Games Beaten 2015

[noiseredux]

Bone, you'd love Evoland.

I'm tempted to try Fairune too, just cuz a bunch of you keep mentioning it. And it's free.

My wife and I are planning to play through Her Story together sometime soon.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Well I'll certainly try Evoland soon enough. I've already purchased it in fact. Gonna roll through VVVVVV too.

[Ack]

Well I'll certainly try Evoland soon enough. I've already purchased it in fact. Gonna roll through VVVVVV too.

I thought Evoland was cute when I played through it, though the ending kind of sucked because the laptop I played it on was so old, it would lag during the final boss battle. I eventually managed to beat it, but it was a pain in the ass. I ended up 100% it with all achievements too. That really wasn't very hard to do.

[Stark]

My wife and I are planning to play through Her Story together sometime soon.

My wife and I played through it together and it was a great experience. I had a page and a half of notes when I was done! Let me know when you finish and BMF, you and I (and whomever else wishes) can have a spoiler chat over IRC.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Search still not working. Added the stuff I can remember

Metal Gear Rising: Revengance PC
Rogue Legacy Vita
Grid 2 PC
Dirt 3 PC
Splatoon WiiU
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge WiiU
Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition WiiU

Watch_Dogs WiiU

Watch_Dogs surprised me in many ways. I was expecting it to be mediocre at best but I found it to be a largely enjoyable open world experience perhaps undermined by its incredible levels of hype and release proximity to GTA V.

The bad stuff:

The story is shit. It's a solid premise and by the end, it brings up some very good food for thought but it's all done in such a heavy handed way it's hard to take it super seriously. It's quite long though. It also reeks of missed opportunity. There are many points in the story that seem to be begging for alternate paths that would have lead to some really interesting scenarios. Aiden is also about as interesting as cardboard and he suffers from video-game toughguywhogarglesrocksforfun syndrome.

The mediocre:

The WiiU version runs poorly about half of the time and there's no cool gamepad stuff aside from the usual map. It's fine and convenient but it's another missed opportunity with a game that seems like a natural fit in more than one way.

The soundtrack isn't good and the lack of radio stations is disappointing. The playlist idea is great but the execution is awful.

There's a ton of content here. The story alone is a solid 16 hour romp at least and there are a ton of side quest things to do. Unfortunately there's not a particularly large amount of variety in the main or side stuff. A bit disappointing, again, especially if you're coming off of GTA V where they have all sorts of things for you to do like golf and tennis and stuff.

The good:

The game is drop-dead pretty, especially at night. Chicago is a wonderful setting. The world is fun to just walk around in aimlessly. Props for that.

The hacking isn't particularly deep but it sets up some really fun combat scenarios. I opted for a stealth approach to most missions and it ends up playing more like a puzzle game at that point. Using lures, proximity mines, as well as the environmental hazards to take out guys from across the street was super satisfying. If I did get into some gunplay, I found it to be above average and largely fun and challenging. I would have liked a few more environmental hazards though. Too many explosions, not enough electrocutions or things to drop on people.

The car handling is also great. Some people say they don't like it but I think it's about the best I've played with in a game like this.

It shows a whole lot of promise for a sequel featuring our "vigilante". He was finally becoming self aware and almost interesting by the end. I look forward to seeing what they do in the future.

[GSZX1337]

29. Mighty Gunvolt (3DS) Accordingly - and while I had fun with the game - I cannot recommend it to anyone at its current price point. (The game - with the DLC included - should not be more than $4.)

I got the game for free because I backed Mighty No. 9 and I agree with this sentiment. If I spent five bucks on this I would've been disappointed. That's five bucks I could've spent on Papers, Please (on sale obviously).

[GSZX1337]

1) Cannon Spike - Dreamcast
2) I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream - PC
3) Mighty Gunvolt - 3DS (as Mighty No. 9)
4) Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X - PSP (Vile Mode)
5) StarCraft - PC
6) Naughty Bear - Xbox 360
7) The Last of Us - PS3
8] Eets (100-percented) - PC
9) Gunpoint - PC
10) The Last Story - Wii

11) Papers, Please - PC (Ending 18)

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I was not surprised by how good this game is. I heard it was great, expected it to be great, and well, it was great. I spent eight hours in this game, gotten half of the endings, and plan on spending at least eight more hours on it.

On the surface the game looks pretty rudimentary, but underneath its simplistic exterior lies a deep and atmospheric game. Every single facet of this game contributes to its tone and feel. So much care and attention has been given to this title, and it shows. This is one of the few games where I experienced ethical dilemmas concerning how I treat game characters. I felt terrible when I detained a man smuggling in his medicine, I had to pause when another man requested I confiscate a killer's passport to aid the former in tracking the latter down, and I had to ponder whether or not to detain an asshole trying to bribe me for entry. In other games I would've just done whatever would've benefited me and not given a damn about the characters it hurt like a sociopath. It's astounding that a game made by a single dude in Haxe elicits more emotion out of me than a by an established director with a massive budget (in comparison).

