Mystic Mock
22-11-2023, 06:31 AM
Basically it's like these two threads https://www.thisisbigbrother.com/forums/showthread.php?t=388682 and https://www.thisisbigbrother.com/forums/showthread.php?t=387849
But instead of Mangas or YouTubers, it's instead a showdown between Video Games.
Here's my grading system:
10 - Masterpiece
9 - Great
8 - Very Good
7 - Good
6 - Fine
5 - Average
4 - Bad
3 - Very Bad
2 - Terrible
1 - Appalling
0 - Beyond Evil Towards Humanity
And like on the other two threads, even if two Games score the same, the one that's placed higher on my list in a particular round is the one that I'm saying is better (but just very marginal) so for example if number 3 on my list scores an 8/10, but number 4 also scores an 8/10, I am saying that I prefer number 3 on my list, just to clarify 100% for anyone that cares.:laugh:
Here's my first round anyway. All of these Games I have played recently.
Round 1:
1. Dragon Ball Xenoverse - 8/10 - I preferred Fusions, but I still had a lot of fun with Dragon Ball Xenoverse despite never really watching the Manga or reading the Anime. So basically I'm not a blinkered Dragon Ball stan or anything like that, this Game is a lot of fun imo. Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's one of the greatest Games ever made or anything like that, but if you like exploring a Sonic Adventure-esque City environments, and fast paced Fighting RPG mechanics, then Dragon Ball Xenoverse is a Game worth checking out. It also has a sequel that I've yet to play.
2. F1 2021 - 7/10 - I know that EA Sports Games in particular can get a bad reputation within the Gaming community (understandable sometimes tbf) but as someone that has only ever played one other F1 Game back when I was a kid (don't ask which one as I can't remember lol) I didn't really know what I was going to think of this Game going into it. Now imo I'm not going to nominate it as the greatest Game that's ever been made, but it is a fun Game imo and it also has a decent difficulty curb without being too severe or too easy, it has a good balance. Oh and this Game is on Xbox Game Pass for any F1 junkies out there.:joker: Or tbf anyone that likes Racing Games.
3. Shadow The Hedgehog - 7/10 - Revisiting my youth with this Game lol. But again I'd say that it's a decent Game for a Sonic spin-off title, obviously it tries to be edgy in a kiddie kind of way, but it doesn't really bother me like I think it does some people. It's not really interesting enough though for me personally to want to play through all of the different routes that it has, however if you've got a kid who likes Video Games (especially single player Video Games) then get them Shadow The Hedgehog either through the PS2, Xbox, GameCube or Emulation (yes I'm recommending technically something that's illegal, but those Consoles are 20 years old at this point tbf) because I think that a kid will find Shadow's attempt at edgy dialogue funny, and tbh kids aren't really getting many single player Games being aimed at them at the moment, and assuming that most kids have tried all of the modern Sonic & Mario Games, test them on Shadow The Hedgehog, especially if your kid is a huge fan of the Sonic franchise, as most Sonic fans do love Shadow as a character.
4. Dead Space Remake - 5/10 - Probably my biggest hot take (or the next Game coming up) but I played this on Game Pass just to see if I'd like the Remake of Dead Space without paying a **** ton of money for it. Now I would personally say that Dead Space Remake was on the cusp towards greatness, it let you actually play the Game, and they had a good Survival Horror vibe going on in the Game, and the story was decent. However two things killed it for me.
