Games Completed in 2017 and a Rating

New Year, new thread

I've already finished two

Kicking things off -

The Last Guardian - 9/10

Turns out it's pretty great.

It's a simple set up - a kid wakes up next to a Trico, a giant dog-bird-creature, and they have to work together to escape the temple/prison they've been trapped in. As the boy, you have to guide/feed/heal Trico, pull switches to open doors and move obstacles Trico can't while the AI Trico does all the heavy lifting (combat, big jumps, etc). It's pretty straightforward, but the way you're encouraged to build a relationship with Trico (gradually figuring out that you should stroke him after a fight, or unlocking actual commands around halfway through) and the expressiveness of both characters make it much, much more than the sum of it's parts. Trico made me feel things, man. Precious fucking cinnamon roll.

Still, it's an acquired taste. If you like Ueda's previous games (Ico and Shadow of the Colossus) then you should love this as it shares a lot of their DNA while being it's own unique experience, otherwise I'd be a bit wary. It's not without it's niggles - the camera can be a bit wonky and the controls aren't as intuitive as most modern games - and I imagine that might put people off quite quickly. But if you look past that, throw yourself in (I turned off all notifications while I was playing) and just relax and take time with it it's a hugely rewarding experience. Plus you'll feel things.

Edit:

Doom - 10/10

I throw out quite a few 10s so feel the need to clarify them - a 10, for me, is the best example of it's genre, technically flawless (with regards to bugs, FPS etc) and basically a must-play. Doom is that. Ridiculously fast-paced, fantastic level design, challenging and punishing without ever being frustrating and just really, really fun.

It's obvious how much thought has gone into it, too. For example the way everything - weapon upgrades, armour mods, rune challenges etc - is geared towards "now you can shoot stuff more better" is just excellent. In so many games collectibles are something you get for the sake of it, but in Doom it's something that actively improves the experience. It's so simple and streamlined it makes me wonder why so many developers (hello, Ubisoft) haven't figured it out before.

Hands down the best single-player shooter I've played.

Gears 4 - 8/10

does what it says on the tin

Gears 4 - 8/10

does what it says on the tin

You tried online??

just horde mate - not a big fan of versus when it comes to GOW, i'm pretty shit at it

i enjoyed horde but as usual its one or two ninjas who do all the work whilst i tend to run around, die a lot and do very little!

XCOM 2 - 9/10

Finished this a week or two ago but never got round to updating the thread. Very, very good strategy game though. It's part tense, turn-based tactical combat and part base-building with resource, technology and equipment management. The turn-based tactical combat has you command four to six soldiers on ground operations - which involve rescuing VIPs, blowing up alien facilities or intercepting information - and is seriously intense. It usually begins with setting up an ambush and picking off an enemy squad, but with each mission on a timer there's this constant forward momentum and push to get to the objective, which forces you to take measured risks. At the same time it's incredibly punishing - move a soldier into the wrong position towards the end of the turn, or let the enemy flank you, and the AI (made up of a variety of increasingly powerful enemies, necessitating different strategies) won't hesitate to capitalise and snowball, and it can be very difficult to recover after that - or at very least leave you without your best soldiers out injured for the next fight. It's a constant balance between having to play aggressively but keeping yourself from getting caught out, and it makes for an awesome game.

The base-building and resource management is well done, too; figuring out how to allocate resources (on new facilities, weapons, technologies etc), where to build certain facilities, whether to spend time researching a quick, passive bonus or a time-consuming, immediate bonus for your soldiers in the field - there's a wide range of stuff to consider, and with the aliens popping up all over to place to get in the way of your plans and constantly working towards their mysterious "Avatar" project you'll constantly have to react and adapt, the same way you will in the combat sections. It complements the combat very well, and I constantly found myself wanting to go for one more scan, or one more mission, to see what the game brought up next.

The only thing that holds it back is the limitations of the hardware - loading times are a bit long, and the frame-rate dips pretty regularly (particularly during the final mission). RNG can be a fucker as well, particularly on high-level enemies that are a bastard to take down at the best of times. Still, other than that it's a bit brilliant - intense, punishing, complex and super satisfying. Definitely worth a go if you fancy a strategy game.

