Topic: Games you've recently beat

Just finished Dante's campaign in PS4 DMC2, mostly meh but it has its moments. Before that I platted The Surge and loved every minute of it, fantastic game!

@Jaz007 Thanks for replying, it's helpful. I can't go for the Royal Edition as it is 2.5 times more expensive than the vanilla so I'm not paying so much more for those DLCs

Just finished Tomb Raider Definitive edition. Pretty great game.

I know it gets compared to Uncharted a lot, but I think it's kinda even in a sense. I think the gameplay is better: Lara controls and plays well, aside from how she doesn't have a melee attack until you get the climbing axe, anyway. I enjoy the upgrade and growth systems (although I'll admit that it's weird that Lara's capable of modding guns despite just starting out), and the variation of collectables.

I think the story is on the weak side, however. It's not bad, but it's the typical hero's journey mixed with the abnormal artifact/ lost island adventure that's been done before. I also think that the cast didn't get much time to shine aside from Lara and Roth. There's some moments with them here and there, but aside from their personal documents (Which I'm not a fan of because character development shouldn't be relegated to optional collectables, not if you want me to care about them) they aren't that fleshed out.

I don't know when I'll get to Rise, but I'll give it a go now that I've got this under my belt.

@DerMeister Now you’re all ready to see the movie!

@DerMeister Yeah I agree with Tomb Raider v Uncharted. Maybe its cos I grew up with TR games? But I think TR gameplay is better and Uncharted does story and characters better.

Played through the Uncharted Remastered Trilogy and thought there was way too much shooty shooty bang bang and not enough exploration stuff.

@JohnnyShoulder I completely agree. The first Uncharted though was a revelation as it really brought us characters that were every bit as good as those portrayed in movies. It was much more grounded, despite having some 'mystical' element than we had seen from Tomb Raider in the past and it gave us more realistic character interactions. That has gone on to define the Naughty Dog we know and love today. A heavy focus on Story and character realisation with relatively 'average' but well executed game-play. Its a standard 3rd person cover shooter with some platforming mechanics - that's also true for Last of Us but with maybe more emphasis on stealth - but the Story and characters elevate those above others that offer similar game-play.

The reboot of Tomb Raider has more focus on the game-play. Its opened up into more of an open world action RPG - although those 'open worlds' are more Hubs than one big open world. That gives reason to explore, to hunt (for resources), Side quests (although not exactly numerous in TR), reason to rank up, upgrade gear etc, reason to revisit areas when you have the right gear (explosives, rope bow etc to access areas you couldn't earlier on) etc. What the Reboot also did though was give Lara a more realistic and 'human' character - with better interaction with the supporting cast - something the reboot did better than 'Rise' which may be one reason the story doesn't resonate as well.

However as a 'game', Rise is certainly better. Its not 'just' the single player campaign either but all the additional options - like survival, time challenges etc - much better than the first's Multi-player mode...

Also

Bows > Guns

Have they managed to build other characters other than Lara Croft? I played the reboot, and though I had fun, I can't remember caring about the story or characters very much. The first Uncharted established not just Nathan Drake, but Elena Fisher and Sully as well-rounded characters that you become invested in. They've also successfully added to that with Chloe, Sam and Nadine.

The whole cast of TR is pretty forgettable outside of Lara, to be honest. Which is a shame since the gameplay is so good.

If we could just get a game with TR's great gameplay and Uncharted's great storytelling/characters we would have the perfect game.

@Splat Don’t we have that game already? It’s called Horizon Zero Dawn.
(Actually it’s called NieR Automata)

@Th3solution I thought it was called The Witcher 3 lol

@JohnnyShoulder nah im 100% sure it was Nier.

And no, I really don't want them to force companions on you in the TR games. It kind of does my head in always having someone tagging along with you in ND games.

That's what's putting me off GoW too.

And I didn't like having Alex hanging around all the way through HL2 Episode 1 either

@kyleforrester87 My aren't we a misery guts today?

