Topic: Games you've recently beat

...and that's one Syphon Filter down. Four more to go.

Very impressed by the whole thing. It has all the early hallmarks of a Sony exclusive, with an accessible difficulty (for the most part) and emphasis on a fluid, cinematic and highly-stylised adventure. Oh sure, that style might be "every Tom Clancy cliché we can carry" but it's effective. I still couldn't describe the plot or characters to you, but it was compelling enough that I kept fighting my way through to its ticking-clock-in-a-missile-silo finale.

As an older game, it does become a little tricky towards the end, but you'll settle into a comfortable pattern of perfecting your actions between each checkpoint and honestly, I've suffered through worse. I'm taking away more fond memories than frustrations, put it that way.

@RogerRoger I reckon I'd still know the layout of the first level in intricate detail having played the demo of the game a LOT of times!

@Thrillho It's a surprisingly large and non-linear level, which I really liked. Not afraid of throwing you in at the deep end. Did you ever get the full game?

Am curious to see how my similar recollection of the sequel holds up, as it's been quite a while.

Yesterday I finished Batman: Arkham Asylum for the first time. I decided to play through the Arkham games chronologically instead of release order, partly because I don’t want to play three open-world games in a row. This was therefore my second game in the series after completing Arkham Origins earlier in the year. I don’t think it compares particularly well to Origins, which I vastly preferred (aside from its horrendous technical problems). The set pieces, linear story sections and level design are better in Origins, and the game plays better, too, utilising an array of enhancements that I’m guessing first appeared in Arkham City. Asylum therefore feels a little dated and stilted and very much a game of its time.
Anyhoo, this all sounds rather negative, because despite the above comparisons to Origins I actually had a decent time and enjoyed my playthrough - particularly the relative linearity of the game. One benefit to playing Origins first is that I had a little background and extra context to some of the characters such as Oracle and Batman’s first encounter with Joker.
The darkness of the setting is quite interesting and macabre; Arkham Asylum is a truly disturbing place, where the patients are treated like animals. This made me feel a little uneasy, because I honestly can’t say I blamed the majority of the patients for wanting to get behind Joker and riot. However, one aspect that bothered me is that certain enemies are simply referred to as “lunatics”.
The worst parts are easily Croc’s Lair and the late-game battles.

@mookysam I actually prefer Asylum to City, the only two I’ve played, personally I find the open world in Batman games a bit of a chore to traverse. The more Metroidvania style makes the riddles and trophies a bit more palatable too. Yeah, the final boss is dreadful and it’s a bit dated but I just find it more of a focused and well-rounded package.

@RogerRoger I’m not sure that I did. I seem to vaguely recall a train level but that’s from the second game, although that could be from seeing it rather than playing it (or me just mixing it up with the many many games that have had similar levels).

@mookysam I never played Origins but I’m in the same camp as @nessisonett as the claustrophobia of the asylum made it a better and tighter experience.

City didn’t really benefit from having a big open world as getting around the city as Batguy is nowhere near as fun as doing it with Spidey for instance.

@mookysam Gonna be interesting to see what you make of Arkham City, given its halfway-house status between the two approaches. It isn't exactly claustrophobic, but its map is a third of the size of Origins so the balance might be right for you.

@Thrillho The train level is from Syphon Filter 2 if memory serves. It travels through the Canadian Rockies and (spoiler alert) doesn't make it to a station.

Might've actually been that game's demo, come to think of it.

I feel like every time I've been on Push Square recently it's been to bang on about The Outer Worlds, but I got the platinum yesterday so it's time for a final thought.

Just when I thought this game couldn't get any funnier, I decided to drop my character's intelligence for my Supernova difficulty. This resulted in the 'Dumb' dialogue options being available to me, including the classic: "Stand back ADA. I know numbers real good!" Given what follows, this has become one of my favourite lines from any game ever.

Anyway, great game and if you enjoy well-crafted dialogue, play it. It's that simple.

I was just thinking that @Gremio108 hasn't banged The Outer Worlds drum for at least 24 hours. And here you are!

Seriously though, glad you enjoyed and you are right the dialogue is superb. As much as I enjoyed Fallout 4, TOW did show up some of its shortcomings.

