Video game

These are the best (and worst) video games that we played while staying at home recently – TechNave


pubg.jpg

By now, most of the industries and businesses in Malaysia have reopened after the Movement Control Order period. Most of us are also already back to our offices, but it is still far from over as we still have to practice social distancing. That said, most of us also miss working from home because we suddenly had ample time doing the things that we always wanted to do – like catching up on hobbies, learning cooking, and gaming.

As young working adults, playing video games is not something that we can do on-the-go most of the time due to other activities. So in honour of Video Games Day (Google it), we decided to look back at the video games that we finally managed to play throughout the past few months. From old ones to recently released, here are the best (and worst) games that we have played while staying at home recently.

 

Abel Wong (TechNave English Managing Editor)

Best game – DOOM Eternal

Boom baby

After the release of DOOM Eternal, I actually didn’t buy the game immediately because it cost RM237 (#walletpain). Newly released video games in Malaysia are super expensive and what’s more, it was during the MCO period which wasn’t a good idea. But because I had to review the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, I couldn’t just play an old game to test the performance. So it was only logical that I bought it on Steam.

I enjoyed DOOM (2016) a lot so I was looking forward to this sequel and boy, did it deliver. Awesome industrial metal soundtracks (checked), being a badass (checked), rip and tear (checked), these are all the points that make DOOM Eternal such a great and fun game to play. Also instead of just running around frantically killing demons, there are some new mechanics and abilities that require skills to kick ass which also means you can have your own playstyle. Best video game purchase ever!

 

Worst game – Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC version) 

 

reviews.png

A rather mixed review for the PC platform

Before you start attacking me, hear me out first. Of course, Dragon Age: Inquisition is no doubt one of the best RPG games in this decade. I really loved Dragon Age: Origins so I looking forward to this third entry when the game was on a discount sale on Origins platform. But there was just one big problem.

As you may know, the Dragon Age franchise is under Electronic Arts and the company is notoriously known for releasing badly made video games. For some reason, if you have an anti-virus program running in the background, there’s a good chance that the game will close itself when you try to launch it. Even after disabling that, the user interface on the PC version is absolutely horrendous so it was an awful experience, especially during battle scenes. EA could have easily fixed this with a patch and they are actually aware of this but up until now, NOTHING. Keep in mind that PC players have been encountering this issue 5 years ago. Fabulous job, EA.

 

Honourable Mention: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year Edition

Since I couldn’t play Dragon Age: Inquisition properly, I decided to try out The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This video game was sleeping in my Steam library for two months ever since the Chinese New Year special sale which I got for RM30+ and that’s a super sweet deal. Keep in mind that this is the Game of the Year Edition which includes Hearts of Stone alongside the Blood and Wine DLC expansion packs.

witcher.png

Take your time and explore, The Witcher ain’t going anywhere

Playing The Witcher 3 was really fun because of how big the world is. You can easily get distracted from doing the main mission and do side quests instead, collecting gear, earning money, and many more. Playability is an A+ here, but it takes up a lot of your time and up until now, I haven’t completed playing the Blood and Wine expansion. Well, the purchase was worth it. 

 

Foo Kah Chun (TechNave Chinese Senior Writer)

Best game: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year Edition

The number of quests in The Witcher 3 is crazy and fun to do. I also got sidetracked for doing side quests because that’s one of the best parts of the game and most of them aren’t repetitive like other RPG games. Also, since I read The Witcher novels, playing the game feels like a “virtual reality novel” so that’s all I have to say about that. Period. 

 

Worst game – Almost all mobile games

It sounds ironic since I write news about smartphones almost daily, but I have grown out of playing mobile games. Sure, they are free to play but nowadays there are a lot of intrusive advertisements. If you accidentally tap on the ad banner, it brings you to either a Lazada or Shopee app and that made me not want to play any mobile games anymore. Also, mobile games quality are inferior. (lol, #PCMasterRace). 

