Games Beaten 2015

[laurenhiya21]

^Interesting... The difficulty is probably just me then, since I'm more used to rhythm games with 4 buttons or less to deal with (like DDR, Taiko Drum Master, Mad Maestro! etc). It's a lot for me to juggle the four buttons, four buttons+Dpad combos, and the star flicks all at the same time.

I do really like the game as well though, if I didn't state that very well. I tend to not be very good at explaining things I like ><;

[MrPopo]

First 50:

1. Painkiller - PC
2. Front Mission 4 - PS2
3. Wasteland 2 - PC
4. Arcanum - PC
5. X-COM Terror from the Deep - PC
6. Military Madness - TurboGrafx-16
7. Unreal - PC
8. Shadowrun - SNES
9. Warcraft III - PC
10. Dungeon Keeper - PC
11. Final Fantasy X-2 HD - PS3
12. Descent - PC
13. Quake Mission Pack 2 - Dissolution of Eternity - PC
14. Quake 2 Mission Pack 2 - Ground Zero - PC
15. Sokobond - PC
16. Hybrid Heaven - N64
17. Sonic the Hedgehog - Genesis
18. Castlevania - NES
19. Super Castlevania IV - SNES
20. Castlevania III - NES
21. Castlevania II - NES
22. Castlevania Rondo of Blood - Turbo CD
23. Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders - PC
24. Fractal - PC
25. Kirby's Adventure - NES
26. Pillars of Eternity - PC
27. Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den - PC
28. Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour - PC
29. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - NES
30. Punch-Out!! - NES
31. Doom 3 - PC
32. The Even More Incredible Machine - PC
33. Contra - NES
34. Dark Forces - PC
35. Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II - PC
36. X-Wing - PC
37. TIE Fighter - PC
38. Bloodborne - PS4
39. Gradius - NES
40. Marble Madness - NES
41. The Witcher 3 - PC
42. Mega Man X5 Zero Playthrough - PSX
43. Wolfenstein The Old Blood - PC
44. Might and Magic Book 1 - PC
45. Hexen: Beyond Heretic - PC
46. Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter - PC
47. Duke Nukem - PC
48. Terminal Velocity - PC
49. Borderlands 2 - Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt - PC
50. Duke Nukem II - PC

51. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne - PC
52. Starflight - PC
53. Skies of Arcadia - Dreamcast
54. Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000 - PC
55. Super Star Wars - SNES
56. Shadowrun: Hong Kong - PC
57. Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel - PC
58. The Catacomb - PC
59. Azure Striker Gunvolt - 3DS
60. Mighty Gunvolt - 3DS
61. Catacomb Abyss - PC
62. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - PC
63. Strike Suit Zero - Director's Cut - PC
64. Wolfenstein 3D Spear of Destiny - PC
65. StarCraft - PC
66. Metal Storm - NES
67. Septerra Core - PC
68. Metal Warriors - SNES
69. Zelda II - The Adventure of Link - NES
70. Anachronox - PC
71. Faxanadu - NES
72. Adventures of Lolo - NES
73. Ninja Gaiden 2 - NES
74. Half Minute Hero: The Second Coming - PC
75. Mega Man 5 - NES
76. MechWarrior 3 - PC
77. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - NES
78. Faria - NES
79. Rebel Galaxy - PC
80. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game - NES
81. Grim Fandango - PC
82. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void - PC

Well, the StarCraft II trilogy is complete. And this game actually gives a pretty definitive ending to basically everything they were doing in StarCraft I and II. There's still some potential things they could do if they wanted to make more stories, but they do a good job of wrapping things up.