COLOR GUARDIANS (PSN) - 6.5

Got this free in the PS+ December games. It's basically a cross between a runner and a platformer. Its very simple mechanics, all you can do is move up/down three lanes and press three of the buttons to change colour. It's all about timing and the more you progress the more difficult and frantic it gets

There's five worlds of 10 levels followed by a boss fight, I got through most of it ok, but the final boss literally took me over and hour - when you beat it, it takes about 50 seconds! Was so close to putting it down I honestly didn't think I was going to do it

If you picked it up on PS+ (or see it for a couple of quid) give it a go, it's quite addictive and fun most of the time

======================================================================================================
6.5 COLOR GUARDIANS

2016 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3735

2015 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3183

2014 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2215&p=30292&hilit=completed#p30292

Uncharted 4 - a high 8/10

Very good stuff, bordering on brilliant at times. The gameplay is pretty standard Uncharted fare - climb for a bit until bad guys show up, have a bit of a fight, climb a bit more, have a bit of a chase sequence, repeat - and it's all fine, occasionally excellent (the car chase through King's Bay was the highlight for me, really intense stuff), and obviously it all looks incredible. However, where Uncharted 4 rises above the previous game is in the dialogue and cutscenes. The animation and performances are the best I've seen in a game, and it's this that raises the whole experience from a solid 7-8 to bordering on a 9.

It's a fitting swansong for the series. Hopefully Sony will allow Drake to bow out and let someone else take over - they've clearly set it up so Cassie or Sam can take over the main series, and it looks like Chloe is getting her own spin-off expansion thing, so while the future looks good for the series I think it's too good an ending for them to bring Drake back as the main protagonist.

2017 Ratings:

The Last Guardian -9/10
Doom - 10/10
XCOM 2 - 9/10
Uncharted 4 - 8/10

(currently moving on to Stardew Valley. Judging by how much time the missus has sunk into it so far, I think it'll be a while before I update here again!)

MAFIA III - 7.5

Took me a long time to complete this, started playing it before xmas but then got Battlefield 1 and started playing FIFA again too - when I picked it back up I couldn't remember controls or anything

It's pretty much the same as Mafia II but set in the 1970s. The soundtrack/songs when driving is absolutely excellent, probably the best I have heard on a game. The driving, I read it was bad and heavy, but it's the 1970s so the cars aren't supposed to drive like a modern day Bugatti - thought it was class swinging them round corners etc.

The shooting is ok, the hand to hand combat is ok. The main problem is the repetitive missions in the middle of the game, it becomes such a chore that I almost put it down. Basically you have to take over rackets in the city - so to do one you will go to someone, get told, then do about five mini missions, go back to the bloke and get told to go take the boss down - so you go to a massive gunfight (in a location that one of the mini missions was already in) and do that. So that's one. During the game you probably do this whole dance 10-15 times.

Amazingly there is no fast travel, so there will be times where you drive 2,000m to be told to do something then have to drive another 2,000m somewhere else to do it. Although the driving is good, you get sick of going inbetween such large distances, especially when all you want to do is get it finished!

Must have taken me about 25 hours to finish over 3 months, I didn't do any side quests or collections type things (of which there are three varieties) so to complete it fully I would guess you would be looking at over 40 hours.

The setting is class, the story is very good as well, just a shame about doing the same thing over and over in the middle

======================================================================================================
7.5 MAFIA III
6.5 COLOR GUARDIANS

2016 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3735

2015 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3183

2014 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2215&p=30292&hilit=completed#p30292

Doom - 9/10

class gameplay, superb environments

played this, and when i went back on Halo i was surprised by how slow Master Chief was in comparison....

Stardew Valley - 8/10

I've been pleasantly surprised by this, I wouldn't have bought it for myself but after watching the missus play it I tried it out and got a little hooked. The set-up is pretty straight forward - you inherit an old, run-down farmhouse in a rural town and you're tasked with bringing it up to scratch. You do this by farming (planting crops and rearing animals), mining (for stones and gems), combat (for rare loot drops) foraging (for fruit, mushrooms and wood) and fishing (for, er, fish), and the better you get at these skills the more money you'll make. Pretty standard stuff on the face of it, but what makes the game work so well is the way the skills work with each other - fishing, for example, allows you to make crab pots that fill with fish every day but to make crab pots you need iron bars, which you'll need some mining skill to find and make, as well as combat to fight off the various monsters you'll find when mining. These fish can then be used to make high quality fertiliser, which will allow you to grow better quality crops and result in more income. The money you make is used to upgrade the farmhouse, buy higher quality farm buildings and make earning money easier and more diverse. So the more you play the game, the more it allows you to do, and as a result the experience is fresh hours into the first playthrough.

