Wow that's short, even though it looks amazing. Wasn't the first one like 15-20 hours?

I dont think I did a very thorough playthrough, but I think some of the stuff that I missed might just be ~1 hour more of content. I also played on medium, which meant that I barely died also with the fact that dying respawns you really close to where you died in midst of the action so it barely feels like anything.

Still though, a really immersive and polished experience with lots of small attention to detail

Your avi makes me feel weird Yangle. Picking up Infinite next.

DMC: Devil May Cry

8.5/10

I've basically come close to paying full price for this for having it lay around for months from Gamefly but finally banged it out.

The remake aspect of it is actually awesome, loyalists be damned. It's a refreshing take and it's done very very well, story is great. Gameplay is fantastic too, it's varied in all the options you can switch from so quickly but seems a little simple overall which worked for me because my thumbs were cramping up because I'm getting old and not good at this anymore.

It's a weird spot because people who love the DMC gameplay should love it but if you're a purist you might have your hangups about the remake. Main gripes about it are it's quite short and it feels like you spend most of the game learning all these new tools and by the time you have the full arsenal they basically pit you against arena mobs and then the game is done. There's a lot of F#$K YEA feel good moments and it feels great story is great but it's very short and feels like it's not reaching it's full potential.

Fans of the series should def give it a shot though even if you're critical of the remake aspect, looking forward to a sequel.

Far Cry 3 - PC

8.5/10

Lots of fun and plays really well. Story got way too repetitive after a while though. Looks fantastic, driving is a little awkward.

Just Cause 2 | PC, XBox 360, PS3
Steam Page $14.99
Very fun.

GTA like sandbox game, blah story that doesn't get in the way much - you basically run around a huge island in the Pacific blowing stuff up. Movement around the world is incredibly interesting and satisfying, where you can start out running on the ground, grapple onto a nearby tree, parachute over it and continue grappling the ground to maintain your parachute speed before finding a nice car/motorcycle or an attack helicopter or fighter jet. There are hundreds of villages and outposts around the island that each have a completion counter based on the amount of destruction and collectibles you've found, and factions that control the territories change and grow during the game giving you access to new missions and outposts.

The game is very well crafted technically, with incredibly long view distances - you can see a perfectly detailed night skyline of one of the cities from 10+ km away and everything in-between without a hiccup - and the texture work and world design is amazing. The only graphical complaint is that the character models aren't nearly at the same level of quality as everything else, but the rag-doll physics they employ manage to still make them interesting.

I've slowly been ticking away a few backlog games while waiting for big sales on Dishonored, Bioshock Infinite and X-COM, and this is one that I've been randomly hitting for 30 minutes to an hour here and there over the last month after I got it on sale for a few bucks. I really didn't expect to enjoy this game as much as I did, but I worked my way through several audio books without losing the sense of fun at just running around randomly hitting missions or working on the world completion rate. If you're looking for a fun, gorgeous and mindless game to maybe play while catching up on some TV shows, music or audio books, this is the best candidate I've found since I still found WoW entertaining.

I played just cause 2 for a bit while testing out onlive. It's fun and something I've always tried to get back around to.

Tomb Raider

8.5/10

The easiest kneejerk way to describe Tomb Raider is probably "It's a poor mans Uncharted," which while true in general to the phrase I'm not totally on board with as the game is a refined helluva great game.

It's is a gorgeous cinematic rollercoaster ride with very solid gameplay, the climbing combat and movement is all very fluid, super easy to pick up, satisfying, and pretty much never frustrating. You won't be seeing any great AI and the story and characters are very shallow feeling but never to the point it's annoying. Overall production value is so good it's not too much of a drag.

If it didn't feel like the most blatant clone of another series in recent memory, I'd probably come away saying it was a fantastic game. But it feels so play by play Uncharted at so many points I had a lot of "oh this again" type moments that it took away from the overall experience. And constantly mentally comparing characters/story to Uncharted didn't help it for me either.

