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illusivegore · 6 years ago

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Eight to Consider: Games of Last Generation – Part One

I’ve been pondering over this list for some time now. I’ve wanted to discuss my favorite games of last generation, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it. As you may or may not know, Eight to Consider is an ongoing feature here at GAJ and usually consists of a list of eight items related to a certain topic, but with all the games I had to choose from, eight just felt too small. I didn’t want to bog the list down with too many games, but I wanted to discuss a good number. I ended up deciding on 20 because it just felt right to me, so let’s just pretend the title of this article actually makes sense.

The next question I had to ask myself was, “What exactly should be considered last generation?” Should I include PC exclusives or handheld games that technically haven’t changed generations? Should I consider the Wii as last generation or the Wii U or both since there’s a bit of a grey area there? Should I include HD re-releases or compilations? Well I went with what I felt was the most obvious way to handle it. I decided to keep the list strictly confined to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 library (since that’s where I played a majority of my games anyway) and if it was on the system at any point, it was fair game. This includes all retail games, as well as games available exclusively via download from PSN and XBLA.

(Shout out to the original The Binding of Isaac because it never made its way to consoles, so it doesn’t fit the criteria for this list, but it’s fantastic and you should play it.)

With all that out of the way, what follows are my favorite games from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (as well as a few extras sprinkled throughout). Here are the first 10 of 20 games from last generation for your consideration.

20. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

Platforms: PSN, XBLA, Windows Phone, Windows 8, Windows RT, Steam, iOS, Android

Starting things off is a fantastic entry in the Pac-Man series. Championship Edition DX is, far and away, the best Pac-Man game I’ve ever played. By taking the great foundation that the original Championship Edition built and ratcheting the intensity up to 11, DX is a truly special game. It is all about memorizing patterns, while traversing each maze at insane speeds and was some of the most fun I had on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

19. Fable II

Platforms: Xbox 360

The Fable series is a bit of a divisive one. I never played the original Fable and Fable III left much to be desired, but Fable II hit all the right notes for me and I fell in love with it. It was the perfect blend of adventure, RPG, and action, just deep enough to keep things interesting, but not overly complicated like so many games of the genre tend to be. Now that it is backwards compatible with Xbox One, it might be one of the reasons I end up picking up Microsoft’s new console.

18. South Park: The Stick of Truth

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

South Park: The Stick of Truth might just be the biggest surprise on this list. With all the ups and downs it faced during development and with it being a licensed game, the fact that it turned out well was a bit of a shocker. Not only did it turn out well, it’s actually pretty damn great RPG. As a long time fan of South Park, getting a game that actually did justice to the show was a long time coming and well worth the wait. Granted, The Stick of Truth probably isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve ever enjoyed an episode of South Park, do yourself a favor and give this one a try.

17. Rock Band 2

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Wii

This right here was, in my humble opinion, the pinnacle of the rhythm game. Some believe Rock Band 3 was the best in the series, but I felt it got a bit watered down with the addition of the keyboard and because of that the game’s track list suffered. Rock Band 2, on the other hand, took everything great about the original game, refined it, and made a near perfect experience. While the track list wasn’t quite as good as the first game, being able to import the original’s songs made for a complete and satisfying rock show. On top of all that, the sheer amount of downloadable songs made Rock Band 2 a game with nearly endless replayability. Perhaps the greatest attribute of Rock Band 2 is all the fun times and good memories it help create and for all those reasons it more than earns its spot on this list.

16. Resident Evil 5

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Shield Android TV

Resident Evil 5 isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, Resident Evil 4, but it’s still a great, underrated game. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for RE4 coming before it, RE5 would probably be a much more lauded over game. Granted, the addition of co-op wasn’t welcome, thanks to the terrible AI. Outside of that one complaint, Resident Evil 5 is and will always remain one of my favorite action games from the PS3/Xbox 360 generation and if you’ve never played it you can even pick it up Xbox One and PS4 now.

15. Tomb Raider

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

The 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider is another game that surprised the hell out of me. I’ve never been a big fan of the series, for a variety of reasons, so I was skeptical about this reimagining of Lara Croft. Well, it turns out that Tomb Raider is one of the best action games to release in years. There is so much to love from the exploration to the combat to the actual tomb raiding. It’s a nearly perfect experience and another game you can check out on current generation consoles if you missed it the first time around.