 

Azzam (TechNave BM Writer)

Best Game – VRChat

VRChat introduction

While it’s not exactly a video game, I still enjoy it as an interactive chatting software. If you don’t know what is VRChat, imagine it as an online FPS game but without guns and a total of 16 players from all over the world (represented with all kinds of avatars) gathered in a room (of various themes) to chat with one another using their microphones. 

Of course, this game is recommended to have VR equipment for the best experience but using the keyboard+mouse is fine. I can chat with various people from every corner of the world, which I find fascinating in this game. Plus, I started to learn the Japanese language during the early MCO period and I can now speak fairly well with random Japanese I meet in VRChat.

 

Worst Game – Operation Flashpoint: Red River

Trust me, trailers can be deceiving

OFRR is a military-simulator FPS that isn’t exactly as famous as ARMA and for a good reason – the video game sucks. It’s very buggy and the controls aren’t exactly intuitive, but perhaps the worst part of the game is your AI teammates. In a game where teamwork is absolutely crucial in executing your plans and flanking your enemies, your AI teammates can’t even tell the difference from left to right. 

To be fair, AI teammates in mil-sims have always sucked. So if you really want to play this game, you really need friends. But then again, not many gamers even play this game…so yeah. 

 

Honourable mentions: Mad Max, Watch Dogs, and Euro Truck Simulator 2 

Without beating around the bush too much, I also played Mad Max, Watch Dogs, and Euro Truck Simulator 2. Open-world games are my favourite video game genre!

 

Keegan (TechNave English Writer)

Best game – Fall Guys

Not Keegan playing but here’s a glimpse of Fall Guys gameplay

I played a lot of games during MCO but the one that I had the most fun with is Fall Guys. This video game was released before the lockdown but it became popular only now thanks to video game streamers, but I digress. Anyway, Fall Guys is not graphically intensive so it can easily run on most computers. You can team up with your friends as well as up to 4 players in a party. It’s also very easy to pick up and play even by those who have no prior gaming experience.

 

Worst game – Green Hell

As for bad games that I’ve played, this goes to Green Hell which is a survival video game. There are numerous game-breaking bugs such as save files not being saved properly, certain NPCs not visible to some players and other under-optimized gameplay features. Even the inventory can be confusing at times and after I was done with the game, I never bothered replaying it again. 

 

Honourable Mention – Among Us

Like Mafia and Werewolf but in space

If you’ve never heard of Among Us, it’s a pretty fun party game with up to 10 players. The objective of the game is to find the betrayer among your friends in a spaceship so in a way, it’s similar to the Mafia or Werewolf card game. This video game is also cross-platform meaning that you can play with your friends from PC, iOS and Android!

However, joining your friend’s lobby can be a little buggy at times. There are limited maps for now so it can get a bit boring by playing the same map. Moreover, you might develop trust issues with your friends.

 

Ken Jim (TechNave Chinese Editor)

Best game – Final Fantasy VII Remake

FFVII is no stranger to most gamers and even for those who won’t play the game, they would surely know the name. After waiting for years and getting my hands on it, I was taken by surprise that this remake version is refreshed with new gameplay mechanics and of course, the graphics are gorgeous. Despite the new elements, playing the remake made me feel nostalgic of my first FFVII game.

ff7.jpg

Tifa wallpaper remastered

As part 1 of the whole remake version, the storyline was pretty straightforward with some minor changes but overall, the plot is still interesting. The side quests are easy and they don’t jeopardize the main storyline so that’s good. Most importantly, I get to see Tifa my waifu in glorious HD <3

Editor’s note: “Pff, simp lol”

 

Worst game – Raft

In some ways, Raft is quite similar to Minecraft as it’s a game that allows you to collect ingredients and build stuff. It was quite fun at first during MCO, where I and my friends get to work together in Raft but the game got pretty boring because of the repetitive daily tasks. So in a way, it doesn’t have that many things to do if compared to Minecraft. 

It’s fun at first but I got bored after a few rounds

Multiplayer works fine with your friends but as mentioned, the gameplay gets stale after a few days of playing. It’s also weird that you need quite a high graphics specs to play this video game that doesn’t need a lot of graphics power. Oh well, maybe it’s just not the type of game for me. 

