Video Game Experience : Personal and Unbiased

Completed - Far Cry 5 With its own cast of multiple unique bosses tied to seperate regions, Far Cry 5 offers four epic and intense game finales instead of one,but the journey to these isn't always pleasant. Having your own Roster and  matching music with the different themes of every region are steps forward. Sparing these, the game doesn't offer any major upgrade and has its own set of drawbacks : flawed flying mechanics, unsatisfactory exploration and prolonged traversing, an impersonal story and ineffective depth to the perk and hunting reward system to name a few. Far Cry 5 in three words would be : Quantity over Quality. If you have played any far cry game released from 3, then in a way you have experienced them all, except only Far Cry 3 seems to have a balanced flow of the main campaign with its open world. Ironically, the definition of insanity very well applies to ubisoft's practice of exploiting their same formula in videogames.

Completed : Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time. Having completed the other two parts of the PS2 era trilogy long back on Sony's handheld versions, Sands of time was the only part I was missing. The PS3 port with no improvements whatsoever, manages to weaken the experience with inconsistent audio ranging from unhearable cutscenes to annoying in-game voices. A shame as it's one of the key ingredients in setting the tone of the game. Sands of time hasn't aged particularly well with its age old camera and movement issues. But somewhat resembling ICO in its atmosphere along with the thrill of an action game, it remains a classic combination of time sensitive platforming, tricky puzzles and its iconic trademark : the time reversal mechanic. This winning formula engulfed in the Prince's eternal tale with magical moments as well as frustrating sequences hold up very well today.

Completed : Yakuza 0 The yakuza series had been on my watch from long. Needles to say, it is worth a punch for anyone who owns a playstation. Not the cleanest of experiences, especially for someone who doesn't like to hold the controller down for a lengthy period and yakuza makes you do that plenty. Yes, frustrating at times but exceptionally effective, charging for an emotional rollercoaster full of twists and turns. The main story and missions are carved with thoroughly written characters and sequences. The build up in every chapter leads to finales that actually feel personal and epic putting most games' main ending to bow down. Also,these greatly compliment the game's huge cast of memorable and unique personalities. The stories of our two charismatic playable characters,kiryu and Majima along with numerous antagonists to match, although completely different connect in the most dramatic fashion. Understandably, the excessive dialogues play

Completed : Bloodborne -  A Hunter's Nightmare. Prepare to Bleed! And I equally mean both the ways , such is the balance in the game separating it from everything else. My third 'Souls' game in spirit. There isn't much left to say from what I have already said about the sheer uniqueness of souls games and the plethora of emotions they inflict just through pure gameplay. And Bloodborne might not be a true 'souls' game and far away from the dark souls universe, but is almost every bit of what defines a souls game and more having its own charm. I  was no longer a deprived undead who had to cower behind a shield to progress, I was a hunter who was ready to bleed. Prior to starting Bloodborne, just the feeling of a souls themed game without a shield made me critical of my chances of survival. As it turned out, after overcoming the initial difficulty spike and getting accustomed to parrying,never looked back to a shield or other defensive tact

Completed : Sniper Elite 3 Have always loved the slow motion x-ray kill cams/bullet time where we can shoot eyeballs, lungs, intestine and most importantly testicles to name a few from long away with precise controlled shots. Even if the base shooting mechanics remain unchanged, the last shot of the game feels almost as satisfying as the first in the short six hour campaign. The heart rate and breath hold are vital too as they need to be maintained for a steady aim. For the physics conscious ,higher difficulties also include wind and gravity effects. The major changes from V2 include a more open approach and also a stealth system where relocating after every kill is the way to go which gets tedious very quickly. The more open approach does seem a way forward but it only provided resistance to get creative kills/spots which can be very frustrating to find as opposed to the greedy and straightforward way of quickly penetrating your targets. However ,the main conc

