167 replies to this topic

[Axe99]

GraphicX, on 25 October 2015 - 10:05 AM, said:

- it tries to be realistic (something people rave about in the reviews), yet it has slow-mo when you're detected, you're able to permanently mark enemies & see them through walls, it takes an astonishing amount of bullets to send someone to the ground unless it's a headshot, the AI is extremely dumb (can knife them one at a time when they're standing side by side at arms length with no response etc etc)

You can turn a lot (up to most, if not all) of this off if you want - it's got a very modular difficulty.  For example, I didn't do any of my playthroughs with that slow-mo on (as it made the game far too easy, and doesn't feel very Metal Gear).  Sorry to hear you didn't get into it, but at least it was nice and short so didn't put you through too much pain .

[GraphicX]

i only saw normal & hard difficulties, you talking about the little game or the full version ?

[Aromaci]

both

[Axe99]

Aromaci, on 26 October 2015 - 07:52 AM, said:

both

This - there's a settings bit somewhere, where you can toggle a lot of the different aids on and off, really customise how you play to suit what you're looking for.  From memory (which, admittedly, is terrible), I went somewhere in-between 'all off' and 'noob-friendly'.

[Axe99]

Finished the campaign and a sandbox game of Tropico 5 now, and giving it a break for a bit (but I'll be back ), and can happily confirm it's very enjoyable.  I'd say 8/10 - it doesn't revolutionise anything, so if you've played any of the Tropico's (other than Tropico 2, which was a little different, although still not crazy different) you'll know what you're doing early on, but it's four 'era's' allow for each Island to last much longer in terms of development (so a level is more like 5-6 hours if you play all eras, rather than 1-2 of Tropico 1-3 (I never got around to 4, as I heard it was pretty similar to 3, and didn't want to burn myself out for 5), and the balancing seems pretty good (every game I played, there were worries over whether I'd lose the elections, and if you want to avoid those worries by going all dictatorial, the population gets appropriately restless).  Deffo recommended for fans of city-builders .

[Aromaci]

I played 4 and really enjoyed it. I always enjoy designing cities.

[GraphicX]

fallout 4

so have it finished with all but 2 trophies completed.  1 is for collecting all 20 bobbleheads, i might chase this a little, not to really get the bobbleheads but because it'll get me exploring & seeing more.  the other is for having a settlement with 100% happiness but this isn't possible playing the game properly so they can shove it up their backsides.

so my score for it is 7/10, it'd probably be a 6 but i really like fallout.

random thoughts;
- i loved the setting, the graphics were a little dated looking, but when you did stop & take a look the amount of detail really is incredible.

- i couldn't really immerse myself in the world.  it's 200 years after a nuclear war but it feels like maybe 50 years at the most.  this really killed the game quite a bit for me along with the next bit.

- i was disappointed in the weapons.  they used guns from the fallout series, but they altered them to not be anything like those we've seen before.  my hat really came off to fallout new vegas which went out of its way to remain authentic, even fallout 3 was quite true.  this game just used the names & made up the rest for all except a couple of weapons.

- loved the outfits & armour, especially the ability to mix & match pieces.  this bit is annoying as they were quite authentic to the franchise when the weapons weren't. also really liked the way they realised the power armours in how you enter them etc, massive improvement/advancement.

- hated the repeating quests & i mean literally hated them.  once you discovered one, which there were tons of, it was literally forced upon you time & time again.  in the end i simply allowed them to fail over & over, often meaning the loss of settlers who had assigned roles.  these procedurally generated type things i see as being just lazy by the developers/story writers & will only be the downfall of games like fallout which have the following they do from having great stories in the past.

- enjoyed the building & settlement development.  i'd prefer if you possibly built a base or two which you staffed, but then that would interact with existing settlements in the world.

- loved how alive the world was, travelling to find other npcs in the world in conflict etc was great.  was annoyed at sitting down with a scope & looking over long distances revealed no life though, in F3 & FNV you'd always find something to pick off.

some tips/things i worked out that helped;
- i had a storage box for regular weapons i was keeping & another for legendary weapons, both next to the weapons bench, same for the armour.

- when i played out the different endings i placed the flag of the faction on a wall in my settlement & saved.  that screen-shotted the flag so i can see what save game corresponds to what faction when i go back to play dlc (if).

- i'd 'feel the lovers embrace' right before turning in any quests to max out the xp.

- actually used the weapons like mini nukes i usually horde & don't enjoy.

- had a save game with the minutemen flag in front of me at the junction where i can play out any ending.

other stuff which includes SPOILERS:
- the railroad ending has a glitch which i had to google to find a solution to.  if you try to begin the mission while wearing power armour all of the synths in the institute vanish & the elevator won't function.  reloading, removing the armour & then doing the mission fixes it but it was so frustrating trying tons of stuff before googling !!!!

- the brotherhood of steel ending probably makes the most sense ... but kinda not, but it's also the most fun. you get the escort liberty prime (aka. giant robot) from fallout new vegas to the institute while he destroys everything with his laser & nukes.  the BoS ending basically means kill all synths, which as far as i know means humanity would go on as in all sci-fi AI ends up killing humanity.  dunno, in past fallouts BoS have been either your enemy or your ally depending on how you tackle it, same deal with the NCR.

- institute ending was the easiest to complete, the BoS guys are really easy to kill, even the knights & paladins went down too easily.  at the end you're in charge of the institute so you could theoretically make the commonwealth what you want (hey sounds like one of the endings to new vegas ...) but that's only until skynet decides you're no longer required.