 

Rain (TechNave Videographer and Video Editor, and yes, that’s really his name, ok?)

Best game – League of Legends

So yes, I’m a big LoL fan and I’ve been playing it for years and it’s the only game that I still play in my free time. I don’t think I need to explain why this game is fun, the wide variety of heroes, the dynamic gameplay, and the excitement of coming back from behind and winning the game. In general, I like playing MOBA games (but not on mobile lol). 

Putting the 2018 LoL World Championship opening ceremony here because it’s still awesome

 

Worst game – League of Legends (again haha)

Meanwhile, LoL can also be a stressful game to play. As most MOBA fans know, there is a high amount of toxic gamers in the game calling awful names which can be morally depressing. This is the bad part of LoL that I’m used to over the years, but I wish the community isn’t like that. 

 

Jinny (TechNave Video Editor)

Best game – Minecraft

I play a lot of video games in my spare time but the one that I love the most is Minecraft. I play it, I watch YouTube videos about it, I just love it. I think I spend too much time on Minecraft even though there are other good games too, but I just like building things from my imagination and no other games can come close to it. It’s that simple. 

 

Worst Game – Minecraft Earth

When I told my colleague (the one writing this) about Minecraft Earth, he actually forgot that this mobile game version existed and this can tell you how bad the game is. I mean, even speaking as a Minecraft fan, I don’t find the mobile game that fun because playing on the PC is way better. I still gave it some chance during MCO but nah, it’s just an inferior version. 

minecraft.jpg

Asking us to play Minecraft mobile doesn’t make sense too after being on the PC for several years

 

Special guest – Natasha Hashim (former TechNave English Host and Writer, now working in IGN SEA)

Best game – Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima review by IGN SEA

The best game I experienced in 2020 was Ghost of Tsushima. I’ve always been a big fan of Japanese mythology and lore and the game was able to articulate that perfectly in the game. Mixing elements of history as well as Japanese folklore, the game reminded me of how I loved that particular era in Japan when it came to video games. 

As a person who never had an interest in open-world games, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed GoT. Each sidequest was unique with an interesting story. It was a fresh breath of air among other open-world games that would repeatedly send players to do fetch quests in a non-interesting way. I also loved how the game showed us that sometimes, tradition and honour are meant to be bent and broken to achieve a goal. 

 

Worst game – Kingdom Hearts III DLC: Re Mind

As a huge Kingdom Hearts fan who has been following the game since my teens, I was already pretty unhappy with the base game. The game started great and just simply fell off, I was hoping that Re Mind would be a continuation of the game, shedding light on what happened to Kairi which it did but in a way that re-used the content from the base game. That left a very sour taste in my mouth as I did have to shell out around RM100+ for the game. 

kingdom.jpg

Editor’s note: I’ve never played the game but The Frozen chapter arc is known to be one of the worst gaming level designs ever

While the re-used content wasn’t great, I held hope for the game to at least get better. Alas, woe is me, the game did not. The story content was short and the promised Final Fantasy characters are shown in the trailer (which many of us sorely wanted to see in the game as they were not shown in the base game at all) were simply there for looks and without function. Technically, most of the DLC players had paid for are the optional hard mode boss fights in order to fight the secret boss. 

I mean, let’s be real: WHO WOULD PAY OVER RM100 FOR OPTIONAL BOSS FIGHTS THAT WAS INCLUDED IN THIS FINAL MIX VERSION OF THE PREVIOUS KINGDOM HEARTS TITLES? 

The fact that this was not highlighted in the trailer at all to let players know what they paid for has left me doubtful of wanting to continue playing the Kingdom Hearts franchise. 

 

So that was all the best and worst games that we played while staying at home over the past few months. Did any of your favourite games make it to our list? And which game did you spend the most time on back then? Let us know in the comments below and thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more tech articles at TechNave.com. 





READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.