In addition to developing skills and making money there are also villagers to have basic interactions with, which generally boils down to giving people gifts they like so that they send you recipes and items in the post (or so that the single villagers will get married and have babies/do farm chores), as well as unlocking cutesy cut-scenes. There's also a run-down community centre with various "bundles" to complete - these are completed by donating certain items (which will require you to be fairly proficient in all the skills) and a completed bundle will grant a reward, with unique rewards (such as a greenhouse for the farm) for a set of bundles. Constantly chipping away at bundles and filling certain criteria for a consistent stream of rewards was a surprisingly satisfying experience, and kept me hooked throughout the opening two years of the game.

The only sort-of downside is that once you've upgraded the house, set out your farm and have completed the community centre there's not an awful lot to do beside just making more money, which by the time you reach post-game is a little too easy. Unique events in the town repeat on an annual cycle too, with minor events repeating on a two-year cycle, so by the time I'd finished by second year I was pretty much done. Saying that, by this point I'd still invested about 80 hours into it and been completely hooked for about 70 of those, which is pretty great going for a £12 downloadable title.

tl;dr - an addictive little game that is remarkably well thought out with and worth a look as a chill, filler title between big releases that'll keep most people sustained for months.

2017 Ratings:

The Last Guardian - 9/10
Doom - 10/10
XCOM 2 - 9/10
Uncharted 4 - 8/10
Stardew Valley - 8/10

Resident Evil 7 - 9.5/10

a return to the Resi of old (atmospheric, creepy, not much room in your inventory, puzzles to solve), just no zombies, things are a bit more personnel in an old run down mansion full of psychos

the story was very good and joined up very well, you find old VHS tapes lying about (not that many which is a shame) and when you watch them you get to "play" the action on screen which in turn gives you pointers as to where to go next

very well made, looks great, sounds superb and plays very well - and if you've got PSVR its meant to be the best there is at the moment

get it

INSIDE (PSN) - 8.0

Playydead's follow up to Limbo - It's probably just not quite as good as Limbo, but I thought it was excellent. Been waiting to play it since it was announced a couple of years ago.

The level design, minimal graphics, lighting and puzzles all make it a worthy sequel. The ending/last 10mins is nuts

======================================================================================================
8.0 INSIDE
7.5 MAFIA III
6.5 COLOR GUARDIANS

2016 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3735

2015 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3183

2014 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2215&p=30292&hilit=completed#p30292

I did quite a long write-up for the next two games but it got lost in the aether, so just doing some quick ones.

Horizon Zero Dawn - 9/10

Dead good. Aloy is a great protagonist, the narrative is remarkably coherent for sci-fi guff about robot dinosaurs, machine combat is awesome, human combat is fine, I can't be arsed doing the collectibles.

The Last of Us: Left Behind - 8/10

Was after something shorter and quieter than the other games I've played this year and this was spot on. The relationship between Ellie and Riley is progressive, adorable, funny, believable and depressing all at once. Nailed it, looking forward to the standalone Uncharted stuff later this year.

Inside - 7/10

A basically fine puzzle platformer for the most part, but the art style and the way it flips the script at the end bumps it up to a good one. I'm confident "got" what it was about, but I'm not sure I see what the fuss is all about.

Well short as well, I'd be miffed if I'd paid full whack for this.

BATTLEFIELD 1 - 9.0

Absolutely excellent game, in both multiplayer and the campaign too.

The campaign is split into 6 seperate stories, all about an hour long and expose you to all the different aspects of the game, weapons, vehicles, etc, a couple of them are absolutely solid in places. All tell a good story too and are a bit like a mini history lesson

The multiplayer is brilliant. Annoyed that they released imo the worst map for the beta, I played that and didn't enjoy it so put off buying the game for about 3 months

Got to be considered a must play for the PS4

======================================================================================================
9.0 BATTLEFIELD 1
8.0 INSIDE
7.5 MAFIA III
6.5 COLOR GUARDIANS

2016 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3735

2015 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3183

2014 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2215&p=30292&hilit=completed#p30292

Not A Hero - Three Kinds of First Rate: A Neopolitan of First Rate/10

I've not actually finished this, but on the off chance I forget this cracking line I wanted to make a note of it. It's ace, if you didn't pick it up during the free month you done fucked up. Probably a 10 because I've not played such a fun side-scroller in ages, and the writing is class.

Children small of heinous death

Easy... peasy... lemon... JUSTICE

Dishonored 2: 8/10

Very good stealth game, highly stylised art style, cool powers, fun weapons, diverse enemies. Let down by fairly weak characters and occasionally vague objectives, there was more than one occasion where it blurred the lines between "encouraging exploration" and just being obtuse.

