LastM

July

I haven’t written a monthly report in a while. Besides a lack of time in a couple months, I haven’t played as many worthwhile games during a month in a while. Let’s start with PoP games:

Firewatch

3.9 hours, 10 of 10 achievements
Final score: 9/10

I've looking forward to play this game this beautiful game in a while. The graphics/art style is really pretty. One could spent up to an hour just looking at it, but it's the story and the soundtrack that is the best part of this. I have a few theories about it. Delilah and the main antagonist (Ned?) were messing around with Henry. I'm pretty sure that they did this to keep him away from some old secrets. A bunch of evidence points to it, especially the fact that they knew each other and they could see each other from their locations.


Batman™: Arkham Knight

22.7 hours, 43 of 113 achievements
Final score: 5/10

I bought this game a long time ago, but it was unplayable at the time. The game was stuttering to a halt thanks to a choppy framerate. 2 years later, it's much better. At least, it's playable now, if you have a decent rig. Technical aspects aside, the game it's has its ups and downs. Playing as the Batman against all the villains is superfun and Mark Hamill does an amazing job voicing the Joker. On the other hand, you still have a bunch of boring missions/repetitive side-missions and a combat that has been stale after so many titles using it: Batman, older ACs, etc. This press X to hit and Y to counter isn't fun anymore.
I would say that the game is just an average game, if it weren't for one reason: the decision to make the Batmobile the most important part of this game. Its combat is boring and all the missions that you have to use are repetitive or unispiring. Why would I drive when I could just fly?!


Those were my short and long games from PoP July, respectively. I also played this month:

Celeste

8.3 hours, 24 of 26 achievements
Final score: 10/10

I wrote a post about it a couple weeks ago, so just click here to see why this game is a 10/10


SpellForce 3

25 hours, 29 of 39 achievements
Final score: 8/10

I loved this game. It's been a while since I've last played a good strategy game. This game is a mix of RTS/RPG, like Warcraft 3. Talking about it, SpellForce 3 reminds me a lot of it. In both games you try to bring all the races together against an evil group that is trying to summon a demon from another dimension. Very similar, isn't it?
The writing is good. The rpg parts are well done. Just the RTS part that isn't really that good. You cannot control your workers, you just assign them to buildings. I prefer to micromanage all my units. There are also a few bugs here and there and some achievements do not unlock when they should.


The Surge

12.3 hours, 26 of 57 achievements
Final score: 6/10

It's another one of those Dark Souls clones. It's from the same guys that made Lords of the Fallen, IIRC. They tried this futuristic aproach, and imo, this made the game more interesting than just being a clone. The combat is very similar, but you can now target body parts. You can either target an unprotected part for extra damage or a piece of armor and hope it might drop when you kill the enemy. It's an interesting mechanic.
Unfortunately, the game has a bunch of stupid design decisions. First, your damage is tied to the level of your weapon and you need to keep killing enemies to get weapon level, so unless you wanna grind weapon xp, you'll be using the same weapon from start to end. Second, the game is hard for the wrong reasons. The bosses, for example, are hard simply because have too much HP and 3-5 different phases, not because their moves are special or anything like that. Be prepared for 15-20 minutes fights -.- Third, some bugs made this game extra hard. You have to predict when a enemy would throw you out of a ledge or simply attack you through the wall. T_T
The story is a bit boring, as well.


Pinstripe

2.9 hours, 8 of 12 achievements
Final score: 6/10

The art is pretty and the story is nice. Game itself is very easy, I believe I manage to finish it in less than an hour without taking damage in my first playthrough. Even the last boss is quite easy. The devs have a handy guide online, if you want.
It has a bunch of bugs. If you click outside of map when shooting with your slingshot, it won't shoot ever again and you'll have to restart the game. It happened to me in my second playthrough. Some achievements also didn't want to unlock during this 2nd playthrough and I think it could have been caused by the slingshot bug, but I'm not sure. Thankfully, I read in the community hub that veryfing the games integrity would resolve the issue and it did. However, all the achievements unlocked at the same time. Be careful when playing this game, so you run into the same problem.


Legends of the Universe: StarCore

8.3 hours, 24 of 26 achievements
Final score: 4/10

It's a poor man's Megaman. It's just that. I thought it would be way worse, but it was kinda decent. If you can't afford megaman, give it a try.


I’m not sure I’ll write another report next month. Since I’ll be travelling until the 16th, I might not have time to play enough games to for a monthly report. We’ll see.

86maylin

FYI, spoiler tags using ~ doesn’t really work in collided reviews. :P I’ve resorted to using font and making the spoiler part white, or you could also make it into a button or something to hide it. :3

EDIT: Eyy I figured out how to do the spoiler using html! Just use < span class="spoiler" >Text</span> :D Also I can’t get this code thing working properly. glares Just remove the spaces and you’re good.

LastM

Thanks a lot! Worked like a charm. o/