Games Beaten 2015
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noiseredux
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Re: Games Beaten 2015
First 50:
51. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (PC)(FPS)
52. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (PC)(FPS)
53. 9:05 (PC)(Text Adventure)
54. Mercenary Kings (PC)(Run and Gun)
55. Super Pinball: Behind the Mask (SNES)(Pinball)
56. Pinocchio (SNES)(Platformer)
57. Iron Brigade (PC)(Tower Defense/TPS)
58. Iron Brigade: Rise of the Martian Bear (PC)(Tower Defense/TPS)
Noise has already posted about us beating this, but I figured I'd finally take some time to jot down my thoughts. My experience with Iron Brigade has been a long and difficult journey, not because of the game itself but because of its crazy four year history bouncing between Double-Fine and Microsoft, Games for Windows Live and Steam, until finally bug-fixes made it playable earlier this month. I've now beaten it and its expansion, Rise of the Martian Bear, and as of this morning I have 1 remaining achievement to earn to complete the entire game.
But what is Iron Brigade? Well, it's a combination of Tower Defense and mech game, where players pilot modifiable machines called Trenches that can call down turrets for deployment or fight with a variety of effective weaponry against legions of TV-powered creatures called Monovisions, or Tubes by those who have to kill them. Technology is a mixture of the past(the game takes place in the wake of World War I) and the future(the expansion turns your walking battleship into a space shuttle and gives you weapons like laser cannons). The war against the Monovisions is a worldwide affair, with theaters in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific, all culminating in massive boss battles, until finally coming to a conclusion on the barren wastes of Mars through a series of considerably more difficult levels in Rise of the Martian Bear.
How is it? It's ok in single player, but I much prefer it in 4-player co-op, because players can really pick a niche to dominate in while relying on others to fill in their defensive gaps. I typically played with the heaviest trench and the biggest firepower available to soften targets before they hit our turrets or finish them off if they managed to make it past. Noise would switch off support duties and often carried anti-air weapons to protect us from aerial Tubes. Fastbilly took cannons or sniper rifles to blast the crap out of whatever he wanted, while Xen would deck himself out to build turrets and gather scrap, the resource needed for construction. This proved an effective combination that got us through quite a few scrapes, though sometimes we would have to switch things up to achieve desired results and rankings. And once the main story was done, we began pitting ourselves against the survival missions, facing wave after wave of oncoming enemies in the hopes of unlocking new gear, money, and experience towards promotions.
Unfortunately it wasn't until earlier this month that this really became possible. When the game first came to Steam, it required players also log into Games for Windows Live and play it through there. Double-Fine finally got the rights back, but once it was finally unveiled on Steam, multiplayer was horribly bugged and plagued with crashes. Finally a bug fix handled these issues at the beginning of October, but the game is still prone to network troubles and lag. This close to the end, I'm trying not to let it get me down, though there were a few times where one of us would get kicked at a critical moment or right before some big milestone, causing that player to lose all progress in battle. This happened to me last Thursday night and left me more than a little pissed off.
I like the game. I enjoy building a better Trench, unlocking more vanity items for my pilot, going up in rank and using bigger and nastier guns. But with all of the problems over the years, I am also really glad this will finally be coming to a close. Now all I have to do is get through 30 waves in the final survival mission. I'm so close, I can feel it.
51. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (PC)(FPS)
52. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (PC)(FPS)
53. 9:05 (PC)(Text Adventure)
54. Mercenary Kings (PC)(Run and Gun)
55. Super Pinball: Behind the Mask (SNES)(Pinball)
56. Pinocchio (SNES)(Platformer)
57. Iron Brigade (PC)(Tower Defense/TPS)
58. Iron Brigade: Rise of the Martian Bear (PC)(Tower Defense/TPS)
Noise has already posted about us beating this, but I figured I'd finally take some time to jot down my thoughts. My experience with Iron Brigade has been a long and difficult journey, not because of the game itself but because of its crazy four year history bouncing between Double-Fine and Microsoft, Games for Windows Live and Steam, until finally bug-fixes made it playable earlier this month. I've now beaten it and its expansion, Rise of the Martian Bear, and as of this morning I have 1 remaining achievement to earn to complete the entire game.
But what is Iron Brigade? Well, it's a combination of Tower Defense and mech game, where players pilot modifiable machines called Trenches that can call down turrets for deployment or fight with a variety of effective weaponry against legions of TV-powered creatures called Monovisions, or Tubes by those who have to kill them. Technology is a mixture of the past(the game takes place in the wake of World War I) and the future(the expansion turns your walking battleship into a space shuttle and gives you weapons like laser cannons). The war against the Monovisions is a worldwide affair, with theaters in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific, all culminating in massive boss battles, until finally coming to a conclusion on the barren wastes of Mars through a series of considerably more difficult levels in Rise of the Martian Bear.
