Games Beaten : 2011

[emwearz]

Plants Vs Zombies - PC
Halo 3: ODST - 360
Enslaved: Odyssey To The West - 360
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - NDS
Unreal Tournament 3 - 360
Dead Space - 360
Harms Way - XBLA
Starfox Assault - GC
Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift - IOS
The House of the Dead: Overkill - Wii
Fallout 3 - 360
Peggle Extreme - PC
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast - PC
Marvel Vs Capcom 3 - 360
Portal - PC
The Great Gatsby - Browser
Kirby Super Star Ultra - NDS
Bulletstorm - PC
Half Life: Source - PC
Probotector - NES
Fable III - 360
Perfect Dark - N64
Crysis 2 - 360
Final Fantasy XIII - 360
Portal 2 - 360
Half Life 2 - 360
Machinarium - PC
King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (AGDInteractive Remake) - PC
Half Life 2: Episode 1 - 360
Tony Hawk's Project 8 - 360
King's Quest II: Romancing The Stones (AGDInteractive Remake) - PC
Singularity - PC

Total Games for 2011: 32

Thoughts on the Game(s)

To be honest for the first 75% of this game I thought it was completly average, not bad, just average with nothing really new to the FPS genre, if anything it felt like a rip off of Bioshock at times with the 'feeling' they were aiming for. You get to a certain point (As I said maybe 75% in) and the game just picks up and finishes on a really big high, I enjoyed the game because of the last sections, but it was enough to say I enjoyed the game overall. Would I play it again, no, was it worth playing, yes.

Also worth nothing, this game constantly slowed down for me, sometimes after playing for 2 minutes, sometimes after 30. It would be running fine, then bang, instant slowdown to the 20fps mark.

[LoganX1187]

1. Lego Indiana Jones 2 (360) - 1000/1000
2. Star Wars The Force Unleashed II (360) - 1200/1200
3. Afterburner Climax (XBLA) - 200/200
4. Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing (360) - 1000/1000
5. Bully Scholarship Edition (360) - 1000/1000
6. Conan (360) - 1000/1000
7. Aegis Wing (XBLA) - 200/200
8. Harm's Way (XBLA) - 200/200
9. Lego Batman (360) - 1000/1000
10. Galaga (XBLA) - 200/200
11. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (XBLA) - 200/200
12. Duke Nukem - Manhattan Project (XBLA) - 200/200
13. Dante's Inferno (360) - 1000/1290
14. X-Men Arcade (XBLA) - 200/200
15. Ticket to Ride (XBLA) - 200/250
16. Phantasy Star Universe - Ambition of the Illuminus (360) - 1250/1250
17. Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom (360) - 1000/1000
18. TMNT 1989 Arcade (XBLA) - 200/200

Majin was a really mixed bag. I loved the puzzle solving and the environments, and I found the way that damage was displayed on your character to be really creative and unexpected. I appreciated that how many collectibles were in each location was displayed on the map screen, which I wish all games with collectibles would do, or something to that effect. I don't need to know where they are, just tell me if there's one left that I still need to search for so I don't have to scour the entire game looking for one final item. However, the backtracking was long and tedious and the voices... UGH the voices were so bad. Not "Chaos Wars" bad, but pretty crappy nonetheless. The Majin sounded like an imbicelle and half of the animals sounded like valley girls or something - it's so jarring hearing a voice like that coming from a parrot or a rat that it knocks you completely out of any suspension of disbelief. Also, the random animation where the Majin trips when he's following you occurred way too often. The first time it was amusing - the 100th it was just infuriating.

TMNT 1989 Arcade was great, although far more unforgiving than I remembered. I guess that's natural for an arcade game though, as it was designed to eat quarters. I played the hell out of this game back in my youth, and it was always a treat when 3 other people would join in and we could take the game on with the entire turtle team. I beat this game tons of times trying to complete the achievements, and also played several excellent online games and added a few old-school game geeks like me to my friends list that I met while playing it online. Aside from the punishing difficulty (especially with some of the achievements), I had tons of fun.

[Ack]

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (PC)(FPS)
X-Men: Mutant Academy (PS1)(Fighting)
Street Fighter Alpha (PS2)(Fighting)
Extermination (PS2)(Survival Horror)
Spyro the Dragon (PS1)(Platformer)
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (PS1)(Platformer)
Myst III: Exile (PC)(Graphic Adventure)
Shaq Fu (GEN)(Fighting)
Spyro: Year of the Dragon (PS1)(Platformer)
God of War (PS2)(Action Adventure)
The Simpsons Game (PS2)(Platformer)
The King of Fighters '99 (PS1)(Fighting)
EOE: Eve of Extinction (PS2)(Beat 'Em Up)
Final Fight (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
Gundam Battle Assault (PS1)(Fighting)
Dark Rift (N64)(Fighting)
Deadly Arts (N64)(Fighting)
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (PS2)(TPS)
Vampire Hunter (SAT)(Fighting)
Super Scribblenauts (NDS)(Puzzle)
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (PS2)(Action Adventure)

TOTAL: 21

The Castlevania thread really got me in the mood for some good Castlevania. Unfortunately I only have a couple of the lesser 3D iterations to choose from, so I decided I'd try to get my fix by returning to Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. I beat the game about two years ago, but had never attempted Trevor Mode, so I figured why not? Turns out Trevor is actually extremely powerful and easy to play through the game with, but I still enjoyed myself, as it changed quite a bit of how the game works.