1. The combat was in my view terrible, monsters would pop in large numbers in tight corridors (which considering this Game is part Survival Horror they're kind of taking away a valid strategy for me to just flee and preserve my items) and would even put monsters in Puzzle rooms (which is just a no no for any Video Game to do) as the Puzzle is meant be the challenge in those stages, not the Puzzle and an enemy behind you trying to sneak attack the player, Even old school Resident Evil and Silent Hill Games knew to not have enemies attacking you in Puzzle rooms. But ultimately the Game's gameplay loop was wanting the player to fight the enemies in cramped and tight rooms en masse like a Third Person Shooter, but was also punishing you for not fleeing in these cramped rooms where four to five monsters were blocking the path, and even sometimes have health and bullets on them, so if you don't kill them then you're missing out on essential items possibly, but they'd never give enough out so that you could actually upgrade your other essential stuff that you need to upgrade in the Game, but ultimately I'd end up having to waste so much bullets and health in the Game no matter what strategy that I would implement (which trust me I tried them all) and I found that the monsters would just take a **** ton of bullets to kill whilst managing to take loads of health off of me. Also the Leviathan fight is a borderline broken fight imo, there were so many times that I would do something in the fight that I saw YouTube walkthrough guides succeed at doing (like throw the Volcanic Node stuff in the center of his mouth three times) I would do the exact same thing and the ****er would keep surviving. Thankfully the Line Gun killed the **** in three hits, which for some reason the Game was giving out loads of bullets out in space for that particular fight, and not one of them were Line Gun bullets:facepalm: So they can't even claim to be doing a Soulsborne elitist argument of "git gud" because Dead Space were trying to help me out, but not with the Gun that actually is the most effective at killing Leviathan.:laugh:
2. The Kinesis ability is just a lot more clunky to use compared to other Games that I have played that have used that same ability, namely BioShock.
5. Max Payne - 4/10 - Again another hot take:laugh: tbf though I again will say that I actually liked aspects of Max Payne, and they were Max Payne himself and the story (especially the psychological level in his mind on the day to do with what basically sets Max Payne to be the way he is) all of that was very good. However the platforming should be made a crime to be so offensively bad and clunky, and tbh the combat wasn't much better if I'm being honest.
6. Like A Dragon: Ishin! Remake - 2/10 - I'd like to hope that this is seen as a good take rather than a hot take.:laugh:
But ultimately for me I had to quit this Game after doing 4 chapters (just to remind you each chapter that I played were long) because while the gameplay was actually a decent attempt at Devil May Cry (and certainly better than Yakuza: Like A Dragon's combat imo) unfortunately it's overshadowed by 4 chapters worth of tutorials (including a farming tutorial, I'm not even kidding) and the most boring and lifeless dialogue that I have ever seen in the Like A Dragon series (somehow worse than Yakuza: Like A Dragon) and the thing that finally broke me with the Game and made me quit it on the spot, was at the start of Chapter 5 and they were wanting me to train with the Shinsengumi, because basically that was code for "ANOTHER TUTORIAL GUYS!:dance:" and there is only so much tutorial stuff that I can take before finally snapping.
Apologies if you think that I'm being harsh on any of these Games, but ironically that can create interesting debate I suppose, so if there's anything that you want to say to me about my scores and why I gave them the scores they were given then I'm up for explaining myself.:dance:
Round 2:
1. Sunset Overdrive - 9/10 - I played the Game off of Game Pass and I really don't regret it. Admittedly you have to get used to the rail mechanic for about the first hour (well that was for me anyway) but basically give it a few hours and you'll be experiencing one of Insomniac's most addictive Games that they've ever made imo. It's quirky and not ashamed of it, it's honestly a shame that we're never going to get a sequel. Just to add it's so nice to see a Game that made an environment that was big, but not monolithic in size which a lot of Games tend to do in recent generations. The Game also has a fantastic sense of humour, including the kid that faked having Cancer at the Cheerleaders hideout, I just love that twisted GTA styled humour so much.:flutter:
2. Resident Evil 2 Remake - 9/10 - Like with the original Game, I always get tapped out after playing scenario A that I never end up doing scenario B, however this time I played as Claire Redfield which I really found interesting seeing the differences between her and Leon's modes. For me though Sherry has the best level in the Game, I haven't felt that anxious playing a Horror Game since White Day: A Labyrinth Named School. Imo Capcom needs to study Resident Evil 2 Remake on how to bring Resident Evil quality into the modern day, rather than making generic Horror titles and slapping the Resident Evil name onto them.
3. .Hack//G.U. Vol. 1//Rebirth - 8/10 - I'm probably being biased here because I really enjoyed the .Hack//Sign Anime, but I really enjoyed this Game, the story was interesting, and the characters were also interesting in their own way. The battle system was decent but nothing revolutionary, but it's fun still. The Forum activity and Online Jack were a blast to experience, really fun side stuff. The only real flaw the Game has is the Dungeons getting a bit samey looking in design, don't get me wrong I still had fun in them, but just don't expect the next Shin Megami Tensei or Zelda to come from Hack's dungeon design.
