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)
8. Gravity Bone (PC)(First Person Adventure)
9. Secret of Mana (SNES)(RPG)
10. Lure of the Temptress (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
Ah, Lure of the Temptress. Or as I like to call it, Ratpouch, get the fuck out of the way! I can see how this one would have been popular at the time it was released. It's engine brought the town to life with characters that went through daily routines, moving in and out of shops, talking to each other and contemplating purchases at the various shops and taverns. Unfortunately age has not treated it well, as the problems with the system became glaring issues which resulted in my yelling at the screen more than once.
Lure of the Temptress has many characters, and it seems their favorite pastime is to do whatever they can to get in the player's way. He needs to talk to that person? Let's form a wall of people that his terrible pathfinding AI can't get through! He needs to use that door? I'll stand in the way? It's not like the main character's ability to walk around isn't bad enough. Often times I would click in one direction only to watch my character walk the other way, then walk in a square, then walk toward the exit only to turn at the last moment, walk the other way, walk in a square again, and continue this cycle until inevitably pondering my order with a '?' in a cartoon bubble. Yes, it is a pathway. Yes, I want you to walk down it. No, STOP WALKING IN CIRCLES! THE DOOR IS OVER THERE! Perhaps I shouldn't have gotten so upset, but this problem actually resulted in my losing the game a couple of times and having to resort to previous saves, such as Ratpouch blocking a door I needed to go through on a time limit or the main character not figuring out how to close a door so the evil Skorl patrolman found him.
And then there is the nonsensical combat system, which operates like rock-paper-scissors if one player was allowed to randomly punch the other to make them skip their turn.
That said...is it all bad? No, I didn't think so. The story entertained me, about a peasant ending up in a resistance movement against an evil Enchantress. I liked some of the characters, such as Mallin, the local black market dealer, or Grub, the old "crazy" man in the town center. Many of the puzzles were made more interesting by the ability to give other characters orders to help you get through a door, such as helping to lower a drawbridge, picking the lock on a wizard's home, or simply saying the name of a couple of gargoyles. Sure, sometimes weirdness would happen, such as the time the game crashed because apparently an NPC somewhere managed to pick up more than 255 orders...somehow. But that only occurred once when I had left the game sitting for some time to go make dinner.
Anyway...I'm not gonna lie, this one was a bit of a slog when compared to Beneath a Steel Sky. If I had to recommend one of the two, it wouldn't be Lure of the Temptress. But for completionist sake, it's not awful, and it really helps make Beneath a Steel Sky more interesting, because now I can see how the engine developed and managed to overcome many of the problems I found here.
Games Beaten 2013
-
alienjesus
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 8875
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:10 pm
- Location: London, UK.
Re: Games Beaten 2013
1. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions PSP
2. Pokémon: Dream Radar 3DS eShop
3. New Super Mario Bros. U Wii U
4. Paper Mario: Sticker Star 3DS
5. New Super Mario Bros. 2 3DS
6. Mario Tennis Open 3DS
7. Wario Land 3 GBC *NEW*
8. Hana Samurai: Art of the Sword 3DS eShop *NEW*
2 more handheld games to add to the list - it's been a very handheld centric list this year - even NSMB U was mostly played using only the gamepad controller
Wario Land 3 was a pleasant surprise - you might remember that Wario Land 2 was chosen as the 'Worst Game Beaten in 2012' by me at the end of last year. Wario Land 3 is much improved, and dare I say it - fun. The new level structure works very nicely, with 4 chests and keys to find per level, and the way new missions in the level unlock as you progress is pretty cool. The game also has a very handy feature (at least up to the half way point when you unlock the final boss) of telling you exactly which level to head to next if you don't fancy the trial and error. The graphics in the game look very nice for a Game Boy Color game, although the music is the normal Wario Land dirge unfortunately - slightly weird, and not really that nice to listen to, especially as it's on a very short, repetitive loop. If there was one big problem I had with the game, it was it's 'Wario is invincible' mechanic - Wario never loses health or dies when he gets hit (except by the final boss, who is a one hit kill), but instead takes a huge amount of knockback. In addition, a lot of enemies in the game can cause Wario to transform in some way - making him fat and heavy, causing him to inflate like a balloon, set on fire ort become a zombie etc. The problem is that more often than not, whilst these abilities are used to solve puzzles and progress, they're also set to send you back a LOOOONNGG way if you get hit by them. For example, in one level you have to progress to the bottom of a long crater, but it's full of the inflating enemies who will make you float all the way back to the very top if hit - and they can be tricky to evade. Making you basically do the whole stage again every time you're hit is very frustrating, especially with Wario's very odd movement physics making it harder than it needs to be to dodge. Overall, it's a decent game, and I'd rate it higher than both 2 and 4 on my list, but it doesn't live up to the standards of Shake Dimension and Virtual Boy Wario Land to me. Only one Wario Land game left to play - and it's the original one
