Games Beaten 2013

[dunpeal2064]

1. Mega Man (NES)
2. Kirby's Adventure (NES)
3. Toejam & Earl (GEN)
4. Mortal Kombat (SCD)
5. Rockband (Hard) (360)
6. Mega Man 2 (NES)
7. Metal Storm (NES)
8. Little Samson (NES)

Little Samson: I'd heard of this game before, but I think only due to its rarity. I had never heard anything about the gameplay. From the start, the game definitely gives me Mega Man vibes. But, as I played more, the game almost started feeling like a Nega Man (bu-dum).

They give you choices of 4 levels, but those levels are pretty much just to introduce your characters, so, unlike the Mega Man beginning levels, there are no bosses. Then you enter what looks like the end area of a Mega Man game, with 5 or so markers for the levels... or at least they lead you to think this, but in fact there are a solid 10-12 levels in this end area. Its noteven really an end area, the entire meat of the game is here. These levels are chalk-full of cool bosses and platforming that feels like a fusion of MM and Lost Vikings. One of the bosses near the end even uses a pattern very similar to the infamous clay-blob boss in the first MM, although a bit tamed down.

Having had no idea what to expect from this game, I was really pleased with it. I love that you switch characters instead of powers, and that each character really was useful. There always seemed to be more than one way to get through each level and fight each boss, depending on which characters you've kept alive. The backdrops are great, and use all sorts of obscure colors. Most of the sprites are average, but some of the bosses just look insane in motion. The dragon looks like it something out of the 16-bit era, and even there it would look good.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone that loves Mega Man. Its probably similar enough that some would call it a "clone", but it really has a lot of its own to offer.

[dsheinem]

Games Beaten 2013
Twisted Metal - PS1
Twisted Metal 2 - PS1
Twisted Metal III - PS1
Twisted Metal 4 - PS1
Screaming Mad George's Paranoiascape - PS1
N.O.V.A. - PSP
Jetpack Joyride - Vita
Devil May Cry (2013) - 360
BlazBlu: Continuum Shift Extend - Vita *new*
Fighting Masters - Genesis *new*

Total: 10

2012 Games Beaten
2011 Games Beaten
2010 Games Beaten

Spent some time with two fighters this weekend. BlazBlu is exceptionally good and in my opinion the best handheld fighter ever. It is a game that I also beat often last year and just keep comng back to again and again. Fighting Masters is a big nostalgia-fest for me, as it was my go to fighter before SF2 came to consoles and changed everything. It isn't good by any stretch of the imagnation, but it is one of my favorite Genesis titles.

[Ack]

1. Sniper Elite V2 (PS3)(TPS)
2. Teen Agent (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
3. Alpha Protocol (PS3)(RPG)
4. Beneath A Steel Sky (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
5. Imscared - A Pixelated Nightmare (PC)(Horror)
6. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (SNES)(RPG)
7. Celestial Mechanica (PC)(Platformer)

For a free indie game, this one's pretty fun. It's about a robot "mechanica" who has been cast out of the floating mechanica city and must figure out how to get back by upgrading herself until she can return. For me the highlights of the game were the excellent spritework and the music. The platforming wasn't terrible difficult, though I admit that it's not my strongest area, so those of you who enjoyed games like VVVVVV and Super Meat Boy probably won't have a problem.

Perhaps the biggest annoyance for me is that there is no control list that I could find. Certain buttons are also special and bring up websites related to the music or artwork of the game(and some of them are only told to the player if they can access hidden sections). Over time the main character will add new abilities to her repertoire, and the game is nice enough to tell you what the new command is for each action, though it won't tell you exactly what all it can do, such as being able to catch missiles or jumping, hovering, then double jumping and hovering again.

Hey, it was fun. It took me a little over an hour to beat as I got caught up in a few areas, and the Water Temple puzzle through me off for a bit. But I had good times. And the game is free: I only heard about it because it was included in a free indie bundle that RockPaperShotgun discussed.

[MrHealthy]

Gravity Bone & Thirty Flights of Loving
First a bit of history here. These two games are episodes 6 & 7 in the Citizen Abel series. The games all star Citizen Abel and showcase various parts of his life. The first four are actually Quake 2 mods and the 5th is a Half Life mod. 6 & 7 take a drastically different approach on the series though, both stylisticly and gameplay wise.

