Main ListBold are beaten games or games that are otherwise unbeatable
I'm not a fan of "scores", you know 9/10, 93%, 4/5, etc. I'm going to give my personal rating of the games.
1.
Thomas Was Alone (PS4)
Fairly short puzzle platformer game, it's the context and narrative that make this game interesting and worth a playthrough.
Rating: Definitely worth a play, if you got the game with PS+ check it out, if not, wait for a sale, it's a short game, but definitely amusing
2.
Infamous: First Light (PS4)
Probably about the same amount of content as the full game of Second Son, better narrative than Second Son from what I recall. Really enjoyed playing this, it doesn't hurt that I'd probably play any game with Laura Bailey as a lead.
Rating: If you are a fan of Infamous, definitely check this out. Otherwise, my opinion is that it is a great game and definitely worth playing if you got the game with PS+, if goes on sale, or is somehow included in a bundle with Second Son.
3.
Rise of the Tomb Raider (XB1)
I beat this game on New Year's eve, but I played quite a bit after New Year's getting collectibles and stuff. Really good game, not much connectivity from the previous game aside from minor references to characters in the previous game. The game didn't feel like the "survivor" game like the last game. I suppose it's supposed to show that she has grown and knows how to handle herself now, but my understanding is that this game does pick up shortly after the last game, I might be wrong. A lot of the
trailers for this game showed her talking with a therapist and dealing with her PTSD from surviving the first game, so I was expecting PTSD and narrative that would delve into that aspect of her character, but it never occurred. My understanding was the theme of the game was rising above and surviving, but the game very strongly showed that she had no trouble surviving and didn't need to "rise above" anything. Still a great game, 9/10 in my book.
Rating: Buy, definitely buy this game, if you haven't played the first game in the reboot series, play it first. Both are highly recommended in my book.
4.
Chibi-Robo! (GCN)
Having read very little about this game, I went into it expecting exactly what I got, plus a little more. The humor is fairly childish, but who am I kidding, that stuff is the best. Quite a bit of humor mostly a child would laugh at, and quite a bit of humor only an adult would laugh at. So I was laughing quite often with this game. The last 2 "chapters" of the game kind of confused me and caught me off guard, but everything made sense once they started explaining things. They showed these pictures or drawings that I felt were supposed to mean something and I didn't get what was going on until they explained it, maybe that was the point, but I liked it. I'm going to try to get my hands on a copy of Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol. I had a chance at a copy for $5, but I would've had to drive pretty far and I think it's not quite worth that + gas. I'll have to go put it on my wishlist now. Might be my first handheld game for the year, unless I go play Izuna. I really wanna play Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Ōsōji!, but it being Japan exclusive complicates things, but there is a fan translation in the works.
Rating: Really fun game, it is a chore game, but there are always things to do and you are rewarded for everything. If any game in the chibi-robo series is worth playing, it is this one. I definitely can't recommend paying over $50 for the game, but it is a game I recommend nonetheless. More on this in the Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol review.
5.
The Stanley Parable (PC)
Really short game. Short enough that it wouldn't take an hour or two to get through every single ending openly known. The narrative and story is what makes this game worth the play.
Rating: Fun intriguing game, but definitely not worth the money it costs to play. If you can get it in a steam sale for under $1, I'd say go for it, you'll get more out of it than a bottle of water... unless you live in Michigan.
6.
Castlevania (NES)
Decided to start playing the Castlevania series, going to try to burst through a bunch of the games. I tried playing this on the retron5, but my retron5 wireless controller doesn't hold a charge for very long and is pretty much a shitty controller in general. I tried using an NES controller, but to be quite frank, I think NES controllers are shit as well, maybe all of my controllers suck, but I the amount of force required for the controller to register a button press and the inability to press the d-pad quickly or the d-pad reading that you held down left for 5 seconds even though you just tapped it, very very frustrating. I hooked up a SNES controller, because I like the SNES controller... sometimes... but this is the retron5, in order to use a SNES controller for an NES game, you have to go to the OS settings and make it so, well, without the retron5 controller I have no way of getting back to the main OS screen without restarting. So, I gave up and loaded up my hacked wii, loaded up mednafen, and loaded up Castlevania. Relatively short game, I think 6 levels, broken down into 3 sections. I think this is honestly my first time knowingly playing a castlevania game, not my first metroidvania game though. I might have played Castlevania 64 when I was younger, but I really don't remember. Really enjoyed it, I loaded up Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest next, played it for like 15 seconds and decided I didn't feel like playing Castlevania anymore, so I started messing with WiiWare/DS stuff.