14. Bastion

Platforms: Xbox 360, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, iOS

Bastion is the total package. It’s gorgeous, has one of my favorite soundtracks, and is an absolute joy to play. I’ve played through Bastion at least half a dozen times on a variety of platforms and each playthrough is always just enjoyable as the last. With a variety of upgrades and challenges, multiple endings, and combat that never gets old, there are plenty of reasons to consider Bastion one of the best games of the past decade.

Last Gen’s Biggest Disappointments

13. Shatter

Platforms: PSN, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux

What a game. Shatter is fantastic and did something I never thought a game could do, it made me enjoy breaking bricks. It’s a unique take on the Breakout style of game that changes up the types of environments you play in, allows you to manipulate how your ball travels, and even throws in boss fights for good measure. All of that is great, but perhaps Shatter’s best feature is its amazing soundtrack. Seriously, have a listen to this sweet tune.

12. Super Meat Boy

Platforms: Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Android

In 2010, Super Meat Boy was the best platformer I had played since Super Mario Bros. 3 and to this day that remains true. Thanks to its tight, precise controls, quality level design, superb soundtrack, and brutal, yet fair difficulty I’d consider it a modern day masterpiece in game design. I’ve never completed the final level (apparently my skills peaked just prior to finishing the light world), but that has not and never will diminish my love for Super Meat Boy.

11. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Linux, OS X, iOS, Android, PlayStation Vita

I am terrible at strategy/tactical RPGs, but I still love playing them. Something about the combat is just so satisfying, but I couldn’t pull off a proper strategy to save my life. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is an unforgiving game, even on its easiest setting, but I couldn’t stop playing it until I saw it through to the end. If I’m being completely honest, I think Enemy Unknown is the only strategy/tactical RPG I’ve ever finished. There’s just something so addictive about building your own base, developing new tech, and of course the turn-based combat.

#games #video games

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entergamingxp · 5 years ago

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Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC is a Beautiful But Demanding Showcase

January 9, 2020 2:00 PM EST

Over a year later, Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC delivers incredible visuals for those that can handle its demanding technical requirements.

Coming over a year after I first saddled up to play Red Dead Redemption 2, it’s fitting to come back to the game with a second wind and the chance to really take the game in. In the time since it first released, Rockstar’s ode to the West seemed to draw as many criticisms as it did admiration, perhaps due to the game’s overwhelming ambitions in light of its massive, almost unwieldy scale. Given Red Dead Redemption 2’s deliberate and methodical pacing, I was looking forward to the experience of revisiting the game without racing against a deadline like when I first played it, especially given how much detail and smaller moments that RDR2 packs into its epic experience.

Despite coming back to the game after this extended period, even over a year later I’m still of the opinion that Red Dead Redemption 2 deserves a lot of credit for giving us such a fully-realized and detailed world to explore. That was of course coming from my first time around with the game on PS4, and the PC version of the game only enhances that further, and highlights Red Dead Redemption 2 as arguably Rockstar’s technical powerhouse, with some caveats.

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I’ve been playing the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 over the course of the past several weeks since it released initially on the Rockstar Launcher (followed by its later debut on other PC storefronts like Epic Games Store and Steam). It’s been a long time coming for the PC release of Red Dead Redemption 2, especially for those that may have held out on the console versions in fall 2018, and Rockstar’s Western epic certainly delivers the bells and whistles that would be hoped for from such a highly-anticipated PC release. On the visual front, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a stunning display on PC, though it might come at the cost of some compromises on the technical end.

Let’s get those compromises out of the way first. Notably, since its launch the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 has been mired with a range of performance issues that Rockstar attributed to “specific combinations” of Nvidia hardware, be it CPU, GPU, or the drivers that you are using. Specifically, the most prevalent issues reported by players have been stuttering and freezing, an issue that I myself happened to run into quite frequently during my first few times playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC.

“On the visual front, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a stunning display on PC, though it might come at the cost of some compromises on the technical end.”