Like the first two installments the game focuses on a single race, in this case the Protoss. They take advantage of the fact that single player is not multiplayer to give you access to a bunch of units that may or may not be properly balanced. Legacy of the Void goes with a system of every unit having three variations that you can choose from between missions (and can change at any time). Some of the variations give a change in ability, such as the Zealots having either a whirlwind attack or self revive. Others are complete changes in units, such as choosing between the Stalker and the Dragoon. The other ability the game gives you is access to support abilities from the Spear of Adun, your command ship. These unlock over time and cost a resource that is picked up as bonus objectives. During the mission there is an energy counter that slowly ticks up. Once you have enough you can activate one of the abilities. These include things like instant pylons and death beams from space. There are also a couple of passive abilities you can set, such as automatic vespene collection and a shield that saves units from death.

The main Protoss campaign follows an arc as you battle against Amon's corrupting influence. At the end you wrap up things with that arc, but there are still a few lingering threads. Those then get picked up in the three mission epilogue, where you do one mission as each race for a final hurrah.

No idea how the multiplayer is because multiplayer StarCraft scares me.

[Sload Soap]

Aladdin (GBC)

A port of the Mega Drive version and a pretty decent one at that all things considered. It skips out the 8th level set in the genie's lamp though that is to be expected as it is the most complicated level mechanically. It also drops the Iago boss fight and Jafar's second form when he becomes all snake-like. It's very enjoyable for a fan of the MD version like me, though some of the music has that GBC tinniness and becomes grating. Not to be confused with the regular Game Boy version which has differently drawn graphics IRC.

Bedlam: The Game by Christopher Brookmyre (Xbox One)

Interesting but flawed FPS game where you move through levels styled around classic FPS games. Starting off in a Quake 2 parody, you move through to Call Of Duty/Medal of Honor then a slight diversion into some old school arcade games (Pac-Man and Space Invaders) followed by Skyrim (I think, it's very generically fantasy) and Halo type worlds.

It's kind of interesting in how it lets you take weapons from one world to the next so you can super-shotgun Nazi's and mow down skeletons with a Sten gun but it also falls into that trap Evoland and Life of Pixel did in that it merely presents these wildly different and varied FPS games as background dressing with little actual exploration of the mechanics that set them apart. There are a few instances where the game does attempt some sort of commentary but these are unfortunately few and far between.

The plot that frames this design choice is actually fairly decent and is well voice acted by some very sweary Scotsmen and Scotswomen but again it is just a framework. The flesh on the framework, the gameplay, is often a bit shaky with guns that feel underpowered or sometimes just useless. There's also a lot of bad platforming, something that I thought may have been deliberate but as the game goes on and these sections get longer and feature more instant deaths, well lets just say that joke stopped being funny.

Not bad but again, like the aforementioned Evoland and Life of Pixel I can't help but feel there's a missed opportunity here. The Pac-Man themed level is a stand-out though for turning a previously innocuous arcade game into something close to a horror game simply by switching the perspective.

The Last Of Us (PS3)

I'll probably get some flak for this but I didn't really like this game. Yes it has absolutely top tier voice acting, graphics, sound design and facial animation. It has moments of genuine beauty and pathos. The Last of Us has a lot to recommend, if it was a movie or TV show.

The problem is that it's a game and as a game, all those interactive bits between the amazing cut-scenes, it's a underwhelming cover-shooter-cum-stealth action title with little you've not seen done better elsewhere. It's not unplayable, far from it, but during my time with TLOU I couldn't remember any moments in the gameplay that gave me the same feel of quality as I got from the cut-scenes. I'm not sure a supposed 10/10 GOTY contender should so obviously telegraph when its next shooting sections are coming up, nor should most puzzles boil down to bumbling around for a wooden pallet for Ellie to stand on to cross a water hazard. There is also a lot of shooting and death and it does that modern action movie thing where a tender character moment will suddenly be interrupted by gunfire/zombie attack triggering another laborious action section. The game's best moments are quieter ones where Ellie and Joel are in each other's company learning to trust one another. I find it a shame Naughty Dog perhaps didn't have the confidence to have a game with more gametime devoted to developing their relationship through gameplay that doesn't involve slaughtering countless people. And if you think that a game like that would be boring or lack any depth, then I shall have to point you in the direction of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

Also, those fungus zombies are just zombies. The fungal infection thing is just set dressing. Functionally they behave and act exactly like the zombies you've plowed through in countless other games. Disappointing.