I will be playing it again though, doing a lethal playthrough. It lends itself better to a high chaos experience, particularly with the way some powers work.

RESIDENT EVIL 7 - 9.5

I've finished all of the previous RE games but wasn't sure what this would be like with it being the first RE game in FPS. It is absolutely excellent.

Goes back to RE1 and RE2 with tight enclosed setting, limited ammo, limited inventory, puzzles, mad as f.ck enemies etc etc. The first hour or so is genuinely scary, its ike Outlast/good horror movies, actually jumped a couple of times. Wouldn't fancy it in VR!

Some of the boss battles are solid and even some of the normal enemies are too. There were times when I was literally just running to a save room cos I had no ammo/medicine/health left

Took me just over 11 hours on Normal, at times I did wish I had played it on Easy, can't remember which of the boss fights it was but it took me about 20 attempts and I thought it was impossible til I did it. Can't imagine how hard it is on the unlocked Madhouse (haha) difficulty level

An absolute must play, especially for anyone who enjoyed the early games.

======================================================================================================
9.5 RESIDENT EVIL 7
9.0 BATTLEFIELD 1
8.0 INSIDE
7.5 MAFIA III
6.5 COLOR GUARDIANS

2016 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3735

2015 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3183

2014 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2215&p=30292&hilit=completed#p30292

Little Nightmares: 8/10

A mix of solid platforming, hide-and-seek stealth, a creepy atmosphere, a vulnerable player character surrounded by lumbering, grotesque big bads and a few unsettling developments make for a very good little game. It's on the short side though, so I'd wait for a sale.

Persona 5 - 9/10

The best JRPG I've played, and will be a GOTY contender come the end of the year. If you've not played a Persona, they're a mix of dungeon crawler and life simulator - by day you attend high school, build relationships and social stats, and find targets to deal with at night, when you become a "Trickster" who goes into people's consciousness to alter their perception of the world in an attempt to drive social change. If it sounds bonkers, that's because it is.

It nails both sides though. The night work is a fairly straightforward dungeon crawler, with Shadows/Personas to fight and capture with appropriately bizarre designs. Combat is flashy but also deceptively deep and rewarding with a clear sense of progression as you capture and train stronger Personas. The day time stuff, where you go to school, make social links and build your stats, is full of interesting characters and sub-plots and feeds directly into the dungeon crawler side - allowing you to hold more Personas, strengthen your party members, or use unique and powerful skills.

Everything in the game is timed, with dungeon crawling and building social links taking up chunks of time that work towards a set deadline for each new dungeon. With high, constantly rising stakes and a lot to manage, it's a remarkably tense formula and keeps the game, and plot, compelling for the bulk of its 95+ hour run time. It only threatens to run out of steam in the home stretch, when it ditches most of the day activities for a sequence of boss fights peppered with the odd big reveal that drags on a bit longer than it needs to.

As a last point, the aesthetics are the most stylish I've seen in a game - even menu transitions look ace - and the music is a wild mix of funky, jazzy original tracks. This game is made with such flourish I'm now going into whatever I play next ready to be critical of background music and whatever the menu does when I open a new tab. It's set a standard I didn't even know I needed.

Short version - potential GOTY, must play if you're into JRPGs.

XCOM 2 - 9/10

Finished this a week or two ago but never got round to updating the thread. Very, very good strategy game though. It's part tense, turn-based tactical combat and part base-building with resource, technology and equipment management. The turn-based tactical combat has you command four to six soldiers on ground operations - which involve rescuing VIPs, blowing up alien facilities or intercepting information - and is seriously intense. It usually begins with setting up an ambush and picking off an enemy squad, but with each mission on a timer there's this constant forward momentum and push to get to the objective, which forces you to take measured risks. At the same time it's incredibly punishing - move a soldier into the wrong position towards the end of the turn, or let the enemy flank you, and the AI (made up of a variety of increasingly powerful enemies, necessitating different strategies) won't hesitate to capitalise and snowball, and it can be very difficult to recover after that - or at very least leave you without your best soldiers out injured for the next fight. It's a constant balance between having to play aggressively but keeping yourself from getting caught out, and it makes for an awesome game.

The base-building and resource management is well done, too; figuring out how to allocate resources (on new facilities, weapons, technologies etc), where to build certain facilities, whether to spend time researching a quick, passive bonus or a time-consuming, immediate bonus for your soldiers in the field - there's a wide range of stuff to consider, and with the aliens popping up all over to place to get in the way of your plans and constantly working towards their mysterious "Avatar" project you'll constantly have to react and adapt, the same way you will in the combat sections. It complements the combat very well, and I constantly found myself wanting to go for one more scan, or one more mission, to see what the game brought up next.

