Games Beaten 2012

[ExedExes]

Shenmue II -- Dreamcast (January 9)
Golden Axe Warrior -- Sega Master System (January 19)
Ys I -- Turbo CD (March 22) *NEW*

Another month, another TR! Great game and start to a great series!

[REPO Man]

Costume Quest, though it was pretty short (got it Wednesday and beat it Thursday). But I still gotta beat the DLC adventure, "Grubbins on Ice".

[MasonB15]

Mega Man 2 - NES
Mega Man 3 - NES
Legend of Zelda - NES
D - 3DO
Contra - NES
Ninja Gaiden - NES
Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - SNES
Super Mario Bros. 2 - NES
Metal Storm - NES
River City Ransom - NES
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - NES
VVVVVV - PC
Portal 2 - PC

After J T mentioned it previously in this thread, I decided to try this game again. I was stuck at the part where you guide two characters at the same time, but once I got through that I didn't have too much trouble. It's a great Indie title, but I'm sure most of you already know that.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to play this game, especially since I bought it over the summer during the Steam sale, but I'm glad I finally played through it. The game takes everything from the first Portal and expands on it. It's a great game, with a strong sense of humor, that I really enjoyed. I haven't checked out the co-op yet, though, so I can't comment on that.

[emwearz]

All Games:
Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered - iOS
Tiki Towers 2 - iOS
inFAMOUS - PS3
The Blackwell Legacy - PC
Blackwell Unbound - PC
The Blackwell Convergence - PC
Blackwell Deception - PC
The Secret of Grisly Manor - iOS
Duke Nukem Forever - The Doctor Who Cloned Me - PC
Skate 3 - 360
Gears of War 3 - 360
The Darkness II - PC
Fallout: New Vegas - PC
DLC Quest - PC

Total for 2012: 15

Shank - PC
I have had this game on my Steam account for awhile, but just never got around to playing it.

I was at a friends house and he was playing Shank 2 and my god the game looked fun, so I went home and played through Shank in a couple sittings.

Really fun side scrolling beat em up, great graphics, entertaining enough story that you would actually watch the cutscenes. Really fun game, shame I left it for so long, oh well, looking forward to Shank 2.

[Gamerforlife]

Games beaten so far:
1. Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again - DSiWare 8/10
2. Sonic Generations - PS3 9/10
3. Super Mario 3D Land - 3DS 7/10
4. Starship Defense (All no SOS perfects) - DSiWare 5/10
5. Soul of Darkness - DSiWare 8/10
6. Mutant Mudds (All crystals and water sprouts) - 3DS Eshop 5/10
7. The Simpsons Arcade (US Version) - PS3 8/10
8. DodoGo! - DSiWare - 9.5/10

Mass Effect 2 - 360 (Insanity mode difficulty with Sentinel class)

This isn't the first time I've beaten ME 2, but I never did it on Insanity. I never even did that on the first game either. It wasn't too tough overall, despite all the horror stories I heard about Insanity mode back when the game originally came out. I actually was enjoying it initially, though eventually the battles started feeling repetitive once I developed my play style and learned what did and didn't work in combat. I felt like I was just going through the motions. I guess that's partially because I've already played it before. I'm pleasantly surprised by how well your squad usually holds up on Insanity mode, especially with me manually controlling when they use their powers. They're tough, unlike AI companions in other games out there. I have to say, the one thing that irritated me with Insanity mode, was every single battle involving the game's cheap as all hell main villains. The combat is great and feels more epic than the battles in Mass Effect 1, but it lacks variety. 90% of the battles in the game play out the same way. I think that's a problem with shooters in general, even though this game isn't a shooter in the purest sense of the word, but a shooter/rpg hybrid. I hope ME 3 mixes up the gameplay somehow

In fact, I hate the Collectors in general. They're nothing more than stupid tools for the REAL enemy. So instead of having players going after the big bad reapers introduced in Mass Effect 1, they built the whole sequel around you fighting their stupid lackeys the Collectors. Lame. I hope all this time they wasted on the boring collectors amounts to something worthwhile in Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect 1 gave us memorable villains in Sovereign and Saren. By comparison, Harbinger and the Collectors are lame and forgettable. So that's one thing (and not the only thing) that ME 1 has over ME 2. Otherwise, a pretty awesome sequel with a good story and GREAT characters, despite a weak, pathetic excuse for main villains.