I dunno. Obviously I don't expect the game to play with the sort of spark and energy as Vanquish as that wouldn't really be fitting but I also don't expect passable mechanics to be bolted onto great audiovisual design and have the developer think I'll be completely won over. Considering I've played a few games this year (stand up Metal Gear Solid) where decent gameplay can be uplifted by amazing story or aesthetics shows this formula can and does work. But crucially with MGS it works mostly because those games have interesting quirks and are very replayable. The Last of Us is I feel, a game you play exactly once just for the story and to see what the fuss is about then you set it down and go back to something with some actual substance. I will remember the excellent work Troy Baker did as Joel, the moment you come across the giraffes in a shattered city and the gut punch of the ending. I will not remember however any of the play that lead to those points.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale (PS3)

A Smash Bros clone on the surface only, PASBR makes some interesting choices to differentiate itself from Nintendo's behemoth fighting franchise, some that work and some the really don't.

Firstly though, the roster. Now, to be fair, I missed out on most of the PS2 and all of PS3 years but even I have an issue with some of choices here. Big Daddy for one is someone I in no way associate with the Playstation brand and I don't have a bastard clue what that little cat thing is. It's cute, but it ain't no Ice Climber! Also new Dante. No thanks.

There seems to have been a concerted effort to make the game feel more "legit" than Smash Bros in terms of how rounds pan out. You have three attacks buttons of various strengths, a jump button and dedicated block and grab buttons. So far so smash. However, unlike Smash your attacks are less about weakening your opponent and readying them for knock out blow, but rather to power up your own super meter at which point you can unleash a move that will, if it connects, instantly kill one or all of your opponents.

It means that taking damage becomes somehow less important but being positionally aware of your enemies and surroundings becomes very much more. You can basically be wailed on for the entire round but if you can dodge your opponents supers, you can in theory win with only one clean kill. This leads to the games most glaringly obvious problem and that is the number of times matches can devolve into stalemates, supers being attained and then whiffed, opponents merely running from your attacks and no one building up any sort of head of steam to reach the really devastating level 3 screen clearing super moves.

The games also seems to feature some characters who seem obviously better than others. Kratos and Sackboy seems to have a a bevy of strong normal attacks bolstered by easy to execute supers, while playing as Sweet Tooth, who is slow and has weird priority on his supers, can be a real pain. I do appreciate how there has been obvious effort to make characters feel different, long-rangers like Radec certainly forces different play to brawlers like Raiden, but overall there are some standout characters. Which is actually quite like Smash in fairness.

It's not perfect but I found the more time I put in the more I got out. And beating on meatheads like Cole and Kratos with Parappa the Rapper is a pretty joyous thing to behold.

Killzone 3 (PS3)

Nope.

Disney's Aladdin (SMS)

Another day, another Aladdin game. This time the Master System version, which is, not a port. In fact owes more to Prince of Persia than it's 16-bit namesakes. Well insofar as it's a fairly average, albeit very pretty, cinematic platform game. A very short, very pretty cinematic platformer. Oh and very easy. It's not that good is what I'm trying to say.

Split over five levels this version closet follows the story of the film but it lacks either the slick platforming of the SNES game nor the Mega Drive Aladdin's challenge. As a late Master System release (1994!) it looks great and does some exceptional work with parallax scrolling to add depth to the levels. The levels themselves, few as they be, are split between forced scrolling sections where Al must jump obstacles and such, more traditional and POP-esque puzzle platforming and some sections on the carpet, including a lovely recreation of the Whole New World scene, coloured in those fantastic SMS blues and yellows. Swoon.

Jafar actually turns into a snake as well and it trumps even the SNES version by not becoming unbearably laggy. The problem is you'll likely get to and then beat Jafar on your first play through. With infinite continues and very little challenge Disney's Aladdin is over before it begins which is a real shame.

