Current Events > My quick thoughts on PS4 games I've played since November: Updated!

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Quick recap since the last topic was archived, but I've played a few more titles that are now on the list. I am a pretty casual gamer but when I start picking up the controller again I go nuts deep so when my PS4 got delivered late November, I quickly picked up about 50-70 titles and have been working through them. A two week break from work around Christmas helped me make a pretty good dent in my line up. Here are some thoughts on the ones I've played then a list of my back log. I prefer more violent action oriented games and am a sucker for a good gore/damage system. I also am not a completionist by any stretch and just enjoy leisurely getting through the main story on most titles. Also I like strictly single player campaigns. Anyway, here are some extremely basic mini write ups about those games I've checked off the playlist. Feel free to discuss any title more in depth.

The Last of Us

Plenty has already been said about this one. I loved it. I was engaged with the story and characters from start to finish, everything felt authentic and nothing really stood out to me as "video gamey". Combat was brutal and had a desperation and rawness to it which I dug and I loved the stealth components. Can't wait for part 2.

Modern Warfare

Loved this one as well and found the gunplay to be so satisfying. It's a beautiful game to look at, some of the campaign beats were amazing (Farrah's story in particular) and the violence felt very real. The "Clean House" mission was way too short and I wish more similar missions had been included although there were a few similar sequences, but that mission in particular is just so engaging. They tease you with some dismemberment with your 50 cal, but having the shotgun deal some more brutal damage would have been great. Excited to replay the campaign soon

Infinite Warfare

I had read a lot of negative things about this COD entry, but I really fucking dug it. The setting was cool, I liked the story, I loved the side missions, and the one mission on the asteroid fighting the robots through rapid day and night cycles was a standout. Also obliterating dudes was fun

Control

Very fun game with some badass mechanics but could get pretty frustrating having to recover 5 minutes worth of ground sometimes if you're killed. Not a super forgiving checkpoint system. Also, I thought the story was cool but I played Alan Wake not too long ago and was waaaaay more invested in the story and diving deeper into the lore. Control just didn't quite get there for me on the narrative front. Standout though was the Ashtray mission. One of the coolest fucking levels ever.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts

Admission time. I think I prefer the Ghost Warrior series (at least 3 and Contracts) to Sniper Elite. Seeing heads burst apart is just way more satisfying to me than the X-Ray cam. Anyway, I started playing Contracts but did not pay attention at all to the tutorial. So I got pretty fed up initially with not being able to hit shit. I put this one back on the shelf for a month or so before deciding to give it another shot and actually learn how to play and god damn I'm glad I did. Ended up absolutely loving it and have played all the contracts twice. Ended up being a very satisfying experience lining up the perfect shot without the indicator dot of the previous games and the combat could be pretty gnarly. Loved the wide open levels and hundreds of ways to play.

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3

Just finished this yesterday and have another admission. The story is obviously dog shit, but outside of that I think I enjoyed this one just as much as I did Far Cry 3 and 4. Same satisfying headsets as Contracts (though no other dismemberment), some brutal melee takedowns, and fun stealth. The fully open world was both good and bad. There wasn't much life at all so traveling could get redundant, but stumbling on some hostages in need of rescuing and taking down outposts was fun every single time.

Call of Duty WW2

Honestly, I played this a few weeks ago and don't really remember much about it. It's a perfectly good time waster and casual play if you wanna just play 30 mins of something before you leave the house. I dig a good WW2 game though so will likely replay once I clear my backlog. Standout was the visuals in cutscenes.

Wolfenstein Old Blood

A fun fast Wolfenstein fix. Brutal as always and I love the word the new Wolfenstein games inhabit. The pipe was a cool melee weapon and I dug having to disconnect the big dudes form their power source. I thought it was a cool use of the prequel status seeing the early versions of the enemies you face later in the timeline.

Wolfenstein II The New Colossus

Loved every minute of it. It was hilarious at times, very brutal and sadistic at others, and definitely had a through line of genuine heart that a game like this doesn't really require. The backstory on BJ and his father was great and I loved the payoff (a line of his about being a better father than his own made me decide to play Youngblood after initially choosing not to get it) and all the story beats just hit with me. Combat was brutal and fun. Can't fucking wait for the 3rd main entry.

Wolfenstein Youngblood

Certainly a change of pace for the series. I didn't really care for the open world nature of the game because the story took a backseat to it. Game play was still very satisfying, I liked a lot of the banter and I liked seeing BJ's legacy alive in the girls, but I don't think I'll replay it start to finish like I will the others in the new canon. Just too much of a grind to get through. That said, I'm still excited to where it leads the narrative for the series.

Uncharted 1, 2, and 3

Uncharted 3 was my favorite of the original trilogy. The melee is better, the set pieces and traversal are fun, and I vibe with the characters and pace way more. But to backtrack, I dug 1 but honestly kinds grinded through it to get to 2. Visually it was cool for a 2007 game and gameplay was alright, but I was happy to finish and move onto 2 which was.... more of the same really. The set pieces were a lot more fun though which made me enjoy the game a lot more. Fun characters, cool visuals, bad ass set pieces, just very enjoyable games.

