Explore
 Lists  Reviews  Images  Update feed
Categories
MoviesTV ShowsMusicBooksGamesDVDs/Blu-RayPeopleArt & DesignPlacesWeb TV & PodcastsToys & CollectiblesComic Book SeriesBeautyAnimals   View more categories »
Listal logo
Avatar
Added by VierasTalo on 3 Apr 2012 03:03
4577 Views 10 Comments
48
vote

Gaming Diary

Sort by: Showing 1-50 of 70
Rating: List Type:
Add items to section

Finished

People who added this item 130 Average listal rating (87 ratings) 6.7 IMDB Rating 0
Gone Home - PC Games
Aside from dys4ia I have never seen a game portray sexuality with this level of potency or finesse. You should play it. I'm very hesitant to spoil anything of it and will hence say nothing else.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 164 Average listal rating (118 ratings) 7.6 IMDB Rating 0
The Stanley Parable - PC Games
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 312 Average listal rating (206 ratings) 8.2 IMDB Rating 0
Grand Theft Auto V - PlayStation 3
I guess I should break this tedious silence with a word about GTA V. I feel the time for me and GTA has gone past me. This series showed some change with IV. It was serious while maintaining some level of humor. But it was bitter, despair-filled humor. GTA V exchanges that fantastic albeit way too long script for a tone much more alike with Vice City or San Andreas, while still at it's worst attempting to get some emotional connection going. The tone is just sort of... obnoxious? It feels like I've been growing up as a person for years but this game still is just for that kid I was back when Vice City came out. And that's fine. I'm not in the demographic. It would be more admirable to continue with the lines IV drew on the sand but hey, I'll take this. And I probably won't take the sequel.

With this game also became jarring the way it's structure is obvious. You get to a car and drive to point A, get the mission, drive to point B, you either shoot some dudes or drive behind someone, and then something awesome might happen. Or not. The time spent driving to great setpieces begins overshadowing the setpieces around the middle, leaving only the new heist-mechanics as the stand-out. And there aren't too many of them. Which is nice in the sense that they all feel special but at the same time they're the only stand-out thing in the structure.

Thankfully those glorious bastards at R* still know how to make one hell of a digital city for their games, saving GTA V from mediocrity. But I'll stick to Saint's Row in the future, thank you. Unless the formula changes. Based on sales, it won't. But hey, the company and the Hausers churn out other games too, and those will probably be awesome.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 77 Average listal rating (41 ratings) 5.8 IMDB Rating 0
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 83 Average listal rating (52 ratings) 7.3 IMDB Rating 0
Saints Row IV - PC Games
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 42 Average listal rating (23 ratings) 8 IMDB Rating 0
Gunpoint - PC Games
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 285 Average listal rating (172 ratings) 7.5 IMDB Rating 0
Mirror's Edge - PC Games
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 657 Average listal rating (445 ratings) 8.7 IMDB Rating 0
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - PlayStation 3
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 489 Average listal rating (311 ratings) 8.5 IMDB Rating 0
The Last of Us - PlayStation 3
A fantastic post-apocalyptic adventure game that borders so damn close to destroying videogame cliches that it's kind of bothersome when it doesn't. But let's stick to the positives first, because this story, and to be specific, the last third of it, is beyond great. It's breathtaking. The juxtapositioning of our lead characters with the bandits they spend most of the game killing is smart and handled with the sort of brutality you would want. The ending itself is so dim and dark that it's a great slap in the face of anyone who thinks that these characters are somehow "cool".

