The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U)

Date Purchased: March 03, 2017
Date Completed: March 25, 2017
Price: $79.99

I've been putting off writing this because I don't know what to say to give this game the praise it deserves.  It's fantastic.  The game is ultimately about exploring, I've played many open world games, but never did I ever want to "go onto that roof" in GTA, just to see what's up there.  This game changes all that with something cool around every bend, every peak, and under every stone.  Okay, so not every stone, but lots of them.  There is such a huge world out there to explore, and the verticality of  it all makes it even bigger.  The game is simply a joy to explore, I keep going back to it on my son Cole's profile to "help" him along, but really, it's because I like to revisit Hyrule.

The game does have a story, and it succeeds, it's interesting and doesn't force itself or try to be overly complex.   You've played the story before, it's the same story of every Zelda game, but this one's told in a series of flashbacks.  It's nicely done and allows you to explore the world and take on quests in any order.   To finish the main quest I was at around 80 hours, not including probably another 20 I spent watching and or playing on Cole's account.  When I finished the main quest, it showed me that I was 18% complete the game.

A sub-story are the shrines which grant you orbs to increase you abilities.  There are over a hundred of these shrines and they each contain a series of puzzles the series is known for.  This time around, many of them are physics based, something I don't recall from previous games.  The shrines could be a game in and of themself ala Portal.  Most (not all) are fantastic.

I've written longer reviews, but I don't need to go on at length about this game. It's a sense of wonder I've never experienced in a game before.  It's got that whimsy.  I want to play it right now.  Game of the year for 2017.  Calling it now.

Titan Souls (Vita)

Date Purchased:  January 19, 2017
Date Completed:  March 6, 2017
Price: Free (PS+)

This game's been on my radar for some time, so I was excited when it was "free" with PlayStation Plus in January.  I'd remember hearing some comparisons to Zelda, but it's actually much closer to Shadow of the Colossus if we're going to be making comparisons.  There's a vast overworld, but there's not a whole lot to do in it, and your character, equipped with a bow and a singular retrievable arrow must take down 18 titans to reach the credits.  There is a 19th boss, but typically when I see credits, it's time to move on to another game in the pile unless I'm really enjoying it.  Well, I didn't really enjoy it, so this one's getting shelved.  It was a love/hate relationship with game, it's brutally difficult, but when you do fire that perfect shot and take down a Titan, there are few better feelings in video games, that's what kept me chugging through 6 hours, 21 minutes, 51 seconds and 495 deaths.The graphics and sound are quite nice, the game plays well on Vita despite some very long loading times between deaths, thank goodness for smart phones in that regard.  Even though I didn't particularly love all my time spent with the game, if you like a challenge, those 18 (19 if you're a completionist) moments where you reign victorious, just might make the whole thing worthwhile.  In the end, I'd have to say, recommend.

Reddit post comments.

That's a lot of cursing.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PS4)

Date Purchased: February 25, 2017
Date Completed: March 1, 2017
Price: Free (Borrowed from co-worker)

I knocked this out in 3 sittings, one of them particularly long, but still...3 sittings. It's a rock and roll campaign of what you'd expect from COD story.  The action starts and doesn't stop.  I'm glad I played it and am even happier I didn't buy it for full retail.  It was a fun campaign but I didn't love the whole Call of Duty "IN SPAAAACE!!!" aesthetic happening, it could be I'm just burnt out on space after playing Doom and all 3 Dead Spaces recently.  I didn't get into the multi as I'm not a fan of these ultra-competitive shooters.  If you can play this game for cheap like I did, go for it, but the campaign alone is not worth the retail price.  Pass.

Reddit post comments.

Dead Space 3 (PS3)

Date Purchased: November 1, 2016
Date Completed: February 22, 2017

Price: $5.99 (PSN Halloween Sale)

Dead Space 3, you are so far from the Dead Space I loved, however you are not a bad person....errr...game. You are just not Dead Space.  If Dead Space (the original) is Michael Jordan, and his son (Michael Jordan 2) went on to be an amazing soccer player (but not one of the greatest of all time), that son would be Dead Space 2, quite different, but still really good.  And if Michael Jordan 2 were to have  a son (Michael Jordan 3) and he went on to win his city bowling league, that son would be Dead Space 3, competent in what he does, but fallen oh so far from grace.

Okay, so basketball and bowling ball analogies aside, I still kind of enjoyed my time with Dead Space 3.  I started playing it and I was thinking “hey this is kinda cool, fighting humans, using my stasis in a big city, this could really go places!” … and then that stopped and I was back in outer space doing more Dead Space things, just not as well.  The games later 2/3’s becomes a little more interesting as your environments open up and that’s really where the game comes into it’s own, and by it’s own, I mean Gears of War.

