Hotline Miami grabbed my attention immediately with its retro art style, gritty story and phenomenal music. Having won me over on style, I wanted to get into this game in the worst way to see where it went. But then the reality of its gameplay set in.
Up until this point, I had never played a Sly Cooper game before. During its heyday, I was a big PlayStation hater and wanted nothing to do with Sony’s gaming endeavours. Since I bought a PlayStation 3 a few years back, I’ve been slowly making my way through the platform’s signature franchises. I can now cross Sony’s sneaky raccoon off the list, as I’ve played through Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. Admittedly, I didn’t think I’d get much out of this stealth platformer, but it managed to impress nonetheless.
Dishonored‘s premise is as simple as it gets. Corvo, the empress’ bodyguard, gets framed as her murderer as part of a plot to take over the throne. In the process, the empress’ daughter gets kidnapped. Now he’s out to save the girl, avenge the empress and clear his name.
The game at first blush was far from that for me. Struggling to grasp the game’s systems early on, I fumbled my way through the first mission; killing everyone in my path. Despite eventually completing the mission, the game’s heavy hand on leading you towards the stealthy route sure made me feel like a failure. Having killed 14 bodies in cold blood and the chaos level on high due to those actions, I feared that this wasn’t going to get any better.
The Blue Bomber’s magnum opus is the focus of today’s Jett Plays. I discuss some of my fond memories with it while poorly playing through three stages. I’m better than this, I swear!
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The Skylanders franchise fell victim to the sophomore jinx. Skylanders Giants failed to address the issues of its predecessor while its biggest innovation was a boring character class that actually made the game less fun and more difficult to play. Clearly having learned its lesson, the Skylanders are back in their best adventure yet.
Commander Shepard has the best of friends. While there are so many wonderful aspects to Mass Effect 2, from its great combat, to its wonderful story, this is a game that I feel is defined by the relationships you make with your crew.
Batman: Arkham Asylum surprised the world. Expectations for licensed superhero games were at an all-time low, and this was far from the usual crap. For many (myself included), Arkham Asylum was a legitimate game of the year contender. Instead of falling into the sophomore jinx, Batman: Arkham City builds upon a solid foundation to create the pinnacle superhero game.
From the makers of Super Stardust HD comes Resogun. This PlayStation 4 launch title is clearly building off the foundation of its spiritual predecessor and Geometry Wars, but that’s not a bad thing. Featuring a distinctive art style and gameplay that is a bit more involved than your traditional dual-stick shooter, Resogun makes a great first impression.
I think the original Uncharted is a bit overrated. As Sony’s answer to Gears of War, I think people glossed over its faults in order to rank it on that same level. It’s sequel, however, stands on its own merits as a landmark release.
I hate stealth games. I hate the myriad of artificial fail states that oftentimes come with it. I hate the oftentimes fake openness that really boils down to 1 or 2 options you may have at any given point. I hate the trial-and-error nature of the gameplay. I even hate the very conceit of stealth in video games. When i play a video game, I want the power fantasy. In most stealth games, you feel like a weakling who has no other means of getting through a scenario.
I hate stealth games, but I love Mark of the Ninja.
In Third Person 