The love/hate relationship I have with Batman AC continues as I am now enjoying the fighting sections again, because I find them so easy and can get huge scores without really trying very hard. Which is really weird because I used to hate them with a passion and literally could not fight at all in the first game and at first in the second. The same glitches still bug me like before, but I just find my way around them and swat everyone away with 100+ hit combos because I'm the god damn Batman. (...Nightwing)
Because of that, I actually find the predator stuff annoying now (mostly because of Riddler's Revenge) which again is weird, because that was my favourite part of the first game. I still think it's cool, but because how the challenges are set up, in most cases you can only do the level in one specific way and it's really easy to fail the level because of that and have the Riddler insult you (really, really doesn't help) Still don't think I'll get Origins, and with Knight I'm super tempted, but I can wait. Or just like I vowed before, just beat the main story and never touch it again ^^
I know what you mean about the Predator areas, mostly I approached them how I saw fit, but if you were to do the Extreme version of the Predator challenges you can only really do it in a specific order by memorising guard patrols and knowing which gadgets to place at which time. I would maybe hold fire on Origins? Arkham Knight is out later this year after all and it might do you the power of good by giving it some time and not be Arkham-ed out by the time it arrives. Besides, Origins looks the exact same as City, so I'll just make a guess that you'll not like this one so much either!
Got Ground Zeroes yesterday and 'completed' it within 90 mins with a C rank. I say 'completed' because only after clearing the story mission, it said I had a total completion of 9%. It unlocks 4 side missions (another console exclusive one if you collect all the badges), Hard difficulty and in game challenges. Just beating one of the side missions took it up to 12%. I've already mentioned my justifications in getting it despite the controversial price (this is essentially a gift from someone else considering I used an Amazon gift card) and I'm perfectly fine with it. I'm that type of gamer to go scour a game for most if not all of it's content and better my skills from playing it anyway. Metal Gear Rising can be beaten in 3-4 hours by gamers, whilst I have put 40 (and still counting) into it because I love the actual gameplay of it so much.
Some reviews are bringing down the score due to the price which I don't necessarily agree with. The price should be noted in a review by all means, but to actually critique the games quality because of it is maybe a tad too harsh. Everyone has different budgets and value propositions for any kind of game after all and the price shouldn't have an impact on the game itself. It's also a tad contradictory, as games like Journey and Gone Home can be beaten in 1-2 hours, with little replayability beyond the first playthrough and still be universally praised. I'm not criticising those games, I'm just saying the price of those games at the time was never called into question whenever review sites started publishing their reviews. Prices always go down over time anyway. If it drops in price 6 months down the line, does that then push the review score up? It shouldn't, right?
The argument that this sets a dangerous industry precedent is also just reaching a little bit, because very few game franchises can really get away with doing this. If say, Call of Duty or Assassins Creed were releasing demos before their annual game came out, I doubt many would be up for buying it and rightly so. But it's been 7 years since MGS4 came out. The full MGS5 : Phantom Pain, doesn't even look like it will be out this year.
Also keep in mind, I wouldn't want to play a game as much if the gameplay wasn't fun, and to that end Ground Zeroes is a
great game. Even though I'm terrible at it so far! I kept getting spotted.
I think there are people too focused on the start-end time of the game and they forget that you can calm down, explore the environment and interact through the games systems. I managed to sneak into the place and rescue the prisoner only to have the guard spot me. The whole base went on alert and I was holding my ground. It was only looking through my weapons that I had flares, which I used to call in a helicopter for support. As I got that, I picked the prisoner up and started making my way through the battle to escape in a jeep. That wasn't scripted either, that was all through emergent gameplay mechanics. It looks really smooth and is gorgeous even on a PS3. Really excited for Phantom Pain as a result, it's looking to be a great game! Just take note, if you are interested in it, it might be worth knowing your Metal Gear fiction beforehand! This follows on from Peace Walker, the PSP port, so if you don't know the characters from it, you'll be left wondering who these characters are or why it's important to save them. I would definately recommend it to any Metal Gear fan.
Topic: The Gaming Postwhoring Thread (Read 997388 times)