It's also quite short, took me about 11 hours on Normal (don't play it on normal, it's way way too easy) for the main quest and doesn't hold much replay value, there's multiplayer but didn't mess with it.

So doesn't justify a big price tag, but a damn awesome Redbox rental or bargain bin purchase, especially if you're a 360 guy and always wanted to try Uncharted.

Isnt 8.5 supposed to be a very good game? Yet except for graphics and combat theres mostly negatives and not a fullprice buy.

After beating Uncharted 3 this sort of was meh for me....not bad, but closer to a 6.5-7 for me. Maybe I would have rated it higher had I played this first before Uncharted 3....dunno.

imo Uncharted 2 >> Uncharted 3 >>>> Uncharted 1

2 had a better story than 3, and I thought it was better in other ways (some things in 2 they decided to omit in 3 for some reason) but mentioning those things would be spoilerish

Yea it is. Tried to emphasize that it is great game but I always end up expanding on negatives over positives when I review pretty much anything, bad habit. And fumbled with trying to put in words why this awesome game wasn't wow'ing due to my previous Uncharted experience.

I do think 12 hours or so for a full priced title is pretty ridiculous, but I'm a cheap ass when it comes to buying games.

Borderlands 2. Fantastic RPG/FPS, all the fun of blasting **** with your friends with the loot addictiveness of diablo. It doesn't really do anything the first one didn't but the whole experience has been thoroughly refined to a razor thin edge.

By the end of the game you have fantastic weapons and abilities and are just blasting through hordes of enemies. Half the time you have no idea what's going on cause there is so much **** on the screen but you (usually) manage to somehow pull through by the skin of your teeth.

This is the first FPS I've played in a while where the guns felt distinct and not just the cookie cutter modern replicas we've seen a million times. It's kind of surprising since you would think a random gun generator would spit out relatively generic guns, but many of the guns have their own unique looks and handling characteristics such that it makes upgrading feel like a new experience and not just a stats boost.

The end boss was one of the most epic (although relatively easy) end boss battles I've played in a long time, it really topped a great game off with a satisfying finale.

I am not sure if it holds up as a single player game (we had a party of three) but if you have some people to play with its easily the best multiplayer co-op experience on the consoles.

One of those few games that doesn't try to go for filler mechanics in an attempt to do something new solely for the sake of novelty. Instead they get you straight into the fun with chaotic run and gun and a script that will actually make you laugh out loud.

8/10

(Now its time to get into some DLC)

Played through some stuff I picked up on steam sales lately...

Deus Ex Human Revolution, PC
~7/10
Not a bad RPG / FPS. It has a lot of potential but it doesn't really capitalize on it. The story is OK, but not great. Mechanics are pretty cool, but there are a few things that could be better. For instance, it would be nice if the upgrades you got allowed you access to things that you otherwise would not have access to. For instance, almost everything you can hack into of import has the code lying around on some pocket secretary. There are just random places hacking can let you break into and steal from (which really isn't in line with your character), but it would be nicer if there were specific story line items you could get into only with certain upgrades. Another example of how the perk system is flawed: There really is no advantage to getting the fortify upgrades for hacking. They just don't really buy you anything. Anyway, worth picking up on sale if you like this sort of game; not bad if you are looking for a game to kill some time on while waiting for something to be released.

The Witcher, PC
9/10
I liked this game a lot. It took a bit to figure out the mechanics, but it had a pretty good story and pretty good game play, and multiple paths you could go down. It is not really very sand boxy (a bit per chapter, but you move through 5 chapters). All in all, a pretty fun game if you like sword and magic type RPGs, and it is pretty cheap. I wish the dice sub game was better.

