Games Beaten 2017

[BogusMeatFactory]

Oh man, ghost squad! You should have played it the way it was meant to be played, with squirt guns against bikini-clad terrorists!

Yes.... that is a mode in the game.

[dsheinem]

Oh man, ghost squad! You should have played it the way it was meant to be played, with squirt guns against bikini-clad terrorists!

Yes.... that is a mode in the game.

I did mess around with Ninja mode, but didn't have the enthusiasm to unlock Paradise mode. I watched a bit on YouTube, though - certainly good for a laugh!

[ElkinFencer10]

Ghost Squad is a great albeit generic arcade shooter. Glad you experienced it at least once!

[Xeogred]

1. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (PC)
2. Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter* (PC)
3. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (PC)
4. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (PC)
5. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (PC)
6. Deadcore (PC)
7. Yakuza 4 (PS3)
8. Hyper Light Drifter (PC)
9. Doom 2: Valiant (PC)
10. Resident Evil 7 (PS4)
10. Doom 2: Ancient Aliens (PC)
11. Doom 2: Vanguard (PC)
12. Doom 2: Doom 2 The Way id Did (PC)
13. Doom 2: Community Chest Pack 4 (PC)
14. Doom: Doom The Way id Did (PC)
15. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (PC)
16. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 (PC)
17. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WiiU)
18. Dishonored 2 (PC)
19. Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
20. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
21. Super Mario Land (GB)
22. Super Mario Land 2 (GB)
23. Mighty Final Fight (NES)
24. Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES)
25. Trip World (GB)
26. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Genesis)
27. Aladdin (Genesis)
28. Streets of Rage (SMS)
29. Bare Knuckle (Genesis)
30. Bare Knuckle 2* (Genesis)
31. Bare Knuckle 3* (Genesis)
32. Marchen Adventure Cotton 100% (SNES)
33. Earthworm Jim* (Sega CD)
34. Ghouls'n Ghosts (Genesis)
35. Contra (NES)
36. Super C (NES)
37. Final Fight 2* (SNES)
38. Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES)
39. Final Fight 3* (SNES)
40. Operation C (GB)
41. Contra Hard Corps [End B] (Genesis)
42. Mega Turrican (Genesis)
43. Prey (PC)
44. Dark Souls 3 DLC: Ashes of Ariandel & The Ringed City (PS4)
45. Spec Ops: The Line (PC)
46. System Shock Enhanced Edition (PC)

* replay



Squashed an insect!

I finally beat System Shock 1. Unfinished business, as it was something I've attempted once or twice before but was a bit overwhelmed by the UI. Little did I know a little tinkering and removing the hud makes it feel fairly modern and perfect. Granted I played the Enhanced Edition which I know has some slight changes.

I like all the weird hud elements and abilities you get as well, even if half of them didn't seem really useful (the compass?) one of my favorite things about old games like this is being able to make my own notes on the maps, haha. I played most of Ultima Underworld a few years ago and loved it, it's hard to choose a favorite but they both have their own strengths. UU was a bit easier to sink into and seemed more atmospheric, less claustrophobic, and was slower paced which I like. SS1 has way better and fun combat though (more fun than SS2's combat to me as well), but the combat ends up being a double edged sword...

Like SS2, the enemies constantly respawn and roam the ship in SS1. This isn't a huge issue in SS2 since it's a polygonal game, there might only be a new enemy or two that's sneaking up behind you, and you have a lot more space to run by them to salvage ammo. This applies to Bioshock and the new Prey as well. SS1 on the other hand will throw you 10+ new enemies in a central area and it's just nonstop. Ammo wasn't a huge problem after the first few levels, but it just got annoying to me and prevented me from being able to really sink in the atmosphere and setting at times. The invisible blob enemies in the maintenance area were the worst, and the blue walker enemies in the reactor level. I think it's just the respawning gimmick that I didn't enjoy, because the combat was really fun and they could have populated the levels with even more enemies, but I disliked having to constantly kill things if I died and was revived, or was backtracking a few dozen times while I was lost trying to figure things out. Even though it's supposed to make the game more intense, I didn't enjoy that aspect very much.

All the enemy types were awesome though, especially some of the weirder Borg like cyborgs later on. The red female humanoids with lobster arms were really tough. I ended up favoring the Magpulse for synthetic enemies, the Laser rapier was basically the Dragon Tooth Sword from Deus Ex and destroyed everything easily but was a power drain at times. The Skorpion rifle was really fun too, the recoil and kickback actually made it feel really badass and cool to use haha. The final boss fight isn't very exciting though and a bit anticlimatic, just like SS2's and a lot of other games of this genre. Not a deal breaker though.