How is it? It's ok in single player, but I much prefer it in 4-player co-op, because players can really pick a niche to dominate in while relying on others to fill in their defensive gaps. I typically played with the heaviest trench and the biggest firepower available to soften targets before they hit our turrets or finish them off if they managed to make it past. Noise would switch off support duties and often carried anti-air weapons to protect us from aerial Tubes. Fastbilly took cannons or sniper rifles to blast the crap out of whatever he wanted, while Xen would deck himself out to build turrets and gather scrap, the resource needed for construction. This proved an effective combination that got us through quite a few scrapes, though sometimes we would have to switch things up to achieve desired results and rankings. And once the main story was done, we began pitting ourselves against the survival missions, facing wave after wave of oncoming enemies in the hopes of unlocking new gear, money, and experience towards promotions.
Unfortunately it wasn't until earlier this month that this really became possible. When the game first came to Steam, it required players also log into Games for Windows Live and play it through there. Double-Fine finally got the rights back, but once it was finally unveiled on Steam, multiplayer was horribly bugged and plagued with crashes. Finally a bug fix handled these issues at the beginning of October, but the game is still prone to network troubles and lag. This close to the end, I'm trying not to let it get me down, though there were a few times where one of us would get kicked at a critical moment or right before some big milestone, causing that player to lose all progress in battle. This happened to me last Thursday night and left me more than a little pissed off.
I like the game. I enjoy building a better Trench, unlocking more vanity items for my pilot, going up in rank and using bigger and nastier guns. But with all of the problems over the years, I am also really glad this will finally be coming to a close. Now all I have to do is get through 30 waves in the final survival mission. I'm so close, I can feel it.
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Markies
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Re: Games Beaten 2015
I beat Metroid Prime on the GameCube last night!
Man, that is a game! Wow! The atmosphere and ambiance of that game is some of the best I have ever seen in a video game. That is not a game, but a living and breathing world. It sucked me into the world so quickly. I loved the little touches like seeing all the splatters on Samus' visor and even being able to see her face sometimes. It's also one of the FPS games that make jumping actually easy and simple to do. The bosses are a real big pain, but they weren't impossible. It took me 5 tries to beat the final boss, but I went further with each try and I was learning throughout the fight. Just an amazing and wonderful game!
Man, that is a game! Wow! The atmosphere and ambiance of that game is some of the best I have ever seen in a video game. That is not a game, but a living and breathing world. It sucked me into the world so quickly. I loved the little touches like seeing all the splatters on Samus' visor and even being able to see her face sometimes. It's also one of the FPS games that make jumping actually easy and simple to do. The bosses are a real big pain, but they weren't impossible. It took me 5 tries to beat the final boss, but I went further with each try and I was learning throughout the fight. Just an amazing and wonderful game!
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2015
Markies wrote:I beat Metroid Prime on the GameCube last night!
Man, that is a game! Wow!
Indeed, I also enjoyed the first Metroid Prime on GC. It is a classic.
Unfortunately, I didn't find Metroid Prime 2: Echoes to be nearly as fun. It'd be interesting to see your opinion on Echoes next.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Games Beaten 2015
Exhuminator wrote:Markies wrote:I beat Metroid Prime on the GameCube last night!
Man, that is a game! Wow!
Indeed, I also enjoyed the first Metroid Prime on GC. It is a classic.
Unfortunately, I didn't find Metroid Prime 2: Echoes to be nearly as fun. It'd be interesting to see your opinion on Echoes next.
Agreed. Echoes is way worse. Thankfully, the series picks back up with Metroid Prime 3 (which is almost as good as the original).
Re: Games Beaten 2015
prfsnl_gmr wrote:Exhuminator wrote:Markies wrote:I beat Metroid Prime on the GameCube last night!
Man, that is a game! Wow!
Indeed, I also enjoyed the first Metroid Prime on GC. It is a classic.
Unfortunately, I didn't find Metroid Prime 2: Echoes to be nearly as fun. It'd be interesting to see your opinion on Echoes next.
Agreed. Echoes is way worse. Thankfully, the series picks back up with Metroid Prime 3 (which is almost as good as the original).
The one thing that Echoes has going for it in a way that Prime and Corruption do not is a sense of atmosphere. There were parts of Echoes where the creep factor scaled up so high that I felt distinctly uncomfortable. It made me feel immersed in the game and also strengthened my regard for Samus as a true bad ass.
If only there had been better gameplay to go with it or at least fewer morph ball puzzles.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
Re: Games Beaten 2015
I'd like to clarify that worse does not mean bad. Mega Man 1 is worse than Mega Man 2, but it's still a fun game.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Games Beaten 2015
First 50
51. Mario Kart 8 (WIIU)
52. Quell Reflect (3DS)
Mario Kart 8 is rad, and I will be spending a lot of time with it. I won all of the 50CC cups, however, and the game rolled the credits. Accordingly, it is going on the list. I still have to finish up all of the (absolutely amazing) DLC cups, and then I will probably skip ahead to the 150CC or 200CC class. (I have completed four other Mario Kart games; so, the 50CC cups really weren't much of a challenge.)