Rating: This is a great game, and it's not too expensive, so I would definitely recommend checking this game out, it's the only Castlevania game I've ever played and I liked it, the controls are fairly solid and is only frustrating at certain parts, definitely worth your time if you like side scrolling adventure games.
7.
Yard Sale Hidden Tresures: Sunnyvillle (NDS)
I expected this game to be a yard sale game, like you go through a neighborhood of yard sales to buy random stuff to furnish your home, which kind of is basically what you are doing, but I thought there would be some choice in it. I think I was expecting a Sims like game. Turns out, it's just a hidden object game... and a weird one at that. Doesn't seem too long and I've already played through what seems to be half of the game, so I might as well see it through. Fairly short, my wife would love this game, pure I-Spy stuff.
Rating: Pass on this game, it's short, stupid, and boring. I got relatively nothing out of it other than an idea for a hidden object/life simulation game.
8.
Chibi Robo: Park Patrol (NDS)
Similar to the Gamecube game, but you are revitalizing a park. Fairly good so far, but the controls are slightly frustrating. The smoglings murderballing my flowers is super frustrating, but I think I'm getting used to slapping them right in the mouth before they can kill a flower or two. Might actually finish this game in a few days at this rate. I hit a point, where as soon as I woke up my PC exploded, so I can't buy anything, and I walked outside to go find a new control panel, and the bad guys sent 3 Smoglobs at my park and blew away all of my items and vehicles... and the water gun landed in a stream, and I don't currently own the waterproof spray. So I had to go to town and find a control panel, fix the control panel and buy the waterproof spray, go pick up my water gun, go find a vehicle conveniently located at the furthest point on the map, all while 3 smoglobs are wreaking havoc on my park. Very frustrating, but by the end of the day, I regrew enough plants that I only lost 25 flowers... mostly a waste of a day and I was still set back by the end. I beat the game and felt compelled enough to continue playing until I made the entire park green, I received basically nothing at that point... so I saved and quit.
Rating: Really good game, if you liked Chibi-Robo, it's definitely worth the play. If you have never played Chibi-Robo, this game is significantly cheaper and will give you an idea of how Chibi-Robo plays, so I would recommend this before spending the big bucks on Chibi-Robo for GCN.
9.
Gone Home (PC)
I started playing this the other night, I had heard good things about this game, but I also heard that the developers are kind of dicks and don't accept criticism and delete/ban negative reviews of the game. I have a personal problem with that. So I explicitly did not pay for this game and played it on a friend's computer who does own it. It's a really great game, I would recommend the game to tons of people if the developers weren't explicitly going out of their way to hide and destroy negative reviews. But I also don't think this game is worth the asking price, definitely wouldn't pay over $5, I'd personally wait for a sale where it is Stanley Parable cheap.
Rating: My issue with the developer aside, and how much I actually really liked this game, I still can't recommend paying money for this game. It's too short and too expensive. I don't think even at 70% off it would be cheap enough.
10.
Biker Mice from Mars (NDS)
I have no clue why I decided to play this game, but I'm relatively glad I did. I don't know how well this game saves your data, as I played the game in its entirety without shutting off the system. The game is split into 2 different genres, half of the game is a slightly frustrating Twisted metal esque racer (I say frustrating because my "L" button doesn't work, so I can't use the alternate weapon, which I assume is heatseeker missiles. The other half is a beat em up arcade game. Some parts are frustrating, mostly fighting the guys with guns.
Rating:I actually recommend this game, the racing parts are fun if you have a fully working DS, the fighting levels can be challenging, but mostly easy.