I like that the game wasted no time to introduce you to SHODAN in this one. She came off as more of a animalistic hivemind type in this one. More vile and just outright wanting you dead, whereas she seems a bit more manipulative in SS2. Top tier villain across both games.

The music was incredible, outside of the weirdly annoying main menu theme and there was this one track that was re-used way too much. Had this obnoxious rumble to it and weird tin like snares being hit, this track really got annoying. I wish the music stayed static per level or something, since there was some really good tracks off and on.

I got stuck a handful of times and had to round up several sources online for help. I can easily see how this game was a huge deal back then and could have kept someone busy for ages, it did test my patience at times, but I'm really glad I stuck with it. Although the combat is way more fun than SS2's, I would say overall I'm still a bigger fan of SS2. I might be a bit more partial to that era of FPS's, even though Doom is one of my favorite games of all time. That said, SS1 and UU get all the credit and truly defined the immersive first person genre that we still see going today. They aren't for everyone, but there's definitely some brilliance to them and it's worth a shot if you're interested in them.

Steam says about 10 hours, though the in game time at the end said 8:34. Not bad, though again I looked up a few things. I wouldn't have minded if it were longer with a few simpler levels, like 7-9 which were a little more action heavy and straightforward.

[retrosportsgamer]

Let me burn through a couple of these:

Ghost Blade HD - Xbox One
Since Dave counted this on easy, damn it I will also. This was fine for $9.99 - any sale is a nice value. I'm really glad I didn't spend for a Dreamcast iteration. I don't want to be completely done here as I made good progress on the normal mode, playing with all three characters also. I think on Easy I used one continue so that was pretty good since i'm decidedly very average at the game.

Caladrius Blaze - PS4
Credit fed this one, but there are a lot of characters that I still want to try. Story wasn't great, but the gameplay was fine and not worth overlooking.

NBA Playgrounds - PS4
Here's the big one, a real accomplishment! I defeated all the tournaments with my maxed out Kevin Durant and Wilt Chamberlain team. This is the first arcade hoops game since the NBA Jam update in like 2011/2012. The game's roster is all opened via in-game packs (no micro transactions), which are earned by experience points. Win a tournament and get a special GOLD pack with one legend player too. The game play is NBA Jam-esque, with a tougher shooting mechanic (for some), which they patched in a meter for later so people can better line up their release point.

The packs are fine at first, until you pull a pack of ALL duplicates. And these dupe players, which I did pull, are all scrubs that you would never pick to play with anyway - an inherent issue with the choice that you can play as any two unlocked guys, teams and chemistry be damned. So my frustration is, i've spent $19.99 on the game - and I've BEATEN players i haven't unlocked. And i could very well keep leveling up and earning packs and still never have some of the players (Iverson - the final boss for example). A better avenue would have been also unlocking the guys one you beat them in tournament mode.

They patched in some changes, namely the aforementioned shooting meter to determine how much touch you need on your release to have the best shot at scoring. There are some other big differences from NBA Jam too; they added in a meter that you fill by making exciting plays and when it maxes out, you get a powerup. These are all across the board power-wise. Some power up includes a shorter shot clock for the AI for 45 seconds or so (which is a lot in a 3 minute game!). Then you have your on-court multipliers for baskets made from certain spots. I like my NBA Jam pure please, none of this.

The online play stunk, matchmaking was ok but there are still AI quirks being worked out (they have been very engaged). Shaq shouldn't be hitting fall away 3 pointers with a guy on him. Three pointers were so easy in the first release, you'd end up against a guy who was lucky to pull a Steph Curry and get mauled.

for $19.99 I wanted to support the endeavor and the game is a fun play, that just feels a touch unfinished, but still a nice first effort out of the gate. They made this for the Switch too, which was nice. A new portable hoops game is a first in like 7+ years.