The Witcher II, PC
~8/10
There are two main paths, I only played through one. The story in this game is not as good as the story in the Witcher, and I didn't like the mechanics as much. Also, the supporting characters seemed more shallow in this one. Still worth playing, and I have high hopes for the third Witcher. One thing I did like about this one is that you really cannot max out your perks; the choices on where to spend your points is more important here than in most games. The dice game sucks even more this time around, which saddens me. And I generally hate the progression for it: beat someone once and you have proven your are a better player (despite it being high variance). Also, wtf on good players only wanting to play you if you are good. I know that poker players are not really a major demographic, but these things (in both witchers) annoyed me.

I also beat deus ex over the weekend. It was good up until the Montreal level. Heading upto the top of shanghai was pretty cool but after Montreal they just send you back to Detroit and the shanghai again. The mechanics are good for a stealth game but near the end they start to get repetitive and you become over powered.

Dark Souls Xbox360

Action RPG set in a dark Gothic fantasy land where the undead are forced into exile in the north.

DS reminds me a lot of an old SHUMP. Not in the setting or game play but in the way you make progress you must learn and memorize enemy positions and attack patterns. Every time you die you start back at the beginning of the level and must retrace your steps and try and make a little more progress. Old Shoot um ups had a nasty trick of stripping you of all your power ups after you died and forcing you to take on the level underpowered which was nearly impossible. Thankfully DS doesn't do that you start with any items you found but the souls which act as experience points allowing you to upgrade your character are dropped at the point you died, You can reclaim them if you make it back there with out dying. With no way to bank souls this can make for some very tense exploration when you're nearly ready to level up and not certain of being able to get back to your dropped souls if you die.
Sadly I don't think the difficulty was judged well enough to make that tense exploration the norm instead it was slightly too hard and I died so much that dying rarely meant any thing to me.

Because enemies re-spawn every time you rest at a bonfire you can grind souls by killing low level grunts in old areas until you are able to improve your character and take on harder challenges. God knows I had to grind for hours to get past one of the bosses.

The action in DS revolves around combat enemies generally attack one at a time and unlike most fighter where fast reflexes and chaining combos together are the keys to victory DS rewards patience and care. Each action depletes your stamina gauge and stamina is necessary to defended yourself so you must carefully wait for an opening before launching an attack.
The combat system would be noteworthy if it only worked for one predefined type of character but DS allows the player to create vastly different characters some slow and lumbering and others fast, nimble but lightly armoured. There are also a large number of weapons each one handling differently.

It looks and sounds great. Musics pretty sparely used I think only during boss fights but its atmospheric. The voice acting is very good featuring a range of authentic regional English accents. And while interaction with NPCs isn't a major part of the game it's an interesting diversion to run across the recurring characters who share the undead world with you.

I have two complaints about DS and one big hope for the sequel. The first complaint is that its just a tad too hard in places. At about the mid point of the game I became stuck for over a fortnight at an end of level boss it wasn't fun to be crushed again and again and eventually I levelled up so much I think I made the rest of the game easier then it should have been. My other complaint is that nothing is explained. Yes you can go online and look things up but why should you have to?
There are also a lot of different types of weapon but there are very few clues about what type you should be using. I don't want zelda like hand holding where I'm told "listen, that boss is weak to fire" but a clue a hint something would have been nice.

My hope for the sequel is that its less linear not because I don't like story driven games or because I think sandboxes are always better but because I want to go play it with different characters and I don't want to have seen everything on the first play-through.

9/10

AJW nice to see that you have finally finished the game and a nice review. I would however advice you to play the game once more because imo and many others the game gets even better on the 2nd playthrough where you have more peace of mind to explore enviroments and read item descriptions try out a new build etc. I also bet there are lots of thing still not discovered since you didnt use a guide untill very late

It took me nearly 200 hours to play it once and I totally missed the DLC, I might go back and try to finish that.

Just finished The Walking Dead ( yeah, slow pony ) - 10/10 in fun factor.

I'll keep it short because a ton of people have probably already written something about it.