For context, my PC is more on the mid-level of most gaming rigs: I am running a Core i5-6600K, 3.5 GHz quad-core CPU, a GeForce GTX 1070 GPU, and 16GB of RAM. Though my now three-year-old PC is far from most high-end rigs nowadays, I was at least within reach of the recommended specs for the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2, with the CPU being my only main drawback for the experience.

While I expected to go into my time with Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC not being able to reach the lofty goals of hitting its 4K benchmarks, I at least was hoping to see a notable upgrade on PC from when I first played through the game on a base PS4 over a year ago. For what Red Dead Redemption 2 was working with on the base consoles, it was already an impressive visual showcase, and I could only imagine it being that much more immersive and detailed on PC.

“Thankfully, after several weeks of new updates by Rockstar and tinkering with my settings, Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC has easily delivered a showcase-worthy graphical experience.”

During my first play sessions with the PC version, I almost immediately ran into major stuttering issues where sections of the game would be stalled for over 10-20 seconds at a time. This was especially the case during the game’s opening segment in the middle of a blizzard in the mountains. While I had improved the performance by making some adjustments to its graphics options (setting most of the options towards High or Medium), I still saw some significant instances of stuttering and delays as the game was trying to load me into the next section I was entering.

Thankfully, after several weeks of new updates by Rockstar and tinkering with my settings, Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC has easily delivered a showcase-worthy graphical experience, and seems like a worthy justification for the extra wait. Despite some of my initial issues getting the game to run at an optimal and consistent level (especially after switching from Vulkan to DirectX 12 for its visual processing), the PC version of RDR2 provides a ton of room for players to get an impressive visual experience, even though the graphics settings menu itself might be a little overwhelming. There might be one too many options to tinker with and change, and I would recommend that you spend some time in the graphics settings when you first start the game to familiarize yourself with its options.

“The PC version’s more capable and intuitive Photo Mode is surely a significant upgrade.”

That being said, while the enhanced graphical options and settings are the marquee feature of Red Dead Redemption 2’s PC version, Rockstar also incorporated plenty of other new features to make the PC version an appealing package over the initial console versions. Most notably, the PC version’s enhanced Photo Mode (combined with the upgraded visual presentation) is surely a huge step over the photo capture features initially included in the game. In its place, the PC version has a “proper” Photo Mode that allows you to zoom in and out of the action, reposition its camera, change exposure and depth of field, and more. While our own Ben Bayliss managed to find ways to tinker with the camera for optimal settings in Red Dead Redemption 2 on consoles, the PC version’s more capable and intuitive Photo Mode is surely a significant upgrade for players looking to capture the game’s stunning landscapes and vistas in better detail.

Likewise, the draw of having mouse and keyboard controls is likely another appealing factor to those that may have waited for it over PS4 and Xbox One. Given that RDR2 already has a number of controls and inputs to work with, having the ability to tie them to specific keys or bindings is a noticeable improvement over its sometimes convoluted controls, especially when it comes to aiming and shooting. That being said, personally I am more attached to controllers over mouse and keyboard. While I played the game for the majority of the time on PC with an Xbox One controller, having the mouse and keyboard controls on hand is still a convenient option for players that may have struggled with the controls on consoles.

“Playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC gave me a renewed appreciation for the depth and scope of its world.”

While the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 got off to a rocky start at launch, over time and with several patches it has unquestionably become the best place to play Rockstar’s epic Western. The enhanced visual options and settings of the PC version breathe even more life into its already stunning atmosphere and environments, even for a game that was already impressive on consoles and (probably) pushed them to their absolute limits.

Even as I was going through the story for my second time, playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC gave me a renewed appreciation for the depth and scope of its world, with the PC version giving an even better window to view that world in finer detail. That said, like the game itself, be prepared to have a little patience in adjusting to the PC version’s quirks and technical demands. Eventually, you’ll find yourself being able to fully enjoy this marvelous world to its fullest potential.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia.

January 9, 2020 2:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/01/red-dead-redemption-2-on-pc-is-a-beautiful-but-demanding-showcase/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=red-dead-redemption-2-on-pc-is-a-beautiful-but-demanding-showcase

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