Games Beaten 2016

by **MrPopo** Sun Nov 13, 2016 12:01 pm

Are the physics the same? Can you still unmorph and jump while in midair?

by **BoneSnapDeez** Sun Nov 13, 2016 1:40 pm

I don't think I even attempted that.......

The gameplay felt a bit different on NES. Some of the trickier maneuvers (like grabbing the energy tank in Kraid's lair) were much easier on NES. Though as I said, that may just be the difference in controllers talking. (I was originally going to play both games on a Twin Famicom but I switched to the Retron 5 for the NES version so I could bypass the password system

)...

by **Juan Aguacate** Sun Nov 13, 2016 8:10 pm

Ronin - PS4

This game is pretty fun, though frustrating at times. It's kind of like a video game version of Kill Bill. At first glance, you might think it's a stealth game like Mark of the Ninja, but there's only a few times stealth is an option. Most of the time you'll be engaging in stylish combat as you take enemies out like a badass samurai. Combat is turn based, and there's a pretty high learning curve involved in learning the mechanics of it, but it's worth it. It feels good to take out a room full of enemies once you've come up with the right strategy. You need to play out your tactics perfectly though, because one hit and you're dead

This is like a slower paced Hotline Miami in a way. A retro flavored, one hit kill game, with highly stylized, violent action sequences. This is kind of becoming Devolver Digital's style it seems like

Fair warning, the last stage might piss you off. It's the one stage in the game with no checkpoints and is pretty much a gauntlet. Also, the right analog stick used for moving your character around sometimes lacks precision, and grappling seems finicky, I think this stuff probably worked better on PC where this game originally came from (where I'm guessing you just used the mouse for this stuff). That's about it for cons though, I think anyone who likes Kill Bill should check this game out. This video shows what the game plays like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M48IIF1W-hE

by **MrPopo** Sun Nov 13, 2016 9:01 pm

First 50:

51. Ori and the Blind Forest - Xbox One
52. AM2R - PC
53. Total Annihilation - PC
54. I Am Setsuna - PS4
55. Planetary Annihilation Titans - PC
56. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - PC
57. Dark Reign - Rise of the Shadowhand - PC
58. Dragon Age Inquisition - Jaws of Hakkon - PC
59. Dragon Age Inquisition - The Descent - PC
60. Dragon Age Inquisition - Trespasser - PC
61. The Witcher 3 - Hearts of Stone - PC
62. The Witcher 3 - Blood & Wine - PC
63. ReCore - Xbox One
64. Final Fantasy Tactics - PS1
65. Resident Evil 6 - PC
66. Knuckles Chaotix - 32X
67. Assault Suit Leynos - PS4
68. Might & Magic 2 - Gate to Another World - PC
69. Might & Magic 4 - Clouds of Xeen - PC
70. Might & Magic 5 - Darkside of Xeen - PC
71. Might & Magic 4&5 - World of Xeen - PC
72. Rise of the Triad - PC
73. Batman Arkham Knight - PC
74. Rise of the Triad (2013) - PC
75. Dishonored 2 - PC

Dishonored was an out-of-nowhere hit that gave players a variety of ways to play, either full stealth, full combat, or somewhere in between, with a variety of weapons, tools, and special powers to kill or knock-out your way through an interesting world as you try to take out those who framed you for murder while rescuing the daughter of the assassinated Empress. Needless to say it was awesome. Now we have the sequel, and it's just as awesome.

The main new thing Dishonored 2 does is give you a second playable character with an entirely different set of skills. While she shared a mobility skill, hers behaves differently from Corvo's; rather than just blinking to a distant location you throw out a shadowy arm to pull yourself to your destination. This seems to affect the trajectory; rather than a straight line it moves in an arc, which means some end points are easier to hit and some are harder to hit. Otherwise she has a completely different move set. It felt like her moves are designed around crowd control, whereas Corvo's focus on more raw stealth and positioning advantage through things like time stop and possession. So each character is going to approach the obstacles in their path differently; I'm looking forward to replaying as Corvo sometime in the future. They do share passives, though, such as the one that dissolves the body of killed characters. The other new thing is there is now a crafting system you can opt into for the bone charms. If you consume a bone charm you lose its passive ability and gain raw whalebone, which can be used to create new charms (using learned passives, up to four passives per charm and up to four usages of a given passive across all your charms) or to gain runes to upgrade your abilities. It allows you to do something useful with all those extra charms and to further refine your abilities.

