Knights Contract
There is something odd about this game. The whole game is built around two characters; Heinrich an immortal mercenary knight (player) who forms a pact with the witch and second main character Gretchen (AI). This means he have to protect her until they have fulfilled their contract, in gameplay terms this means that if Gretchen dies the game is over and here is where the problem arises. Gretchen is a freaking dumbass who will happily go stand in lava until her health is drained or something equally daft. Constant babysitting becomes the key gameplay element and while it may sometime work fine at certain parts it becomes unbearable. Also, as Heinrich you cannot really die since he is an immortal but you can get cut in half which will promt an lenghty QTE consiting of pressing the A button rapidly, guess how well Gretchen does on her own during this brief downtime. Other brilliantly stupid uses of QTE involves finishing off all the bosses in tightly timed sequences where if you don't do it right the boss will regain half it's health.
Even with all these ingredients that would surely make an terrible tasting stew, I still can't really fully dislike it and in fact found it quite enjoyable in some parts where it wasn't dragged down by terrible design decisions. This accounts for about half the game in pure gameplay.
While on the positive side I found the story and interaction between the main characters to be nice, even if it at times screamed cliché, and the artdesign was quite lush and not as gray as it might give the impression of at first glance. I also liked how quick and responsive the fights felt and when you pulled off a perfect finishing move the feeling of power was immense. It's a shame that this didn't get more polish cause it could be so much better with just minor adjustments. I would hope that the developers, Game Republic, learned something with this but they sadly went bankrupt before this game even reached Japan. A word of warning though if you ever raged over Shevas AI in the singleplayer campaign of Resident Evil 5 or thought Bayonetta had annoying QTE sequences; you should NEVER play Knights Contract. However, the game is dirt cheap despite being only 6 months old so if anything of what I said caught your attention I would give it a shot, just keep the expecations low.
Lol I can tell that writing makes you notice alot more flaws with games' stories. You put 75 hours into Oblivion and you only gave it an 8.2, which means that there was something horribly wrong with a great game, and I'm just gonna guess that it was the story. The highest rated game by you was Limbo, which doesn't have a story. :P
Limbo rated a 9/10 because it was both fun, had no story and was a fantastic game for what it was. Oblivion on the other hand, receiving an 8.2 rating doesn't make it a bad game. Because it's a fantastic game. The story wasn't really the problem, it was a fantastic story that fleshed out well. It was the gameplay that annoyed me the most.
Just some of the bugs and annoyances throughout the world. Then there's the map which I didn't like as you couldn't zoom out.
I like the game, it's fantastic. Story is great but some of the gameplay was annoying. Which is the reason I gave it an 8.2 rather than a 9/10.
EDIT: Oh and the lockpicking aspect was annoying too. Press up then hit A? It would've been better if the lockpicking was a little simpler to use.
Signatures are lame.
Hence why I don't have one.
Because I'm awesome.
Dragon Age Origins (PC, no DLC or Awakening)
+ As expected of Bioware, the story is super interesting.
+ As expected of Bioware, there is a lot of backstory written for the game's world.
+ The gameplay feels very much a like an expanded version of KOTOR's. There's also good amount of tech trees available for all classes.
- Technical issues. The game has a problem with memory leaks that causes longer long times and stuttering gameplay the longer you play. Supposedly 1.04 patch fixes that issue, but in turn the game doesn't work on newer ATI drivers anymore and constantly crashes, so choose your poison.
- The game is insanely difficult. Unless you start as a healer, your first stop better be the Circle, since the game is unbearably difficult unless you have a healer in your party, and there are not enough potions and injury kits in the world to play without a healer even for a second. It could be that I just suck at this, but how am I supposed to survive a wave after wave of the undead in Redcliffe without a healer, when Redcliffe seems like the best place to start according to Alistair (fuck that guy)? There is no greater humiliation than being forced to switch to easy difficulty.
- The spread of classes on your posse is uneven. In total, you have one offensive mage, one healer mage, two rogues and four warriors (the dog counts), plus yourself. The arguably optimal party layout is a tank warrior, a DPS rogue, a healer mage and a offensive mage. The warrior class is clearly over-presented while your options for mages are very limited. Chances are that you are forced to keep an active party member who will disapprove every single one of your actions (namely Wynne or Morrigan). And as I already complained, unless you are a healer yourself, Wynne must be in your party.
7/10. It is a good RPG, but is very much hurt of the technical issues and unforgiving difficulty, which leaves no room for party experimentation.