11.
Grand Theft Auto III (PS2 on PS4)
(Platinum)The GTA Trilogy is on sale on PSN for PS2 on PS4, so I decided to buy it. I haven't played GTA 3 since Vice City released, and I haven't played Vice City since San Andreas released. I played Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories when they came out for PS2, but I didn't spend much time in those small short games, though I do wish those 2 titles had been included in the pack. I have however played San Andreas several times over and over since release. Beat it tons of times before 4 came out, beat it once more before 4 came out, beat it again after finishing 4 because San andreas was better, played it again sometime between 4 and 5, played it again before 5 was released, and played it again when it was released on 360 Games on Demand (Not Xbox originals version). San Andreas, as you can tell, is my favorite entry in the franchise, but this time around, since I bought the trilogy, I decided I would not touch San Andreas until I finish 3 and Vice City. The controls for GTA3 so far are very frustrating. I don't fully understand what was done for this release, my understanding is that they have to physically modify the game to allow trophy support, which was their reason for not doing trophies for PS1 and PS2 classics. As part of this "theory" since they lost licenses and such, they have stripped several songs from all of the games, GTA3 may not be included in that as the soundtrack was fairly indie all around. If this is the case, I don't understand why they didn't update the control schemes to match later entries in the series, it is painful to play. I mean, I am dying within 2-4 seconds in any single gunfight because I get flustered with the controls and wind up switching weapons instead of firing among other things. I just need to get used to the controls, but I'm remembering why I never went back and played GTA 3 and I'm sure the same will apply to Vice city... but I will attempt to prevail and finish this title. I doubt I will 100% this game, but I may try, I do have the old PS2 strategy guides, so I may be able to rely on that. So my wife has family over, so I'm playing this Remote Play from PS4 to PSTV, at first it was working fairly well, I was impressed, but now her dad is streaming movies and youtube and her cousins are both playing computer games online, so the connection keeps dropping so I have to stop playing frequently. We have 300Mbps internet, and a router that will transfer over 1Gbps, I would assume that remote play only uses local bandwidth, but it appears to be using actual internet or something, it gets frustrating. I've had the game paused for most of the weekend in the middle of the final mission, family finally left, getting ready to play, I unpause the game, my car immediately explodes... yay. Took me about 15 tries, but I finally beat it, I truly don't remember GTA 3 being as difficult, hopefully I don't have nearly as much trouble with Vice City, though I recall having a terrible time with some missions. I'm going to attempt to Platinum this game, it will be my very first platinum trophy. Ugh, these last 42% are going to be really painful. Down to the last 8%, the 4x4 mission is going to be my bane... maybe that Flatbed. Gripped! took me forever to beat, after I beat Gripped! and Rumble, I drove to Staunton Island and immediately saw a flatbed. 100% complete. But my trophy progress is at 96% because I have 2 trophies left: 2000 cars exploded and busted 20 times. Busted is cake, I'll probably get that trying to blow up the remaining cars. I managed to sit down for about 30 minutes and blew up 250ish cars, so it should hopefully only take me an hour and a half to get the rest. So close to that platinum. Woot, done. First platinum.
Rating:$15 for a $5 PS2 game that you can do remote play and trophies and such... if you've never played GTA 3 before, now's the time to jump in. If you've played it before, you probably want to pass. If you care about trophies and want the nostalgia, jump right in. I bought it during a sale and I don't regret it, but I paid about $5 a game for the trilogy. (This review applies to all games in the trilogy)
12.
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (NDS)
I already have save data that has 22 minutes logged. With this information, I presume I have beaten Curious Village and Diabolical Box, I remember beating Curious Village, and I do remember starting and not continuing Unwound future, and I'm a stickler, so I don't think I would've just plum skipped Diabolical, plus I remember the intro to Diabolical, so I must have played it through. Puzzle, Puzzle, Puzzle, you're a hero Professor Layton. That ending, got me right in the heart. Seeing a gentleman cry, it's heartbreaking.
Rating: If you are into puzzle games of any kind, then look no further than the Professor Layton franchise. Great puzzles, admirable story, fun and interesting characters, what more could you ask for.