But that being said, here's the part where I nitpick about why I don't give this game half a star more. It comes very close to being that game that finally breaks down the way videogames work. In your average shooter, you kill like three hundred people. In the Last of Us, that number remains the same, but because of the somber pacing of the action, you could easily cut down that number by three quarters and the game would really only be like five hours shorter, still making it longer than most of it's colleagues. But it doesn't. And because of this, as the game goes on, the more you feel like your very average superhero lead character, blasting away dozens of trained soldiers with a shotgun or a fucking bow and arrow while they struggle to graps how to hold their gun upright. Just ramping the difficulty up and cutting the enemies down in numbers by a great deal would've improved this game so much. But alas, we have this. It's still great, and you should play it. It's a great, harrowing experience.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 78 Average listal rating (48 ratings) 6.8 IMDB Rating 0
Injustice: Gods Among Us - PlayStation 3
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 176 Average listal rating (84 ratings) 8.4 IMDB Rating 0
BioShock Infinite - Xbox 360
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 16 Average listal rating (8 ratings) 7.6 IMDB Rating 0
WWE All Stars - Xbox 360
Finished the story-stuff at least. And Fantasy Warfare. Wrestling games in general are shit. All of them. The mechanics in every one never result in any good, fun gameplay. The amusement in them comes from blood or seeing how busted things can get. With WWE All Stars, for the first time I've ever seen, the gameplay is fun. It's a hoot. It's almost like a fighting game but it's not. It's a shame that they didn't get to develop this game further with a sequel, because it really would've kicked so much ass.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 59 Average listal rating (20 ratings) 8 IMDB Rating 0
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 31 Average listal rating (14 ratings) 7.4 IMDB Rating 0
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 13 Average listal rating (6 ratings) 7.2 IMDB Rating 0
10,000,000 - PC Games
A silly iOS-game. That I spent like 8 hours to finish. In a matter of days. Yeah, this was kind of addicting. The combination of Bejeweled, endless runner and RPG mechanics is really fun, though I wish the game involved a bit less grinding.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 3 Average listal rating (1 ratings) 6 IMDB Rating 0
An interesting experimental call center simulation with a nice amount of appropriately dry humor. Not exactly a riveting gameplay experience though, but I suppose that's kind of the point.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 13 Average listal rating (11 ratings) 7.6 IMDB Rating 0
Frog Fractions - PC Games
This game is so awesome. It's a free flash game so you can play it right now and you should. Take around 30 minutes off from what you're doing and finish Frog Fractions. It'll be worth it. That being said, I can't spoil an ounce of it. The insanity is everything fun about it.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 27 Average listal rating (24 ratings) 8.5 IMDB Rating 0
Trials Evolution - Xbox 360 Live Arcade
I didn't finish this, but I've played as much of it as anyone who has and can't finish some of the last stages just because they're too hard. It's a hoot though. The entire game is a giant rollercoaster of skill tests and big ass ramps, which is all it needs.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 37 Average listal rating (17 ratings) 7.6 IMDB Rating 0
Asura's Wrath - Xbox 360
Game of the year right here. It's dubious that the real ending is sold as DLC, but it's an End of Evangelion-situation really, they needed the money from the game to really finish it up. Putting out something this weird is too big a risk to go over budget with. But it's awesome. Everything about it. Just keep in mind that it doesn't have much of a game in it. It's just a fantastic interactive experience.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 265 Average listal rating (196 ratings) 7.8 IMDB Rating 0
Hotline Miami - PC Games
Hotline Miami is essentially a murder simulator with the aesthetics of the movie Drive and the gameplay of ancient DOS-games honed to perfection. Too bad that I find it difficult to appreciate some of the design choices, the lack of technical polish and the story ends up being extremely half-baked. I loved the first part, but the epilogue where the mystery is explained is just awful. That being said though, if you can overlook the story bits, this might just be GOTY-material. I can't.
VierasTalo's rating:
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 84 Average listal rating (37 ratings) 8 IMDB Rating 0
Sleeping Dogs - Xbox 360
Sleeping Dogs captures with efficiency and enthusiasm the best aspects of Hong Kong-action flicks from the 80s from wild chases to brutal fist fights to lots of Chinese people screaming loudly, and it's a lot of fun. The story goes interesting places, but after something like GTA VI it kind of feels flat despite the hyper-cinematic output. The real star of the game though is the world. Hong Kong feels just like the HK of all the best 80s actioners, with sprawling vertical city streets, neon signs and busy marketplaces.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 37 Average listal rating (26 ratings) 7.9 IMDB Rating 0
The completionist kind of gamer in me got going with this one. I just fell in love with the rudimentary gameplay and most of all the way every little upgrade you purchase immediately has tangible effect in-game. The gameplay itself is fairly average, but I actually really appreciate the tactical aspect of not being able to move while shooting, as it separates this from most other third person shooters of the time. The graphics are also absolutely beautiful. Too bad that the game is almost ruined for the single-player by the rather botched co-op-angle. I think the only times I've died here thus far is when the AI has screwed up one way or another. The parts where you two get split up are just awful. It's a small speck on this games rep though, and I'll live.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 300 Average listal rating (162 ratings) 8.1 IMDB Rating 0
Dead Space - Xbox 360
's alright. I don't really love this series and consider it pretty much a competent sci-fi shooter with fun mechanics and a Doom-storyline that's fun to follow. The second one improves on the few mechanical flaws of the first, primarily the slow tempo of combat, but this one isn't half bad either. The upgrade and shop system is as fun as ever and there's nothing too strongly wrong - it's just that there's nothing extraordinary either. Also, for a supposedly horror-themed game, this never really freaked me out in any way at all.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 99 Average listal rating (51 ratings) 7.1 IMDB Rating 0
Dear Esther - PC Games
It's a good thing that I have long since abandoned the thought that video games would somehow be just games for me. I've started considering them just another form of art ready for consumption, and hence don't place any particular pressure on them to contain certain elements such as interaction with the game environment. This is key to enjoying Dear Esther, in which you simply explore a secluded island while listening to the ramblings of an insane former resident of it. Figures watch you from afar as you delve deeper into the caverns and abandoned constructions of the land, and the monologue of the insane drives you forward on your path. The story is extremely good, sweeping you into it, making this probably the first game in ages I've completed in one sitting (though the two hour runtime helps with that). It tells a very sad tale, and the last quarter of the game basically feels like a Bela Tarr-film, but with a bizarrely uplifting ending.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 17 Average listal rating (10 ratings) 5.9 IMDB Rating 0