Story-wise the game takes a lot from the two story DLCs of Dishonored 1; I highly recommend you play those first to gain context to why Emily's throne is being usurped and who some of the major players are. Unlike Dishonored you are much more isolated; at most you'll have three people back at home base, and the third requires you to be merciful on one of the assassinations (and I don't know if that character is permanent or not; I went lethal). Since I was playing as Emily it made the story feel rather personal. This is definitely you undertaking your own mission; the others are just there to support you.

There was a couple of neat features when I went through the levels. One of them can have the majority be skipped if you want to solve a logic puzzle (the kind that requires you to draw our a grid of correlations between things described in a puzzle). And then the follow up mission has this really unique mechanic of being able to instantly transport between the current time and three years ago (as well as see a slice of how things look in the other timeline). Changes to the past can affect the future; sometimes drastically so.

Since I did a nonlethal for Dishonored and because I wanted to play a new character I went with Emily and did lethal. I framed it as her taking this all incredibly personally. So naturally my ending was high Chaos, though unlike the high Chaos ending of Dishonored 1 this one seemed much more measured. I'm curious to see what a low Chaos Emily ending looks like for contrast.

Also, though I haven't tried it yet, the game lets you reject the magic powers when they're first given to you. Which means the level design allows you to make it through things without your mobility power (as well as all the others, but the mobility is the real key one). If you really want some challenge gameplay the game has your back.

by **elricorico** Sun Nov 13, 2016 9:57 pm

1. SSX 3 (oXbox)
2. Mario Kart DS (NDS)
3. Fairune (Android)
4. Streets of Rage (Gen)
5. Amplitude (PS2)
6. Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
7. Crash Team Racing (PS)
8. Enchanted Arms (Xbox360)
9. Spyro the Dragon (PS)
10. Limbo (Android)
11. Konami Krazy Racers (GBA)

12. Beatles Rockband (PS3)

Rolled the credits on the story mode of the Beatles Rockband last night. I was very much into Rockband during its peak, but it had been a couple of years since I spent much time with the series. I was mostly into the drums on Rockband 2 and 3, but for simplicity sake I was playing the guitar on Beatles. I was able to split the difficulty between Hard and Expert on my playthrough.

If you like RockBand and Guitar Hero games, you'll enjoy this one just the same. If you like those games and are a big Beatles fan, this one might really be special for you. I found it pleasant to play through, but given the age of some of the music it isn't quite as engaging or varied from a gameplay point of view.

I didn't do any online or co-op in this playthrough. I imagine that having a few people together that are willing to play the instruments and sing the vocal harmonies would be the most enjoyable way to play this game.

It would be nice if you could add the songs from this game to the main Rockband libraries, but no such luck here.

This game is so cheap that if you have RockBand instruments already and are interested in a new(old) batch of songs there really isn't any reason not to give it a try. I'm likely to play some more in the next couple of weeks to unlock more of the photographs and trophies.

by **dsheinem** Tue Nov 15, 2016 1:38 am

Games Beaten 2016

First 50:

Battleborn - PC
140 - PC
Last Duel - Arcade (PSP)
Alien on the Run - 3DS
Undead Bowling - 3DS
Chain Blaster - 3DS
Runny Egg - 3DS
Bound - PS4
Parasite Eve - PS1
Destiny - PS4
Destiny: The Dark Below - PS4
Destiny: The House of Wolves - PS4
Destiny: The Taken King - PS4
Otomedius Excellent - 360
Crimsonland - PC
Planet of the Eyes - PC
Destiny: Rise of Iron - PS4
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut - PC
Eve Valkyrie: Gunjack - PSVR
Elegy for a Dead World - PC
SOMA - PC
The Typing of the Dead: Overkill - PC
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood - PSVR
Actual Sunlight - Vita
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Jackal Assault VR - PSVR *new*
Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey Remastered - Vita *new*
Thumper - PSVR *new*

Total: 77

Previously: 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Jackal Assault is really not much more than a glorified demo, but it is a pretty one that I would certainly recommend spending 10-15 minutes with if you have a PSVR. I'd be curious to hear from someone who has played both this little proof-of-concept and a more substantive game that might be similar (EVE Valkyrie?) to hear how it compares. I'd love to play a whole COD like this.

Letter Quest is a pretty prefect Scrabble/RPG mash-up, and I played through all the levels in the campaign so am putting it up here, even though I think I may go back to it from time to time in the future. It scratched an itch I didn't know I had.