This game is also rather clever in its execution as well. Characters will react to your actions outside of the standard reactions to approval or denial of their passports. Detained criminals might resist the police, the M.O.I. inspector will chastise you for hanging posters on your wall, and there are even applicants that'll accept items that aren't associated with them (e.g. a note from another applicant). There are even reactions to what happens between stages. My favorite example is if you purchase your son the crayon set for his birthday, he will give you one of his drawings which can be hung on the wall. A diplomat will come by and mock the drawing. Being the asshole I am, I denied her ass despite her having the necessary papers to which she responded: "This was because of what I saw about drawing, wasn't it?" This gameworld (or the little you see of it) is deceptively alive.

Really any negative I can think of can easily be spun into a positive. The lack of music, the (at times) frustrating gameplay, and somewhat cumbersome interface in fact contribute to the game's feel. Definitely play this game. Simple as.

[denver_dudley83]

This year is my gaming year, truthfully I've played many at the end of last year, and until now, I finally finished these games:

1/ Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2/ The Legend of Zelda
3/ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
4/ The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
5/ Final Fantasy IV
6/ Final Fantasy X
7/ Final Fantasy XIII
8/ I nearly finished The Witcher 3, so I'll add it to the list, too.

[Gamerforlife]

Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition (PS4)



Played this again since playing the original version on the Xbox 360. This time I finished every story mission with the highest cop and triad rating, will maybe go for the full Platinum too

Still love this games combat system. It's slower paced and more realistic than the Batman games which is a nice change of pace for anyone who finds that system too twitchy, combo focused and hectic. There's a heavy emphasis on using your environment to take out your enemies in this game with satisfying Mortal Kombat style environmental fatalities. That's easily the highlight of the game's combat. Even something as simple as bashing a guy's head into a bookshelf or off a car hood is awesome, or throwing someone over a rail to the ground below or tossing them off the docks into the ocean. The hits always look and sound bone crunching in this game with both you and your enemies getting appropriately bloodied up over the course of a fight. This is the closest thing to a proper modern take on old school beat 'em ups like Final Fight, Streets of Rage, etc.

The story is a solid, if predictable undercover cop crime drama (i.e. Internal Affairs). Fans of Asian cinema will probably appreciate all the familiar tropes. The game has great humor in its otherwise dark story, with funny comments from random bystanders as you are roaming around and doing stuff in its open world setting. One great moment involves you getting this mission objective - "Take out the drunken asshole"

The ways the game pays homage to all things kung fu, martial arts and Asian cinema is really fantastic, and I got to try some of the already included DLC for the first time (never did that on the original PS3/360 version), one of which focuses of traditional, Chinese, hopping zombies. Awesome. You look at many of the outfits you can purchase and you'll find shout outs to Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Buddhist monks and other awesome things.

The third person shooter stuff is generic, Max Payne ripoff. It's fine for what it is, but really the most boring part of the game. If you've played Stranglehold, that game does far more awesome stuff with John Woo style gunfights. However, the on foot chases are awesome and cinematic, effortlessly climbing and vaulting over stuff parkour style as you chase someone down is fun, especially when doing a big leap in slo motion and crashing through a glass ceiling and continuing the chase pushing random people aside or avoiding the random dude your target just shoved in your direction. And many of the driving action sequences are rad where you'll be leaning out of the car, shooting up pursuing cars to blow them up, or shooting out their tires, or ramming them off the road. It's all very reminiscent of that scene from the Raid 2.

The biggest thing about this game is the visual upgrade, taking what once looked like an inferior console port (compared to the PC version) and giving console gamers a version of the game that fully puts its visual grandeur on display, allowing you to fully appreciate the game's rendition of Hong Kong.

Cons: Combat can be sloppy at times (your counters will occasionally not register and enemy AI can be random) and the cop rating system is incredibly stupid, as anytime you hit a pedestrian or run into an object you get penalized. Considering the amount of chaos that typically happens in a Grand Theft Auto inspired game, that's pretty ridiculous. Even more obnoxious is when you don't perfectly climb or vault over something and the game has the nerve to obnoxiously call you "clumsy" and dock you points. Getting max cop rating in each mission is easily the most frustrating part of the game as it forces you to play in an annoying cautious manner. The game's also a bit buggy. I finished one mission with max cop/triad rating and yet the game recorded no score for me, as if I didn't actually play the mission at all even though it showed up in the mission replay section and also showed my maxed cop/triad rating. Karaoke mini-game is annoying too

Solid game, particularly if you're its target audience like me. Shame the next game in this series will be a stupid online, multiplayer focused game