It's better than the movie, if that's worth anything. Not really. I got interested in GRIN since Bionic Commando was such a hidden gem, but Wanted is not. The storyline is just completely anemic and uninteresting. Thankfully the gameplay sort of makes up for this, as there are interesting things there. Curving bullets and using slow-motion while also changing cover every single second, it's a bit more fun than the standard fare of TPS-games. Unfortunately the enemies are really boring and you have a single damn gun for most of this game. The last two missions you get the choice between a pistol and an SMG, but that's it. The gimmicky bullet curves and slow motion are the only things that keep the game running, but they do so efficiently enough. There are also really, really cool setpiece-moments that are handled like QTEs but with in-game mechanics, but there are too few to rock this boat to either way properly. Worth the 1โ‚ฌ I paid.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 37 Average listal rating (22 ratings) 6 IMDB Rating 0
Bionic Commando - Xbox 360
Maaan. Everyone hated this game, which kind of proves that maybe game developers can't try new and unique things any more on this large a scale. Everything Bionic Commando sets out to do, it does well. The world being a linear pipeline is nothing if not a design choice, and a good one at that no less. The gameplay is awesome when you get the hang of the one-of-a-kind swinging mechanics, and although the story is completely ridiculous, I enjoyed the ham-factors. The only true downside here is Mike Patton's AWFUL voice-over work and the navigation-based gameplay.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 537 Average listal rating (317 ratings) 8.1 IMDB Rating 0
Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360
A fun romp through action setpieces with proper pacing and a surprisingly attemptful story, there's little wrong with Gears of War 2 except for the completely asinine basic gameplay. Everything else is much more fun than the dull predecessor, and the setpieces are just marvelous. I could spoil them all just because I want to blab on about them, but I won't do that. This is probably the most fun I've had playing an authentic cover shooter.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 475 Average listal rating (249 ratings) 7.7 IMDB Rating 0
Fable II - Xbox 360
Modern gaming has ruined my chances of fully enjoying Fable II. The binary and dull moral choices are coupled with a simplistic and boring combat system which relies on your ability to level up one of the area effect spells, after which you can complete every battle by holding down B. There's tons of stuff to do, but I never felt compelled at all to do any of it. The storyline just didn't cut it for me. The dream sequence in the end was tedious. Yet I kind of enjoyed this game. I just got tired of it real fast and can't help but think that the third part would do everything this does but way better.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 149 Average listal rating (98 ratings) 7.2 IMDB Rating 0
Spec Ops: The Line - PC Games
I should've played it on the easiest difficulty. Restarting certain segments over and over again really demolishes some of the things this game tries to do. It still rocks. I can't say I enjoyed playing it. I had to stop playing at one point because I didn't want to go on after that one scene (you know which if you've played it), but I ended up finishing it anyhow. This is probably the most important shooter to come out of this generation, so that's cool. Hopefully it'll succeed financially and spark off followers. The end twist sucks though.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 60 Average listal rating (37 ratings) 7.9 IMDB Rating 0
Shadow Complex - Xbox 360 Live Arcade
This game is fucking awesome. You get a jetpack, a super armour, you can run on water using your hyperboots and punch people across a goddamn forest with your techno-fists.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 122 Average listal rating (66 ratings) 8.2 IMDB Rating 0
Max Payne 3 - PlayStation 3
Rockstar makes a Max Payne-game, and it's a really well written noir set in Brazil. That is not necessarily something you'd expect when you hear Max Payne 3, but this is thematically mostly very true to form despite being set in the sunny favelas and high-class clubs of Sao Paulo. The animation system that fuels the whole is perhaps one of the most beautiful things to come out of this generation of games graphically, and the writing holds up really well - atleast until the very last minute. The voice actor for Max pulls off a damn near superhuman performance, something I'll be damned to find a rival to in the last ten years of gaming. Maybe David Hayter could. The biggest problem in the game rises from the trivialisation of some of the older mechanics and the modernising process - Essentially Max Payne is now a cover shooter. It's still great fun and early on you get to do a lot of shootdodging, but then the game starts pitting you against impossible odds with your balding fat main character that you can only survive through cover shooting. And I really hate cover shooters.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 38 Average listal rating (21 ratings) 6.9 IMDB Rating 0
Binary Domain - PC Games
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 346 Average listal rating (207 ratings) 8.8 IMDB Rating 0
Mass Effect 2 - PC Games
A good follow-up. With all the DLC installed the balance between the fetch quest-esque crew loyalty missions and the original action-based quests is far better, negating the slightly monotone feeling of the main game. The ending is fucking awful with the giant human larva reaper terminator-thing though, and I really hope whoever wrote that has been duely fired.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 442 Average listal rating (258 ratings) 8.3 IMDB Rating 0
Mass Effect - PC Games
Read my comment/review, most of it still holds. The inventory system is horrible, but otherwise this is such a well-rounded experience where everything just seems to click in to place.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 70 Average listal rating (43 ratings) 8.4 IMDB Rating 0
Heavy Rain - Move Edition - PlayStation 3
It's always hard to think of what you're going to say with things like Heavy Rain or Fahrenheit. Well, I can just really compare the two with each other as games because there aren't too many others like these. Maybe Facade could be considered an interactive movie experience-game as well though. Anyhow, this is better than Fahrenheit. It isn't as revolutionary, but atleast the story does not turn into a Matrix-ripoff after the first act ends. Instead we get a Saw/Zodiac/X-Files-style murder mystery with convincing actors and set pieces that are as realistic as they are fun. I love how you can use retarded cliches (the doctor, the fight on the conveyor belt of doom) and they don't feel like cliches at all in a game. Despite some sticky animation and a few bugs, I really liked Heavy Rain as it forced me to become a part of the experience rather than play the experience. I had to think if I was capable of murdering someone for something good, and I was not. And the game never outright judges you on any of these actions, it just flows forward. Like life, I guess.

