SinComics Arbitrary Ranking Of Games Round 2! (Patreon)

Lost Dimension

As I mentioned in the original critique, I'm not normally a fan of strategy-RPGs but Lost Dimension has that same special something, like Valkyria Chronicles, that it overcomes the normal tedium of the genre and stands out in a special way. While extremely flawed, annoyingly anime, and with an interesting story poorly told, Lost Dimension becomes a lot of fun if you stop caring about playing it "right" and just go in to do your own thing. As long as doing your own thing involves crazy Americans shouting "Justice" and crazy British people doubting the humanity and value of a person that doesn't appreciate a British accent.

Close Calls?

I had such low expectations for the Vita and Sony is still failing to meet them, so there wasn't much competition in this category. Much like the Wii U, I primarily picked up the Vita as a way to play older games like the PS Classics and PSP titles. So I got to play...

Power Stone

Still the most fun fighting game around. Still a great cast of nonsensical characters and story. Power Stone 1 is still better than PS2. Still an absolute shame there's never been a Power Stone 3.

Playstation 4

Saints Row 4

Saints Row is so dumb and I love almost every minute of it. From its great character customization, fantastic upgrades, challenges that range from being skill tests to pointless inanity, its mastery of the soundtrack, fun side missions, to its amazing writing, I've now beaten SR3 and 4 multiple times and still occasionally ponder starting a new character. 4 doesn't quite live up to the heights of 3 due to the worse city, the upgrades not getting you to the point of invincibility, and some worse side missions, but man does that game go places. The DLC may be pretty disappointing but the base game still shines.

Close Calls?

Final Fantasy 7 Re-Release

I think FF7 may be one of the most overrated games around, but it's still pretty darn good. In a year that gave us the expertly made initial teaser and then the full trailer, Square has piqued my interest and has me cautiously optimistic that they may be on the road to competence once more. The Re-Release and its ability to buff your staffs, turn off random encounters, and fast forward just about everything got me to play through the game again after I had quickly given up the Classics version with its horribly antiquated random turn-based battles and poorly designed pre-rendered backgrounds. While I'm thoroughly hoping the Remake sees the death of all the mini-games, QTE-style moments and timed button presses, almost endless list of missable items and moments the game doesn't call out in the slightest, and the charred ruins of Fort Condor as it burns to the ground and becomes the toxic wasteland that it is, FF7's amazing music, creative enemies and situations, twisty story, quirky humor, and characters that hearken back to a time when RPGs actually had personality all have me really excited to see what the Remake has to offer.

Less Honorable Mention?

Resident Evil Revelations 2

The main game for Revelations 2 is not good. As a "Resident Evil" game, it's garbage and as a regular game, it's just bad. It's too focused on combat, it isn't scary, it has bullet sponge enemies, and it's pretty boring. But Raid Mode... Raid Mode! Raid Mode is fantastic. It takes away all pretense of horror and gives you a silly Resident Evil to go nuts with and that makes the bad base of Revelations 2 a lot of fun. The heavy focus on in-app purchases while failing to actually sell anything useful and changes made to some of the Revelations 1 design decisions are a nasty blot on the mode, but the skills and character growth make Raid Mode one of the best things Resident Evil has ever done. And it features the most lovable RE character in my version of Gina. Fighting mutants and zombies with a sexy office lady that runs around in heels, martial arts kicking monsters in the face, firing a rocket launcher with reckless abandon, and solving every problem she comes across with way too many bullets from an assault rifle. In-game actual Gina didn't do much, but my Raid Mode Gina is basically the sister of the Boss from Saints Row.