The only thing that holds it back is the limitations of the hardware - loading times are a bit long, and the frame-rate dips pretty regularly (particularly during the final mission). RNG can be a fucker as well, particularly on high-level enemies that are a bastard to take down at the best of times. Still, other than that it's a bit brilliant - intense, punishing, complex and super satisfying. Definitely worth a go if you fancy a strategy game.

got this yesterday

look out for a thread coming your way soon Tom......asking for help

Will do. But going in - you can update your squad size pretty quickly, invest in that as soon as possible. I'd also train your first specialist as a medic and your first sharpshooter for sniping rather than pistols. And don't do what I did and not realise you could upgrade armour and weapons for ages

ok - i'm kind of stuck on Halo Wars 2 at the moment....not sure if i can drag myself away from the campaign at the moment!

There's new DLC coming out for XCOM2 soon so there's a good chance I'll be going back to it. Just as I was getting worried I'd run out of stuff, good ol' Firaxis.

Will do. But going in - you can update your squad size pretty quickly, invest in that as soon as possible. I'd also train your first specialist as a medic and your first sharpshooter for sniping rather than pistols. And don't do what I did and not realise you could upgrade armour and weapons for ages

fuck it

was doing ok until them over-powered snake things, flying dudes who can disable your weapons and then the Avator thing turned up

was playing it on the easiest setting as well - fucking rock solid, sick of my squads getting wiped out and spending all my money on new recruits - leaves me with fuck all else to spend my money on

i tried, too hard for me

Oof. Gutted. If the flying guys (Archons?) get a jump on you they are absolute bastards. Did you ever meet the glowing balls? Couldn't stand them.

Also, on topic - Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - 8/10

This was a PS+ freebie a few months ago and I've just got round to finishing it, after chipping away at it with my girlfriend since then.

It's a local co-op game where 1-4 players control one spaceship, with each person manning a different function - the engine, shields, a special weapon or one of four guns - and working together to rescue little anthropomorphic space critters from seemingly infinite space beasties. It's a fun concept and, while it requires a lot of co-operation (particularly in higher level ships), each role is clearly defined making quick position changes and co-operation immediately straightforward. Which is important, as combat can be hectic with numerous, varied enemies appearing on-screen at once from every direction making good co-op essential at later levels. It's great fun though, and when it all comes together and co-operation becomes seamless it's very, very satisfying.

The ship can be upgraded with different gems that combine for different effects for each function - eg a metal gem attached to the engine will lay caltrops, while if you attach it to the special weapon you'll get a massive circular saw for close encounters - which allows you to personalise your ship to your playstyle. Playing around and experimenting with gems is actively encouraged, with a surplus of gems for each campaign that let you mix-and-match weapons on the fly.

The art style is bright, cute and colourful but remains functional throughout. Shots that can only be deflected with a shield are distinct from ones that can be destroyed with guns, the wide variety of enemy types come in striking shapes and colours allowing you to act accordingly, and environmental hazards (such as white dwarf stars that create a shockwave when shot) are introduced gradually and practically framed when they do show up to allow you to adapt.

Between the fun co-op gameplay, the experimental upgrades and the great art style this strikes me as a great game to play with kids, as well as adults - although I'm not sure how well solo play would hold up. If you picked it up on PS+ it's well worth your time in co-op. If not, it's still worth a punt on sale (I'm not sure how much it actually costs).

tl;dr - great co-op game with a fun concept and great art style. Ideal for kids and adults to play together.

dont get me stated on Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime!

my daughter and I got up to the first boss battle.....against a big bear, got our arses kicked!

might be possible with 4 players.....with 2 it was solid!

yes - it the Archons who made me feel out of my depth to be honest - i might start a new game, now that i know what i'm supposed to be doing with my base (the whole base mechanics, and comms/making contact with regions wasn't explained very well if you ask me)

Mm, it's only touched on at the beginning or for major developments, there was some cool stuff I just didn't do because I didn't notice it in the base building until the home stretch. Still loved it though, picking it up again this weekend if I happen across it.

We did the whole thing in 2 player, struggled on the last boss but otherwise it wasn't too bad. We also had the awesome rotating ship that takes no damage from collisions, meant I could effectively man shields and engines at once

Getting through these at some lick now that I've finished Persona 5 and sacked off online multiplayer.