A little note, despite having the Move Edition, I played with the regular controller. I have a Wii, I am not buying anything Move-ish.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 559 Average listal rating (357 ratings) 8.3 IMDB Rating 0
God of War III - PlayStation 3
This series is a bit bizarre, as it falls downwards in quality and at the same time some things just get better and better. Here the story is utterly and completely idiotic and stupid, whereas the gameplay is some of the most fun the hack and slash-style has ever offered. The first GoW was a very good story, and was nice to play. The story was a great, almost satirical look at the format of greek tragedy while still being able to make us invest in Kratos, the main character. The second game felt like a letdown with it's very basic action game revenge-story, and by the third part it has been reduced to meaningless quiver about nothing. GoW 3 attempts to make us care of Kratos, now a raving rage-filled lunatic who kills everyone without reason, by adding a little girl who is supposedly a reminder of his own daughter. It doesn't work. When you kill fifty billion things in one game and then you're supposed to care for a man who gets sadistic kicks out of tearing people apart, it just does not work. The ending is horrible as well, and anticlimactic as hell. Nothing is learned! Still, if you skip all the cutscenes, it's a pretty and aggressive game to play, and it's fun to play. I just wish they hadn't screwed themselves over with the story.
VierasTalo's rating:
People who added this item 693 Average listal rating (390 ratings) 8.4 IMDB Rating 0
Hideo Kojima's lovely little egotrip-series ends with a rather whimperish sound. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite the MGS-fanboy and I loved every minute of this game. Until the ending started feeling like LOTR3. It never ended. It should've ended after the initial voice cast-credits had rolled, but Kojima added a twist after them that lasted about 30 minutes and invalidated all of the emotional bonds I formed to the story through the course of the series. It is absurd how one man can ruin his own creation by first ending it properly, then continuing it after-credits with information overloads that simply devalidate everything that came before. Otherwise MGS4 is fantastic as fanservice and pretty good as a game. It's fun to play when you actually get to play it, and the story is rather unusual for a videogame. It has pacing unlike what I've come to expect of the medium, with cutscenes that have these long, empty voids after most of the meaningful dialogue bits. This way the game itself asks the player to think and digest on what they were just told, a narrative tactic that at the same time occasionally draws the game out too long, but also makes it simply unique and in my opinion far more important than most of it's peers.
VierasTalo's rating:
Add items to section

