal Gear game.

EDIT:

Graphics and sound and overall presentation are still really pleasant and I still enjoy all the quirky moments that only a MGS game can deliver. The game really isn't that bad but the gameplay hasn't aged all that well and it's just overrated.

As odd as this sounds for me to say this, I probably have to agree with you. The first and second Metal Gear Solid provided a really awkward transition from the 2D stealth to the 3D stealth, and I really don't think they got it right until Metal Gear Solid 3. I think they're very well made games, but I think Metal Gear Solid 3 is a much more interesting game as far as the stealth mechanics go and the sheer number of ways you can approach a situation -- I still enjoy the first two for a multitude of reasons (metal gear charm) but the third game is probably a much better game.

That said, I personally think that the best game in the series is probably Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. It nails the stealth gameplay perfectly, has an exciting and interesting scenario, never really gets bogged down with extensive (and unnecessary) dialogue, and has likely my favorite soundtrack of the Metal Gear games. Regardless, I enjoy most of the Metal Gear games -- with Peace Walker and Portable Ops being my least favorite.

[FlagshipFighter]

I thought MGR was awesome from start to finish, I even bought it a second time when they released it on PC. One of the best action games in recent years without a doubt. It was never meant to be a typical MG game. Cyborg Raiden in a MGS type game just wouldn't work IMO. Too slow and methodical for the style of game play his character deserves. They needed to turn it up and they did. It felt like Vanquish crossed with Ninja Gaiden II with Raiden as the MC. Loved it.

If someone didn't like the game play I can understand that, its not for everyone. But a lot of the hate it gets doesn't make sense to me.

[FlagshipFighter]

I thought MGR was awesome from start to finish, I even bought it a second time when they released it on PC. One of the best action games in recent years without a doubt. It was never meant to be a typical MG game. Cyborg Raiden in a MGS type game just wouldn't work IMO. Too slow and methodical for the style of game play his character deserves. They needed to turn it up and they did. It felt like Vanquish crossed with Ninja Gaiden II with Raiden as the MC. Loved it.

If someone didn't like the game play I can understand that, its not for everyone. But a lot of the hate it gets doesn't make sense to me.

Agreed, it's an ace game and definitely worth keeping in my collection. I did get stuck on one of the dlc missions though. And let's not even discuss the higher difficulty modes... :-/

[FlagshipFighter]

I recently finished Wolf among us and walking dead season 2 after having such a long hiatus playing telltale games (I use to love them but then I got fatigue and paused...)

Enjoyed wolf among us, and walking dead season 2 is great (but I did enjoy the first one more).

I wish these sorts of games come out sooner then waiting forever for them to release.

Indoor feel like I'm once again bored of these games, but I'm glad it's expanded the market for the likes of 'life is strange' (great so far!), etc

[Mr357]

The Talos Principle

Damn good game, but the ending I got sucked. I'll have to finish my second playthrough and check out the other ending(s).

[myshtuff]

Outlast. It was a good game and definitely had a spooky atmosphere. The jump out scares got me a few times. The sense of danger and urgency was there during chase scenes. Main complaint is that you can't defend yourself. I know defending yourself would take away from the experience, but I find it hard to believe the main character couldn't rip a pipe off a wall or something. Overall it was pretty good though.

[Riku Rose]

I totally forgot that Metal Gear Rising existed. I thought that after beating Arkham Knight I'd finally play Peace Walker before MGS:5 comes out so I'm all caught up on the series. It was only when you guys started posting about it that I realized that it passed me by when it came out. Nice to see you can get it for stupidly cheap though.