Topic: Rate The Last Game You Played

[broodwars]

I went to a panel at PAX with the developers of P.B. Winterbottom. It seemed like a cool concept, but I don't think I ever checked it out when I got home. I'll have to do that.

Madden NFL 11 (Xbox 360) - 9/10

*stuff*

I really can't stand Football (it's right up there with Baseball and Golf on my list of the most "exciting" sports to watch on TV), though I recently gained a grudging appreciation for it due to lengthy experience with NCAA 10.  Still, it's good to see that EA isn't resting on its laurels just because there is no other licensed Football game, that they're actually trying to make that impenetrable simulation mess approachable.

[Marty]

 Marty's Fashionably Late Review 
Devil’s Crush (virtual Console)
Genre – Pinball Sim.
Cost – 600 Wii Points
System – TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine)
 
http://yfrog.com/b5scrushcoverartp
 
Devil’s crush is an easy recommendation for people who enjoy small, bite-size, inexpensive, but addictive, games. Devil’s Crush is essentially a Pinball Sim. It is the second installment in the Crush Pinball series (the first being Alien Crush), and it managed to improved on its predecessor in a number of ways; namely the addition of a third playfield, an even better soundtrack, and a much more elaborate layout, with various bumpers, ramps, targets, and switches, all of which are perfectly animated, and strike a great balance between evoking the feel of an actual pinball machine, with all their flashing lights and mechanical sounds, while also introducing features which are not possible on a real machine (namely the various creatures that swarm the table). This is all brought together with a very novel occult theme which includes demons, skulls and monks, which when combined with the great rock soundtrack, makes for a great game of pinball.

As with actual pinball machines, the layout of the payfield, the speed of the table, and the weight of the ball, all need to combine to make a game which is addictive without being frustrating, and it is in this crucial respect that Devil’s Crush succeeds.
 
As with actual Pinball machines, the primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible, with the supplementary objective being to earn extra balls, thereby maximising the time spent playing. It is from this very basic premise that Devil’s Crush is able to generate quite alot of mileage. Indeed, attempting to keep a ball in play as long as possible is surprisingly intense, as is the joy felt when you earn an extra ball just when you need it.
 
The controls are pretty basic, and as such the wii remote flipped NES style woud be the recommended control scheme. Any direction on the D-Pad controls the left flipper, while the 2 button controls the right flipper. That’s pretty much all you need to know (although if your like me, the minute you lose your first ball you’ll want to restart. Just pause using the Plus button, then press Plus and Minus together to get back to the start screen).
 
The other great thing about Devil’s Crush is the amount of secret areas and hidden objectives. There are several hidden stages that you can unlock by performs certain tasks. One such task involves breaking open a mask with the portrait of a serene woman, only to uncover a demon beneath; enter the demon’s mouth to unlock said bonus room. You’ll also discover and exploit various techniques as you find the best ways to build up multipliers and accumulate bonus points and extra balls, it all gets rather addictive.
 
All in all, I found Devil’s Crush to be a great little pick-up-and-play game, and is perfect for anyone who has an insufferable itch to play some video pinball.
 
Gameplay - 7/10
Visuals - 7/10
Controls - 8/10
Audio/Music - 9/10
Overall - 8/10

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Plants vs Zombies - Game of the Year Edition - 8/10

My apologies for being awfully late to the game here, but when I saw this on Steam for ÂŁ6.99 a few days ago, I couldn't pass it up. Despite being a part of the oh so voluminous tower defence genre that everyone loves to poke fun at, I was always intrigued by Plants vs Zombies as it seemed to share several traits with Swords & Soldiers, a strategy game on WiiWare that I truly love. It goes beyond that though, having now played it very extensively. Plants vs Zombies may just be the best tower defence experience out there.

Muted praised, you might think, although I suppose it depends whether or not you've been overexposed to this kind of software. What makes this particular foray into the genre addictive and a lot of fun is the evolution of the gameplay. So many tower defence games fall into the trap of poor progression. They only become more difficult because of pure statistical changes: enemies gain more health, so you use "towers" with higher power. Not a lot of strategy there and not really much fun. Plants vs Zombies is much more intelligently designed. For one, it used grid-based level designs as opposed to the typical mazes, which may not sound like much out of context, but once you get a feel for it, the strategies you employ are more thoughtful. Almost every level (of which there are 50 in the primary mode of play) adds a new plant to your rapidly expanding inventor, each one balanced well and mostly with special abilities rather than 'it does more damage than the previous one'. Furthermore, by limiting the number of different types of plant seeds you can bring into a level, you are forced to mix & match and find good combinations to make a solid defence.

