Games I Beat in 2012

Total single player completion time: around 5 hours. Beaten on 1/2/12.

This top-down shooter that was surprisingly enjoyable although quite frustrating in certain areas. This is due to some awkward camera controls (using mouse and keyboard) and random difficulty spikes.

The storyline was pointless but the gameplay, while repetitive, didn't get old. The shooting mechanics were fun and satisfying as aliens shrieked when they died. TAKE THAT! But what the hell is up with the useless melee attack? Item management was necessary and there were weapon upgrades (although I only managed to unlock about 5 of them because I never had enough money).

Decent level design and a good use of the Unreal engine propel this game to a positive score. My only other complaint: No voicework outside of the comic-book style cutscenes.

Rating: 7.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: around 4 hours. Beaten on 1/12/12

The latest game in the Kane and Lynch series definitely improves upon the first with better shooting mechanics and a better cover system...but that's not saying much. I died countless times because Lynch either didn't want to get into cover or decided to hide behind the wrong object.

Gameplay consists of 95% gunplay and 5% pressing "E" to open doors. It's not varied but it's somewhat enjoyable IF playing the game in co-op. A solo run is incredibly tedious and the A.I. partner is nearly useless. The 4 hour game length is also pitiful and is extended by a couple of multiplayer modes that have NOBODY playing them. It's not a game that's worth full price (not by a long shot) but TRUE fans of the series will enjoy it.

Rating: 5.5/10

Total Single Player Time: 2 hours. Beaten on 1/23/12

ARES has Megaman X written all over it. From the stage designs to the death animation, it's clear where the influences lie. And while it's a harsh comparison, it must be said that it just isn't as good as Megaman. But as a standalone review, the game does a lot of things right: excellent, colorful graphics, simple weapon upgrade system, decent levels, and a rocking soundtrack.

However, on the gameplay side, ARES lacks a special punch to call it special. The enemies are repetitive with little variation aside from a color change in later levels, the controls (especially jumping) feel awkward, and a less than 2 hour campaign with its attempt at a story is laughably bad. Now there are 2 difficulty levels, but this doesn't extend the length of the 5 stages by much.

It's not a bad game, it's just not a great game. And at a $10 entry, this title is meant for achievement completionists and speed runners.

Rating: 6.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 39 Hours. Beaten on 2/4/12.

Final Fantasy XIII is the worst Final Fantasy games I have played. I started out with IV and each Final Fantasy follows certain JRPG conventions that have stuck throughout not only the series but also other games because they work. Final Fantasy XIII ditches these conventions to create a more mainstream experience. This makes for an extremely dumbed down game with none of the excitement from past titles and a whole lot of boredom. The list of why this game is bad is so long that it makes me angry just thinking about it.

The plot is boring. The characters are uninteresting and the only thing they’re good for is whining. The main villain is unoriginal and doesn’t even show up until half way through the game. The amount of cut scenes is staggering. Almost half my game time was watching a stupid cut scene. And because I hated every single one of the characters I would play a much better game through the scenes – Words with Friends.

The music is a step down even from the 16-bit era. Absolutely none of the tunes are memorable, and that’s partly due to the fact most of it sounds the same since the same instruments are used for each piece.

There are no towns. There are no NPCs you can talk to. There is no world map. This makes for THE MOST LINEAR game I have ever played. In fact, it’s more linear than a Double Dragon game. The first 25 hours have you just needing to press the analog stick forward. THAT’S IT. You will walk for about 2 minutes, fight a couple quick battles along the way, and then a 4 minute cut scene ensues. This is how the first 25 hours and the last 5 hours play out. In chapter 11 you have some freedom to move around. This just means you have a couple branching paths where you may acquire pointless missions to complete. The objective is always the same – defeat a group of slightly stronger than usual monsters. Missions have no variety.

Even the battle system does not save this game. Battles go too quick to input actual commands, so as the primary option, there is an auto-battle option that does everything you would do anyway. The only input you actually have to do is choose which paradigm (class) you want, and then let the computer take control. Only one character is controllable, and everyone else does their own thing depending on their paradigm. Fortunately, they do a good job holding their own. In beating a battle, you do not get experience and you do not get gil. WTF is right. Instead, victories net you points (the amount of which makes absolutely no since sometimes really easy enemies give you double what a ridiculously tough enemy gives you). These points are placed in a Crystarium Tree that is a simplified version of the sphere grid.

So basically, this game holds your hand through the entire experience creating one of the most boring, frustrating, and terrible RPG experiences I have ever played. I hate this game, and I never thought I would say that about a Final Fantasy game. But hey, at least the graphics are the best on the PS3. That counts for something right?

Rating: 4.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 2.5 Hours. Beaten on 2/13/12

This is an indie puzzle game who’s gameplay mechanic relies on the simple gimmick of rotating the camera. It’s short, which happens to be the game’s biggest flaw because it is good game. Rotating the screen causes the main character to fall due to effects of gravity. It also allows you can control other objects in the world which are necessary to open up a path. While it’s not very challenging, there are some levels that require some creativity. Deaths occur from either falling too highand thus breaking the character or falling into black holes. Thankfully, this does not become infuriating as there are ample checkpoints per level – and usually within at most 20 seconds from each other. This gives the game a “just one more turn” feel. Couple in some nice background graphics and relaxing music and sounds, and this is a worthy game in any indie collection.