Hana Samurai: Art of the Sword (known as Sakura Samurai in NA) is a very fun little sword combat game by Nintendo. The game's aesthetics are charming, anf I found the music to be surprisingly awesome for a download only game, especially on the title screen. It actually feels a lot like it should be a sequel to the Japan-only Famicom game Nazo no Murasamejou, which also has a level based on it in Nintendo Land. The main gameplay centres around defeating bands of ne'er-do-wells by smacking them in the chops with your magic sword. To actually land a hit requires you to dodge their attacks and counterattack whilst they're vulnerable, a little like Punch-Out, which I've seen this game often compared to. However, this game has far more focus on timing (a perfect dodge allows an extra attack) rather than the pattern recognition seen in Punch-Out. Even the bosses, which do require some tactical adjustments throughout the fight, still only take a few hits - the trick is just finding the opportunity to land one. You can upgrade your health by beating levels, and improve your weapon, special attack and buy items by beating mini games scattered throughout the game. Despite being a really fun game, there are some minor flaws I found - first of all, the game is really short, probably only 2 to 3 hours long in total. This is just about the right length to sustain the games limited mechanics though. Unfortunately, that's also a problem - every stage is either a simple fight with a few enemies, or an extended corridor with many bands of enemies - there's no exploration or such. I'd honestly love to see what a sequel to this game would look like with a more fleshed out world and gameplay mechanics - it kinda feels like it has the potential to be more like Zelda, Okami or Goemon with Punch-Out style fighting mechanics, which would be awesome. Anyway, despite being rather basic, I enjoyed this game an awful lot, and would recommend it as a must-have on e-Shop. It's short length may mean you want to wait for a discount though
2. Pokémon: Dream Radar 3DS eShop
3. New Super Mario Bros. U Wii U
4. Paper Mario: Sticker Star 3DS
5. New Super Mario Bros. 2 3DS
6. Mario Tennis Open 3DS
7. Wario Land 3 GBC *NEW*
8. Hana Samurai: Art of the Sword 3DS eShop *NEW*
2 more handheld games to add to the list - it's been a very handheld centric list this year - even NSMB U was mostly played using only the gamepad controller
Wario Land 3 was a pleasant surprise - you might remember that Wario Land 2 was chosen as the 'Worst Game Beaten in 2012' by me at the end of last year. Wario Land 3 is much improved, and dare I say it - fun. The new level structure works very nicely, with 4 chests and keys to find per level, and the way new missions in the level unlock as you progress is pretty cool. The game also has a very handy feature (at least up to the half way point when you unlock the final boss) of telling you exactly which level to head to next if you don't fancy the trial and error. The graphics in the game look very nice for a Game Boy Color game, although the music is the normal Wario Land dirge unfortunately - slightly weird, and not really that nice to listen to, especially as it's on a very short, repetitive loop. If there was one big problem I had with the game, it was it's 'Wario is invincible' mechanic - Wario never loses health or dies when he gets hit (except by the final boss, who is a one hit kill), but instead takes a huge amount of knockback. In addition, a lot of enemies in the game can cause Wario to transform in some way - making him fat and heavy, causing him to inflate like a balloon, set on fire ort become a zombie etc. The problem is that more often than not, whilst these abilities are used to solve puzzles and progress, they're also set to send you back a LOOOONNGG way if you get hit by them. For example, in one level you have to progress to the bottom of a long crater, but it's full of the inflating enemies who will make you float all the way back to the very top if hit - and they can be tricky to evade. Making you basically do the whole stage again every time you're hit is very frustrating, especially with Wario's very odd movement physics making it harder than it needs to be to dodge. Overall, it's a decent game, and I'd rate it higher than both 2 and 4 on my list, but it doesn't live up to the standards of Shake Dimension and Virtual Boy Wario Land to me. Only one Wario Land game left to play - and it's the original one