The tactics continue to develop as new wrinkles are injected into the levels. All of the main adventure's five chapters make a pretty radical change to the environment - these include day and night cycles, the addition of graves, fog and swimming pools, and in the last chapter, setting the defence on a sloping rooftop. These cause you to alter your play style not only because of the difference in terrain and conditions, but also because of the new zombies that are thrown in. Like the plants, new zombies quite often have special abilities instead of just being stronger and you must adjust your battle plan accordingly to deal with these threats. To sum up my thoughts, Plants vs Zombies actually offers the sort of progressive strategic gameplay that the majority of recent tower defence titles have been sorely missing.

Presentation-wise, this game is leaps and bounds above its competitors in that respect as well. Everything is really colourful without being garish and it uses the Nintendo-ism of sticking faces on inanimate objects to give them some personality. All the plants are expressive and constantly moving to the beat of the music. Speaking of which, the soundtrack is great, somewhere between cheerful and ominous, though it is unfortunately sometimes drowned out by sound effects when the action gets busy. Plus, there is plenty of good humour in the writing, primarily for Crazy Dave, your punch-drunk neighbour/shopkeeper/advisor, and there's some really amusing descriptions in the almanac encyclopaedia.

Finally, if you're worried about the value proposition, fret not. Plants vs Zombies is certainly not want for content. After finishing with the adventure, which unlocks a more challenging version, there are 20 minigames that provide variations on the standard gameplay. Some of them are fairly throwaway, but a lot are worth looking into and there's even some interesting takes on other games developed by PopCap. On top of that, there is an endless attack mode and, as one would expect from a game featuring plants, a zen garden mode that is relaxing, albeit not all that substantive and unlikely to hold your attention for long. That said, for the right price, I would definitely suggest you pick this up on PC or Xbox 360 (not sure about the one on iPhone). On Steam, it's going cheap, so do not let this pass you by.

[apdude]

Plants vs Zombies - Game of the Year Edition - 8/10

I totally agree.  I'm having fun with this one and plus my version came with an avatar maker so I'm no longer using using a default one.  Lots of fun and content for a low price that you can play for as long or as short as you want.

[broodwars]

Sounds like a decent game, though probably not one I could enjoy (Tower Defense games are really not my thing).

[TJ Spyke]

(not sure about the one on iPhone).

It came out on iPod Touch/iPhone last month and iPad earlier this month. The iPod Touch/iPhone version is $2.99 and the iPad version is $9.99

[KDR_11k]

I got it hours before it came out (got the preorder bonus, a free copy of Heavy Weapon Deluxe, it sucks but hey, free game!), was 10€ back then and totally awesome. The only tower defense game I like.

[broodwars]

Super Metroid - No, I'm not going to attach a score/10 - This game is a longstanding nemesis of mine, one that despite numerous attempts to get through I've never managed to summon up the interest to finish.  Over the weekend, I finally sat down and played the game from beginning to end in preparation for Other M's release.  In the end, I still can't say I'm fond of this game, but it's one that I have trouble really attaching a score to.  I don't tend to like 2D Metroid in general (with the exception of Zero Mission), as the "exploration" tends to boil down not to solving puzzles, but just shooting random blocks until finally something happens.  Playing through the game, I rarely felt altogether invested in the experience: the action was competent, the atmosphere excellent, and the music generally more than excellent...but there was just something missing, something I can't quite put my finger on that would make me eager to play more.  It often felt like I was just going through the motions, but then again this was something like my 6th attempt to get through this game.  I also feel like the game's pacing slams right into a wall around the point you head to the Sunken Ship, and it doesn't really pick up again until you reach Ridley's Lair.  Not coincidentally, this is also where water becomes a major hassle. 
 
In the end, while I feel like this game is pretty vastly overrated, it did pretty much write the book on modern 2D action adventure games, though, so I can at least respect its contributions to gaming.  It's a thoroughly competent game I just didn't like.