@JohnnyShoulder you don't know the half of it mate!! Haha

Although, rereading my comment I have to laugh because in Nier you have a companion forced on you for at least half the game. Hohum.

@kyleforrester87 lol yeah I was thinking that same thing. Just goes to show how great nier is. I'm not big on games with AI companions, but it did bother me at all with nier.

Kirby: Star Allies (Switch)

• Gameplay wise it's classic Kirby, for better or worse (which I personally enjoy, though I know others prefer his more creative outings), and I personally didn't mind the allies.
• It looks quite gorgeous, but I don't think it's thematically planned very well. World One takes place on a "country" scale, world 2 on a "planet" scale, and it works it's way up to a galactic adventure by world 4, which is actually really cool, but it kind of works out like this: World one has a coherent theme since it takes place in Dream Land, but it's the generic grass theme so eh, World 2 has you jetting all across Pop-Star and pretty much each level has a different theme and that's cool, World 3 takes place in an enemy fortress which is the most unique theme in the game and all it's levels are coherently tied together by it's theme, but since the game only has 4 worlds total (as opposed to the 6 in the 3DS games) these later worlds are stuffed to the gills with levels and even the unique theme of World 3 wears on by it's end, and World 4 has you jetting across the Solar System, and although the level themes do jump constantly from planet to planet, you really don't get to see much new, as they really needed to make some use out of those themes they used exactly once before in World 2. This is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things, and I spent way more time on it than I should have, but I wish it was as thematically tight as Adventure or Planet Robobot.
• Not sure how I feel about the puzzle piece collectables. They give you good reason to replay levels (though I found pretty much all the special pieces on my first run through the levels), but I preferred how Stickers were handled in Planet Robobot.
• Overall it's a solid entry in the classic Kirby series, but not one of it's best. However, I will admit the final boss was a real highlight, and may be the best in the series (and one of the best final bosses on Switch). It really is more ambitious than anything I've ever seen in a Kirby game.

@KratosMD I played red Dead redemption for the first time when it became backward compatible game Xbox one and I was kind of disappointed mainly because I had very high expectations. It is a good game, but nowhere near that good as everyone says it is. Maybe because I played it almost ten years later. I can only imagine how revolutionary it was back in time, but I don't think it has aged well.

@KratosMD I have never tried multi-player mode, so I don't know if it's good or bad, and I just don't like most in GTA so probably wouldn't like this one either. I agree that some missions felt like filler. Some were amazing, and the ending is heart breaking but when it ended I was like 'That's it?' and that's why I'm not pumped for the sequel as everybody else seem to be.

I just beat Uncharted 4. Excellent game. Easily the best story of the series. However, outside of the last one, set pieces were lacking. None but the last we’re very memorable, and after Uncharted and multiple of the best set pieces I’ve ever seen, I was sad this, honesty didn’t have anything above average ones really. No standouts like the plane falling apart or the hallucination sequence towards the end like in U3. Also, too much climbing. It needed more action to balance that out. But I loved what Sam brought to the story, it made it have a lot more weight, and when Srake got injured, it was actually believable this time. No I’m injured until an enemy shows up. Then I’m fine. I liked the ending, but want an Uncharted 5 with Drake again. I know what Naughty Dog said, but the ending in no way prevents Drake from being used again. He could go on another adventute, or have one in-between when he had his daughter and before the epilogue. I loved the game, but want a game that delivers with set pieces to end it. Also, interesting choice to have no supernatural for the first time in a Naughty Dog Uncharted game.
Uncharted 3 is still the best in the series I think.

@Jaz007 chasing set piece is one of the best in the series in my opinion. UC4 is my favorite because of high production values and better developed characters, but that could be due to me playing the rest of the series on ps4 for the first time ever, so I imagine they were much more awe inspiring back in the day. Reflecting in the series now, some time after I finished all of the mainline games, I think that uncharted 4 is a really different game. It is more serious that the rest and if anyone read Blood, sweat and pixels book he or she realizes why this game ended up having this direction.