Thumper may be the best game I have played this year. It is insanely intense, and a good argument in its own right for getting into VR. I am not big on "rhythm games" typically (especially Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc.), but this game plays almost like a mashup of something like Amplitude (which I beat earlier this year) and a game in the Wipeout racing series...with a heavy dose of chrome, blood, and tentacles thrown in for good measure. It is really hard to describe the look and feel of the game accurately - you really need to play it and try it for yourself to see what it is all about (there's a demo on the disc that comes with the PSVR). It is like an evil version of Rez, in some ways, but arguably more punishing and substantially longer. In any case, this one earned my respect, made my thumb sore, and made me feel especially thrilled to be in the VR age.

by **isiolia** Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:05 am

1. Rise of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One)
2. DOAX3 Fortune Edition (PS4)
3. Uncharted 4 (PS4)
4. DOOM (2016) (PC)
5. Halo 5 (Xbox One)
6. Dark Souls (PC)
7. Call of Duty (PC)
8. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC)
9. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
10. King's Field: The Ancient City (PS2)
11. Bloodborne (PS4)
12. SOMA (PC)
13. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4)
14. Dark Souls III (PS4)
15. Lords of the Fallen (PC)
16. Demon's Souls (PS3)
17. Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (PC)
18. Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel (PC)
19. Dishonored (PC) (replay)
19a. Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall
19b. Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches

I played, and enjoyed Dishonored back in 2012 when it originally came out, but I hadn't gone back to it since. So, I wanted to replay it before diving into the sequel. I preordered the CE for Dishonored 2, which included a code for the Definitive Edition of the first game - for consoles that'd be the HD remaster for the PS4 or Xbox One...on PC it's pretty much just a version with all the DLC, which is what using the code netted me. While there are apparently some minor graphical improvements in the actual Definitive edition, the PC version still seems preferable if (like me) you prefer 60fps, as the console versions run at (up to) 30 for some reason.

Either way, it's still a fun stealth game with a unique black-magic-infused whalepunk (as it has been described) setting. It has a stylized look that largely holds up, and plays extremely well on PC. The main complaint is really that, for all the tools given for lethal combat...the game really seems to favor not killing people. Leaving a trail of bodies results in a higher chaos level, giving harder variants of later missions, and ultimately worse (if now non-canon) endings.

It's not just powers either, even basic things like drop attacks or melee combat lack non-lethal options. Pretty much, you either have sleep darts (for which supply is very limited) or sneaking up behind enemies to choke them. Or just avoiding them.
Dishonored 2 does seem to fix that, with non-lethal options present for drop attacks and melee combat, and what seems to be a more nuanced rating for how missions are completed...but it doesn't fix the first game. :lol:

Still, it's a relatively minor complaint, and certainly not unique to this game. Overall, it's still a fun, not-too-long game with a lot of potential replay value.

New to me, of course, were the DLCs, which have you play as Daud, the assassin who takes out the Empress in the opening scenes of the base game. They're more or less part one and two of a story that, at the time, added some nice lore and alternate perspectives to the events of the main game (and probably extend the game's effective length by 40-50%). From what I've seen so far (and what MrPopo said above) though, the sequel does key a good bit off of them, so folks making a point to play or replay Dishonored prior to 2- as I was - definitely would want to play the DLCs as well.

by **prfsnl_gmr** Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:41 am

dsheinem wrote:Letter Quest is a pretty prefect Scrabble/RPG mash-up, and I played through all the levels in the campaign so am putting it up here, even though I think I may go back to it from time to time in the future. It scratched an itch I didn't know I had.

Awesome. I have been excited for this one since I read a review for the Wii U version. Apparently, it is also available on iOS; so, I may recommend it to my wife (who absolutely loves "word" games like this).

by **alienjesus** Tue Nov 15, 2016 7:51 pm

51. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X PSN Vita
52. Um Jammer Lammy PSN PS3
53. Space Channel 5: Part 2 PSN PS3
54. 3D Fantasy Zone: Opa-Opa Bros. 3DS eShop
55. Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu To Hikari No Tsurugi Famicom
56. Castlevania NES
57. Halo 3 XBox 360
58. Grabbed By The Ghoulies XBox
59. Genpei Touma Den: Kan No Ni PC Engine
60. Mugen Senshi Valis: The Legend of a Fantasm Soldier PC Engine CD
61. Shenmue Dreamcast *NEW*
62. Kuri Kuri Mix PS2 *NEW*

Shenmue

Game S of my super-long alphabet marathon is finally beaten.

Shenmue is a game with a pretty divisive reputation. There are those who adore the game for it's in-depth environments, charming characters, deliberate pacing and intricate details. There are those who hate it for it's odd slow pacing, lack of things to do, bad voice acting and awkward controls. It seems with Shenmue, you either love it, or you hate it. For you Brits, this is apparently the ultimate marmite game.