The Order 1886

This is an odd one for me. Visually amazing, the gameplay was fun, the setting and lore was cool, and the combat was brutal, gory, and satisfying but holy shit it took control out of my hands every few minutes. It never gave you a chance to breathe and enjoy the gameplay or even to strategize during combat. It was way too linear and QTE heavy for what could have been bad ass segments. Huge mis

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Far Cry Primal

Got through this one pretty quick too, or so I thought. Beat Dah, Ull, and the main chick but the game still goes on because I hardly did any side quests. Anyway, the setting was beautiful and I dug using only primitive weapons, riding mammoths, sicking tigers on people. All very fun. That battle with Dah's camp was an incredibly satisfying experience after dying several times and finally being more patient and stalking dudes as they separated from the search party. Dug the game, won't play again though and don't care to officially finish the campaign.

Rage 2

I didn't hate the first Rage game other than the complete anticlimax of an ending, but it did have satisfying combat. Rage 2 takes shit to another level. Combat is brutal as hell, the mobility is insane, and you feel like an all powerful bad ass. I'll talk about Doom more in a sec, but I'd much rather play Rage 2 than Doom if I had to choose. The story is whatever but the game at least finished with a boss fight. Whatever the shortcomings are, the combat and mechanics are just so fun, fast, and satisfying I could look past it all

Doom

I had a lot of fun early on in the game, the violence, the soundtrack, the overall badassery of the game was thrilling. But the game is too long for what it is and I found myself wanting it to just be over. It got real repetitive running and gunning the whole time and I got to the second to last mission when the game crashed and my fucking file was corrupted. No desire to start over and see it through

Titan Fall 2

Other game with super fun combat mechanics. Everyone likes to praise this game and for good reason. The campaign is fun and no two levels are really the same. The mission in the combat testing manufacturing area, the time travel mission, etc all insanely cool and fun to play. BT was also great

Resident Evil 2

The original was my first RE game and I was obsessed with it when I got it for N64. The remake is a fucking powerhouse and does pretty much everything right. The combat is brutal, the atmosphere is amazing, the scares are still effective, Mr. X was a fucking stressful menace. I may be in the minority on this, but playing as sherry was one of my favorite segments in either play through. One improvement would to have made the scenarios fit together and affect each other more seamlessly, but other than that I loved it and can't wait for 3.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Sucker for the new trilogy and think I like them more than uncharted. The visuals are better, the set pieces are great, the combat and traversal are both much more satisfying. The story and characters aren't quite as good, but the other things put the series over the top for me. For Shadow, it looks stunning and the tsunami and earthquake sequences were absolutely incredible. Not as combat heavy as the previous two titles, but what combat there was I absolutely loved. Lara goes all out on her takedowns.

Outlast 1 and 2

I dug Outlast 1 and am glad I played it, but I have what may be the unpopular opinion that 2 is a way better and way scarier game. Holy shit my dudes. Everything about it worked for me. It's a great looking game and the religious angle of the story just worked for me. The imagery was striking and the game oozes atmosphere and almost begs you to stop and take a screenshot every few minutes. The writings were cool and disturbing, and I loved the school flashback sections. I was on edge AF playing through the second. Also, SPOILERS: seeing the child corpses in coffins with the lady holding and singing to a child corpse got under my skin in a bad way

Days Gone

Played it for a little over 2 weeks straight and fucking loved every minute of it. Couldn't get enough of the story, the combat, clearing out camps, exploring, the mystery, all of it. Incredible experience and taking down the first horde was so insanely satisfying and tense. I 100%ed all storylines outside of the nests (just some bird nests remaining) and played after the main game for an additional week to take out all the hordes and camps. Beautiful game as well. The trees during the storms were incredible looking.

Uncharted 4

My favorite of the series for sure. Loved the more grounded story, the visuals were incredible, and the combat and traversal were a lot more fun. Couldn't get enough of it and am excited to play Lost Legacy next. The chase scene in Chapter 11 is one of the most exhilarating gaming experiences I've had.

Mafia 3

Honestly, as repetitive as the gameplay loop is and as ugly as some of the visuals are, I really dug this game. I loved the story and I liked Lincoln Clay a lot. It was also great seeing Vito again and getting his ending was satisfying. Also John Donovan was an incredibly entertaining character. The combat was also incredibly brutal and satisfying. With more polish and a little less repetition, this would be an all-timer for me.

Resident Evil 7

Just finished this one this week and really enjoyed the experience. I liked the story, loved the more scaled back gameplay and story compared to 6, and had a good time playing it. While tense, I found Outlast 2 far scarier. By a great deal. That said, I really liked RE7 and have played through End of Zoe (amazing), No More Heroes (also good) and Daughters, which I honestly think is creepier than even the main game because it is horrifying to think of your family going crazy and you are stuck in the storm with them with no escape. Much more grounded compared to goop monsters.

Games I started but didn't complete:

Terminator Resistance

I really wanted to like this one and may still try to grind through it, but god damn was the 2 or 3 hours I played the most boring FPS experience I've ever had. So incredibly dull and looks like a last gen game. Anyone who has played it, when do you actually fight terminators?

Black Ops 3

Really dug the first 2 games but this one just wasn't clicking for me. Gave it a few missions and put it down. May try again during a gaming drought. Should I bother?

Ghost Recon Wildlands

I dig the game in small doses but god damn is it a huge undertaking and very repetitive. The world looks great and the combat is nice, although I hate how the bodies disappear almost immediately. This one was too much of a grind for me to play uninterrupted, so I'm hoping to knock it out in increments when I have nothing else to play

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Man I REALLY wanted to get into this because the story intrigues me and it looks amazing but it was so god damn boring and the puzzles every