[Sarge]

January:

1) The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (PC) (8.5) (1/1) (~5.5 hours)
2) ActRaiser (SNES) (8.0) (1/2) (~4 hours)
3) Bonk's Revenge (GB) (6.0) (1/3) (~1 hour)
4) Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break (GB) (6.5) (1/3) (~1 hour)
5) Blackwell Legacy (PC) (7.0) (1/5) (2.6 hours)
6) Blackwell Unbound (PC) (7.5) (1/7) (2.2 hours)
7) Blackwell Convergence (PC) (8.0) (1/7) (2.4 hours)
Blackwell Deception (PC) (8.0) (1/8) (4.7 hours)
9) Blackwell Epiphany (PC) (9.0) (1/9) (6.5 hours)
10) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4) (8.0) (1/22) (~55 hours)
11) Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (360) (8.0) (1/28) (~.5 hours)
12) Deep Duck Trouble Starring Donald Duck (SMS) (6.5) (1/31) (~1 hour)

February:

13) Quackshot Starring Donald Duck (GEN) (7.5) (2/7) (~2 hours)
14) Fire Emblem Heroes (Android) (8.0) (2/9) (~10 hours)
15) Super C (NES) (9.5) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
16) Contra (NES) (10.0) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
17) Mickey's Dangerous Chase (GB) (6.5) (2/24) (~1 hour)
18) My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (3DS) (8.5) (2/25) (~19 hours)
19) Mega Man 2 (NES) (10.0) (2/28) (~0.8 hours)

March:

20) Final Fantasy XV (PS4) (8.0) (3/2) (~33 hours)
21) Blaster Master Zero (NS) (9.0) (3/10) (~6.5 hours)
22) Espgaluda II Black Label (360) (8.0?) (3/17) (0.5 hours)
23) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS) (9.5) (3/28) (~70+ hours)

April:

24) Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (PC) (8.5) (4/7) (~5.5 hours)
25) Hyper Light Drifter (PS4) (8.0) (4/9) (~8 hours)
26) Gekido Advance: Kintaro's Revenge (GBA) (7.5) (4/16) (~3 hours)
27) Vanquish (PS3) (8.5) (4/17) (~7 hours)
28) Journey (PS3) (6.0) (4/19) (~2 hours)
29) GunForce (SNES) (4.0) (4/22) (~20 minutes)
30) GunForce 2 (ARC) (7.0) (4/23) (~30 minutes)
31) GunForce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island (ARC) (6.0) (4/23) (~20 minutes)
32) Mighty Final Fight (NES) (8.5) (4/29) (~30 minutes)

May:

33) Final Fantasy V (SFC) (6.0) (5/1) (~33 hours)
34) Super Adventure Island (SNES) (7.0) (5/2) (~1 hour)
35) Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (NES) (7.5) (5/3?) (~30 minutes)
36) Mighty No. 9 (PS4) (5.0) (5/6?) (~5 hours)
37) Contra III: The Alien Wars (Hard) (SNES) (8.5) (5/11) (~1 hour)
38) Operation C (GB) (7.5) (5/22) (~1 hour)

June:
39) Super Dodge Ball (NES) (9.5) (6/1) (~15 minutes)
40) Bare Knuckle III (GEN) (7.5) (6/3) (~1 hour)
41) Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) (9.5) (6/5) (~30 minutes)
42) Wizards & Warriors X: Fortress of Fear (GB) (4.0) (6/8) (~1 hour)

Just a random run of SMB3 while verifying my setup worked after moving the Trinitron into the game room. Finished the first level, but didn't really need to, warped straight to World 8, had a really weird deal where I died while P-Winging over the airship level, then proceeded to bash its head in straight like I should have to begin with. I also somehow managed to remember exactly where to go in the fortress, which is always an adventure when I haven't played in a while.

As for Fortress of Fear, it's... well, it's not quite as bad as I always thought. Unfair, yes. But there are also a few areas where extra lives abound, and if you can figure out a few patterns, you can make it to the final boss with lives to spare and just cheese him to death. Definitely below average, but for an early Game Boy title, perhaps it can be forgiven.

[Xeogred]

I love how all the final levels in the original Mario games had multiple paths.

[Michi]

... had a really weird deal where I died while P-Winging over the airship level...

Sorry. That is bizarre. Did you get hit by a stray wrench or something? WTH.

[Sarge]

It really is! I'm pretty sure that's never happened before. I'm just flying along, and all of a sudden, BAM! Death music. I think I need to look up this little bug... or see if it was some sort of EverDrive-related edge case not accounted for in the MMC3 emulation.

EDIT: Yep, it's legit.

https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Super ... rld_8-Jets

[Michi]

Clearly a lakitu hiding up in the sky waiting for revenge.