Star Fox 64 3D - 9/10 - Really one of the best remakes I have seen. I like the game modes. Just there's no online multiplayer, It's kinda bad, but on the other hand you will also have fun even without it.
I tried playing the game again recently (never actually finished it), but couldn't get far due to the broken difficulty gap between settings. The game was either pathetically easy, or brutally unforgiving (this is thanks in no small part to the AI). I would continue on Casual, but it's simply not enjoyable when it's this easy.
Then I'd recommend playing it on normal on either PS3 or 360. It's more action packed and less strategic than the PC version, but its difficulty levels are more balanced.
Dead Island - 9/10
Played it with 3 friends over this weekend. Tried playing the single player campaign this past week but when I got to the city I got my ass handed to me. Playing with friends over XBL for the first time ever (Never had XBL before) was quite fun and enjoyable.
Driver San Francisco - 7.5/10
It was an okay game. Not the best one, but still a good game. Driving is fluid and smooth, the shifting part took a little time to get used to and the story was average.
Mass Effect 2 - 9.5/10
One of the best games I've ever played in my life. Never thought much of them when I saw them on game shelves before but I decided to pick it up as it was £15. Couldn't find the first one though. But truth be told, what the hell have I been missing? This game was amazing, great story, amazing graphics and one of the most fantastic RPG games I've played. Fallout: New Vegas narrowly beats it though as I had a lot of fun with that game 'cause I didn't have to keep switching discs every five minutes. The disc part was the only thing that kept it from a 10/10.
Signatures are lame.
Hence why I don't have one.
Because I'm awesome.
Gears of War - 8.5/10
Gears of War 2 - 7.5/10
I borrowed them a few weeks back. Played through the first one and it was very good, graphics are still fantastic today and the gameplay was good. Thought my 360 was going to blow up due to the amount of stuff on the screen, lol.
The sequel was good, but not as good as the first. Had a few issues and the gameplay wasn't as great as the first neither.
Signatures are lame.
Hence why I don't have one.
Because I'm awesome.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 8/10
Something I've been looking forward to since it's announcement, Human Revolution boasts a wide range of choices and subsequent consequences, influencing a progressively interesting storyline. Unfortunately, it's dragged down by some strange design choices and technical missteps.
Graphical presentation is a mixed bag. On one hand, the art direction is phenomenal, the city of Detroit portraying a dystopian future that, despite the incredible technological advancements in such a small amount of time, still feels grounded in reality. The strong yellow color tone seen throughout most of the game only adds to the thickly atmospheric world, and bolstered still by the stunning lighting effects. And then, you have the polar opposite, specifically, the character models. Facial expression is nonexistent in conversations, as characters look completely emotionless at all times, regardless of the subject matter at hand (for example, David Sarif could be practically yelling, yet have the same dead-eyed expression on his face). Body animation suffers a worse fate, as every single character in the game shares the same loop of animation depending on their gender. This might not be so noticeable if the animations weren't so erratic and unnatural.
The game's soundtrack is good, very atmospheric and goes a long way towards setting the appropriate mood, although no particular track stood out as very memorable. Voice acting is solid, not bad, but also lacking in any noteworthy performances.
Gameplay is strengthened by the staggering amount of choices in which to approach a situation. Whether avoiding enemy contact through stealth or running in, guns blazing, the game encourages all playstyles. Except for when it doesn't (more on that...). It was truly impressive, to have played through a mission, then having discussed it with a friend later, find out that they'd handled the situation in a completely different manner (for example, infiltrating a building through an air duct on the roof, in lieu of charging the front door). Now, possibly the absolute worst part of this game, is when all choice is inexplicably taken away, and you're left with a traditional shooter when you shouldn't be. "Pool all of your points into stealth-oriented augmentations? Ignore lethal weapons and upgrades as you progress through your Pacificst run? Too damn bad. Now fight this incredibly overpowered enemy in a close quarters battle royale."
Finally, the story. Despite a few (very) predictable plot points, and uninteresting characters (most of them), the plot itself remained interesting and kept me playing until the end. The manner in which the final choices were presented was lackluster, but the endings themselves were satisfying and did a good job sealing everything up. Oh, and of course... "Please, call me Bob." That was probably the best part.
In the end, Deus Ex: Human Revolution was a good, if not great experience. But it wasn't the GOTY experience I was expecting. In fact, the more I see of it, Skyrim may just fill that spot.