Monthly Round-up: February 2015
In Case You Missed It: Back to Blogging / Revisiting the Mansion (RE1 HD) / In Praise of Yakuza / The Correct Length
February Playlist
1. Resident Evil Remake HD: I’d forgotten just how good the first Resident
Evil was. I’m gradually making my way through Jill’s campaign, having finished with
Chris’ earlier in the month - I achieved the best ending where Jill and Rebecca
fall asleep in a helicopter. I will do everything in my power to ensure that Barry
also has the chance to nod off in a chopper.
2. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate: I’ve only played a measly five hours, as of
late I have been struggling to go more than fifteen minutes without falling
asleep and dropping the 3DS on my face. Still, I’m sure that I’ll be playing
this for months to come.
Words: New 3DS XL,
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Dragon Age Inquisition
This month I bought my third 3DS, because I like new things.
I marked the release of one of my most anticipated games of 2015, Monster
Hunter 4 Ultimate, by splashing out on a New 3DS XL MH4 Limited Edition. It’s
not quite as pretty as the Majora’s Mask model, but it did come with a
pre-installed copy of Monster Hunter.
The new model features a number of improvements over the
original XL. The second nub is a welcome addition for Monster Hunters, though I
never had any issues with using the Circle Pad Pro to control the camera on the
old XL. Games do look a lot brighter and crisper on the new screen, which was
enough to justify my purchase, and the 3D effect is greatly improved. The built-in
camera tracks your head movements and makes the necessary adjustments to make
sure you don’t lose the 3D effect when you start fidgeting. It makes a huge difference, but I still spend
most of my time playing with the slider set to zero! The New 3DS XL is
undoubtedly an improvement on the previous model, but I’d stop just short of
calling it a must-buy for existing, XL owners.
Thus far, I’ve used my new 3DS exclusively for Monster
Hunter 4 Ultimate. I put two hundred hours into MH3U, but unfortunately my previous
hunting partner, my wife, didn’t fancy it this time around, which has sapped my
enthusiasm considerably. Fortunately, I have convinced a few friends to join
in, so I shouldn’t be short of hunting buddies. It seems more accessible than
previous entries, the new weapons are fun and the verticality of the stages and
the ability to climb onto monsters adds a new and welcome dimension to the
action. At this point, you probably already know if Monster Hunter’s your thing
or not and, despite the new additions, MH4U is unlikely to change your mind one
way or the other.
Moving to the PS4, after seventy hours of chatting,
killing and fetching, I finally finished Dragon Age Inquisition at the
beginning of the month. The ending was a let-down, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything
else about Inquisition. I liked the characters so much that I never settled on
a single party of four, instead opting to constantly switch out members so I could
try all the combat styles and listen to all the character-sensitive conversations
that occur in the field. Breaking up the world into smaller, but still vast
maps allowed for more variation, and after seventy hours there are still large
areas that I have yet to explore.
Inquisition is full of interesting missions, but also has
its fair share of repetitive, smaller quests which might turn some people off.
Personally, I appreciated the quantity and was happy that there was always
something to do and somewhere to explore. Dragon Age Origins was excellent, but
I think Inquisition might be my favourite Dragon Age, and I’d rank it just
behind Dark Souls 2 as my game of 2014.
The Month Ahead
Bloodborne motherfuckers! Hidetaka Miyazaki’s latest will
dominate the tail end of March and the majority of April, which is why I’ve yet
to pre-order Yakuza Zero, which is also out next month. I love Yakuza even more
than Souls, but I like the idea of playing Bloodborne at the same time as the
rest of the internet, sharing tips and commiserating collectively, so I’ll be
holding off on importing the latest Yakuza for a few weeks.
Among the other March releases, I’d most like to play Final
Fantasy Type-0 HD, Hotline Miami 2 and OlliOlli 2, but they’ll have to wait
their turn.
Sorry for calling you a motherfucker.
I forgive you for calling me a motherfucker haha. I haven't played much lately. Mostly just FF XIV on the PS4. My friends and I got into it. Its one of my first MMOs and I am really enjoying it. I also purchased a new 3DS but I did not buy any new games. Going to make my way through the rest of the Ace Attorney Trilogy. After that I will most likely get back to finishing A Link Between Worlds. As for next month I cant wait to get my hands on Bloodborne. FF Type 0 will have to hold me over until it comes out though. I preordered it so I can play the demo of FF XV since that game looks like its going to be pretty awesome. Anyways it good to see you blogging again and I will keep checking in. Take care buddy and see you soon.
ReplyDeleteHey Killa, thanks for stopping by!
DeleteThe inclusion of The Gold Saucer has me considering FFXIV again. I just couldn't get into it when it first came out on PS3, but I do love Triple Triad...
FF Type 0 looks great, but I think I can wait a month or two. I'm hoping the XV demo will get a general release at some point soon, so I can see if it plays as good as it looks.
Cheers