First, the leveling system is thrown out. Trevor only gets upgrades based on items he finds that give permanent stat boosts, so fighting basic enemies is pointless unless required. He also gets a nice choice of elemental whips that he must find throughout the game, is immune to all status effects, and has access to all the traditional Castlevania sub-items, along with some nasty alternate attacks for them. The summoning system utilized by Hector is also stripped away, as are the item inventory and shop systems, which is his only real weakness: Trevor has no means to heal himself like Hector and must rely on enemy drops and the save points. Not that that's a big drawback, as enemies quite often drop food to restore health.

From there, it's pretty much good old Castlevania whip-the-shit-outta-this-zombie fun. Curse of Darkness lacks the platforming of the rest of the series, but did its best to make up for it via its combat system. And that's where Trevor shines; he's remarkably good at whipping the crap out of everything in his way. And those alternate sub-weapons, yeesh. Some of them are nothing short of being obscene, though the others felt damn near useless.

I wish I hadn't waited so long to try out Trevor in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, as I found his style of play to be a lot more fun than the main game.

[final fight cd]

castle of illusion - sega
disney's aladdin - sega
the lion king - sega
mickey mania: the timeless adventure of mickey mouse - sega
mickey mania: the timeless adventure of mickey mouse - sega cd
disney's the jungle book - sega
dungeon explorer - sega cd
phelios - sega
doom - 32x
kolibri - 32x
mega turrican - sega
bc racers - sega cd
bloodlines x2 - sega
3 ninjas - sega cd
die hard arcade - saturn
final fight cd - sega cd
quackshot - sega
hyperstone heist - sega
streets of rage 2 - sega
twin gadgets x2- sega
gex - saturn

gex kind of sucked until the last world, which unfortunately only had two levels. the problem was two of gex's special moves - the ability to climb on walls/ceilings and the ability to jump on enemies and bounce off - wasn't required for 95% of the game. yeah, a level here or there required you to climb up a ledge that was too high to jump, but that was it. in the last world, you actually needed to use these special moves for much of the levels to beat them. too bad the whole game couldn't have been fun as the last two levels.

and gex's stupid-ass comments he made every two seconds were annoying as fuck.

i also think it's awesome that companies were still making 2d games when 3d was all the rage. does the n64 even have a 2d game - besides fighters - in it's library? that might explain why the n64 is probably my most hated console.

[Gamerforlife]

Games Beaten:
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the DS
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light for the PS3
Sonic 4: Episode 1 for the PS3
Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee for the original Xbox

Portal 2



PERFECT....10!!!!!!!




That's my score for this game and it is quite rare for me to be that impressed by a video game. Portal 2 gives me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling. It's so nice to know I can still find games that are THAT good. It's a flawless creation. The graphics are nice. The soundtrack is solid. The voice work is great. The story and writing are excellent. The level design is PERFECT. Portal 2 is polished from top to bottom and is just long enough to be satisfying, but not long enough to overstay its welcome. New elements to the story as well as the puzzle solving keep it fresh from beginning to end

Portal 2 is a good example of how good a game can be when it is focused. At no point does Portal 2 ever attempt to be anything other than a puzzle game, and it does that very, very well.

[emwearz]

However, bonus points to the writers of Portal 2 for actually acknowledging the fact that the main character never speaks.

The Half Life series acknowledges that Gordan doesn't talk quite a bit, he is reffed to at 'The silent type' and 'man of few words' a few times.

[Gamerforlife]

However, bonus points to the writers of Portal 2 for actually acknowledging the fact that the main character never speaks.

The Half Life series acknowledges that Gordan doesn't talk quite a bit, he is reffed to at 'The silent type' and 'man of few words' a few times.

Yeah, but it seems weird to me that he never speaks. There is way too much character interaction happening in those games for him to never have anything to say. I think it hinders the storytelling. In the Portal games though, no one speaks to you what isn't a machine or robot and it usually feels like they are talking AT you rather than TO you.

EDIT: Still, your point is valid. I forgot that some characters mention that Gordon never speaks. I might as well just remove that little bit from my Portal 2 review

[ZenErik]

Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)

The PS1 remake of this game was a childhood favorite. So after starting to splurge on games and game systems earlier this year, I decided that I would give the original a go. While not as impressive as the remake, it does not disappoint. Brings back so many memories. I love this game.

That's all.

[REPO Man]

Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game (360 version), as Ramona at Level 16. Still gotta find her second striker and use him and possibly go back for any others I need to use to get the Chaudown achievement (is that the one I'm thinking of?).

Then I gotta:

* Beat game as NegaScott @ Lv16
* Beat game as Knives @ Lv16
* Polish off achievements

After that, I'm gonna reward myself by rewatching the movie and maybe even buying the first volume of the comics.

Also recently started Crusader of Centy and Monster World 4 on the Genesis, and am now also trying to beat the Genesis version of Beavis and Butthead.

[Gamerforlife]

However, bonus points to the writers of Portal 2 for actually acknowledging the fact that the main character never speaks.

The Half Life series acknowledges that Gordan doesn't talk quite a bit, he is reffed to at 'The silent type' and 'man of few words' a few times.

It's funny that I don't remember people acknowledging Gordon's odd silence in Half Life 2. I wonder if maybe I'm getting over the silent protagonist thing that used to bug me so much with Half Life. It really didn't bother me in Portal 1 or 2. It seemed like any dialog would have detracted from the game's humor or taken something away from the other characters