Completed : Shank (co-op mode) The first single screen Co-op game I had played in a long time. Made me remember how fun they are although doesn't do complete justice to the genre. Traditional beat em up side scroller with fluid modern combat and sharp comic style presentation. It not only fails to escape the problems of most beat em ups where the combat is bound to be repetitive after some time, but it also adds to these problems with lack of any progression and a few control issues of its own. Wish the whole main game was made for Co-op only instead of a short separate one. Individual special power ups and different abilities could have made coordination more appealing which was limited to only dividing the direction of attack and double team moves when needed. What made the grind worth it were well designed tough boss fights at the end of each mass-slaughtering level which required creativity, patience and finally lots of teamwork. Overall, Shank

Completed : ICO ICO had been in my backlog from a long time. Being exhausted by some of the modern cinematic games,felt the perfect time to indulge into this cult classic. Was worried if this seventeen year old game's dated controls,camera and mechanics would hurt my experience. I would be lying if it didn't, but I was willing to get over them to absorb every compelling moment the game had to offer. These moments along with satisfying puzzles,subtle music and a mystical atmosphere combine in great harmony to give out a strong emotional experience. Also, the unusual save system adds a relaxing element to counter the tense environment. The team has a unique approach to Storytelling. Very few video games are able to tell their story through gameplay relying on repeated forced cutscenes and dialogues. And this kind is so much more affecting. Being trapped in an isolated castle with no one but a mysterious girl, with whom you have to not only escape but als

Wolfenstein : The New Order (Death incarnate)  Inhale. Count to four. Exhale. Count to four.  Yes, you will need this trick from Captain Blazkowicz and not only for the countless hordes of resilient nazis you will have to slaughter on your way to freedom but also inspiring moments which are a result of excellent writing. The New order tries to make great strides by combining classic shooting mechanics with fast paced action in an alternate Nazi acquired world war setting, but it doesn't succeed to make the jump over its age old issues. The perk system is well defined into categories encouraging to try different approaches and rewards you with further chained abilities accordingly. Stealth is surprisingly very effective and somewhat balances the typical over the top action. And above everything else, the alternate-history world war setting where we attempt to suppress nazis rule over the world in the long captivating journey capturing the emotions of war

Completed : God of War - Ascension My Vengeance ends now. All platinums of the original God of War series done with the last and definitely the least favorite Ascension. Ascension shows how even the worst combination of the God of War formula can still net a game which is still worth it : arguably being the most difficult God of War platinum and it doesn't even have the challenge of the gods. I feel lucky to have done lubed up and trail of archimedes in a few tries. On to the game, as I said the worst combination of the God of War formula with : Kratos's back story which isn't bad but is presented unevenly and adds little to the epic tale. And the combat that has been changed just for the sake of doing something different (when its basically the same which is not a bad thing) but none of the changes seem a way forward. Combat doesn't feel as fluid with a slight delay in response time of block. Interrupting enemy attacks also seems less viable, thus

Completed : Ghost of Sparta After the latest refreshing take on the series thought wouldn't enjoy this one as much as I used to. But it's fair to say that I didn't miss the newer one. Also having played it multiple times earlier didn't greatly affect its replay value as was going for the platinum and spartan mode is always worth it. Only the last couple of arena encounters with keres wraiths provided a challenge in an otherwise effortless playthrough in comparison. On to the game, Ghost of Sparta turns out to be a well balanced God of War game almost on par with its console counterparts. The game never turns dull continuing its momentum from start to finish with what God of War is known for. Great enemy variety,lively action set pieces and music to fill in on a journey to Kratos's past with decent (only decent to the high God of War standard) progression reproduces a godly feeling with the same smooth brutal combat. Although, the game could have d

SAMURAI SOULS Having completed Ninja Gaiden sigma and Dark Souls recently,thought this game wouldn't test me as either did but it quite easily surpasses them in the challenge it presents you with. You don't need the amount of patience, perseverance and understanding one needs in souls games.  or the focus, mastery of highly varied enemy patterns/weapons and the ability to quickly chain timed attacks in Ninja Gaiden. Well, You need them both and always in unison. And more so in the first half of the game with a steep inverse difficulty as well as learning curve.The game does get surprisingly so less brutal to the point where you start to feel over powered with more Artillery at your disposal. Hoped Ni-oh to combine the rpg elements and setting of the souls games with the fast fluid and much deeper revolutionary combat of ninja gaiden. And I wasn't disappointed. SHRINE I admit to being guilty of often trying to experiment and implement the