Now, if I go and play the last bit of DLC that was released for this game (the one called Arrival), I should actually have all the achievements for this game! That's another thing I never accomplished in Mass Effect 1. I have to say, it's a real headache deciding between some of the decisions presented to you in this game. I have always enjoyed Bioware games, so I get that making choices is part of the Bioware formula. However, Mass Effect seems to throw more at you than their other IPs. It's a bit overwhelming and I think, in general, I prefer playing games where I don't have so many choices presented to me, as I just end up obsessing over them all. Though from what I'm hearing from some people who have finished Mass Effect 3, which I'll be jumping into soon, it sounds like most of the major decisions ultimately don't matter. I don't think that will bother me too much as long as I still enjoy the story though

[emwearz]

All Games:
Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered - iOS
Tiki Towers 2 - iOS
inFAMOUS - PS3
The Blackwell Legacy - PC
Blackwell Unbound - PC
The Blackwell Convergence - PC
Blackwell Deception - PC
The Secret of Grisly Manor - iOS
Duke Nukem Forever - The Doctor Who Cloned Me - PC
Skate 3 - 360
Gears of War 3 - 360
The Darkness II - PC
Fallout: New Vegas - PC
DLC Quest - PC
Shank - PC

Total for 2012: 18

Gears of War 2: Road to Ruin DLC - 360
A nice little chapter that was apparently removed, nothing really amazing here. I did like that you could play it guns blazing or stealth, meaning I played it twice, giving it a bit more gametime as it only really lasted about 20 minutes or so.

Batman: Arkham City - 360
Loved this game even more than the first.

They took everything that made the original great and just added and tweaked, brillant follow up and an amazing game.

Batman: Arkham City: Catwoman Bundle Pack DLC - 360
I enjoyed the Catwoman campaign missions, though the first one was pretty pointless. I agree that it should have been on the disc, but if you own the game, you really need to play this through as it just rounds out the experience.

[Gamerforlife]

Finished up Arrival for Mass Effect 2, which was utter trash. First of all, stealth based gameplay

Yeah, because that's what Mass Effect is, a stealth game

Then there's the part where you have to protect another character, cause every intelligent game designer knows that gamers love escort/protect missions

Oh, and just to make things more annoying, you have to protect this b**** without your squad around to help

I give this garbage a 1 out of 10. I expect better from Bioware

[BurningDoom]

For many years, I believed that the only thing that happened when locking Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 together was that you could play Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as Knuckles.

Well I finally sat down and played through the entire Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic the Hedgehog 3 game; after learning it was the way it was meant to be played a while back. It is now my favorite Sonic the Hedgehog game. Fan-freaking-tastic and a helluva way to send off the classic Genesis series.

[alienjesus]

Super Mario 3D Land 3DS
Professor Layton & The Spectre's Call DS
Trip World 3DS VC
Streetpass Quest II 3DS
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 301: The Penal Zone PC
Kirby's Fun Pak VC
Golden Axe Warrior SMS
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 302: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak PC
Ax Battler: The Legend of Golden Axe Game Gear
Gitaroo Man Lives! PSP
Panzer Dragoon Saga Demo Saturn
Asterix SMS
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 303: They Stole Max's Brain! PC
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure DS
Picross DS DS
Half Minute Hero PSP
Soul Calibur Dreamcast
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations DS
StarTropics VC
Faselei! NGPC
Ninja Commando VC
Wario Land II Game Boy
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 304: Beyond the Alley of the Dolls PC
Poképark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure Wii
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 305: The City That Dares Not Sleep PC
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut GC
LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias WiiWare
Dead or Alive 3 XBox
Ys: The Vanished Omens SMS
Trauma Center: Under the Knife DS
Art Style: Rotohex WiiWare
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition DSiWare
Lords of Thunder VC
Punch-Out!! Wii *NEW*
Ufouria: The Saga VC *NEW*
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity 3DS VC *NEW*
Total: 36