[broodwars]

Metroid: Other M - 7.5/10 - A step in the right direction on establishing a new and different direction for Metroid while Retro is taking a breather and working on other franchises, but the writing is terrible (and, IMO, destructive) to the Samus character and the way the game issues your upgrades is especially contrived.  I went more into depth on this game in the Metroid: Other M topic, so if you want to read more go there.

Shank - 5/10 - Pretty art, great animation, boring gameplay with some especially terrible level and boss design in places.  It was fun in spurts, but it was just lacking something to make it more interesting as a beat 'em up.

I'm currently playing Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World (PSN) after having recently seen the movie.  So far, I like it but it's way too focused on grinding and really punishing difficulty.  While the gameplay is actually even more repetitive than Shank, this game has a strong personality to it that Shank lacks.  Like the source material, it's a love letter to old games and video game culture.  Plus, the music's pretty awesome.  I'm also currently playing Dark Void (PS3), and man that game is troubled.  It's not terrible, but let's just say I'm glad I only payed $10 for it.

[Halbred]

I payed $12 for Dark Void, Brood. I like it alright. It's not incredibly or anything, but it's good in a "turn your brain off and shoot things" kind of way. But yeah, it's definately got issues.

I just beat Hard Mode in Other M to find that you get NOTHING, and in fact when you re-load your "completed" save, you're chucked right back in front of the final boss. So you don't even get the post-game scenario. Disappointed.

[broodwars]

Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World - 7/10 - A decent-enough brawler if you're into that that sort of thing and are already familiar with the source material.  If you aren't familiar with at least the movie, though, you'll probably be lost trying to follow the story because this game seems to think still images of Ramona and Scott kissing apparently suffice for storytelling.  Really pleasant SNES-style visuals and a particularly chiptune good soundtrack as well.
 
Dark Void - 4/10 - Wow, this game has problems, so much so that it's pretty obvious that Capcom shipped this game just scraping together whatever scraps they could find that didn't crash, fusing them together into something only somewhat approaching a cohesive experience (good luck trying to follow the story).  This game's biggest problem is that it doesn't know what it wants to be: it's a fairly competent (though not noteworthy) 3rd person cover shooter unfortunately married to a really terrible and buggy 3rd person flight combat game.  As a result, the game is very schizophrenic: for the first 1/3 of the game, it wants to be Uncharted with a focus on vertical cover; then you get your upgraded jetpack and suddenly the game wants to be a really terrible Rogue Squadron with a focus on Defense and Escort Missions (yay, our favorites!); and then after a while it wants to be Uncharted again before switching back to Rogue Squadron with the final 2 missions.
 
This game is also full of bugs, from being able to just walk through trees, to hijacking UFOs leading immediately to the player getting sent right into a cliff, to player deaths occurring for seemingly no apparent reason.  It reminds me a lot of the most recent Alone in the Dark in that respect, although that unfortunate collection of glitches and ambition eventually coalesced into something coherent and enjoyable (at least on PS3).  And I can't stress enough how terrible the aerial combat is, especially the camera.
 
It's unfortunate that the game is such a mess, because its core idea of using a jetpack to attack 3rd person combat from different angles is a really cool one, but you only really get a chance to see that in action a couple of times in the game.  Capcom should have never released this game in the state it was in, and it deserved to fail as miserably as it did.  Hey, at least the music from Battlestar Galactica composer Beary McCreary is awesome.

[Halbred]

Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den
 
DLC: $9.99
Totally Worth It/10
 
This is a fantastic single-player expansion to Bioshock 2. Personally, I think it's better than the main game. There's a new weapon (the Ion Laser), a new Plasmid (Gravity Well), a few new Tonics, and lots of new environments to explore. The pacing and build-up are more similar in tone of the original Bioshock tha the lackluster ending sequence of the sequel. The game generally feels like an extremely streamlined, shorter, but FULL Bioshock game. Traditional elements of the series have been tweaked: you find upgraded weapons rather than using Power to the People stations; the Little Sister defender missions are quicker; and some security bots now use elemental attacks.
 