Let's get one thing right off the bat, it's not really a game but more an interactive movie, because let's face it, you have no choice in how the sequences progress. It's alwats straight forward what you need to do next. The story choice are pretty cool and well mixed in; there is a bit of illusion on what you can actually change, but you can get some intense moments out of it. Story is amazing and the pace keeps up nicely. Took me 13 hours to finish everything. Will probably not play again.

The negative: Damn the engine sucks. Everything is clunky and works slowly. They def. need a better engine.

I've just finished the third episode of Cogntion: http://www.postudios.com/cognition/. Episodic adventure game series. Think the fourth and final episode is coming out in a few months.

It's an old-school point and click adventure game where the protagonist, FBI agent Erica Reed, investigates some grisly murders. The twist is that Erica has psychic powers that allow her to see into the past. You can use your powers on objects to recreate a scene from the past, and also dig into people's memories.

The story's pretty good and creepy; I was genuinely drawn in and keen to find out how it develops. Some of the puzzles make really good use of the psychic gimmick, particularly in the third episode. Inevitably I suppose, a number of puzzles are contrived and strain credulity. I didn't find many puzzles too hard though and I suck at adventure games. There's a hint system which I occasionally resorted to, although it nicely keeps the hints vague.

Graphics are a mixed bag - the character models are simplistic and the animations can be plain strange - Erica's leg frequently lunges out as if she's trying to join the Ministry of Funny Walks. But there are some good comic-book cutscenes.

A number of the supporting characters feel one-dimensional: you've got aggressive boss, lazy partner, grumpy coroner, etc. But Erica Reed herself is better fleshed out and the actress, Raleigh Holmes, does a very good job. I've read that her Boston accent is a little dodgy but I wouldn't know about that.

Biggest problem with the games are technical. Bizarrely long loading times for areas and frequent delays when you want Erica to do something. I've had one incident where the game locked up while transitioning from one area to another.

Overall I'd give it 7.5/10. Thoroughly enjoyed it, just annoyed by the technical problems. Definitely worth checking out if you like adventure games. You can only buy it on the dev's website. Helpfully there's a demo available.

Fun fact: Raleigh Holmes is Jane Jensen's step-daughter. Jensen is the creator of the Gabriel Knight series (the first one being IMO the best adventure game ever), has a couple of new games coming out in the near future, and I believe was a story consultant on Cognition. Raleigh is also the daughter of Robert Holmes, Jane's husband and the composer of the music in most of her games.

Nice factoid. Is it criminal that as someone who likes adventure games, I haven't played a single Gabriel Knight?

You should definitely keep an eye on GOG.com for a sale and get the first one when you can. It has the best voice acting in any game I've ever played. Often with adventure games I get bored with the dialogue, but the actors in Gabriel Knight 1 are so good/interesting that it's a pleasure to hear them speak. We've got Tim Curry, Leah Remini, Jim Cummings (Tigger and many others), Michael Dorn, etc. (this list doesn't look anywhere near as impressive now that it's 2013).

Virginia Capers as the narrator is my single favorite voice performance in any game. She uses this over the top Creole accent that can be grating at first, but once you get used to it it's awesome.

Yeah as sputnik said good on you for sticking with it, hope it was an experience you felt was worth the grind.

BTW, to unlock the dlc areas you have to play through a significant portion of the game again, so no better excuse to roll a fresh character!

I never played any of them either. Which looking back is strange as I played every other Sierra and LucasArts adventure games of that era. I guess I'll have to check it out now.

Just finished Mafia II, 8/10.

The mechanics are very similar to GTA4, which I didn't finish because I didn't really like it. This game is much less sandboxy, and much more chapter driven. It is mission based, and you basically succeed at what you need to do or die and go back to the last save point. I really don't like the whole driving thing in these games (GTA, LA Noir, Mafia), but I guess it is tolerable. The story is pretty decent, with many Goodfellas esque story lines. So, worth picking up on sale if you like mission sort of games. It's not too long, like 20ish hours if you go slowly. I did not get the DLC for this, just played the main story line.