Nights Into Dreams... (Xbox One)

So last night Microsoft updated the OS for the Xbox One and users can now download, for free, some of their old XBLA games. They are just there in the Games menu waiting. Lovely.

Accordingly, and because of the shit weather giving me the hump, I decided to play Nights again. I've not really altered my opinion from when I played it last year and voted it my ninth favourite game of 2014. It's a phenomenal game and there's nothing before or since quite like it. Part cutesy platformer, part arcade rally game, always joyous fun, ocean deep and full of feeling. Sega really don't make them like this anymore.

As far as the transition from 360 to Xbone goes, I could pick out no discernible issues graphically or on the sound and frame rate front.

Sonic The Hedgehog (SMS)

Bless this little game. The Master System might not have the blast processing available to do a proper port of its Mega Drive big brother, so they went the Super Mario Land route and just made a solid platformer featuring the title character instead. Sure, Green Hill, Labyrinth and Scrap Brain zones all show up but they are so far removed from their origins as to be different in all but name.

Sonic on the Master System is one of those weird times, again like the Mario Land games, where stripping back on a few keys assets of the mainline series can actually put more focus on aspects it does really well, that being pure platforming. And more of that luscious SMS colour palette of blues and greens.

Again, like Aladdin, the limitations of the console mean that where once Sonic had 6 stages with three levels a piece, now we have five stages with two levels and the third is entirely dedicated to the boss fight. The levels themselves are shorter and offer far fewer routes to the goal. Chaos emeralds are no longer found in bonus stages (those are reserved for collecting extra lives and continues), rather they can be found somewhat haphazardly placed in the stages themselves. So while you lose one of Sonic's main selling points with the subtraction of the multiple paths (and quite a bit of speed as well) there's more of a laser focus on levels designed the old fashioned way: one route, many obstacles and less opportunity to hold right and hope for the best.

You add in some of the system's best visuals and some amazingly catchy tunes, courtesy of one Yuzo Kushiro (the Bridge theme alone is worth the price of admission) and for me you have the system's best platformer. Less stiff than Psycho Fox, more fair than Alex Kidd and offering much more challenge than Sonic Chaos (which I also recommend). Great game.

[ExedExes]

1. Call of Duty United Offensive Expansion Pack - PC (January 16)
2. Dead To Rights - Gamecube (January 24)
3. River City Ransom EX - GBA (February 21)
4. Call of Duty 2 - PC (February 28) (link missing due to this game's post being wiped during the great RB server move)
5. Quake - PC (March 31)
6. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - PC (April 5)
7. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon - PC (April 18)
8. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - PC (May 19)
9. Super Puzzle Fighter II - GBA (May 23)
10. Saints Row The Third - PC (June 24)
11. Konami Krazy Racers - GBA (June 27)
12. Medal of Honor: Airborne - PC (August 13)
13. *NEW* Code Name: Viper (NES) (November 15)

So, Code Name Viper. If you play it, you *know* it's a Capcom-inspired clone of Rolling Thunder, but they were also known for distribution of the Korean RT arcade clone Rough Ranger (developed by SunA).

You play as Kenny Smith, code name Viper, to take down a South American drug syndicate. In each stage, you are tasked to find a missing POW which has a grenade to clear the stage and also a piece of a letter detailing the true mission of the drug syndicate. I read that this game was developed in part by Arc System Works, who also ported the NES version of Rolling Thunder (!), so both games must play exactly the same. This game certainly is as unforgiving as RT can be. Lots of different areas, the same 2 guns, enemies in certain colors that take a certain number of hits or might possibly shoot back. The final level has a bit of a twist once you put together the entire letter, but this is NOT an easy game.