You'll go from pretty de-powered to fully-powered during this roughly six to eight hour journey through Rapture's computer core. The game takes place in or just after 1968, parallel to or after the main events of Bioshock 2. You again a Big Daddy, and you are being directed by CM Porter to make a duplicate of Rapture's central computer ("The Thinker") and take it to the surface. Porter's deranged partner is the antagonist, sending Splicers after you in an attempt to block your progress. The story is more inspired and more interesting than the main story of Bioshock 2. More tragic, certainly, and CM Porter is a likable, engaging character.
 
He's also voiced by the same guy who players Martian Manhunter in Justice League/Unlimited, so you're really be bossed around by J'onn J'onz. Which is awesome.
 
I can't recommend it highly enough if you like Bioshock.

[broodwars]

Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den
 
DLC: $9.99
Totally Worth It/10

I really wish that 2K Marin hadn't decided to waste our frickin' time for 6 1/2 months after the launch of Bioshock 2 with useless multiplayer DLC and "protector" missions, because I got so tired of waiting for them to release DLC that actually catered to fans of the singleplayer (the mode that should be that game's priority) that I traded in my copy of Bioshock 2 months ago.  If I still had the game, I'd totally purchase that DLC because it looks like exactly what I had been waiting for.  But 2K Marin decided they'd rather add hats and level cap raises to the multiplayer that no one bought Bioshock 2 for.   
 
I might repurchase Bioshock 2 sometime down the line once it drops to around $20 (because it really wasn't a game I wanted to get rid of, but I had new games that needed buying and 2K Marin wasn't supporting it), and then I'll check out Minerva's Den.

[KDR_11k]

Old School Platform Adventure (XBL Indie Games): Really fun little platformer, not very long but probably would outstay its welcome if it was. Costs a dollar so that's not a problem. The level design really stands out IMO, some really cool sequences in there and the powerups change it up regularly (if you only played the demo, don't worry, you don't get to keep the winged boots for the rest of the game, it's back to regular platforming pretty quickly). Only downside is the picky did-you-jump-on-or-into-an-enemy logic, if you don't enter their hitbox at the absolute top you get hit (the original SMB logic was "if you move downward faster than the enemy it counts as jumping on it").

[broodwars]

Earthworm Jim HD - 5/10 - Pretty but boring and increasingly frustrating as the game goes along, much like its original incarnation.  The LCD-grade humor really bugs me, too, like the music in What the Heck, which goes from the classic "Night on Bald Mountain" to a bouncy tune composed of fart sound effects.  This is supposed to be funny or clever?  The game's quirky and weird, I'll give it that.  But it's just not that fun or interesting.
 
Modern Warfare 2 (Singleplayer) - 7.5/10 - Great set-piece moments brought down by frustrating level design marked by frequent deaths, and a graphical look that often makes it extremely difficult to see what is shooting at you and what is an environmental object.  By far the best parts of the singleplayer are when it's just you and another AI teammate sneaking around picking guys off.  Whenever the game decides to do events much larger in scope, the game just gets too chaotic and populated by guys sniping you from 30 feet away for my tastes.  There are some great ideas in play here, though.
 
EDIT: Modern Warfare 2 score boosted to account for time spent playing co-op in Spec Ops.

[Halbred]

I would argue that the sidescrolling platforming/shooting segments in Earthworm Jim are some of the best of that generation. There was some really wonderful level design there, and a wacky sense of humor. However, anytime the game tried to do something different, like the gawdawful underwater maze or the bungee-chord kerfuffle, it just falls apart.

[broodwars]

However, anytime the game tried to do something different, like the gawdawful underwater maze or the bungee-chord kerfuffle, it just falls apart.

Indeed.  I got to the stage where you have to keep the pink dog happy as it prances across the stage and I just quit right there.  It just wasn't fun (then again, when has an escort mission ever been fun in a game?).

[Dasmos]

The HD remake just looks ugly though, I would rather just play the original.

[KDR_11k]

I would argue that the sidescrolling platforming/shooting segments in Earthworm Jim are some of the best of that generation. There was some really wonderful level design there, and a wacky sense of humor. However, anytime the game tried to do something different, like the gawdawful underwater maze or the bungee-chord kerfuffle, it just falls apart.

I only have EWJ2 and that had practically no sidescrolling platforming levels.