13.
Portal (PC)
Portal, always a great game. Fairly short, but fun puzzles and only takes about an hour or two to beat. Game is on sale right now for $1.99, so if you don't have it go grab it. I really don't know what else to say about this game, it's a staple game, everyone should play it.
Rating: SPAAAAAAAACE!!! What's that? Wrong game? Oh. Okay. This game is great, play it, love it, and then go play Portal 2.
14.
Pony Island (PC)
I've been on a PC binge lately, and it will probably continue. This game is interesting, basically you are playing what I presume to be a kids game, that is possessed by a demon, or the devil himself. Half puzzle game, half action/platformer?. I don't know, you are side scrolling bullet hell/shmup style, I don't want to spoil anything, it's a really fun game, and I'm enjoying it so far. You will definitely get your $5 out of the game.
Rating: Fun little half puzzle, half action game. Fairly short, but plenty entertaining. Not much in the way of replay value, but for $5 you won't be disappointed.
15.
Road Rash Jailbreak (GBA)
Story tiem. I had no intent of playing this, and this review is going to be very long for having nothing to do with the game. Our neighbor's dog is kind of an asshole. Most nights he will just bark intermittently. He is a pretty big dog with one of those really piercing barks, loud, and piercing. And he absolutely loves to stand right at the fence outside of our window and bark in our direction, it's fantastic. Our neighbors don't speak english, and we live in an unincorporated area, so best case, we can get county sheriffs out here, but they don't respond to noise complaints. We try noise makers (white noise machines, box fans, etc.), we try ear plugs, headphones/earbuds playing music. Most nights, something works. But last night, my wife woke up and went to our guest bedroom. I woke up, realized she was gone and I couldn't sleep, so I went to find her. We both tried to sleep in the guest bedroom, didn't help, dog is loud as fuck. So she woke up and went to our loft and just sat in a corner and played with her phone. I woke up not too much later, went and asked if she wanted to just be awake and watch a movie or play a game. So I went and grabbed pillows and blankets so we could veg out on the floor and watch Netflix or play something on the Gamecube/GBPlayer. She decided that since we can actually not hear the dog, or he stopped barking now that we gave up, she would try to nap and that I would just play games on mute until I need to get up for work in about 30 minutes. Mind you all of this occurred between the hours of 1am and 5am, the dog was continuously barking from 1am to 5am, for no reason mind you. I looking, he was just standing out there, barking, occasionally, he would stop standing and he would sit and bark in my direction. So I go and look at the GBA games and try to pick a game to play, after playing Road Redemption at PAX South, my interest in Road Rash games has returned, so I decided to play Road Rash Jailbreak. GBA is kind of the handheld equivalent of a SNES, so graphics are about that. I beat the basic story mode in about 30 minutes, played cop mode for about 5 minutes, and then decided to get up and get ready for work. I didn't play long enough to get a grasp of how the difficulty changes when you upgrade your character, or if it changes at all. But this game was very frustrating, I found that if you are behind a guy, he can hit you and you can't hit him, and if you are ahead of a guy and he is behind you he can hit you and you can't hit him. You have to be just perfect to make contact, they don't. No breaking to help with the really tight turns. Cops only attack you. Game has rubber band mechanics, which has it's own pros and cons. Cops have a special rubber band mechanic where you can never outrun them, and they will never outrun you, almost always right next to you, unless you hit them, then they slow down for a few seconds. Game gives you 3 boosts per race, they serve almost no purpose, if you boost next to a racer or cop, they automatically boost with you. I found that 7/9 times, when you get a weapon pickup, as soon as you activate it, all enemies immediately boost and rubber band away from you until your weapon expires. Overall, this game is a solid pass, don't bother. Mind you, this review is for the GBA version and does not reflect my opinion on the PSX version... which I also own and might play to compare.
Rating: Ugh, pass on this, seriously, just pass on this. It is so inferior to other Road Rash games, the only good this I have to say about this is that the graphics are fairly smooth.
Continued down the page
http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6762.15.html#msg106471