4. Battletoads (2020 Game) - 8/10 - Okay this Game is probably the slow burner of the Games that I enjoyed in this round, at first I thought that it was just going to be a generic Brawler type of Game, which don't get me wrong would've still been fun to a point, but it wouldn't be getting into 8/10 or above from me if it had've stayed that way. However the Game imo gets highly experimental as it goes along (which may put some people off) but I was fully on board for, my favourite attempt from Battletoads 2020 was probably the Space Shooter levels, no pun intended but I had a blast with those levels.
5. .Hack//G.U. Vol. 2//Reminisce - 7/10 - Having calmed down from playing the Game, I would say that it's a good sequel to Rebirth, but with some severe issues in the middle of the Game when it comes to character screen time being really badly handled, and then trying to bring some of these characters back into the fold after a big moment happens (I won't spoil it for anyone that might be interested in playing the Game) but there's definitely character development issues in this Game.
Areas where this Game is strong though.
1. Crimson VS - A Card minigame basically, that in my view can be very addictive.
2. Online Jack - Has a very interesting cliffhanger in this Game.
3. Forum Activity - I'm not very good at explaining things, but think of it as a Video Game version of TIBB.
4. Improving the variety of the Dungeon design slightly - It's negligible, but an improvement is an improvement tbf, but I understand that they weren't given the budget of a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, so I don't want to be too harsh on them for it in the first one. Just to add I personally believe that Reminisce has a really strong Dungeon near the end of the Game, very strong.
5. A strong beginning and strong end to the Game in the story department.
But basically if you like Sword Art Online then you should give a shot to the series that birthed SAO imo.
6. FIFA 23 - 7/10 - I personally see it as a fun Game, it could do with more single player modes though.
7. Hitman (2016 Game) - 3/10 - I mean tbf to the Game I didn't play loads of it, so my review is harsh here I'll freely admit, but the Game just didn't hook me, it kind of felt lifeless to me, which is weird given the title of the Game, but it felt very devoid of a personality or character, whatever term you want to use I thought that it lacked.
But instead of Mangas or YouTubers, it's instead a showdown between Video Games.
Here's my grading system:
10 - Masterpiece
9 - Great
8 - Very Good
7 - Good
6 - Fine
5 - Average
4 - Bad
3 - Very Bad
2 - Terrible
1 - Appalling
0 - Beyond Evil Towards Humanity
And like on the other two threads, even if two Games score the same, the one that's placed higher on my list in a particular round is the one that I'm saying is better (but just very marginal) so for example if number 3 on my list scores an 8/10, but number 4 also scores an 8/10, I am saying that I prefer number 3 on my list, just to clarify 100% for anyone that cares.:laugh:
Here's my first round anyway. All of these Games I have played recently.
Round 1:
1. Dragon Ball Xenoverse - 8/10 - I preferred Fusions, but I still had a lot of fun with Dragon Ball Xenoverse despite never really watching the Manga or reading the Anime. So basically I'm not a blinkered Dragon Ball stan or anything like that, this Game is a lot of fun imo. Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's one of the greatest Games ever made or anything like that, but if you like exploring a Sonic Adventure-esque City environments, and fast paced Fighting RPG mechanics, then Dragon Ball Xenoverse is a Game worth checking out. It also has a sequel that I've yet to play.
2. F1 2021 - 7/10 - I know that EA Sports Games in particular can get a bad reputation within the Gaming community (understandable sometimes tbf) but as someone that has only ever played one other F1 Game back when I was a kid (don't ask which one as I can't remember lol) I didn't really know what I was going to think of this Game going into it. Now imo I'm not going to nominate it as the greatest Game that's ever been made, but it is a fun Game imo and it also has a decent difficulty curb without being too severe or too easy, it has a good balance. Oh and this Game is on Xbox Game Pass for any F1 junkies out there.:joker: Or tbf anyone that likes Racing Games.