They become less like games and more like short films. Gravity Bone still retains some gamey elements though, unlike Thirty Flights of Loving. So in this respect I enjoy Gravity Bone more as it was dissappointing to have so little interaction with Thirty Flights of Loving. If Thirty Flights of Loving had been free like Gravity Bone is, I probably would have been fine with it, but even the $2.50 I payed for it feels like too much.

I won't comment on the stories, as they are rather short, so its better to just play them yourself. Though I'd probably skip Thirty Flights of Loving. Just go download Gravity Bone and give it a try: http://blendogames.com/


Deponia
This is a great adventure game. Art style is gorgeous, characters are unique and ammusing, and the story is interesting. Well worth a look for point and click fans.

The game does have a couple faults though. One being that some of the solutions, like many other P&C's, don't make too much sense. The second being I encountered what was previously a game breaking bug during a certian mini-game / puzzle. They can't quite figure out what causes it, but the most recent patch for the game does include a work around allowing you to just bypass the mini-game alltogether. I still did solve it, I just had to use the skip option once solved to actually progress the story.

The Full List:
* indicates a replay

Hotline Miami (Steam)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (Origin)
Gravity Bone* (Steam)
Thirty Flights of Loving (Steam)
Deponia (Steam)

Total Beaten: 5 out of 120.
115 left to go.

Up Next?
N.O.V.A. after the praise its gotten from dsh. Even if its not the best game ever, seems like it will be fun. Also playing Blokus which is a fun board game. Still working on F.E.A.R. as well.

[Blu]

1. Assassin's Creed 3 - 1/6/2013
2. Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2 (Gamecube) - 1/11/2013
3. Metal Gear Solid 2 (Metal Gear Solid HD Collection) - 1/20/2013

Well, Metal Gear Solid 2 seems to make a little more sense now that I've sat down and processed what happens throughout the entire series. Life isn't just about passing on your genes. We can leave much more than DNA. Thanks Solid Snake. Oh and as a side note, I think the Dual Shock controller is much more responsive and better with controls than the Xbox 360's controller--that or I'm so out of practice. Seriously, the sword did not handle well with the right thumb stick.

It's still one of my favorite Metal Gear Solid titles though. I don't think Kojima has made a game that I didn't enjoy. Even though the story is at time far-fetched (seriously, Liquid's hand possessing Ocelot, lol), and that you don't play as Solid Snake throughout, these are small things that I can forgive. 9/10, even after 10 years.

[Gamerforlife]

Gravity Bone & Thirty Flights of Loving
First a bit of history here. These two games are episodes 6 & 7 in the Citizen Abel series. The games all star Citizen Abel and showcase various parts of his life. The first four are actually Quake 2 mods and the 5th is a Half Life mod. 6 & 7 take a drastically different approach on the series though, both stylisticly and gameplay wise.

They become less like games and more like short films. Gravity Bone still retains some gamey elements though, unlike Thirty Flights of Loving. So in this respect I enjoy Gravity Bone more as it was dissappointing to have so little interaction with Thirty Flights of Loving. If Thirty Flights of Loving had been free like Gravity Bone is, I probably would have been fine with it, but even the $2.50 I payed for it feels like too much.

I won't comment on the stories, as they are rather short, so its better to just play them yourself. Though I'd probably skip Thirty Flights of Loving. Just go download Gravity Bone and give it a try: http://blendogames.com/


Deponia
This is a great adventure game. Art style is gorgeous, characters are unique and ammusing, and the story is interesting. Well worth a look for point and click fans.

The game does have a couple faults though. One being that some of the solutions, like many other P&C's, don't make too much sense. The second being I encountered what was previously a game breaking bug during a certian mini-game / puzzle. They can't quite figure out what causes it, but the most recent patch for the game does include a work around allowing you to just bypass the mini-game alltogether. I still did solve it, I just had to use the skip option once solved to actually progress the story.

The Full List:
* indicates a replay

Hotline Miami (Steam)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (Origin)
Gravity Bone* (Steam)
Thirty Flights of Loving (Steam)
Deponia (Steam)

Total Beaten: 5 out of 120.
115 left to go.