[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)
12) King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (AGD VGA remake)
13) Dune 2000 - PC (easy )
14) Clock Tower: The First Fear - PC (S Ending)
15-19) Sam & Max Season 3: The Devil's Playhouse - PC
20) Dishonored - PC
21) Call of Juarez - PC
22) Gargoyle's Quest - GameBoy
23) Assassin's Creed - PC
24) Fly in the House - PC
25) Serious Sam 2 - PC

Oh gawd, why? I played the demo of this back in '05 and thought it was alright, but I decided to get Quake IV and F.E.A.R. instead, and boy am I glad I did. I enjoyed the previous two titles in the series and was hoping for more of the same. In some cases, that is what I got, but most of the time it was stale mediocrity peppered with bits of frustration. Let's start with the positives, of which there are few: the graphics are pretty nice for 2005 and the sound is alright with some nice music tracks. That's about it.

Alright, time for the negatives: The cutscenes and the humor in general are fucking awful. They're animated cheaply (one was literally just Sam's ragdoll falling for ten seconds repeated a couple of times), have awful voice-acting, and are cringe-worthy due to their horrible jokes. Admittedly, there were one or two jokes that made me laugh, but they're like the bits of corn in a pile of shit; not worth it.

The gunplay mechanics haven't changed much from the previous titles, just some new weapons added to the arsenal. The changes come in the form of vehicles and mounted turrets with both of them being lame. The vehicles are alright, it's just that they're mainly used to mitigate the challenge of fighting large hordes of enemies. Several encounters amount to a large horde appearing, getting into a vehicle, exterminating most of the enemies, then finishing off whatever enemies remain on foot. Those sections are just really dull. Say what you want about Quake IV's vehicle sections, but at least they incorporated their own enemies and had some challenge. One final note: While not a vehicle per-say, the hamster ball is an awesome addition. It's so much fun to destroy enemies in such a different and silly way.

As for the turrets, they just feel out of place and kill any sort of challenge in the level. I normally love turrets in games, but I hated them in this. I think the reason for this is that in games like Medal of Honor or Half-Life the turret greatly increases the player's firepower and allows him/her to mow down larger mobs of enemies than is common in those sort of titles. Serious Sam on the other hand has the player killing a shit ton of enemies as part of its norm, so having a turret is rather redundant even though it does make some encounters easier. Every time I use one I feel like I'm just moving a cursor and watching things die with no resistance. BOR-RING!

Next up are the bouts of unrelenting monotony, I mean the boss fights. God, each one of these are just crap. Every one of these has a stupid ass gimmick to detract from the established gunplay, with the first one and fifth using turrets and the last two requiring fucking vehicles. The most grievous example is the fifth boss fight against the dragon. The map is pretty much a circle with multiple levels (like floors, not stages) and jump power-ups littered throughout the stage. Sounds like a basic but good setup for a fun boss fight, but nope, your weapons do no damage to the dragon and you need to use turrets to damage it. Turrets that you have to find ammo for. A promising boss fight is turned into an absolute chore by the addition of these turrets. The last boss is also a complete pain in the ass as not only is it a vehicle boss fight, it's made extremely tedious by the boss's immense health bar and the sudden impotency of the vehicle's laser cannons. Ugh, so awful.

Like I said, the main gameplay itself is fine, but nothing great, or even that different for the most part. With the exception of the grenades, there are no improvements to the meat and potatoes of the game. Most of the game feels pretty tame when compared to its predecessors, even when the challenge starts ramping up. There are some fun firefights, but not enough of them to make the game worth recommending. It just feels very pedestrian and bland.

In short, this game has shitty boss fights, annoying cutscenes with lame jokes, disappointing innovations, and is completely underwhelming when compared to its contemporaries and its predecessors. if Call of Juarez is disappointing for doing too much with too little, then Serious Sam II is disappointing for doing too little with too much.