Dead Space 3 is a co-op shooter that I played solo.  That comes with being a patient gamer, you play games when few others do.  Now don’t get me wrong, you can play the game completely on your own, but I couldn’t help feel like I was missing something as there reminders everywhere that I should have a partner with me.  On my own it took me just over 13 hours to complete, which felt stretched out as I was going on a lot of “fetch quests” for lack of a better term (rebuilding that Rosetta alien!  Oyyyyyy!!!).  The puzzle sequences I didn't particularly enjoy and I felt threw off the pacing of the game.  

Graphics and sound are…fine.   The game seems to seem less polished than previous entries, perhaps intentional to make the game seem more “gritty”, the voice acting is well done despite the writing being a little suspect at times.  The overall story left some to be desired.

What Dead Space 3 did very well in my opinion, was make me appreciate Dead Space 2 so much more, which I gave a pretty hard time for beingso different from the first game.  I'm sorry Dead Space 2, you deserved better.  I really can’t recommend Dead Space 3 on it’s own merits, if you want to see the series through like I did, you may as well just play it to see for yourself, but if you’re looking for a good game to play?  Pass.

Reddit post comments.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Vita)

Date Purchased:  January 1, 2014
Date Completed: February 19, 2017
Price: Free (PS+)

While looking through the Vita games I have tied to my account I came across Sonic Racing and thought it would be a good title to have on the go.  I played the game quite a bit on the Wii U when it's software library was sparse, but it had been a while since I took Sonic and friends for a spin.  The Vita version holds up surprisingly well and really looks fantastic.  I'm so used to playing small indie titles on the system it always comes as a surprise when I play a game that really shows off the systems capabilities.  This is a great little Kart racer, but not necessarily a Mario Kart killer, which in my opinion is a good thing.  I feel the pure racing is better in Sonic Racing than the Mario Kart series, I'm sure there's some rubber banding in here, but it feels far less obvious.  If you find yourself in first place, it's not a given that a certain item *cough*blue shell*cough* is all but guaranteed to knock you around.  The single player campaign has a nice variety of challenges that consists of more than just racing.  The transforming courses really are the star of the show, and while the vehicles transform, it's when the courses change after laps that the game really shows it's full potential.  Being so late to the party I didn't get to try out any of the online features or multiplayer, but the game still satisfied with it's single player content.  I only had a few issues with some of the geometry particularly in the water sequences where my vehicle would completely turn around for no apparent reason.  It didn't happen often, but was frustrating when it did.  Other than that minor hangup, I'd recommend this game, even in 2017.

Reddit Comments.

Letter Quest Remastered (Vita)

Date Purchased: November 3, 2016
Date Completed: February 15, 2017
Price: Free (PS+)

After finishing Dead Space 2, Resident Evil Revelations, and Doom recently, I figured, why stop there?  Let’s continue the massacre on Vita!  So I grabbed my trusty Bone Crusher and continued my way defeating monsters on a set path.  This game is a cartoony take on a horror game, it feels more like a Halloween game really.  It’s quite cute, has a nice presentation to it, but ultimately is too easy.  The game has 40 levels, each consisting of  4 stages and I managed to breeze through them all only stumbling on a couple of timed challenges, but I’ll chalk that up to being distracted by my family or work.  A fun little word game though with some neat upgrades along the way.  It’s available on iOS which might be the ideal platform, but this was ad free and also free with PS+.  Depsite it’s simplicity, I still enjoyed my time with the game, recommend.

Dead Space 2 (PS3)

Date Purchased: November 1, 2016
Date Completed: February 14, 2017

Price: $5.99 (PSN Halloween Sale)

Dead Space 2, after finishing the first game a couple months ago, I had such high expectations and while that may have led to some of my disappointment I can’t say it was merely a victim of hype.  

I like a silent protagonist, I feel it allows the player to connect with the character better when he’s not quipping one-liners that are out of place.   I’m showing my age here, but I much preferred the original GTA III with our silent anti-hero, to the much more critically acclaimed Vice City which had our character speaking with full voice acted dialogue.  So when Isaac Clarke escapes near death in Dead Space 2, narrowly defeating a horde of monsters, removing their limbs and stomping their corpses, exhausted, barely able to walk, only to open a door and act like nothing’s happened, able to carry on a full conversation, not mentioning anything that just happened and even throwing out a few one liners Nathan Drake style, I feel it takes away from the experience.  Yes, this is true of all games, but not those with a silent protagonist, all you need to accept there is that he’s not limping anymore.  Okay, this has evolved into a more general game rant now. 

The action is much more intense in the 2^nd game, but I preferred the slower pace of the original, making mention to how it was “relaxing” in a some strange way.  This game is far from relaxing and I feel brings the game truly into the Survival Horror genre.  There are so many scares along the way, they stop being scary, you just expect necromorphs around every bend. 

The game still looks great for a “last generation” title, the sound design is top notch, and overall it plays great.  As a standalone experience it’s a fantastic game, just not the game I wanted.  Still have to recommend though.

Edit: (Clickable) I've started putting some of my pile of shame reviews on Reddit's subreddit "patientgamers" where they've been relatively successful.