[broodwars]

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (PS3) - 8.5 - This was surprisingly one of the more enjoyable games I've played in a while, despite its repetitive nature.  Sure, you spend a lot of time beating up on goons and saving civilians, but guess what: that's what Spider-Man DOES.  Each of the 4 dimensions is visually distinct and attractive (especially Noir, which just oozes style) and the gameplay is about as varied as you can expect for a beat 'em up.  I really like the linear nature of this game, as it allows the game to have a great sense of speed (in fact, the somewhat open-world Ultimate level with Deadpool is one of the worst in the game due to its lack of momentum).  I was especially impressed with how fun and somewhat-improvisational the combat is (something I take it the developers learned from Web of Shadows), and the boss fights are generally pretty well-done.  The game's also full of Spider-Man fanservice, particularly on the audio side as all 4 Spider-men are voiced by people who had voiced him before in various animated series.  Oddly enough, I found the voice actor from Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (who voices Spider-Man 2099) to have the best delivery of the lot, though the voice actors for Amazing (Neil Patrick Harris - Spider-Man MTV) and Ultimate (Spectacular Spider-Man) aren't far behind.  The game also features a very extensive in-game achievement system called the Web of Destiny that I felt really complemented the game, doing what achievements should be doing and pointing you towards exploring everything you can do in the game.
 
The game's only serious flaws, IMO, are the presence of some irritating Spider-Man video game legacy issues (seriously, Activision, after all this time you still haven't fixed the camera issue with wall-crawling?) and the overall troubled nature of Spider-Man Noir.  While I really like Spider-Man Noir (hey, this game got me to read to the comics, and I'm not fond of comics), his levels only kind of work.  It's obvious that Activision was trying to copy Batman: Arkham Asylum, but the rules for the stealth feel very fast and loose, and the levels can get frustrating.  The story's also weak, pretty much just an excuse to bring all these Spider-Men together in one game, and even then they don't ever really interact outside of a few moments in the ending.  Noir attempts to tell an abridged version of the comics, but it's the only one with something approximating a story.
 
Overall, the game is troubled but I had a great deal of fun with it.  Highly recommended.  Incidentally, from the looks of things the Wii version isn't all that different graphically due to the 4 universes focusing on style over tech, so if you can tolerate the waggle that might not be a bad version to get either.

[KDR_11k]

Space Invaders: Infinity Gene (XBLA)

The demo is deceptive. It's so much more crazy than the actual game that it borders on bait and switch. What you get in the demo is a medley of levels from all worlds in the game, the actual game is much less crazy and fast moving. Yes, it's still a good game but it doesn't feel as amazing as the demo does with its rapidly changing gameplay, perspective, etc. In reality the big differences only arise between worlds which last quite a while so it's not a firework of imagination as much as a new thought or two getting stirred in once in a while.

Also the balancing is a bit off, all the big high scores in the online rankings were set with the Field weapon which is just amazingly overpowered when it comes to killing every tiny enemy on the screen fast (leads to a high multiplier and a long life) and some of the other weapons kill bosses so fast it's almost game breaking.

It does get quite hard and requires quite some thought along with constantly introducing new boss enemies, new player ships (weapons) and new looks. There's not much of Space Invaders left in the game but whatever, it's fun.

[Halbred]

So I downloaded the demo but haven't played it yet. Is this anything like the Extreme games, or am I in for disappointment?

[broodwars]

So I downloaded the demo but haven't played it yet. Is this anything like the Extreme games, or am I in for disappointment?

I played the demo, and I was pretty disappointed.  I was hoping for something in the spirit of Extreme, and the demo is very random and segmented.  The whole "music" element seems to be completely gone, too.

[FZeroBoyo]

I picked up Metroid Prime Trilogy for the first time in months last night. 10/10, enough said.

And on Pedro's decent score, I rented Despicable Me: The Game, and I agree with his score of 7. Not the most entertaining or longest game, but it held my interest for the five or so hours to play it to the end.

[KDR_11k]

Brood: As I said, the full game is much less frantic with its changes, they only happen every 6 levels.

So I downloaded the demo but haven't played it yet. Is this anything like the Extreme games, or am I in for disappointment?

It's extremely different. Extreme was more ponderous with precise shots to keep the chain going, Infinity Gene is all-out carnage with you blasting hundreds of enemies.