I also beat Quell Reflect, which is a really fun, challenging puzzle game. In it, you slide a drop of water across a pane of glass to collect pearls, and once you have collected all of the pearls, you have completed the puzzle. Each puzzle, however, has three distinct goals: (1) collecting all of the pearls; (2) collecting all of the puzzles using the absolute minimum number of moves; and (3) finding the jewel hidden in each puzzle. The first and third goals are generally pretty easy, but the second goal can be incredibly challenging. Accordingly, attempting to get a "perfect" score on each puzzle can take hours, and this mechanic results in the game's difficulty scaling to your level of commitment to it. Finally, the game's soundtrack often consists of the sound of rain tapping against a window, which makes for an incredibly relaxing experience. (It is basically the perfect game for settling in at the end of an evening.) I highly recommend this game to anyone who is looking for a fun reasonably-priced puzzle game, and I am looking forward to its supposedly superior sequel, Quell Memento. (I played the game on my 3DS, but all of the Quell games are also available on tablets and smartphones. The 3DS version costs $1 more, but it has more content and allows you to use the gamepad.)
.....
Agreed. I still like Echoes - and I think Flake made an excellent point about its atmosphere - I just don't hold it in as high regard as Metroid Prime or Metroid Prime 3 (which are two of my very favorite games).
51. Mario Kart 8 (WIIU)
52. Quell Reflect (3DS)
Mario Kart 8 is rad, and I will be spending a lot of time with it. I won all of the 50CC cups, however, and the game rolled the credits. Accordingly, it is going on the list. I still have to finish up all of the (absolutely amazing) DLC cups, and then I will probably skip ahead to the 150CC or 200CC class. (I have completed four other Mario Kart games; so, the 50CC cups really weren't much of a challenge.)
I also beat Quell Reflect, which is a really fun, challenging puzzle game. In it, you slide a drop of water across a pane of glass to collect pearls, and once you have collected all of the pearls, you have completed the puzzle. Each puzzle, however, has three distinct goals: (1) collecting all of the pearls; (2) collecting all of the puzzles using the absolute minimum number of moves; and (3) finding the jewel hidden in each puzzle. The first and third goals are generally pretty easy, but the second goal can be incredibly challenging. Accordingly, attempting to get a "perfect" score on each puzzle can take hours, and this mechanic results in the game's difficulty scaling to your level of commitment to it. Finally, the game's soundtrack often consists of the sound of rain tapping against a window, which makes for an incredibly relaxing experience. (It is basically the perfect game for settling in at the end of an evening.) I highly recommend this game to anyone who is looking for a fun reasonably-priced puzzle game, and I am looking forward to its supposedly superior sequel, Quell Memento. (I played the game on my 3DS, but all of the Quell games are also available on tablets and smartphones. The 3DS version costs $1 more, but it has more content and allows you to use the gamepad.)
.....
MrPopo wrote:I'd like to clarify that worse does not mean bad. Mega Man 1 is worse than Mega Man 2, but it's still a fun game.
Agreed. I still like Echoes - and I think Flake made an excellent point about its atmosphere - I just don't hold it in as high regard as Metroid Prime or Metroid Prime 3 (which are two of my very favorite games).
Last edited by prfsnl_gmr on Mon Nov 02, 2015 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2015
@Flake
I agree that Echoes had sensational atmosphere, the game absolutely nailed that aspect with gusto. The graphics and music were both well up to par.
It's just that much of the actual game design felt like busy work, much more transparently so than usual for the series. There's a lot of gopher fetching just for the sake of eating up time. Especially the ridiculous amount of hidden keys you had to find... nine Dark Temple Keys, nine Sky Temple Keys, and whatever other keys I'm forgetting. A lot of the boss battles stopped being fun for me too because they became wars of attrition instead of merely skill. And the whole poisonous dark aether stuff was really annoying for the amount of the game you had to deal with it.
I'm not saying Echoes is a bad game. I'm just saying compared to its predecessor, it really dropped the ball. For me it was blatantly obvious that neither Miyamoto or Iwata had a hand in co-directing it (unlike the other two main Prime games in which they in turns did).
I agree that Echoes had sensational atmosphere, the game absolutely nailed that aspect with gusto. The graphics and music were both well up to par.
It's just that much of the actual game design felt like busy work, much more transparently so than usual for the series. There's a lot of gopher fetching just for the sake of eating up time. Especially the ridiculous amount of hidden keys you had to find... nine Dark Temple Keys, nine Sky Temple Keys, and whatever other keys I'm forgetting. A lot of the boss battles stopped being fun for me too because they became wars of attrition instead of merely skill. And the whole poisonous dark aether stuff was really annoying for the amount of the game you had to deal with it.
I'm not saying Echoes is a bad game. I'm just saying compared to its predecessor, it really dropped the ball. For me it was blatantly obvious that neither Miyamoto or Iwata had a hand in co-directing it (unlike the other two main Prime games in which they in turns did).
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
Re: Games Beaten 2015
I managed to find a really affordable used copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii at a Gamestop of all places some months back. I haven't managed to make the time to dig in. I wonder how the play control will compare.