MOST games listed here I have 100% unless it's multiplayer only.
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A very immersive FPS game. So many people dislike this game for the reasons that I like it and I find it so hard to wrap my head around that. This game makes you feel like you're in a foreign land you are not welcome in. I also enjoy that the enemies play by the same rules that you do. Their guns jam just like yours, they employ the same tactics that you do. Games like F.E.A.R. get tons of credit for their AI and their vocalizations of their tactics but I think Far Cry 2 should get some credit in that category as well. This was one of the first games to employ the modern open world dynamic of "here's a bunch of stuff that you can do instead of the main quest blah blah blah, WE HAVE 60 HOURS OF GAMEPLAY IN OUR GAME!!!", but all of that extra content actually rewards you in this game either with currency that is hard to come by or for new save points which are extremely helpful. The environments are gorgeous and the physics are always impressive to see. There were times when I had just finished a firefight and I notice a tree swaying and leaves falling after the last grenade went off.
8
I am a huge critic of the Grand Theft Auto gameplay loop; however, I usually end with a compliment that the characters and environment make the game interesting. I will not post the entire rant that I usually do here, but this game does have some clunky moments due to enemy placement and the way the targetting system works but a majority of the missions are completely playable. There are not any abhorrently designed missions that I can think of off of the top of my head. The dialogue in this game is my favorite of any Grand Theft Auto game and has many memorable characters. San Andreas puts up a good fight due to a lot of nostalgia but I think IV stands up to it toe to toe. Now, what elevates this game so high despite the almost cookie cutter mission design is the physics. This is the funnest Grand Theft Auto game to just mess around with. The driving is extremely floaty but it makes for some really great car crashes and doing stunts actually takes some thought to pull them off correctly. The weapon variety is a downgrade from San Andreas but going on a massacre in GTA IV is a lot funner than San Andreas to me personally. The RPG elements are toned down but I do enjoy the friend system.
The general gameplay of this entry in the THPS series does not change much from Tony Hawk's Underground but the career structure is much better. You are let loose into a level with an objective list and you are able to tackle any objective at any time. Some of them build off of each other but those are obvious. The career is very short but very fun to replay and speedrun. To remedy the short career (I suppose) they added in a "classic mode" that emulates the two minute timer format from the first three games. This career is almost double in length compared to the base game as it utilizes both the new levels and classic levels that they have remade just for this mode. This is not the most feature-packed iteration of the THPS engine but I think it has all of the necessary features, many of the additions from THAW seem like pure bloat.
Very fun arcade game. You are a solar-powered bird that must navigate a level that is newly generated daily. The pace of the game picks up as you progress and many new obstacles are introduced. The gameplay is fun and addicting but I have one major complaint and that is the progression system. You start off without any upgrades (increased turn speed, extra power-up storage, etc) and I feel that honestly would turn a lot of players away. This game is already challenging enough with a fully upgraded bird, I could not imaging trying to get beyond region 6 with the default bird.
I am fond of the original Bionic Commando for the arcade so I was excited to finally check this out. This game is extremely underrated in the general video game discussion, I saw so much hate for this game and people did not really elaborate at all. The swinging mechanics are well done and are very satisfying when you chain around the entire map without losing momentum. The shooting is less developed but servicable enough, I could imagine they did not want to make the shooting mechanics complicated as you would be doing them while airborne and swinging. The environments are not too varied but there are some great set pieces that give you a good "wow!" factor. The story is nothing special and the characters are not given much time to develop at all since the game is relatively short, it can easily be done in a weekend if you wanted to. This game has an online multiplayer mode and I really wish this was active! This seems like such a fun game to play in online deathmatches.
7
The Skate gameplay formula is perfected here but the overall career structure is a bit lacking. There is not much of a setting at all, it feels like they have ideas but it does not feel like a cohesive world. The game is split into three districts but I would have prefered a smaller, yet connected map. There are a lot of great spots though. It is the only Skate game with online still online running (I am not even considering Skate 4 as an option to play). Skate 3 feels like the Garry's Mod of the franchise, lots of stuff to mess around with and do but if you were wanting a long career mode it is not here.
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