Rating: 7.5/10

Total single-player completion time: 6 hours.
Beaten on 2/23/12

I was always hesitant to pick up Red Faction. But I'm glad I finally did because it was worth the experience. Sure, the graphics don't hold up well, the voice acting is laughably bad, the stealth levels are annoying, getting one hit killed by the AI the instant you peak a corner is cheap, and getting 1920x1080 resolution requires a community patch. But the game is FUN. I used the various weapons equally, the environmental damage is neat (although underused), the story is simple yet interesting, and the fast paced gameplay keeps you on edge. What I especially appreciated were the various branching paths leading to the same objective. I only wish the game were a bit longer.

Rating: 7.5/10

Total Single Player Time: 18 hours. (Note: this is for one map with all standard options including a standard 8 player map and all victory conditions enabled.
Beaten on 2/24/12

I played about 20 hours of Civ IV almost 5 years ago so my memory of the game is hazy, and I basically came into Civ 5 as a newcomer. The game is addicting. I can see why veterans prefer the previous title. It was more challenging, there were more civilizations, multiplayer was more stable, it was DRM free, etc. Civ 5 makes it much easier to learn the game and presents a superior interface and better graphics (which it better do since it came out in 2010 and the budget I assume was huge). The strategy is still there and the introduction of the hex grid is arguably better. For newcomers, this is a great place to start and get a feel for the game. What I dislike about the game are the poor AI diplomacy, unfair AI difficulty in later settings, and a botched multiplayer that lacks turn animations, has consistent connectivity issues, and puts players in unfair location on the map (sometimes 3 players can be on the same continent while a 4th player is by himself on a separate continent). But aside from that, it's still a fun game and I've spent 70 hours with it so far.

Rating: 8.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: Around 13 Hours
Beaten on 3/13/12

Uncharted: Golden Abyss is a very good game. This is the reason I bought the Vita. I was disappointed by Uncharted III and because I absolutely loved the first 2 I thought maybe I was outgrowing the series. Golden Abyss reiterated why this is one of my favorite video game series. The story is the typical treasure hunting , fake friend plot twist we’ve seen many times by now. This is definitely the game’s major weakness. The first half of the game I didn’t care much for the side characters aside from the main antagonist. The second half, however, feels exactly like the first game (story wise), with its humor, quirky dialogue, and historical contexts.

Some of the touchscreen and motion sensor elements are gimmicky and wear out quick. For example, I was getting pretty tired of charcoal rubbings near the end because it existed in excessive amounts. However, the implementation of motion aiming, where the vita’s accelerometer is used to move the crosshair, is not only ridiculously accurate, but also the best implementation of motion controls I have ever used in the game. This may not sound like much, but after using it here, there is just no way I can I go back to using twin stick shooting in handhelds and consoles anymore. It’s such an incredibly fun mechanic to use. For me this made the game.

Sound design is per usual – excellent. The voice acting is top notch and the music keeps the blood flowing and sounds great on the vita speakers. Graphically, the game is gorgeous. It’s not almost as good as Drake’s Fortune as many people describe, but it’s still impressive. Character models are highly detailed and the framerate is smooth through 95% of the game. My main gripe is some poor aliasing on distant models but it does not become obtrusive.

Overall, it was worth getting the Vita for this.

Rating: 8.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 28 Hours
Beaten on 3/27/12
Rating: 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 2.8 Hours
Beaten on 3/30/12
Rating 7.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 27.5 Hours
Beaten on 3/31/12
Rating 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 19 Hours
Beaten on 4/5/12
Rating 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 5 Hours
Beaten on 4/14/12
Rating 6.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 5 Hours
Beaten on 4/23/12
Rating 7.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 3 Hours
Beaten on 4/24/12
Rating 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 11 Hours
Beaten on 5/5/12
Rating 7.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 15.5 Hours
Beaten on 5/13/12
Rating 8.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 11.5 Hours
Beaten on 6/3/12
Rating 7.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 3 Hours
Beaten on 6/9/12
Rating 7.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 14 Hours
Beaten on 6/20/12
Rating 7.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 9 Hours
Beaten on 7/7/12
Rating 6.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 15 Hours
Beaten on 7/30/12
Rating 6.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 8.5 Hours
Beaten on 8/27/12
Rating 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 10.5 Hours
Beaten on 9/24/12
Rating 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 1 Hour
Beaten on 9/27/12
Rating 4.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 11 Hours
Beaten on 10/06/12
Rating 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 9 Hours
Beaten on 10/06/12
Rating 7.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 2.5 Hours
Beaten on 10/07/12
Rating 8.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 2.5 Hours
Beaten on 10/13/12
Rating 8.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 4.5 Hours
Beaten on 10/16/12
Rating 7.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 3.0 Hours
Beaten on 10/20/12
Rating 6.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 4.0 Hours
Beaten on 10/27/12
Rating 6.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 5.5 Hours
Beaten on 10/30/12
Rating 8.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 13.5 Hours
Beaten on 11/20/12
Rating 6.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 11.0 Hours
Beaten on 12/02/12
Rating 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 2.5 Hours
Beaten on 12/11/12
Rating 4.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 3.5 Hours
Beaten on 12/15/12
Rating 5.5/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 9.0 Hours
Beaten on 12/15/12
Rating 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 7.0 Hours
Beaten on 12/20/12
Rating 8.0/10

Total Single Player Completion Time: 5.0 Hours
Beaten on 12/31/12
Rating 7.0/10