[CFFJR]

1.Alien Isolation - Xbox One
2.Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES *
3.Popful Mail - Sega CD
4.Final Fantasy - PSP
5.Super Mario 3D World - Wii U
6.Actraiser - Snes
7.Final Fantasy IV - PSP
8.Batman: Arkham Origins - Xbox 360
9.Contrast - Xbox 360
10.Deus Ex - PC
11.Ghouls 'N Ghosts - Genesis
12.Earthworm Jim - Genesis
13.Dragonball Xenoverse - Xbox One
14.Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Xbox One
15.Sally Acorn in Sonic the Hedgehog - Genesis *
16.Endless Ocean - Wii
17.Star Wars: Dark Forces - PC
18.System Shock - PC
19.Strider - Genesis
20.Streets of Rage - Genesis *
21.Vectorman - Genesis
22.Mega Man X - Snes
23.Streets of Rage 2 - Genesis *
24.Toejam & Earl - Genesis
25.Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon - Wii
26.Gex - 3DO
27.Batman: Arkham Knight - Xbox One
28.Batgirl: A Matter of Family - Xbox One
29.Fallout 3 - PC
30.Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage - PC
31.Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta - PC
32.Fallout 3: The Pitt - PC
33.Fallout 3: Point Lookout - PC
34.Fallout 3: Broken Steel - PC
35.Halo 4 - Xbox 360
36.The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard - Xbox 360
37.The Elder Scrolls V: Dragonborn - Xbox 360
38.Ninja Gaiden - NES
39.Inherit The Earth - PC
40.Kickbeat Special Edition - Xbox One
41.Jazz Jackrabbit - PC

Gonna try to keep this short. Mostly.

Batman: Arkham Knight + Batgirl

Time has admittedly dulled this game a bit for me.

The common criticism is the overuse of the batmobile. As much as I enjoyed the batmobile, that complaint is warranted, as there really is just too much of it. The tank battles are fun, no doubt, but it does feel like they shoehorned it in to justify the time spent creating it.

Setting that aside, the normal Arkham gameplay is in top form here and as fun as ever. The game is gorgeous and its pleasant just to wander around.

It has been my habit to 100% these games. As of now, I've done everything but complete the new game+, and I only stopped because I honestly grew bored. I'll get back to it eventually.

Batgirl: A Matter of Family was a nice, if brief, flashback story. There's not much to it, but the amusement park is neat, and the best part of it lies in learning about one more of the Joker's devious manipulations.

Fallout 3 (and friends)

This was a replay, as I went through the 360 version back when it came out. At the time, I did not play Mothership Zeta or Point Lookout, so it was to finally try them out.

Fallout 3 remains an engrossing game. Point Lookout is easily the best expansion of the bunch, with a much larger new area to explore where you aren't limited by the story (like The Pitt) and a lot of new stuff to do.

Halo 4

Game H. Yeah, I'm still doing the alphabet marathon. Obviously I won't finish it by year's end, but I intend to just continue working on the list until I complete it. Two more are in this update.

Anyway, Halo 4. Short but sweet. The campaign is all I ever care about, and this was a good one. Pretty, nice set pieces, typical Halo style. I'll get to 5 eventually, when its cheaper.

The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard and Dragonborn

Dawnguard is surprisingly lengthy. Highlights: a cool new companion, some unique and stunning new environments, the opportunity to slaughter punk ass vampires by the barrel full because Werewolves are far superior.

Dragonborn takes you back to Solstheim, which was both delightful and nostalgia inducing. The main plot of this expansion is actually pretty short, but you don't notice it much for all the other stuff there is to do on the island. Its pretty huge, the new quests are all quite fun, and a couple of the characters you work with are a riot.

Dragon riding wasn't much to write home about though. Something like that should be more exciting, but it isn't.

Ninja Gaiden

I've had this game since I was a kid and never actually beat. Fixed that over a weekend. Acts 5 and 6 are a pain, yes, but by the time I was done I had 6 down to a science.

Its a little cruel to force you to repeat the entirety of act 6 if you lose one life to the final bosses (not game over mind you, one life) and as everyone knows, the respawning enemies can often be bullshit, but overall getting good at this game is super rewarding. It just feels good to destroy it.

Also, the actual final boss is a breeze, especially compared to the boss immediately before him.

