What games did you play over the summer, and what were your brief impressions of them?
Bastion
I liked playing this game, but I don't have many lasting impressions besides the quality of the narrator. Cinderbrick fort with all of the idols activated is asking for a bad time.
Kingdom Hearts
I liked the beginning areas for their design, but as I progressed I felt more ambivalent. The boss battles typically dragged on for too long, and rather than being challenging, were tedious. Combat was regularly a clusterfuck, but a manageable clusterfuck (oddly enough). The plot is grand, but the themes are standard.
TLoZ:Oracle of Ages
A well-crafted experience that I enjoy playing... for a lot of reasons (some of which conform with my aesthetic biases for TLoZ).
Earthbound
Along with OoT, this game evoked childhood nostalgia without me ever playing it during my childhood. It's an experience I have to replay and analyze more in-depth at some future point. The end was stellar, and most of the game was a breeze (but that's not a bad thing). My favorite game of the summer.
Super Metroid
I enjoyed the experience, but I knew much of the story and bosses from internet exposure/metroid story broached in other series titles.
Metroid II (original)
This did not age well. It also did not control like the other 2D metroids (which isn't bad, just made me more willing to play AM2R), I think the design of hunting a number of metroids in a confined area, but largely having the freedom to explore that area as you please is an interesting way of leveraging metroidvania-style play with your objective of extermination. Compared to most other titles like Super or Prime in which you use item mobility for progression/fighting a boss in discrete segments, Metroid II marries the two in more organic fashion, you can happen upon metroid rooms and just as easily walk out.
AM2R
This improved upon essentially everything in Metroid II while adding some welcome infusions from later entries in the series. I particularly liked the logbook updates reminiscent of the Prime worldbuilding, which nicely counterbalances your extermination mission with an appreciation for SR388's ecosystem and the former chozo inhabitants. It adds depth I imagine some fans may have found lacking in the original.
Dark Souls III
I mostly PvPed, and it was usually pretty fun. Experiencing a run-through of the game embered is a more tense and memorable experience.
Garry's Mod
I made a hamsterball sled and raced Pip. I lost. Every. Time.
I'm fascinated with gaming experiences which players largely produce and how the strictly social structure of game systems effects player experience, so being introduced to a star wars RP server scratched that itch. I'm afraid my superior was not as enthralled with the experience.
Limbo
Caliginous, an aesthetic I enjoy. I don't recall ever being frustrated when playing it (thanks to the short death-iteration time).
Environmental Station Alpha-
It is a metroid clone, one without a terribly engaging story or the level of mechanical polish as a metroid title, but the soundtrack was great and I like pixel art.
Fallout 4
I don't think Fallout 4 is a bad game, but it usually bores me despite my efforts to experience different aspects of the game. I figured I'd play Earthbound instead.
Shadow of the Colossus
Without being particularly difficult, this game is the only one which consistently makes my palms sweaty and gives me the thrill of doing something epic. I enjoy it for the most part.
Resident Evil 4
I never get far in horror games because I have a weak constitution for them, the instant something jumps out at me without time to react or I know something terrible is going to happen, but being uncertain of when are both scenarios I can tolerate in short bursts. Res4 isn't even particularly scary, it's just that every time one of those dead-eyed villagers pops up behind me I alt+tab to save my nerves.
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