Well, hello. My name is Graham and I ...only kinda like Shenmue. I definitely lean more towards the 'love it' than the 'hate it' camp, but I can see the game has some serious problems which I can't easily overlook.

Shenmue is a game where you try to track down the man who killed your father to exact revenge. This make it sound full of action and suspense. This also couldn't be much further from the truth. Shenmue is ctually a game where you talk to people about sailors and Chinese people for 3/4 of the game and race forklifts for the other quarter. It's ostensiably a martial arts themed game, but you barely get into any fights until at least half way through the game. In reality, Shenmue is mainly a game about talking to the locals.

None of this bothers me in and of itself. I found the story of Shenmue fairly interesting, and characters such as Nozomi and Gui Zhang and Mark had some potential to have some very interesting plot development, never mind Ryo himself. I like exploring the town and talking to the locals. I like nosing around in cupboards and buying capsules toys and playing arcade games. But there were some notable flaws which ruined the flow.

For example, early on, the game is full of events where you have to wait a day to progress. At these points, money is scarce, but free time is at it's highest. At the point in the game where money becomes prevalent (the part where you get a job), the time and need to spend the money has basically vanished, as you spend literally all day at the harbour. The early environments feel very small though - Shenmue can feel like a living breathing world, but it always feels a bit limited in scope, especially compared to where this kind of open world went later - but also in comparison to the likes of Majora's Mask, which attempted similar stuff before. It's a shame you could only ever talk to people about whatever your next mission was, because having more dialogue outside of 'I know where you can find a Chinese person!' would really flesh out the world and it's inhabitants

The plot is interesting, but told very very slowly. This itself isn't so bad, but the game offers very little else to fill the time - there aren't many sidequests to do, mainly a few arcade games and purchasing endless capsule toys and soda cans - again, without much money available this early. The extra characters have quite limited plot development - Nozomi has a story about moving away and confessing her love to Ryo, but it literally goes nowhere - at no point does Ryo even seem like he likes her, never mind having feelings for her. Gui Zhang is an interesting character who (spoilers ahead) seems like he has a lot of potential to develop, after he offers to accompany Ryo to Hong Kong at the end of the game, only for that to be taken away almost immediately. Mark's backstory opens up quickly, but is left entirely unresolved - it feels 'real' but it also feels incomplete.

Likewise, the exploration and openness of the game feels like a bit of a missed opportunity too - besides a few attack moves in your house, looking into cupboards and the likes feels under-utilised - it's almost never mandatory to progress, and there's not even a lot of bonus stuff to find by exploring this way. Shenmue is impressive in all that it achieves, but also a bit of a disappointment in all that it fails to do.

The biggest issue is pacing - 3/4 of the game is spent in Dobuita, whilst the first 2 areas in the game are literally useless - one contains a cat and the other is basically just a place for capsule machines to sit that you have to pass through on the way to Dobuita. The plot progresses super slowly in this part, with not much happening for basically the whole of disc one, and half of disc 2. On the other hand, the last section in the harbour flies by, with constant fights, QTE sequences, story developments and more. Ryo makes some really out of character choices in this section though, which I think was meant to show his passion for revenge driving him to questionable acts, but unfortunately the game really didn't convey that at all if that's what it was aiming for.

If it sounds like I'm beating on Shenmue pretty hard, know that it comes from a place of love. I found the game compelling, the characters likeable (only made moreso by the terribly cheesy and bad voice acting - although Gui Zhang wasn't as bad as the rest) and the world interesting to look around. I enjoyed the fighting system, liked the mini games, enjoyed talking to people. Shenmue was an experience I rather enjoyed, but I really hope that when I get to Shenmue 2, it shows a lot of new refinements and more content. Here's hoping Shenmue 3 is good too - I really want to see this story reach it's conclusion now. I'm invested.

The game is a real looker for Dreamcast, although I have to say, games on later systems in it's generation really blast it out of the water. It had a short time to enjoy being the prettiest game around, but it still holds up pretty well for a game of it's era. The music is enjoyable although it's often a bit quiet and in the background - I suppose to keep the world feeling natural, but I'd like a bit more music to enjoy sometimes.

Shenmue is far from perfect, but it has a lot of heart. I can't overlook it's many flaws, but I also can't write off it's charms. It's a great game for Dreamcast and I look forward to giving the sequel a go sometime soon. Hopefully the series will see an end one day, whether that is in Shenmue 3, or further down the line in even further entries in the series. We'll wait and see, I guess!