Currently Playing

Add items to section

Backlog

Games I already own and need to get around to playing
Load more items (20 more in this list)

Voters of this game list - View all
Ricky FOliverOvermanTheDamemrhoundoomMirosanLeiska
Ripping off other fine folk such as Tapio and Tumppimies, but doing it in English. Just for the lulz.

Added to




Related lists

Dear Cinema Diary - Vol 3 E8 - August 2012
33 item list by jaytoast
15 votes 10 comments
Dear Cinema Diary - Vol 3 E7 - July 2012
27 item list by jaytoast
15 votes 4 comments
Cinema Diary - Vol 4 E6 - The Gap
48 item list by jaytoast
10 votes 5 comments
Cinema Diary - Vol 4 E7 - Nov & Dec
38 item list by jaytoast
14 votes 5 comments
Dear Cinema Diary - Vol 3 E4 - April 2012
63 item list by jaytoast
22 votes 24 comments
Dear Cinema Diary - Vol 3 E5 - May 2012
32 item list by jaytoast
15 votes 8 comments
Dear Cinema Diary - Vol 3 E6 - June 2012
39 item list by jaytoast
16 votes 14 comments
Cinema Diary - Vol 4 E1 - Jan 2013
35 item list by jaytoast
27 votes 5 comments
Cinema Diary - Vol 4 E2 - Feb 2013
38 item list by jaytoast
17 votes 6 comments
Cinema Diary - Vol 4 E3 - Spring 2013
38 item list by jaytoast
33 votes 10 comments

View more top voted lists