3. Shadow The Hedgehog - 7/10 - Revisiting my youth with this Game lol. But again I'd say that it's a decent Game for a Sonic spin-off title, obviously it tries to be edgy in a kiddie kind of way, but it doesn't really bother me like I think it does some people. It's not really interesting enough though for me personally to want to play through all of the different routes that it has, however if you've got a kid who likes Video Games (especially single player Video Games) then get them Shadow The Hedgehog either through the PS2, Xbox, GameCube or Emulation (yes I'm recommending technically something that's illegal, but those Consoles are 20 years old at this point tbf) because I think that a kid will find Shadow's attempt at edgy dialogue funny, and tbh kids aren't really getting many single player Games being aimed at them at the moment, and assuming that most kids have tried all of the modern Sonic & Mario Games, test them on Shadow The Hedgehog, especially if your kid is a huge fan of the Sonic franchise, as most Sonic fans do love Shadow as a character.
4. Dead Space Remake - 5/10 - Probably my biggest hot take (or the next Game coming up) but I played this on Game Pass just to see if I'd like the Remake of Dead Space without paying a **** ton of money for it. Now I would personally say that Dead Space Remake was on the cusp towards greatness, it let you actually play the Game, and they had a good Survival Horror vibe going on in the Game, and the story was decent. However two things killed it for me.
1. The combat was in my view terrible, monsters would pop in large numbers in tight corridors (which considering this Game is part Survival Horror they're kind of taking away a valid strategy for me to just flee and preserve my items) and would even put monsters in Puzzle rooms (which is just a no no for any Video Game to do) as the Puzzle is meant be the challenge in those stages, not the Puzzle and an enemy behind you trying to sneak attack the player, Even old school Resident Evil and Silent Hill Games knew to not have enemies attacking you in Puzzle rooms. But ultimately the Game's gameplay loop was wanting the player to fight the enemies in cramped and tight rooms en masse like a Third Person Shooter, but was also punishing you for not fleeing in these cramped rooms where four to five monsters were blocking the path, and even sometimes have health and bullets on them, so if you don't kill them then you're missing out on essential items possibly, but they'd never give enough out so that you could actually upgrade your other essential stuff that you need to upgrade in the Game, but ultimately I'd end up having to waste so much bullets and health in the Game no matter what strategy that I would implement (which trust me I tried them all) and I found that the monsters would just take a **** ton of bullets to kill whilst managing to take loads of health off of me. Also the Leviathan fight is a borderline broken fight imo, there were so many times that I would do something in the fight that I saw YouTube walkthrough guides succeed at doing (like throw the Volcanic Node stuff in the center of his mouth three times) I would do the exact same thing and the ****er would keep surviving. Thankfully the Line Gun killed the **** in three hits, which for some reason the Game was giving out loads of bullets out in space for that particular fight, and not one of them were Line Gun bullets:facepalm: So they can't even claim to be doing a Soulsborne elitist argument of "git gud" because Dead Space were trying to help me out, but not with the Gun that actually is the most effective at killing Leviathan.:laugh:
2. The Kinesis ability is just a lot more clunky to use compared to other Games that I have played that have used that same ability, namely BioShock.
5. Max Payne - 4/10 - Again another hot take:laugh: tbf though I again will say that I actually liked aspects of Max Payne, and they were Max Payne himself and the story (especially the psychological level in his mind on the day to do with what basically sets Max Payne to be the way he is) all of that was very good. However the platforming should be made a crime to be so offensively bad and clunky, and tbh the combat wasn't much better if I'm being honest.
6. Like A Dragon: Ishin! Remake - 2/10 - I'd like to hope that this is seen as a good take rather than a hot take.:laugh:
But ultimately for me I had to quit this Game after doing 4 chapters (just to remind you each chapter that I played were long) because while the gameplay was actually a decent attempt at Devil May Cry (and certainly better than Yakuza: Like A Dragon's combat imo) unfortunately it's overshadowed by 4 chapters worth of tutorials (including a farming tutorial, I'm not even kidding) and the most boring and lifeless dialogue that I have ever seen in the Like A Dragon series (somehow worse than Yakuza: Like A Dragon) and the thing that finally broke me with the Game and made me quit it on the spot, was at the start of Chapter 5 and they were wanting me to train with the Shinsengumi, because basically that was code for "ANOTHER TUTORIAL GUYS!:dance:" and there is only so much tutorial stuff that I can take before finally snapping.