The Sexy Brutale - 8/10

Shout out to Able for recommending this gem of a game, as I'm not sure I'd have looked into it otherwise.

For those who haven't read about it, it's basically a murder-mystery puzzle game but rather than solving the mystery, you watch the murder unfold and try to figure out what specific action you can take to stop the murder taking place, before going back in time and trying to prevent the murder from happening. It's a fresh, organic take on puzzle solving in games which, in my experience, is usually about throwing shit at the wall until something sticks.

As you solve murders you unlock new abilities, ranging from fairly mundane things like eavesdropping to mad stuff like talking to ghosts. By constantly updating the skill set, puzzle solving remains interesting throughout and, while increasingly complex, the complexity curve is steady without any needless, frustrating jumps in difficulty.

It's backed up by a fun, cartoony art style and a jazzy soundtrack, and framed in a rich story that takes off like a rocket in the third act. Between the fun puzzle solving and the intense storytelling, I couldn't put it down for the final two hours after happily dipping in and out of the initial three.

So yeah, great little indie title and well worth picking up. It's around £15 at the moment and at 5-6 hours long that might be a little steep for some, but try and get round to it.

Good shout. I'm looking for something else to play now; waiting for Cities to come out in August; getting annoyed with OW and there feels like a lack of appealing AAA titles at the moment. I might try XCOM or Sexy Brutale, after I've been through the PS+ games this month.

How's this for timing - The Sexy Brutale is currently half-ish off with PS+ in the sale, £8.39 rather than £15.99. Well worth a punt at that price, in my opinion.

Glad you enjoyed Sexy Brutale Tom.

It's a great game. Quite different, but just reminds me of old school games in its approach.

What Remains of Edith Finch - 8/10

I'm not normally into "walking simulators", I think they're mechanically dull and the stories are usually delivered through exposition and flash-backs without the player actually being involved. Fortunately, What Remains deals with things differently.

The premise is that you're the last surviving member of the apparently cursed Finch family, and you're going to the old family home to discover what happened to the rest of your family before the curse catches up to you. By breaking into the old family bedrooms and reading clues you trigger surreal dream sequences that go through each family members death, and these are what bumps What Remains above other games in the genre as they are both interactive - rather than just being exposition - and mechanically unique, changing up the gameplay every 5-10 minutes and keeping everything fresh. Compared to just walking around, trying to trigger the next bit of exposition, it's no contest.

The stories are obviously pretty dark - one is from the perspective of a baby, which was a bit of a "am I really doing this" moment - but they're presented in a surreal, often magical way (particularly the children) which helps lighten what would otherwise be a pretty harrowing experience while remaining tragic and sensitive. It's a fine line to walk, but What Remains keeps to it well.

It's very short at 2-3 and the current price - £12 in the sale - is a bit too high for a cheeky punt, but if you want to try something genuinely different this is well worth a go, and if it ever hits that sweet £7.50 sort ofor range I'd definitely recommend it. And that's from someone who thinks most walking simulators are bobbins.

What Remains of Edith Finch - 8/10

I'm not normally into "walking simulators", I think they're mechanically dull and the stories are usually delivered through exposition and flash-backs without the player actually being involved. Fortunately, What Remains deals with things differently.

The premise is that you're the last surviving member of the apparently cursed Finch family, and you're going to the old family home to discover what happened to the rest of your family before the curse catches up to you. By breaking into the old family bedrooms and reading clues you trigger surreal dream sequences that go through each family members death, and these are what bumps What Remains above other games in the genre as they are both interactive - rather than just being exposition - and mechanically unique, changing up the gameplay every 5-10 minutes and keeping everything fresh. Compared to just walking around, trying to trigger the next bit of exposition, it's no contest.

The stories are obviously pretty dark - one is from the perspective of a baby, which was a bit of a "am I really doing this" moment - but they're presented in a surreal, often magical way (particularly the children) which helps lighten what would otherwise be a pretty harrowing experience while remaining tragic and sensitive. It's a fine line to walk, but What Remains keeps to it well.

It's very short at 2-3 and the current price - £12 in the sale - is a bit too high for a cheeky punt, but if you want to try something genuinely different this is well worth a go, and if it ever hits that sweet £7.50 sort ofor range I'd definitely recommend it. And that's from someone who thinks most walking simulators are bobbins.

Funny you mention this, I was suggesting to some people to play this just today. I played through it with the missus and thoroughly enjoyed it. Such a strangely captivating experience.