Punch Out is a fun follow up to the series. It started off a bit easy, but the end of the game was definitely up to par with previous punch-outs, even on the standard career. The title defence mode unlocked after beating the game is absolutely brutal though! One thing I liked about the game was it's Exhibition mode, which allows you to practice against tough opponents you haven't beaten yet, or partake in challenges against those you have. These are quite tough and force you to learn the intricacies of Punch-Out more than you otherwise might, finding star-gaining sweet spots and one hit knockdown timings amongst others. What I didn't like about the game though was it's line up of boxers - out of 13 in the game, not including the uber secret opponent, 10 are returning from Punch Out for NES (the entire cast besides Tyson/Mr.Dream) and 2 are returning from Super Punch Out on SNES (which frankly could've used more representatives imo, as I feel the cast was much more varied in their attacks) and only 1 boxer is new. I would've liked to see a more diverse character roster featuring old characters from both games and more new guys, and probably more than 13 boxers too. I also would've preferred the Super Punch out fight system which I feel was improved from the NES Star punch mechanic this game uses. Still, it's a great game nonetheless and I highly recommend it.

Ufouria is a very interesting metroidvania (I hate that term) by Sunsoft on NES. Rather than taking a serious approach to the genre, it goes for a cute, quirky and weird style which is a breath of fresh air compared to the genre's normal output. You control bop-louie as he rescues his 3 friends and finds the 3 magic keys to defeat some evil guy....blah blah blah, the story sucks, it's a NES game. Each of your friends, once rescued, becomes playable, and you can switch characters on the fly to make use of each of their skills to progress. Bop-Louie, the rotund protagonist is the fastest, and later gains the ability to climb walls. His lizard buddie Freeon-Leon is the only one who can walk on ice without falling over constantly and can swim over the surface of water, and can later freeze enemies to use as steps. Shades the ghost can jump further than other characters due to his floaty jumps, and Gil the anglerfish can swim under the water, aswell as produce bombs to blow up cracked walls. The characters abilities are badly balanced though, and you'll spend most of the game as Bop-Louie or Gil depending if you're on land or in water, changing to the others only when necessary, which is pretty rare. The game is pretty short and easy too, and I rarely died outside of one specific platforming segment where I died a lot. Despite it's shortcomings though,it's incredibly fun, and I'd happily recommend this game too.

F-Zero: Maximum Velocity was a game I didn't enjoy much as first. I found the steering in it erratic, and I wasn't a fan of it's boost system (1 per lap) compared to GX's amazing risk/reward from it's boosting using your life meter. With only experience with GX to compare it too, it had a hard act to follow. Once I got used to it's intricacies though, I enjoyed the game a lot - it was fast and fluid, and presented a good deal of challenge. Later difficulties felt a little cheap, but they weren't impossible by any means. It has a weird winning mechanic too - it doesn't matter where you place overall, as long as you finish every race int he top 3. If you go come 4th or lower, you'll lose a life and have to replay that race, with 4 lives available per cup (5 races). It doesn't even give you a ranking at the end of the cup either, as long as you got a podium spot in each race it just calls it your win. Thats not the only weird mechanic either - unlocks are clustered in an odd way around expert and master difficulty, with most of the ships and even the 4th circuit not unlocking until you've basically already beaten the game - meaning you dont get much of a chance to find a ship you like early on. It's enjoyable enough though, and it made me a believer against the odds.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Donkey Kong Country on SNES. Such a great game, one my favorite platformers of all time and one of the small handful of games I've ever purchased at launch (yes, I had that VHS tape from Nintendo Power). I always make a point of playing through this about once a year. Took me about two and a half hours to beat, 101% completion.

I tried the Game Boy Color version afterwards and just couldn't handle how smudgy and smooshed everything looked. Put it down after about 20 minutes.

My pitifully small list of 2012 games beaten:
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS)
Star Ocean: Second Evolution (PSP)
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS)
Ys Book I & II (TCD)
Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (SNES)
Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (PS2)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

I think I'll play another Dragon Quest game next.