Apologies if you think that I'm being harsh on any of these Games, but ironically that can create interesting debate I suppose, so if there's anything that you want to say to me about my scores and why I gave them the scores they were given then I'm up for explaining myself.:dance:
Round 2:
1. Sunset Overdrive - 9/10 - I played the Game off of Game Pass and I really don't regret it. Admittedly you have to get used to the rail mechanic for about the first hour (well that was for me anyway) but basically give it a few hours and you'll be experiencing one of Insomniac's most addictive Games that they've ever made imo. It's quirky and not ashamed of it, it's honestly a shame that we're never going to get a sequel. Just to add it's so nice to see a Game that made an environment that was big, but not monolithic in size which a lot of Games tend to do in recent generations. The Game also has a fantastic sense of humour, including the kid that faked having Cancer at the Cheerleaders hideout, I just love that twisted GTA styled humour so much.:flutter:
2. Resident Evil 2 Remake - 9/10 - Like with the original Game, I always get tapped out after playing scenario A that I never end up doing scenario B, however this time I played as Claire Redfield which I really found interesting seeing the differences between her and Leon's modes. For me though Sherry has the best level in the Game, I haven't felt that anxious playing a Horror Game since White Day: A Labyrinth Named School. Imo Capcom needs to study Resident Evil 2 Remake on how to bring Resident Evil quality into the modern day, rather than making generic Horror titles and slapping the Resident Evil name onto them.
3. .Hack//G.U. Vol. 1//Rebirth - 8/10 - I'm probably being biased here because I really enjoyed the .Hack//Sign Anime, but I really enjoyed this Game, the story was interesting, and the characters were also interesting in their own way. The battle system was decent but nothing revolutionary, but it's fun still. The Forum activity and Online Jack were a blast to experience, really fun side stuff. The only real flaw the Game has is the Dungeons getting a bit samey looking in design, don't get me wrong I still had fun in them, but just don't expect the next Shin Megami Tensei or Zelda to come from Hack's dungeon design.
4. Battletoads (2020 Game) - 8/10 - Okay this Game is probably the slow burner of the Games that I enjoyed in this round, at first I thought that it was just going to be a generic Brawler type of Game, which don't get me wrong would've still been fun to a point, but it wouldn't be getting into 8/10 or above from me if it had've stayed that way. However the Game imo gets highly experimental as it goes along (which may put some people off) but I was fully on board for, my favourite attempt from Battletoads 2020 was probably the Space Shooter levels, no pun intended but I had a blast with those levels.
5. .Hack//G.U. Vol. 2//Reminisce - 7/10 - Having calmed down from playing the Game, I would say that it's a good sequel to Rebirth, but with some severe issues in the middle of the Game when it comes to character screen time being really badly handled, and then trying to bring some of these characters back into the fold after a big moment happens (I won't spoil it for anyone that might be interested in playing the Game) but there's definitely character development issues in this Game.
Areas where this Game is strong though.
1. Crimson VS - A Card minigame basically, that in my view can be very addictive.
2. Online Jack - Has a very interesting cliffhanger in this Game.
3. Forum Activity - I'm not very good at explaining things, but think of it as a Video Game version of TIBB.
4. Improving the variety of the Dungeon design slightly - It's negligible, but an improvement is an improvement tbf, but I understand that they weren't given the budget of a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, so I don't want to be too harsh on them for it in the first one. Just to add I personally believe that Reminisce has a really strong Dungeon near the end of the Game, very strong.
5. A strong beginning and strong end to the Game in the story department.
But basically if you like Sword Art Online then you should give a shot to the series that birthed SAO imo.
6. FIFA 23 - 7/10 - I personally see it as a fun Game, it could do with more single player modes though.
7. Hitman (2016 Game) - 3/10 - I mean tbf to the Game I didn't play loads of it, so my review is harsh here I'll freely admit, but the Game just didn't hook me, it kind of felt lifeless to me, which is weird given the title of the Game, but it felt very devoid of a personality or character, whatever term you want to use I thought that it lacked.