Inherit the Earth

Game I.

An enjoyable and very funny adventure game starring a clever anthropomorphic fox named Rif.

The actual puzzles are rather easy, and a lot of the game simply comes down to talking to people and figuring out where to go next. No inventory juggling or ridiculous leaps in logic here. Which I prefer, as some adventure games can become rather tedious, and Inherit the Earth avoids that issue.

Apparently this game was severely crippled by publisher meddling, not the least of which being changes in the themes the story explores due to the perception that animal characters automatically mean the game is "for children". Sometimes it shows, as it is quite short and it occasionally feels like you've skipped something big. Which is a damn shame. I wonder what it would have been like if the developers had been allowed to make the game they wanted.

There's also a bit of a sequel hook, which obviously never happened.

Kickbeat Special Edition

Stumbled across this on the xbox one marketplace. Its a martial arts themed rhythm game, which by itself was enough to sell me.

The story is nutty and doesn't take itself seriously, and I genuinely cracked up a couple of times at some of the dialogue.

The game features the usual timed presses of the four face buttons. There are additional wrinkles with different enemy types, color coded to represent different timing, as well as powerups that require a double tap to collect. In harder difficulties, these are required to maintain your combo, so what seems a simple system at first actually ramps up quite a bit.

The nice thing is that you are actually controlling a character during play (rather than just watching them in the background), and they react to button presses by attacking enemies. It adds some weight to the game and it looks cool too.

The tracklist is great, and there's a few characters and costumes to unlock for 5 starring songs on each difficulty level.

My only beef with the game is some slowdown that occasionally happens for no justifiable reason. Not only can this fuck up your timing, the music will keep going even while the game is stopped, so you'll ultimately end up finishing the last enemies in total silence since the song is already over.

Great game overall though, I had a blast and recommend it.

Jazz Jackrabbit

Game J.

My cousins had the shareware version of this when we were kids, and we loved it, but of course I never got to play the full game. At 6 episodes with a total of 36 levels, I missed out on a lot back then.

Its a sidescrolling, platforming shooter with the speed of a Sonic game. Unfortunately, you don't usually get to utilize that speed. Trying to rush through the game is a surefire way to get killed, and keeping a measured pace will get you through faster. It doesn't help that the camera is very close to the action, which means you will get shot in a heartbeat if you're not careful. I can see now why they chose to pull the camera way back in the sequel. The speed sections are rather fun when you get them though.

The level design is great, with a good flow, a few nifty powerups, and lots of secrets to discover. Many of the levels have unique gimmicks to change things up, but they're never intrusive. There are a couple of cheap shots where they set you up to take a hit, but nothing nasty.

I think my favorite part of the game though is the music. None of songs on the soundtrack are bad, and many of them are exceptional. It really adds a lot to the mood on some levels.

Simple stuff, but addicting fun. Have to play the sequel soon.

[noiseredux]

1. Beavis And Butt-Head In Virtual Stupidity (PC)
2. Renegade Ops (PC)
3. Arena Of Octos (Apple II)
4. Beauty And The Beast (Intellivision)
5. Chivalry (Apple II)
6. Donald Duck's Playground (C64)
7. Left 4 Dead (PC)
8. Left 4 Dead 2 (PC)
9. Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered (PC)
10. Forward To The Sky (PC)
11. Elevator Action (MSX)
12. Quake (PC)
13: Talisman: Digital Edition (PC)
14: Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round (PC)
15. Dragon Age Origins (PC)
16. Hearthstone (Android)
17. Toren (PC)
18. The Great Giana Sisters (Amiga)
19. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (PC)
20. Lego Jurassic Park (PC)
21. Borderlands The Pre-Sequel (PC)
22. Cities Skylines (PC)
23. Borderlands The Pre-Sequel: Claptastic Voyage (PC)
24. Her Story (PC)
25. Hearthstone: Curse Of Naxxramus (PC)
26. Half-Life 2 (PC)
27. 9:05 (PC)
28. Mercenary Kings (PC)
29. Iron Brigade (PC)
30. NFL 2K (DC)
31. Gunbird 2 (DC)

Gunbird 2 was kicking my ass. So I lowered it down to the lowest difficulty to see if an easy 1CC would make me feel better about myself. So I 1CC'd Gunbird 2... on "Baby" difficulty.

