In 2015 I bought a PlayStation 4 to play through The Witcher 3 (worth it!). It took me around six to eight months to make it through the main quest as I was rather busy back then. There was no other game that really grabbed me, not even the lauded Bloodborne, so I sold the game console shortly afterwards.
Earlier today, though, I was curious to see if there were any recent worthwhile releases in the last couple years. In short, there was nothing that would make me want to buy another PlayStation 4, but I came across one big budget game that had me shake my head: Horizon – Zero Dawn. It’s an action-based open-world game if I got it correct. The setting seems a bit ludicrous as it plays in a future in which humans have regressed to the level of African tribesmen, yet gigantic robot-dinosaurs with sentient AI roam the earth (LOL). The gameplay seemed tempting enough for some mindless action. However, this is the protagonist:
Forgive me for being blunt, but what in the fuck is going on here? That must be the ugliest female protagonist ever to grace a video game. She’s far below average looking. I’d rate her a 4/10. Do people really pay $60 to look at that for a few dozen hours? I was wondering how this game sold as I really couldn’t believe that it did well. Well, it surprisingly did, according to VG Chartz:
I was under the impression that the US is a bigger market for games than Europe, so it seems that cucked Europe loves games with ugly female protagonists, while the US has shown some immunity. Still, a butch-lesbian looking protagonist who could also pass as an ugly dude is enough to turn me off buying that game. No, I’m not kidding. Of course, there is no need to build games exclusively around plastic virtual women that would have a bright future in VR porn as well, like the ensemble of the Senran Kagura series, but come on! On that note, I enjoyed the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, chick- and gameplay-wise. The sequel was a no-buy for me, though:
In short, we went from hot, attractive face, big breasts, toned to a not necessarily unattractive woman, but to a quite clearly much less attractive protagonist. Her waist isn’t as slim, her butt not as round, her breasts not as big; she’s arguably not as toned, and she’s rather pale too; her face is not nearly as bad as that butch’s in Horizon – Zero Dawn, but, at least in my opinion, she looks not nearly as good as in the 2013 game. At least in that case the market has spoken, as the 2015 sequel sold like dog shit compared to the 2013 reboot.
I know someone who was playing through Horizon Zero Dawn and, aside from the ugly protagonist, the game really isn’t very good imo.
However, there are still some games worth checking out. MGSV is pretty great, definitely the best gameplay of any MGS game, and Hideo is working on a new game under Sony called Death Stranding that’s supposed to be pretty groundbreaking.
Also, I’m not one for FPS games normally, but a game called Titanfall 2 is simply an amazingly fun sci-fi FPS made under a acompany called respawn entertainement, and they’re really great about trolling the Reddit forums and listening to player feedback to continually balance their game. Giant mech suits anyone? Insanely satisfying pilot play too.
Resident Evil 7 is pretty good considering how shit the last game was. It goes back to the survival horror genre and has some cool little puzzles here and there.
The Last Guardian, which I haven’t finished, seemed really promising. Maybe it is, I just can’t get passed the clunky controls.
Fumito Ueda’s game all share one quality: they control absolutely horribly. I played through ICO fifteen years ago, despite the controls. Shadow of the Colossus, which came out a few years later, had likewise a great atmosphere, but I got annoyed with the controls pretty early on, so I dropped that game. Footage of The Last Guardian didn’t lead me to believe that the protagonist would be fun to play as, so watched a playthrough on YouTube instead.
Thanks for your recommendations! I looked into MGV. It seemed too long for my liking. FPS aren’t a genre I’m overly fond of, and Capcom normally doesn’t get my money because I detest their nickel-and-diming. Resident Evil 6 was a really bad game, in my opinion. I tried playing it on the PS3 years ago.
MGSV is a disgrace, it suffered the same fate as S.T.A.L.K.ER.
Joosten was one of the few good things that came from that train wreck.
Also, there’s this sector of fans of MGS that believe that the whole franchise went downhill since MGS 4.
I thought MGS 2 and 3 were pretty great. To me, MGS 4 was a huge disappointment. I turned off my PS3 when I ran into a black arms dealer that launched into a tirade on the business of war, which came after a very tedious segment of the game. At that point I had my fill already.
MGS2 is one of the most misunderstood MGS games. Everyone missed the fact that Kojima was mocking the players. Raiden is nothing but a parody of the average dimwitted gamer who couldn’t grasp the deeper themes of MGS and just wanted to do badass shit as Solid Snake. It even preceded Bioshock on some plot aspects.
You don’t seem to understand that that girl is marvelous according to the Org’s standard.
I actually like her face though, as it represents the kind of “flawed” beauty in humans. Under certain angles her face doesn’t look bad at all. Think of Sarah Connor in Terminator, for example.
In real life, you probably encounter many girls like that. Sure they are not supermodel face of some sort, but they still look attractive somehow. And if their personality is pleasant, they may draw you in for a while.
I looked her up. Aaron picked absolutely best pic of her, it’s the others that are 4/10, not this one
Kind of a strawman to extrapolate this unto all new video games 😉
Sure she isnt really pretty but she’s alright, and in the game world it certainly makes sense that more “manly genes“ survive. Also her concept art looks better, often characters are a little uglier when animated. And she has no pink hair and isn’t fat so she is not a feminist lol.
I didn’t extrapolate my observations to all video games.
“MGSV is a disgrace, it suffered the same fate as S.T.A.L.K.ER.”
Hey dude, what is wrong with S.T.A.L.K.E.R?
Anyway, I learn that there exists a language called LUA from that game.
Nothing, I LOVE S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
But it shared the same long, bogged down development, and loads of loads of content ended up being chopped, which was an authentic disgrace. Fortunately the mod community is HUGE. And now that GSC is “back”, I still have hopes for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
I think the last great game I played was Max Payne 3. Great story, quite realistic, and man, what an ambience. Actually it was also quite difficult at times.
Max is drinking all the time, couldn’t let him drink alone 🙂
Ever try Nier Automata?
No. I no longer own a PS4, and I rather not install Windows. The art direction of that game is great, though.
Nier Automata a.k.a. Metal Gear Rising with a gender-swapped Raiden? I’ve heard good things about it. My only gripe is, well, 2B is just Raiden with tits and a skirt. Not surprising, tho, since both were developed by Platinum Games.
Metal Gear Rising is a pretty good game. One of the few gripes I had with it was that Raiden wears high heels, so he’s probably based on Bayonetta. I’d much rather look at a chick in high heels, though. In all seriousness, Nier: Automata is not a system seller for me, but if I had a PS4, I’d get it. Let’s see if Red Dead Redemption 2 is good.
Off topic, but you are running on instead of windows?
MacOS and Linux, the latter in a virtual machine.
The logic behind Raiden’s heels is that those heels work like another pair of thumbs, so he can use the sword with an extra oomph. That’s why the hard swing is always executed with a kick.
Yes, I am aware of that. There is an early highly stylized cut-scene in the game where he catches his katana with his heels. Still, I think it’s safe to assume that his model was based on Bayonetta, whose heels double as guns.