Games Beaten 2016

[Sarge]

Yeah, I forgot to mention that, I guess I just got tired of typing. It's a very good-looking game for the platform, and plays a lot more smoothly than you'd expect. I'd honestly forgotten I even had the game, and always thought it was probably pretty clunky, but not really! You can totally see the Soul Calibur foundation here.

I remember you beating it earlier this year. I also remember your impressions being very favorable, which is why I picked it up while digging through my PSX games.

[Xeogred]

Agreed on Soul Blade being top notch for the PSX. Very impressive stuff. Such a shame Soul Caliber kind of turned into dooky. Soul Blade, and Caliber 1-2 were amazing.

Glad you enjoyed Titanfall 2 Sarge! Pardon me just glancing over your monster list, but did you play Doom 4? I like Doom more than Titanfall 2 by a bit, but both are incredible home runs for new first person shooter campaigns and they both excel greatly in terms of control and movement. They just feel amazing to play.

I think Black Friday week and other deals have boosted its sales a lot. The player base online seems to be growing and their attitude of giving us all free DLC in terms of gameplay (maps, new loadout stuff, etc so the player base is never split) is awesome. They're adding a shop for micro transactions/cosmetics. Not my thing, but I love this game so much and their attitude in how they've handled everything, that I might buy some stuff for the heck of it! Also nobody is caring about CoD it seems. I don't think it was nominated once for anything on the 2016 Game Awards? Titanfall 2 has rightfully stolen that thunder. I think Respawn do want to make a third game if possible. It's nice that they own the IP rather than EA.

[Sarge]

DOOM 4 is on my list to pick up pretty soon. I have more of an appreciation of the series after having finally gone through the first two games.

[Xeogred]

I still love 3 as well, if you plan to hit that one up. Expect more of a FEAR / Bioshock kind of thing and hopefully you'll dig it.

[PartridgeSenpai]

I still love 3 as well, if you plan to hit that one up. Expect more of a FEAR / Bioshock kind of thing and hopefully you'll dig it.

I'd personally say Doom 3 is somewhere in between Bioshock and FEAR. Bioshock having a fantastic story but really lame shooting, and FEAR having fucking brilliantly satisfying shooting and surprisingly smart AI while only a decently compelling/scary story. Doom 3 has a weaker (or at least less well paced, but only marginally) than FEAR, but the shooting is way better than Bioshock. Doom 3 has personally never kept me hooked enough to go through to the end, but that's just the kind of gamer I am. It takes a truly special game to keep me going on just shooting mans/demons alone with basically no story.

[Exhuminator]

I loved and finished the original DOOM back around its initial release. I've never finished DOOM 2, but what I played of it was good. As for DOOM 3, I found that one to be extraordinarily boring and repetitive, and stopped playing it after about two hours. The new DOOM looks fun enough, I'll likely play it someday.

[MrPopo]

In terms of gameplay progression it goes Doom, Doom 2, Doom 4. Doom 3 is this weird side episode where Carmack developed a lighting engine and wanted to use it to full effect.

[Sarge]

Yeah, my understanding is that DOOM 4 goes back to the old-school sensibilities, to excellent effect.

[marurun]

Yeah, my understanding is that DOOM 4 goes back to the old-school sensibilities, to excellent effect.

That's what's so interesting about Doom 4. It has old-school sensibilities reflected through modern expectations. You can pull yourself up ledges and, later on, even double jump. And while health and ammo are more sparsely distributed on the maps, making hanging back a cautious affair, running in to do melee and chainsaw kills rewards you with health and ammo, effectively rewarding you for getting up close and personal despite the risks.

All this means the game isn't really old-school at all. It just makes you feel like it is, which is more the point.

[Sarge]

Having a jump is certainly nice. I really wanted one a few times in the original games.