2015.12 | Batman: Arkham Asylum

Platinum (no idea on time)

Oh man. It's still an exceptional game. Story is great, everything from the atmosphere to the writing to the voice acting to the action and taking out a room in predator mode. All have aged very gracefully. It was a blast to play through again and even getting all the Riddler trophies (had to use guide on one, and a guide on one area's riddle map location). 

Only issue I can fault it for is the repetitive boss fights. but that does not at all sour the experience so eh, easy to overlook.

I think this game is of 'classic' status to me. One I can go back and play over and over for years to come. Simply exceptional;

10/10. 

2015.11 | WWE Day of Reckoning 2

Story mode completed in ~ 5 hours on NORMAL

This was a much more addictive story mode than I have expected. Once I dug in, I pretty much played it non stop to its end. 

The story is you get framed for stealing the WWE World Champion belt, which costs you your spot on RAW (this was during the times of SmackDown! vs RAW), your girlfriend Stacy Kiebler, and you try to win all that back.

The gameplay has the Stamina system that I believe made a return in WWE2k15 and in here at least, it works quite well. It stops the spam of the punch button, it makes you consider doing moves more and when your stamina is moderate - low, you really start to play more defensively, which for me meant just hiding outside the ring and going back in when the A.I. comes for me :)

Other than that, it's simple enough to play with grapples and strikes, yet you have to pay attention to reverse moves properly, and the aforementioned stamina. There is just enough there to keep your brain engaged. Career mode also has stats like Submission, Strength, Speed, Charisma, etc. that improves your wrestler as you play along. 

The 4 four way matches was the really big downfall for me. They are super frustrating. With A.I. ganging up on you, stopping all your special move attempts, and so on. Similarly, near the end in a Royal Rumble match, when you are at the ropes, the A.I. will gang up on you to kick you out but when you are starting to kick someone else out, the A.I. comes and helps THEM (when they had no affiliation with each other, so it wasn't some sort of smart ally system). It was super infuriating, and the only way to beat that was basically get lucky enough to get rid of 3 wrestlers and as the new ones come, get them out before another comes.

Overall, it was pretty OK to be honest. Wouldn't open it and play it again now that I got through the story or anything but while it lasted it was fun.

5/10.

2015.10 | Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments

Times walkthrough used: 1 (Case 3)

This was a much more interesting and fun entrance to this series than the previous attempt (Testament Of Sherlock Holmes) I found.

The 6 cases are varied in location and what you solve, and are mostly solid. They are not particularly challenging, but they'll keep you on your toes nonetheless. And majority of the fun comes not strictly from solving brain wrecking puzzles but more the joy of unrevealing the murders,

Sherlock is voiced well, though the facial animations could use an upgrade, and he is as 'lovable' as any adaptation of this genius character. I for one got a good few chuckles out of the writing and Sherlock's representation. It was done to a good standard.

I really enjoyed the good amount of user interactivity and involvement. You don't mindlessly click your way to the end, you have to pay attention. As using the clues you've found, you have to make deductions and connect the dots yourself. And come to many possible conclusions based on those (of course, only one is correct). The game lets you run with your incorrect decisions, and you can in fact accuse the wrong person. The game does allow you to check if you were correct at the click of a button and if you are so inclined, can reload and find more clues / come to another conclusion.

Along with this deduction system, there is the moral choice. Which is usually "yeah he did a crime but didn't mean it" or "justice at all costs" moral options. To my understanding, these only change the wordings of the letters (which summarise each completed case) and not the story or anything else, but still a welcome addition.

Pepper that with interactive puzzles like unlocking doors, and analysing evidence using Sherlock's work table, it's a pretty full game really. I hope these games keep coming, and I hope they keep getting better and better.

I would give this game a VERY GOOD,

7/10.

2015.9 | Dark Souls

End Soul Level: 90
Completed in: 34hrs 23mins

OK, I think this is super key to the Souls game so I will mention the bits I used help / guide for:

- Getting into The Abyss (did not know the game had a 'set order' so confused me on how to jump down to The Abyss without dying, turns out I had to get another boss item before going there)

- Somehow having in my mind that after 40, Endurance is diminishing returns. Though once I got to that point in levelling up, it was pretty obvious anyway, but still.

Other than that, was a full blind playthrough and man did I make a mistake going dex build. Did not come across a great dex weapon until I was into the game considerable hours which was a bit annoying but just made getting that weapon feel so good. After upgrading that weapon, the game became pretty easy honestly but not as easy as my Demon's Souls run using magic.

The level design and unlocking shortcuts were done very smartly in this game and it fills you with dread as you traverse the lands like no other game ever. As you travel further from the bonfire, you are basically shitting your pants, just praying another bonfire appears soon. 

There was a case I travelled a long distance from bonfire and came across a big looking enemy, and instead of having a go and risk losing my soul, which were considerable amount by that point, I travelled all the way back to the bonfire, grinded a bit until I had bit more souls so I can upgrade, then with my minimal amount of souls I went back out to where that big enemy was. Whom, it turned out, I could beat easily. But it just goes to show how fearful the game makes you.

So it really does feel like a dangerous adventure you survive and want to brag to your friends about. And MAN, did it feel good to BEAT this game. Yes, BEAT. It's one of the few games, if not only, where I feel like I can say I BEAT the game, instead of merely "completing" it. You don't complete Souls, you beat it. It's a tough hard fought battle, and you get weary and think of yourself worthless, but hang in there and you get an awesome adventure.

9/10.