Alienation - a high 7/10

Fun little twin-stick shooter. Weapons and powers are satisfying, enemies are diverse and can fill the screen, and it's at just the right level of difficulty. RNG for rare/legendary weapons is lame, though - particularly for UFO/ARK missions, there should be some guaranteeddrops there.

Still, great PS+ freebie and filler game, one that I'll probably go back to every now and then to try out new builds.

Horizon Zero Dawn - 7/10

Really enjoyed the game play and story behind this. The only things that let it down for me:

1. Missed potential on character progression and gear. It felt like I used pretty much the same equipment for 80% of the game and the "talents" tree didn't really feel like it added much benefit.

2. The main story line was excellent but the side missions did little for me, ended up skipping most of them.

3. The intel points scattered around were quite boring, again... something else I skipped.

Resogun - 6/10

Iiiit's fine. Good way to kill half an hour if I beat the girlfriend back from work, so it's one of those I'll probably chip away at on the semi-regular. Also you can play as the Tardis, which is neat.

Crash: N-Sane Trilogy - 6/10

In a lot of ways it's a very good remaster - it looks and sounds great, and they've nailed the feel of the game - but jumping is less consistent than the originals and the pill-shaped, rather than box-shaped, hitbox on Crash means he's inclined to slide off edges on occasion, making platforming a bit more frustrating than it should be. Couple that with frustrations that carry over from the originals such as needlessly rock hard levels, scarce lives and an erratic difficulty curve and it can be a right fucker of a game.

Otherwise though, it's fun - particularly when you get into Crash 2 and 3, which have a lot more variety and interesting level design - but I can't help but feel it's nostalgia that is bringing this up to "almost good" territory.

Prey - 8/10

Really liked it. Weapons, powers and the recycling/fabrication mechanics are all ace. Thought it nailed power creep as well, kept things challenging right up to the last few hours, at which point I was a fucking roid-ed up magician. Story picked up as it went on too, was hooked towards the end and the post-credits bit was well good.

I'm also glad I got to play with all the fun powers and abilities and still get the best ending, it didn't pull that Dishonoured move where you have to play it once as a soft twat before doing the fun playthrough with all the magic murder powers.

Enemies were a bit boring though - either spider blobs, bipedal blobs or floaty blobs. Bit more enemy variety in the sequel and I'll be very happy.

GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS - 6.5

I've decided that I have finished this as much as I am going to do. Fully completed one of the four sections, did about 80% of another and 30% of another.

A lot of good things about it but some things that were too annoying for me to put any more time into it:

- It's absolutely massive, both in number of missions/side missions and actual size. To get to checkpoints/next mission you sometimes have to drive up to 5miles round winding country roads, you can't take shortcuts most of the time. Someone suggested getting a helicopter on call, to do that you have to do about another 15 missions grinding

- It is brutal. On one of my missions before deleting it, I went into this camp, cleared it out, then the boss scarpered, chased him for miles, shot his car up and ran it off the road - pulled over to get hold of him and as I did he opened his door and dropped out and fell under my car and died. So I got sent back to before the camp fight to do the 20minute mission again. No thanks. You will die and get sent back to before the mission which is fine, but it also sends you miles away from where the mission is held, so you have to drive all the way again.

- For games like this (GTA, Mafia, etc) where you are driving for ages, it has become expected that they have a good soundtrack when you're in the car, but this is absolutely sh1te random generic hispanic music or people talking absolute nonsense. Switched the radio off when driving, which made it even more boring

Basically I just don't have time to plough into this and it was becoming annoying/unenjoyable cos I just wanted to unlock the big boss. In summary, it's not as good as The Division imo

======================================================================================================
9.5 RESIDENT EVIL 7
9.0 BATTLEFIELD 1
8.0 INSIDE
7.5 MAFIA III
6.5 COLOR GUARDIANS, GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS

2016 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3735

2015 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3183

2014 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2215&p=30292&hilit=completed#p30292

Transistor - 8/10

Well pretty, cool combat, will have a go at what I assume is NG+.

Super Hot - 8/10

Not played anything like it before, very cool game and well worth a look. Cost me £10, the story is short but between the challenges and endless mode I'm confident I'll get my money's worth. Also the first game that's made me want to try VR.