Kuri Kuri Mix

Kuri Kuri Mix is a game by From Software - a developer I'm sure you're all familiar with by now, if you've ever read any of Exhuminator's posts. They're known for some pretty hardcore, balls-hard, dark fantasy type games - games like King's Field, Dark Souls and Shadow Tower. Kuri Kuri Mix certainly doesn't fit the mould - it's crazy bright, colourful and silly. But you know what? It is still pretty tough.

Kuri Kuri Mix (known as The Adventures of Cookies and Cream in the US) is a co-op 3D platformer for PS2. Each of the 2 rabbit heroes, Chestnut and Cream (obviously Cookies and Cream in America) must complete a course on one half of the screen, in sync with their partner on the other. However, these screens are not entirely independent - often, obstacles on one side can only be cleared using assitance from the rabbit on the other. For example, you may need to pull an obstacle aside, hit a switch to make something react, jump on platforms in sync with each other or so many other mechanics.

The game can be played in multiple ways - both rabbits can be controlled using one controller, with each analogue stick controlling one rabbit, and the shoulder buttons being the jump and grab buttons for each one. This is how you'd play the game single player (and damn, good luck with that - some of this game would be almost impossible trying to handle both rabbits with one pad), or is a way to achieve co-op with 1 controller, with each player taking half the pad. There's also 2 control options to use 2 pads, which is obviously a lot simpler, if less chaotic. Playing with 2 players obviously makes things easier, but expect lots of frustration and the possibility of losing some friends as you both shout directions at each other furiously whilst solving some tough puzzles and completing some tricky platforming in tandem in tight time limits. Also, you lose half a minute of time if you die. Have fun!

Some challenges are especially tricky in 2 player - especially any time you command a vehicle. A tank early on has each player control one tread - so to turn left the left player must move their track backwards whilst the right player moves theirs forward. It gets worse too - there's a rowing section where you control an oar each - player 1 must circle anticlockwise to paddle forward and clockwise to go backwards, whilst player 2 has the opposite - clockwise to go forward and anticlockwise to go backwards. Moving forwards requires precise co-ordination of strokes, and turning is even worse as you try to co-ordiante who has to paddle which way and how fast. It's chaos. There's also a flying section where player one can control the left and right movement, but player 2 controls the height of the ship and shooting the weapons. It involves a lot of co-ordination, teamwork and a substantial amount of patience for putting up with each other if one of you cocks it all up. Which you both will. Frequently.

The level designs are fun and interesting, and the game constantly throws new ideas at you. Sometimes they can be furstrating or obtuse - it took me and my buddy ages to figure out a keyboard playing section where you jump on the correct notes in time after only hearing the pattern - not seeing it, and one world in particular (Magical World) we found to be nightmarish. Whilst the ideas are always inventive, they can sometimes feel very frustrating to figure out - it's a love it/hate it mash up of innovative fun concepts and too much obtuse mechanics that take a lot of trial and error to suss out.

Each world (there are

contains 4 levels and a boss. The bosses are all interesting, but the difficulty is wildly varied. The water boss in particular was incredibly difficult to fight as the controls were terrible, whereas some later bosses were much easier to fight. Some were very hard to figure out how to hurt, but easy to beat after you finally solved it. Like a lot of the game, they're a mixed bag.

One major issue the game has is that the platforming itself is pretty bad. Whilst it's workable, and the co-op puzzles keep the game fun and interesting enough to get past it, the actual jumping is poor. Each rabbit has a double jump, but judging your perspective is super tough due to the awkwardly angled camera, and obstacles often blocking your view of your shadow - the only thing that makes it possible to tell where you will land some of the time.

Graphically, Kuri Kuri mix is colourful and fun, but unimpressive overall. The crazy art style is charming though, and I adore the premise of the game (the moon ran away, so you're going to find it). The music is adequate and bouncy, but pretty forgettable - besides the level beat theme, I can't recall any of it, and I only beat it a few days back.

Kuri Kuri Mix is a super duper cheap game for PS2. It's incredibly tough to play all the way through in single player, and it requires some damn good teamwork in co-op. It might make you fall out with your best friends out of frustration. The game is really creative though, and totally unique. If you can find a buddy to play through the game with, I'd say this game is a must try, although not everyone will love it. You know what though? I'm a fan!

by **ElkinFencer10** Tue Nov 15, 2016 7:55 pm

I absolutely adore Shenmue, but every time I've had a friend ask me about it, I always preface with "It's an amazing game, and I absolutely loved it, but I promise that you'd absolutely hate it." Sure enough, almost none of my RL friends like it at all. One guy I went to college with likes it, but that's it. :lol:

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