2014.14: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

My 1st play-through end game stats

This slice of what is looking to be another Masterpiece instalment by Hideo is seriously the best and most exciting thing I've played in a long time.

The genius is all there. It's in the unique story each of your playthrough will bring, it's in the story, it's in the new systems, it's in the new approach, it's in the fact it still somehow feels MGS despite all the drastic changes. Fantastic.

An excellent outing for MGS NewGen;

9/10.

2014.13: South Park: The Stick Of Truth

Completed in 14 hours on HARDCORE

This game captures the South Park spirit perfectly and lets you know, watching South Park humour is one thing, playing South Park humour is another. It encapsulates the offensive and disgusting humour perfectly into game form, and I for one was genuinely shocked at what I was playing and doing in an hilarious way.

It has more than the shock value as overall it is a pretty solid RPG game with lots of variety in power ups, defences vs offences and I found the systems in place have a nice balance to them.

I also like the Obsidian touch of detail like your party member will comment according to the situation and when events hit town, the scenes change accordingly.  It all flows well and makes sense as much as it can. It's a solid experience.

My major complaint was despite playing on Hardcore, I never really felt challenged. If this was an exciting and exchilirating RPG on top of being a solid RPG that is funny, disgusting and shocking with awesome presentation, it would have been exceptional (10).

But even without the challenge, for South Park and RPG fans, this is an EXCELLENT game;

9/10.

Note if you are not a fan of South Park, you might want to drop a point or two as RPG as solid as it is, is not going to give you enough challenge to keep you interested on its own.

2014.12: Metro: Last Light

Completed in 10 hours on Hard

This game tops the first one as far as atmosphere. From better realised metro life to visual cues like bugs getting on your gas mask and you having to wipe them off, the game leaves little to no detail out. 

The big change from the first game is the stealth is a lot easier. The AI just won't see you if you are in the dark and all of them are pretty much deaf. But this matter little as in a game so tense and crazy, those stealth sections offer a welcome change of pace and are varied enough with big maps to find your way through that they can end up being very satisfying despite the AI.

Chapter after chapter, Whether you are travelling along the metro lines or are stuck in a hole with cobwebs and spiders everywhere, the tension just doesn't let up. You'll breathe a sigh of relief after every chapter and that is no bad thing. I absolutely loved the tension and excitement. 

The story is once again top notch and delivered very well. Backed again with great writing and soundtrack and it helps the game looks absolutely stunning visually (played on max on PC) with great art style.

So overall, I find this game to be an excellent game;

9/10.

2014.11: Brütal Legend

Completed in 15hours on HARD with 79% completion

This game has to have one of the most badass universes of all time. Full on metal goodness from the world art to the soundtrack. 

The gameplay is pretty good with 3rd person action adventure axe attack and long range electric guitar attacks. Both of these can be upgrade by doing side missions. I found myself addicted to the side missions and cleared them all before doing the main mission so for me they were fun and varied enough.

One really bad thing for me was the famous RTS sections. These can be frustrating as the controls of your units can get difficult but other than that provide no challenge. Just a bit of needless tediousness.

The story and characters were well written and had that Schafer charm all around. So yeah, quite an enjoyable atmosphere with good mechanics with only one bad let down (RTS parts) which in grand scheme of things don't come up often (though there is one bit it comes up in a row).

Overall. a good adventure;

6/10.