Shame both devs are under Microsoft's bosom now, so the likelihood of any sequels appearing on PS5 is slim.

@Gremio108 Wow, good work on the platinum. I liked the game but not enough to do another complete run!

I can’t remember if you said already but are you going to try the DLC?

I recently played through the Two Point Hospital Bigfoot DLC levels. This is included in the base PS4 game but was paid DLC on PC.

The DLC just has three levels in it and contains some new illnesses as well. Some of these are ones that fit in with pre-existing buildings (e.g. new illnesses that can be cured in the pharmacy) but there are a few new ones that use new buildings. Barking Mad sees patients come in dressed up as dogs and a room with a giant doghouse is used to treat them; Monster Mishmash sees Frankenstein patients needing treatment; and my favourite, Metropolism sees patients as Godzilla or giant robots who use a room that sees them rampage through a miniature city.

The first two levels use similar mechanics to a couple of my favourite levels from the base game; the one with a public hospital where money is made from random goals, and the research level where every staff member is trained from scratch. The final one is the most interesting layout as you take over a castle. The twist being that it's haunted so frequent hauntings occur where multiple ghosts will appear at once.

The levels are all set in snowy mountains so new items fit with this and plenty of heating is needed in your hospitals. This also means you get new catastrophes with avalanches (essentially earthquakes that damage your equipment) but also hailstorms which also damage equipment but the hailstones also need cleaning up too.

Overall, three levels is just right for a return to the game and the new illnesses make it more interesting after the base game became a little stale. Rehashing ideas from the base game for the first two levels is a little lazy but at least they were the most interesting ones to re-use.

@JohnnyShoulder Honestly, at this point in time, I'm more gutted about The Outer Worlds 2 not being on PS5 than I am about Fallout and Elder Scrolls. If I end do end up getting an Xbox late in the generation, it'll basically be a Western RPG machine. And maybe a bit of Forza.

@Thrillho Cheers! I wasn't planning on playing the DLCs, but after how much I enjoyed the game, I'm keeping it on the hard drive in case the opportunity arises. It's definitely a game I'd be happy to revisit.

Microsoft having access to all three of the studios that contributed to Fallout over the years gives me a lot of hope that the series can get back on its feet and deliver something comparable to Fallout 1-3 or New Vegas. Obsidian's a big get.

@Gremio108 I’ve been playing loads of Forza Horizon 4 recently, it’s just brilliant. Partly because it’s a game set in the UK and totally captures the crap weather but it puts Gran Turismo Sport to shame in terms of content and fun.

@nessisonett Yeah if it were on PS4 I'd have bought it in a heartbeat!

@Gremio108 I think I liked your shiny new Outer Worlds platinum on PSN earlier. Either that, or you've got a PSN twin out there somewhere! Congratulations!

I finished off the Tribunal expansion for Morrowind, it was half brilliant due to the main plot being fantastic but the lack of an overworld kinda took away from the experience. All the exploration and fighting takes place underneath Mournhold, in the sewers... which is about as exciting as it sounds. I really did enjoy my time with it though, I think that’s me ready to move on from Morrowind. Maybe I’ll start another playthrough of Oblivion!

@RogerRoger Aye, that was me. Cheers! Have you considered The Outer Worlds? I think you'd quite like it

@nessisonett @Thrillho @RogerRoger I do often prefer more linear, structured games. The open world in Origins feels a little pointless, despite not being overly large, but this is more than made up for by its excellent story sequences. If Arkham City has a smaller world it may strike a good balance between the two styles.

@Gremio108 Congrats for The Outer Wealds platinum! How was supernova difficulty? The writing really is excellent throughout. Some of the dialogue options are absolutely hilarious!

Just finished the PS4 version of Tomb Raider: Isle of the Incels. I played it years ago on the 360, but wanted a refresh before playing the other two games in the trilogy. It’s very good, although pushes some of the Uncharted 2-ish genre tropes a little too heavily at times, and also goes a little too far with the whole “let’s put “vulnerable” Lara through hell” premise. Gameplay overall is extremely solid and it’s very well made - a few bugs aside - and fun to play, if not a little overlong. The package is slightly let down by a rather weak script (dialogue is dreadful at times) and cookie-cutter characters with some embarrassing accents, but I’m looking forward to playing the next game.