Month Overview: November 2016

 Tally:
Tony Hawk's Project 8           6.0
Silent Hill - Homecoming                                7.5


 November came and went. It was a rather eventful academic month, yet rather uneventful as far as my gaming went.


Game of November 2016:

 Interestingly, while I think I liked Homecoming more than Downpour... when I think about it, I think Downpour was one of the most memorable games I've played this year, and I think it has to do with theming. Downpour went for two themes: Prison and Jail as well as Water and Rain. Everything around the environment, and even the monsters, reflected on these two themes. Sure, the monster design was lackluster, but when you judge the game as a whole, it was fantastically designed around those two concepts. The streets of Silent Hill felt wet, the walls of the buildings looked humid, monsters either looked as if they were soaked or as prison escapees. The we had the Otherworld's environments, which had jails and cages allover, while looking very damp

 I do feel like Homecoming is a better game, but, but it lacks the same focus. Monster design is fantastic, but in a franchise that prides itself behind adding meaning to the monsters, it falls rather short. The Otherworld environments were scary, yes, but they lacked the same level of personality that Downpour had overall. Regardless, Homecoming was my favorite game this month(Not like there was much to choose from!)

 Runner-up:

 I'm not gonna lie, Project 8, if judged on its own inside a vacuum, is a really good game. Skating around felt great, there's dozens of different mechanics and trick as well as a decent amount of missions to complete.
 But I just can't ignore previous games in the franchise that I've played. I can't ignore how much I preferred the more arcadey physics from the previous games, the more creative objectives from previous games, but above all else, the fantastic, creative and ridiculous skate parks that made it a joy to skate around. In Project 8 you get different types of skate parks or similar looking streets, with only the Factory and the Fun Park standing out from the rest.
 Overall, I'd call it a successful jump into the HD generation, but far from the best that the franchise could over.