[Exhuminator]

1. Devil's Attorney (Android | 2012 | strategy) (7/10)
2. Resident Evil 5 (360 | 2009 | action adventure) (8/10)
3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (360 | 2010 | kart racer) (8/10)
4. Dragon Quest VIII (PS2 | 2005 | JRPG) (9/10)
5. Gears of War (360 | 2006 | cover shooter) (6/10)
6. Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita | 2012 | action adventure) (7/10)
7. Orcs & Elves (DS | 2007 | dungeon crawler) (7/10)
8. From The Abyss (DS | 2008 | action-RPG) (5/10)
9. Army of Two (360 | 2008 | cover shooter) (7/10)
10. Psychic World (Master System | 1991 | platformer) (4/10)
11. Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii | 2010 | adventure / diving sim) (9/10)
12. Journey to Silius (NES | 1990 | platformer) (6/10)
13. Sword Master (NES | 1992 | platformer) (3/10)
14. Project: Snowblind (PC | 2005 | FPS) (7/10)
15. Yakyuuken Part II - Gal's Dungeon (Famicom | 1989 | maze / puzzle) (5/10)
16. Bishoujo Sexy Derby (Famicom | 1988 | horse racing) (2/10)
17. SiN Episodes: Emergence (PC | 2006 | FPS) (5/10)
18. Seirei Gari (AKA Ghost Hunter) (NES | 1989 | puzzle / adventure) (4/10)
19. The Guardian Legend (NES | 1989 | action-RPG / shmup) (9/10)
20. Prey (PC | 2006 | FPS) (7/10)
21. Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (SFC | 1993 | action-RPG) (4/10)
22. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (GameCube | 2001 | combat flight sim) (3/10)
23. Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand (SFC | 1995 | action-RPG) (7/10)
24. Bonk's Adventure (TurboGrafx-16 | 1990 | platformer) (6/10)
25. Lost Kingdoms (GameCube | 2002 | CCG-action-RPG) (8/10)
26. Bonk's Revenge (TurboGrafx-16 | 1991 | platformer) (6/10)
27. Blazing Lazers (TurboGrafx-16 | 1989 | shmup) (7/10)
28. Heatseeker (PS2 | 2007 | arcade flight combat) (7/10)
29. Castlevania: The Adventure (Game Boy | 1989 | platformer) (3/10)
30. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Game Boy | 1991 | platformer) (7/10)
31. Castlevania Legends (Game Boy | 1998 | platformer) (5/10)
32. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Game Boy | 1994 | platformer) 7/10
33. Bonk's Adventure (Game Boy | 1992 | platformer) 7/10
34. Brandish: The Dark Revenant [Ares mode] (PSP | 2009 | dungeon crawler) 9/10
35. Castlevania Special: I'm Kid Dracula (Famicom | 1990 | platformer) 7/10
34. Brandish: The Dark Revenant [Dela mode] (PSP | 2009 | dungeon crawler) 8/10
35. Soul Calibur V (360 | 2012 | fighter) 7/10
36. No More Heroes (Wii | 2008 | action adventure) 7/10
37. Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis | 1994 | platformer) 7/10
38. Bionic Commando (360 | 2009 | action adventure) 8/10
39. Vanquish (PS3 | 2010 | cover shooter) 9/10[/b]
40. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3 | 2007 | cover shooter) 6/10
41. King's Field II (PS1 | 1995 | dungeon crawler) 7/10
42. Trauma Center: Under The Knife 2 (DS | 2008 | surgery sim) 7/10
43. Fairune (Android | 2013 | action / puzzle) 5/10
44. Metroid: Other M (Wii | 2010 | action adventure) 7/10

Other M takes Metroid from its 2D side scrolling roots, and attempts to create a third person action game that also mixes in elements of the Prime series. While Other M manages to be successful in some ways, it fails miserably in others. The action manages to be intense, the graphics are pretty good for the platform, the game has amazing CG cutscenes, and the third person camera is never a pain. The game falters when it comes to controls, difficulty, exploration, story, and especially its portrayal of Samus Aran.

This Metroid having great third person action is no surprise, considering Nintendo outsourced its development to Team Ninja, the folks behind the amazing modern Ninja Gaiden series. That being the case, it's also no surprise that Other M often feels like a Metroid skinned Ninja Gaiden game. Recursive exploration is thrown out the window for linear pathfinding, and trademark Metroid item acquisition is eschewed for a completely contrived approach. Samus is only allowed to activate her power ups (which she already has) when a certain male authority figure says it's okay to do so. This barely makes sense in the story and is honestly a terrible way to allow the player's progress to power up.