Up Next?
N.O.V.A. after the praise its gotten from dsh. Even if its not the best game ever, seems like it will be fun. Also playing Blokus which is a fun board game. Still working on F.E.A.R. as well.

Deponia is my to do list, I have a butt load of adventure games from GOG I'm excited to play. I'm working on finishing season 3 of Sam & Max first and I'm playing Ed & Harvey The Breakout on and off again even I got annoyed by that game at one point and swore not to finish it. I just have an adventure game itch right now I can't stop scratching. I think I'm enjoying the break from actiony games and enjoying playing stuff that is more relaxed and cerebral in nature.

I agree about Gravity Bone being better than Thirty Flights of Loving. Thirty Flights of Loving is even less of a traditional style game than Dear Esther. It's like a cut scene kicks in every 10 seconds. You hardly ever do anything. I didn't know these two games were part of an earlier series. That's interesting

[Gamerforlife]

1. Thomas Was Alone - PC
2. Sam & Max Save the World - The whole season - PC, GOG versions
3. Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space - The whole season - PC, GOG versions
4. Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 1 - PC, GOG version
5. Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 2 - PC, GOG version

Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 3 - PC, GOG version

This was a real disappointment. After a very strong first half featuring some really funny interrogation scenes, the second half of this episode is pure crap and features ones of the worse puzzles in the entire history of the series.

[J T]

30 Flights of Loving was interesting, but I'm kind of pissed off to see it making "Top 10 of 2012" lists because it was just too short. It does a lot in the short span of time that it lasts and it has some brilliant ideas about how to tell stories in an interactive medium, using techniques that no other game has tried. For that it deserves some of the praise it receives, but certain critics just went overboard and I hate to see 30 Flights steal the spotlight away from more deserving indie titles that could also use the recognition and actually developed a full game, not just a a quick interactive tale with a few clever uses of film editing adapated to the video games medium.

[MrHealthy]

Deponia is my to do list, I have a butt load of adventure games from GOG I'm excited to play. I'm working on finishing season 3 of Sam & Max first and I'm playing Ed & Harvey The Breakout on and off again even I got annoyed by that game at one point and swore not to finish it. I just have an adventure game itch right now I can't stop scratching. I think I'm enjoying the break from actiony games and enjoying playing stuff that is more relaxed and cerebral in nature.

I agree about Gravity Bone being better than Thirty Flights of Loving. Thirty Flights of Loving is even less of a traditional style game than Dear Esther. It's like a cut scene kicks in every 10 seconds. You hardly ever do anything. I didn't know these two games were part of an earlier series. That's interesting

Deponia is fabulous. Make sure to play it before you burn yourself out on adventure games.

And thats good to hear that Dear Esther is a bit more 'gamey' as I plan to play that soon.

30 Flights of Loving was interesting, but I'm kind of pissed off to see it making "Top 10 of 2012" lists because it was just too short. It does a lot in the short span of time that it lasts and it has some brilliant ideas about how to tell stories in an interactive medium, using techniques that no other game has tried. For that it deserves some of the praise it receives, but certain critics just went overboard and I hate to see 30 Flights steal the spotlight away from more deserving indie titles that could also use the recognition and actually developed a full game, not just a a quick interactive tale with a few clever uses of film editing adapated to the video games medium.

While I agree that it is interesting and that it also shouldn't be part of any top games of 2012 list I must disagree with the fact that its telling a story in an interactive medium. There was no meaningfull interaction. It was the equivalent of a short film, and I actually feel it may have been a better story if told as such.

[alienjesus]

1. Thomas Was Alone - PC
2. Sam & Max Save the World - The whole season - PC, GOG versions
3. Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space - The whole season - PC, GOG versions
4. Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 1 - PC, GOG version
5. Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 2 - PC, GOG version

Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 3 - PC, GOG version

This was a real disappointment. After a very strong first half featuring some really funny interrogation scenes, the second half of this episode is pure crap and features ones of the worse puzzles in the entire history of the series.

Although I rather enjoyed this one myself, I definitely thought it was the weakest in the series. The last two were 2 of the strongest episodes of any season imo though, so it'll be cool to see if you enjoy those.