The Evil Within 2 - 6/10

pretty decent, too long in the tooth though

started off well - a lot like Silent Hill.....but it soon moved away from that and become more about the action

i played it on quite an easy level setting as i knew it would be hard and i couldn't be arsed getting frustrated with it - probably worth picking up once its below a tenner and theres fuck all else out there

Uncharted The Lost Legacy - 7/10

standard stuff.....nothing new, decent

can't be arsed doing all the treasure hunting and other collectables, unlike all the other Uncharted games

UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY - 6.5

Was expecting this to basically be a sequel to Uncharted but for me it didn't really feel like one - I didn't like the two main characters, or the setting (the place or the Hindu folklore etc) and for the most part it felt like a rip off of the most recent Tomb Raider games. A lot of running or driving around and a lot of climbing with little bits of action thrown in here and there.

The bits in the jeep I felt like they ripped from Uncharted 4 but not as well. The last two chapters (of 9) were more like proper Uncharted action and fighting scenes, but the whole of the last level was on a moving train and was a blatant copy of the level on Uncharted 2 (which is one of the best levels I've ever played).

The water and lighting effects are excellent, probably best water I've seen in a game.

Got it for £14.99 on Black Friday sale, probably not worth much more than that tbh.

======================================================================================================
9.5 RESIDENT EVIL 7
9.0 BATTLEFIELD 1
8.0 INSIDE
7.5 MAFIA III
6.5 COLOR GUARDIANS, GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS, UNCHARTED: LOST LEGACY

2016 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3735

2015 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3183

2014 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2215&p=30292&hilit=completed#p30292

Sky Force Anniversary - 6/10

Good little filler. Grinding for Stars to buy power-ups is a bit wank though, especially when they don't carry over to the next level.

Pokemon Ultra Sun - 7/10

Some decent new minigames, a diverse mix of rare Pokemon available early on, new move tutors and a couple of cool new Ultra Beasts make this a better game than Sun/Moon, but it being a point-by-point retread of the base game with no real story changes until the final couple of hours is rather poor. Might give the competitive side a go, because some new Pokemon/movesets do seem very cool.

Nier: Automata - 9/10

Very good game, a mix of hack-and-slash and RPG set in a bonkers, original world. The plot structure is nuts with multiple endings that are impossible to do in one playthrough, ranging from playing through the initial campaign as a different character to having an allergic reaction to some mackerel. Combat is stylish, with some great looking weapons and special abilities, and the RPG elements are easy to understand at a basic level but reward time and investment. There's a reason it's only just dropped to £30 in stores (as of last week) despite coming out in February.

THE EVIL WITHIN 2 - 8.0

Got this on Black Friday for £19.99, hammered it over a couple of weeks. Having completed the first one, and it being in the top two hardest games I have ever finished (with Bayonetta), I decided to play this on Casual difficulty, the lowest of the three settings available. I've just re-read my review of the first one and I am glad I did so. It was still challenging and in the last few chapters I was running out of ammo completely

Like the first, if you liked Silent Hill, Alan Wake, Resident Evil, Last of Us you will definitely like this. The first 8 chapters or so are set in a small town like the one on Silent Hill, you're told where you should be going for the mission but you can wander round and find ammo, weapons etc as much as you want - would definitely recommend it as you pick up ammo, parts to upgrade weapons and also gel which is used to upgrade your skills (I put 90% of mine into Health and Recovery!)

Some massive bosses and some hard boss fights, can imagine if the difficulty was any higher it would have taken away from my enjoyment of it. Took me 10h01m to finish, the first took 15 and I can remember that was because I was dying over and over again on solid boss fights!

The first game is on sale on PSN for <£5 and this is under £20, definitely recommend getting them both from your xmas money

======================================================================================================
9.5 RESIDENT EVIL 7
9.0 BATTLEFIELD 1
8.0 INSIDE, THE EVIL WITHIN 2
7.5 MAFIA III
6.5 COLOR GUARDIANS, GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS, UNCHARTED: LOST LEGACY

2016 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3735

2015 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3183

2014 Ratings
http://www.b17mb.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2215&p=30292&hilit=completed#p30292

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - 8/10

Human Revolution but better balanced (you won't get dicked by bosses for playing high-lethal), with cool new powers, a decent story and some good side missions. It's £5 in CEX and it's an absolute bargain at that price.

Wolfenstein: The New Order - a high 7/10

This was on sale for a huge £3.74 a few weeks ago on PSN so figured it was worth a punt. And it was, good shooter with solid mechanics (such as a cover system based on leaning over, around and below cover without breaking from first person), good stealth sections and some nice weapons. Not as strong mechanically as Doom, but nothing is. Good story too, will be picking up The New Colossus when I'm through my current backlog.

Tom - that's free on PS plus in January

Yeah, noticed that a couple of days ago - although I bought it in like, October so I don't feel that silly.