Graphically Other M is about on par with the first Metroid Prime. The small details that Retro litters its Prime games with are absent however. The engine runs at a constant 30 FPS, giving the action top priority over polygonal detail. The music comes across as uninspired and consists of remixes of past Metroid music, it barely feels there. The cutscenes rendered in CG are absolutely excellent, and are always a joy to watch... from a technical perspective at least. Because of the way the levels are designed, the camera is never an issue. Well, at least not when it's in third person perspective.

The controls are simplified to the point of detriment. This game only uses the Wii Remote, neglecting the nunchuk entirely. Controlling an avatar in a 3D space with a d-pad is just dumb. If you point the Wii Remote at the screen, the game goes into first person mode, and plays from a shooting perspective as Prime does, sans movement. That's right, you cannot move while shooting in first person. If I had designed this game, I would have included the nunchuk. You would have moved Samus with the nunchuk in third person, and used the Wii Remote for jumping and shooting. Then, by pressing the C button on the nunchuk once, first person view would have initiated. Then, you could use the nunchuk to move while still aiming and shooting with the Wii remote. This would have allowed the player to play the game like Prime as they wished. Pressing the C button again would go back to third person. But no, that's not the case. And stilted controls is what Other M has instead.

Luckily it doesn't matter that the controls are so limited, because this game is incredibly easy. Samus has a move that allows her to instantly dodge and simultaneously charge her blaster. This is done simply by tapping the d-pad in any direction just before an enemy attacks. Then the Wii Remote's speaker makes a beeping sound letting you know the charged blast is ready. Thanks to auto aim as soon as you release the charged blast it will shoot the enemy that just attacked you. What that means is as you fight you simply continuously tap the d-pad until Samus dodges (on her own) and the blaster charges (on its own) and when you press the blast button Samus shoots the enemy (on her own). This technique will get you through nearly every battle in the game. It's total auto pilot. The only time things get tricky is when you have to manually target missiles because then you can't move. But since you can automatically recharge your missiles and your health whenever you need, that hardly matters either. This is definitely babby's first Metroid as far as challenge is concerned.

You don't have to worry about getting lost either, because exploration is on auto-pilot as well. There's always a yellow arrow on your map telling you where you need to go. Any doors that you're not supposed to go in at that time will automatically be locked, so you can't get lost that way either. Other M is incredibly streamlined in a way that totally ignores the feel of most Metroid games, outside Fusion at least. But at least Fusion allowed you to find all the hidden items as you went along. Other M insists of only letting you do that after you beat the game once. Yes there is a post-game, but more on that in a bit.

By far the worst aspect of Other M is its plot and portrayal of Samus Aran. If anything, Other M proves that just because someone is a good game designer or director, that does not automatically make that person a great game writer. And while I respect Sakamoto's legacy, I do not respect his ability to write a compelling story. Other M's plot is terrible if you've been a long time Metroid fan. The worst thing about it is the way that Sakamoto fleshed out Samus Aran as a character.

Samus Aran before this was mostly a mute female bounty hunter. That meant that as we played as her, we projected our own ideas as to who she was. I thought of her as an immensely strong female warrior, a lady to be feared and respected. Apparently Sakamoto thought of her as a bratty and juvenile imbecile, incapable of facing danger on her own without men leading her (and saving her over and over). He even went so far as to insert a male authority figure and give her a father complex concerning him. It's all just totally disingenuous to Samus' earlier portrayals of character, and frankly comes off as sexist.

Sakamoto even goes so far as to write a scene where Samus goes into a PTSD induced nervous breakdown when she faces Ridley. Considering Other M is a sequel to Super Metroid which is a sequel to Metroid, that doesn't make any sense. Samus has destroyed Ridley's ass twice over by the time she faces him a third time in Other M. As a matter of fact, in the beginning of Super Metroid, Ridly actually flees Samus Aran's presence in the beginning of the game. Having Samus inexplicably be terribly afraid of Ridley as she is in Other M doesn't make any sense. It's okay though because of course a man comes along and saves her. Ugh.

If you are able to divorce yourself from Other M's terrible plot and sexist portrayal of Samus Aran, what lies beneath is still a decent action game. It is not a decent Metroid game, it's a lackluster Metroid game. There's plenty of action oriented fun to be had, and a few very simple environment puzzles to solve. There's some great boss battles too, and those are the highlight of the experience. Outside the final boss of the game (which is a repeat of Metroid 2's final boss), there is an optional final final boss (which is a repeat of a Super Metroid boss). Apparently Other M expects the player to collect all 100% of the hidden post-game items before facing this final final boss. But honestly the final final boss is piss easy and you won't need anything you don't already have to beat it.

If you want to play a decent action game, Other M offers that. But if you're seeking a top tier Metroid, you're better off playing some other M.

I finished main game, and post-game's final final boss, in 9 hours. Only got 38% item completion, but I'm okay with that.