Games that surprised you.

[hanselthecaretaker]

Honestly I would've been fine with the "and then he drives away", as that's pretty standard for max. It was the whole "and everything is worse than how he left it" that turned me off. I mean, I recall very distinctly playing that game, a few years after it came out, and thinking "man I really don't see why people are shitting all over this. it's really fun. it feels fitting for the source material, I'm enjoying the progression, the storms are awesome and terrifying.....oh....oh that ending...ouch...um....wow."

To me that was maybe enough to dock the game like .5 on a 10 point scale. So if it were a solid 9 maybe take it down to an 8.5, because while depressing it really didn’t affect the gameplay before it, which although repetitious was pretty exceptional overall. I would’ve only made Max’s movement feel a bit weightier as he did kinda feel a bit lofty and not-so-sure-footed when jumping to and fro.

Oh and actually now that I remember it, the couple of sections where you had to drive through long dark tunnels full of water and debris can be thrown in a dumpster fire. That might’ve brought the score down another .5 points

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I'm advised to give it a try. I have 4 and 5 from PS plus on PS3 and I think yet another version on PS4. Long cut scenes as I recall from giving it a try once before. I'll have to do so again soon.

The long cutscenes are a major part of the franchise, and that can be a little difficult to get into, but 4 is still one of my favorites in the series, and 5 is my total favorite. 4 at least comes with recap videos of the first three games, though that's more long cutscenes; you could always read a plot synopsis on Wikipedia instead, or just go straight for it.

Best advice I can give for the Yakuza games is, don't try to rush through them. Take your time, explore the city, play minigames, do side quests, watch the long cutscenes instead of just skipping through them. If you can get into their relatively slow pace, you'll enjoy them a lot more.

 

[Dreiko]

13 Sentinels keeps surprising me 20something hours in. It has a very cool way of handling mystery storytelling. It's kinda hard to describe without spoilers but basically the game constantly asks questions and never answers any of them, it just asks more questions that crumble away the premises of the previous questions by introducing new information, so it manages to assuage your quriosity without actually offering any answers at all. It's very complex and to keep track of everything you WILL be using the ingame archive mode that details every little thing (and I mean everything, including what sort of soda some dude drank that has no significance...or so I think at this time anyhow lmao).

 

[Dalisclock]

Ace Combat 7. But not in a good way, I'm afraid. Heard people says some really good things about it, and having just had a string of good experiences trying new (for me) franchises, so I was ready to add another. And ... it doesn't gel with me. At all. I played to mission 10 before deciding halfway through I wasn't having fun and quitting.

If you reached mission 10 and aren't enjoying it, no shame in quitting. It doesn't change in any real way beyond that and you pretty much reached the halfway point. Once you leave the penal unit the missions get easier(the penal unit is a difficulty spike) but if it's not working for you now, the rest of the game isn't gonna change your mind.

I loved Ace Combat Shattered Skies, but I couldn't really get into 7 either. I mean the gameplay was mostly fine, but I did miss the close combat thing from Assualt Horizon (they did this thing where you could lock your plane into pursuit of another and riddle it with gunfire or close range missiles, it was really fun but overused for scripted pursuits where you couldn't actually shoot someone down till after the game showed you flying through something cool, but let you keep wasting missiles).

For me I think what really didn't gel was the story, its dumb enough in normal games where you are part of a penal legion, but for them to put prisoners in charge of multi-million dollar aircraft with heavy ordinance, ugh. So dumb.

I liked 7 but the story is all over the fucking place. I felt like the writers had ADD or something because there's like 5 separate storylines the game bounces back and forth between, culminating with the possible endless robot war at the end. And I agree, the penal unit thing just doesn't really work like it's intended too. I could kind of get behind the idea if you were forced to use the shittiest planes with guns and no missiles or something, but allowing you the same ability to buy super duper fighters while in the penal unit felt like a major case of gameplay and story segregation.

It doesn't help that it's flat out dropped and everything returns to normal when you reach the story halfway point, and then it's barely mentioned again after that.

 

[Iron]

There is nothing 'basic' about Bioshock. Its a damned master-piece from the lighthouse to the end.

For me I'll go Amnesia A Machine for Pigs. This is controverstial, but I thought the Dark Descent was boring. I couldn't get into the story, and the monsters were pretty goofy looking. They reminded me of something out of Courage the Cowardly Dog, and the acting wasn't much better.
But A Machine for Pigs...maybe it was the steam-punk Victorian theme, or better voice actors/writing, or may because the pigs felt like actual threats as opposed to Gumby's fever dream, but that game scared the shit out of me the first time. I'll grant there is no replay value, but I'm more of the mind horror games can't have replay value because part of the horror is the unknown and once you know its not scary.
Also the story was much darker. The whole turning humans into Frankenstein Pig monsters and harvesting them to feed Europe in the hopes of preventing WW1, all while the sentient Machine powered by the souls of your dead sons is plotting to destroy humanity because it looked into the future and saw everything and determined humanity really is better off dead. Darker stuff than just our uncle wants to live forever.

This vibe from the pigpen?

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

RAD, not in any strong opinionated way, but more the soundtrack seems to overtly be "homaging" certain 80s popular tracks with varying degrees of blatancy, such as Jump, by Van Halen, Rio, by Duran Duran, Take on Me, with a couple of others I'm not sure on. Though that last one sounds more like a karaoke backing track than any of the other attempts to avoid legal troubles. There isn't much else unfortunately, music loops is a bit too short. Would love to hear more of their "you're only supposed to half-recognise this cos this is indie 80s apocalypse god damn it...we can't afford the real shinies!"

Trine 4, is rather wholesome, very attractive in motion like a fairy story painterly book. I forgot fantasy could be magical and pretty with about as much peril as a slightly damp sock on a cold winter's day. Found it very comfortable to slip into. Apart from the constant floatiness to everything. Perhaps it is meant to replicate dreamy physics. Perhaps it is just outdated game design. Perhaps both! Anyway it has a seal. Not sure why that seal appeals so much, probably caught me at an emotionally vulnerable moment, but whatevs, it is what it is. Or is it?

 

[Gergar12]

I assumed Last of Us 2 was going to shove progressive politics in my face. But the reveals were surprisedly low-key.