- the railroad ending was kinda a middle ground, defeat the institute but save synths at the same time.  pretty meh really.  railroad were actually some of the best equipped dudes with decent armour & gauss rifles, but they don't really use them in all encounters.

- all 3 endings consisted of the same recipe.  kill the other factions, pretty basic.  as said the BoS one includes the giant robot, but the other 2 include blowing up the prydwen & also riding a vertibird as a door gunner again.

[GraphicX]

just thought of more crap i want to put in;
- pipe weapons, these were a great idea, but REALLY poorly implemented.  they weight less than manufactured guns, yet have sometimes better accuracy & almost as much damage.  what am i missing here as it should be the other way round !!!

- the endings where each one is simply killing the other 2 factions is sh!t like mentioned.  in the other fallouts you would have the multiple factions which you could side with & gang up on another faction, or just eradicate the other factions, much better scripting.

- i made a mistake, liberty prime was fallout 3, not new vegas but same same really.

no doubt i'll think of more sh!t i'd wish i'd written.

[Axe99]

Cheers for the review Graph, and glad you at least like a good portion of it, although sad to hear about the weapons and procedurally generated quest spam (PGQS?)  Procedurally generated stuff can make games feel alive and organic when done well and paced sensibly, but it can be a grindy chore when not, and it sounds like Bethesda didn't get the balance right here by some margin.

[GraphicX]

duke nukem forever

6/10

was about a 7 hour play through i think & was pretty enjoyable.  if i had to briefly explain the game i'd say it's an fps side scroller of sorts, lots of jumping about & figuring out how to get to places.  nowhere near as tricky as the old duke though with hidden rooms etc (well that i found, maybe i didn't find the hidden stuff ?).

graphics were passable, story was full of boobs & the enemy variety was quite low (as was the weapon variety).  so yeah, 6/10.

[Axe99]

Nice one Graph .  When I'm up for it, I do enjoy a 'straightforward' FPS every now and again, and DNF is on my radar, although I'm not sure I'll ever get around to it.  Glad to hear you had a good time .  What do you reckon you'll get into next?

[GraphicX]

started bioshock infinite last night, i've already completed it on ps3 but it's good enough to play again.  still only right at the beginning though.

[GraphicX]

bioshock infinite; 8/10, maybe an 8.5

you guys have all no doubt played it so won't even bother reviewing, i liked it, but probably not as much as the other 2 still.  elizabeth/anna is still one of the best in-game companions of any game though.

[Axe99]

Aye, I enjoyed Infinite a lot.  Like you say, I enjoyed the 'atmosphere' of the other two games better, but the gameplay in Infinite was at least as good as they were.  Kinda nice that Bioshock has the three games, all good, and finished there, rather than being flogged to death like some other franchises we know .

[GraphicX]

i did find a lot of content in infinite was a waste, particularly the clothing items.  also parts of the story didn't really make any sense at all.

[GraphicX]

hard reset on the pc.

just finished it, some dot points for ease;

pros;
- fantastic graphics
- unique & original gameplay given the fps format
- some physics in the way the enemies break as you shoot them & eventually die, same with environmental effects with objects flying about

cons;
- environment although stunning becomes a little drab due to it not really changing
- swapping weapons or the weapon mode is a bit clunky on the gamepad
- enemies can be relentless, no real AI at play so they just head right for you
- quite difficult because of the above
- game is maybe a little long given the lack of diversity in enemies & scenery

6/10

[Axe99]

Shame about the lacking AI, but sounds like you enjoyed it - there are 6/10s from you that have been GOTY contenders .  What's next on the horizon?

[GraphicX]

i'm always critical of the big titles i anticipate heavily if they come up short lol.

started the evil within, it's pretty ruthless.

[GraphicX]

the evil within

sooooo much i wanna write but not sure how i'll go as back at work today.

i'm giving it a 6.5, but i want to give it an 8.  imo it'd be an easy 8 if they'd actually left some stuff out, here's some thoughts;

- invisible enemies; they are literally almost near invisible & in the dark, the only real way to detect them is if they walk through water ... but what if there's no water on the ground ?  they also instantly kill you.  stupid enemy that's only in 2 areas i think.

- a really crap boss fight; i think it's around chapter 12 or 13, some boss that you can't really dodge, but then when he evolves he kills you in one hit.  it's nothing new a boss like this, but the annoying thing is he can grab you around & through corners of walls.  i youtubed beating him but the vids were playing him in baby mode, in the end i figured out if you face him & as he attacks you step forward it kinda glitches & he simply doesn't kill you lol.  when i defeated him i think i didn't even get hit once.  cheating/cheesing ?  dunno but it's dumb regardless.  in stark contrast there's another boss fight for instance against this squid thing, it's very clever & someone has gone to a lot of effort to design it.

- game draws out too long; how many times do you need to prove you can kill/dodge/stealth your way past the same guys & scenarios before the game concludes ?  the story didn't really build more but the game kept going & going & going.  sure other games are long too, but for some reason this game felt a lot longer, just needed a change of pace a little more or a massive change in scenery etc.

so they're the really big issues i found with the game (well those i can remember right now).  but honestly if you like something that's a melding of the silent hill feel, resident evil game play & puzzles, & last of us stealth you can easily look past these pretty frustrating issues & have a great game.

the vibe in many parts of the game really keeps you on your toes & keeps building in some areas, really pulling off the survival horror that is now totally lacking/missing in resident evil games.  the enemies look great & are very fierce when provoked & the stealth is some of the best in any game i've played.

so yeah 8/10 if it wasn't for those 3 issues above, literally remove them from the game & wow.

[Axe99]

Sorry to hear it could have done with more polish, but great to hear it was almost as good as Fallout 4 .