I do not feel better about myself.

[BoneSnapDeez]

lol baby difficulty

[darsparx]

So another game that fits in with games that make fun of you for lowering the difficulty especially as low as it might go? Knew there had to be a few more somewhere not on a list or something

[laurenhiya21]

1/10: Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP (Steam)
1/10: Rusty's Real Deal Baseball: Bat & Switch (3DS DL)
1/11: Time Fcuk (Steam)
1/11: Coil (Steam)
1/17: Portal 2 (Steam)
1/31: Tales of Xillia (PS3) (re-beat 3/31)
2/12: Tokyo Jungle (PSN)
2/22: LoZ: Four Swords Anniversary Edition (3DS DL)
4/25: Stanley Parable (Steam)
4/28: BattleBlock Theatre (Steam)
5/3: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii)
5/9: Excite Truck (Wii)
5/14: Elebits (Wii)
5/26: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 (DS)
6/9: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PSN)
6/11: Tappingo (3DS DL)
6/15: Galaga Legions DX (PSN)
6/22: Eversion (Steam)
6/25: Hatoful Boyfriend (GOG)
6/30: Silent Hill (PS1)
7/1: SteamWorld Dig (Steam)
7/12: Cook, Serve, Delicious! (Steam)
7/13: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni - Ch.1 Onikakushi (Steam)
7/14: Retro/Grade (Steam)
8/12: Onechanbara Z2: Chaos (PS4)
8/15: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Steam)
8/25: Ziggurat (Steam)
9/11: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Vita)
9/25: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Steam)
9/27: Freedom Planet (GOG)
9/27: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams - Rise of the Owlverlord (GOG)
10/15: Mad Maestro! (PS2)
10/16: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
11/5: Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f 2nd (PS3)
11/14: eden*: They were only two, on the planet (Steam)
11/16: Super Mario 3D World (WiiU DL)

Total: 36 games

eden*
I wasn't expecting much from this visual novel since I had never heard of it before and I got it in a cheap bundle, but surprisingly I really enjoyed reading it.

It's a sad kinetic novel about Ryou Haruna, a guy in the military who is assigned to protect an engineered human named Sion. Sion is in charge of the project to get humanity off the dying Earth and into space, so she has been stuck in the same place for 100 years for her protection. It's really difficult for me to explain what happens in the majority of the novel, since most it feels like it's Ryou & Sion's interactions and how they come to terms with certain things, but it's extremely well written. I was really sucked into the novel and nearly cried quite a few times.

It also probably helps that, instead of the traditional character sprite in the center of the screen that most VNs use, eden* uses a lot of different shots in many different angles. Cinematic shots if that's the right word? Other VNs may use different shots as well, but eden* uses them almost all the time, which really helped to bring me into the scene. There were a few times that didn't work since a few shots had the faces drawn a little odd, but this rarely happened from what I noticed.

To top it all off, the BGMs, voice acting, and art (especially the backgrounds) are all really well done. Not really much to else add, but I'm really glad I gave it a shot!

Super Mario 3D World
A lot of people have played this already, so I'll try and keep it short... but it's a pretty game with a lot of really fun levels. I'm really bad at platformers so I really appreciate that most of the levels weren't crazy difficult. The only levels I really didn't like were the ones with a lot of water in them, and the final story level. I just could not figure out how to beat it without always being out of sight at the very top of the screen as it scrolled up, so I was always hoping that I jumped in the right place and actually landed on a platform. But other than that, I still had fun. I might also do some of the extra levels, but I'll probably have to play with my boyfriend or something ha ><;