Hana Samurai: Art of the Sword (known as Sakura Samurai in NA) is a very fun little sword combat game by Nintendo. The game's aesthetics are charming, anf I found the music to be surprisingly awesome for a download only game, especially on the title screen. It actually feels a lot like it should be a sequel to the Japan-only Famicom game Nazo no Murasamejou, which also has a level based on it in Nintendo Land. The main gameplay centres around defeating bands of ne'er-do-wells by smacking them in the chops with your magic sword. To actually land a hit requires you to dodge their attacks and counterattack whilst they're vulnerable, a little like Punch-Out, which I've seen this game often compared to. However, this game has far more focus on timing (a perfect dodge allows an extra attack) rather than the pattern recognition seen in Punch-Out. Even the bosses, which do require some tactical adjustments throughout the fight, still only take a few hits - the trick is just finding the opportunity to land one. You can upgrade your health by beating levels, and improve your weapon, special attack and buy items by beating mini games scattered throughout the game. Despite being a really fun game, there are some minor flaws I found - first of all, the game is really short, probably only 2 to 3 hours long in total. This is just about the right length to sustain the games limited mechanics though. Unfortunately, that's also a problem - every stage is either a simple fight with a few enemies, or an extended corridor with many bands of enemies - there's no exploration or such. I'd honestly love to see what a sequel to this game would look like with a more fleshed out world and gameplay mechanics - it kinda feels like it has the potential to be more like Zelda, Okami or Goemon with Punch-Out style fighting mechanics, which would be awesome. Anyway, despite being rather basic, I enjoyed this game an awful lot, and would recommend it as a must-have on e-Shop. It's short length may mean you want to wait for a discount though
Re: Games Beaten 2013
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
Fighting Masters - Genesis
Kirby's Epic Yarn - Wii
Cruis'n - Wii
Foosball 2012 - Vita
Electronic Table Soccer! - Odyssey2
Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown -PS3 *new*
Asura's Wrath - PS3 *new*
Total: 16
Games Beaten: 2012 2011 2010
I've gotten to the credits in VF5:FS several times in the past week or so, so here it sits. I'm still hoping to play it through a few more times in the next few weeks since we're doing it for Sunday night fights.
I finished the main story of Asura's Wrath, which is certainly one of the more memorable gaming experiences I've had this generation. I will probably download the DLC at some point to see the "final" episodes as I hear good things, but I feel like I've had my fill of the game for the time being.
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
Fighting Masters - Genesis
Kirby's Epic Yarn - Wii
Cruis'n - Wii
Foosball 2012 - Vita
Electronic Table Soccer! - Odyssey2
Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown -PS3 *new*
Asura's Wrath - PS3 *new*
Total: 16
Games Beaten: 2012 2011 2010
I've gotten to the credits in VF5:FS several times in the past week or so, so here it sits. I'm still hoping to play it through a few more times in the next few weeks since we're doing it for Sunday night fights.
I finished the main story of Asura's Wrath, which is certainly one of the more memorable gaming experiences I've had this generation. I will probably download the DLC at some point to see the "final" episodes as I hear good things, but I feel like I've had my fill of the game for the time being.
Re: Games Beaten 2013
1. Assassin's Creed 3 (Xbox 360) - 1/6/2013
2. Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2 (Gamecube) - 1/11/2013
3. Metal Gear Solid 2 (Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Xbox 360) - 1/20/2013
4. Metal Gear Solid 3 (Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Xbox 360) - 1/22/2013
5. Sega Bass Fishing (Xbox 360) - 1/22/2013
6. Sonic & All-Stars Racing TRANSFORMED (Xbox 360)- 1/26/2013
7. Yakuza (PS2) - 2/2/2013
I didn't really know what to expect going into Yakuza. From the title's glance, I was thinking it was going to be similar to Grand Theft Auto. I think I was happily mistaken. This game was a beat-em-up with RPG elements. The voice acting felt disjointed, even though it boasts a great cast including Mark Hamill (Thanks, BogusMeatFactory), Eliza Dushku, and the guy who was the Ghostface voice in the Scream movies/Mojo Jojo from Powerpuff Girls. Sega really shelled out for that cast, I'm guessing. The dialogue ranged from "pretty good" to "Why am I laughing? This is supposed to be a sad scene." Overall, the story and events were a little over-the top, but I think that makes it memorable.
In the end though, this was a good start to a series I am in the long haul for. Combat was pretty smooth, controls were good enough, Though, I'm still baffled and amused by a few things that this game did.
7.5/10 - Kazuma is awesome. On to Yakuza 2 and Japanese voice acting.
2. Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2 (Gamecube) - 1/11/2013
3. Metal Gear Solid 2 (Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Xbox 360) - 1/20/2013
4. Metal Gear Solid 3 (Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Xbox 360) - 1/22/2013
5. Sega Bass Fishing (Xbox 360) - 1/22/2013
6. Sonic & All-Stars Racing TRANSFORMED (Xbox 360)- 1/26/2013
7. Yakuza (PS2) - 2/2/2013
I didn't really know what to expect going into Yakuza. From the title's glance, I was thinking it was going to be similar to Grand Theft Auto. I think I was happily mistaken. This game was a beat-em-up with RPG elements. The voice acting felt disjointed, even though it boasts a great cast including Mark Hamill (Thanks, BogusMeatFactory), Eliza Dushku, and the guy who was the Ghostface voice in the Scream movies/Mojo Jojo from Powerpuff Girls. Sega really shelled out for that cast, I'm guessing. The dialogue ranged from "pretty good" to "Why am I laughing? This is supposed to be a sad scene." Overall, the story and events were a little over-the top, but I think that makes it memorable.
In the end though, this was a good start to a series I am in the long haul for. Combat was pretty smooth, controls were good enough, Though, I'm still baffled and amused by a few things that this game did.
7.5/10 - Kazuma is awesome. On to Yakuza 2 and Japanese voice acting.
-
AppleQueso
Re: Games Beaten 2013
1. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD
2. Metal Gear (MSX) (via MGS HD collection)
Beating Peace Walker put me in a Metal Gear mood, so I decided to check out the MSX titles that were nicely included with MGS3 on the HD collection, starting with Metal Gear 1. I've beaten all the Solid games, but never played these.
Very interesting to go back to the roots of the series. A much better version than the NES port, for sure. It's fun, but unfortunately the game feels very dated all around. Lots and lots of backtracking is involved, and I'll admit that I quickly got tired of that and just used a guide so I could nab important items as I went along.
Unlike later games in the series, there aren't really any mechanics or controls that facilitate stealth. No crawling, etc. You pretty much just stand behind walls and boxes and run past enemies when they're facing the opposite direction. You can't really hide anywhere if you trigger an alert, as just waves and waves of enemies fly all over the place until you either get to an elevator or manage to endure it out for a while. It's just comparatively primitive. Kindia fun in moments, and I enjoyed it more and more as I continued playing, but yeah...
Moving on to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake now. That one is one I've been really wanting to play, as I've heard a lot of good things.
2. Metal Gear (MSX) (via MGS HD collection)
Beating Peace Walker put me in a Metal Gear mood, so I decided to check out the MSX titles that were nicely included with MGS3 on the HD collection, starting with Metal Gear 1. I've beaten all the Solid games, but never played these.
Very interesting to go back to the roots of the series. A much better version than the NES port, for sure. It's fun, but unfortunately the game feels very dated all around. Lots and lots of backtracking is involved, and I'll admit that I quickly got tired of that and just used a guide so I could nab important items as I went along.
Unlike later games in the series, there aren't really any mechanics or controls that facilitate stealth. No crawling, etc. You pretty much just stand behind walls and boxes and run past enemies when they're facing the opposite direction. You can't really hide anywhere if you trigger an alert, as just waves and waves of enemies fly all over the place until you either get to an elevator or manage to endure it out for a while. It's just comparatively primitive. Kindia fun in moments, and I enjoyed it more and more as I continued playing, but yeah...
Moving on to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake now. That one is one I've been really wanting to play, as I've heard a lot of good things.
Re: Games Beaten 2013
Rayman 2 - (DC)
Also beat Final Showdown for the Fight Night, and a couple more times on my way to collecting all the trophies. Also did 13 of the license tests (eff you, #14, and your offensive moving BS) and even beat a couple 20,000+ point havin' mofos in ranked matches. I'll probably always prefer 2 and Evolution, but I do like how this one is really visually engaging when you land a particularly devastating blow.
Rayman 2 was great. I loved the style, and all the effort that went into translating the 2D visual motif into a 3D environment. It definitely suffers at times from some of the typical early 3D camera issues, but it's advanced enough to where these moments are few and far between. I do have to say that while I enjoyed the level design and platforming overall, there were times were I was really frustrated by poor conveyance, or slightly sloppy coding for hit detection, and targeting. Most of the sliding and rocket riding sections, while interesting and mostly entertaining, I had to retry countless times because of asinine challenges, and an overbearing desire to collect every Lum I saw. Other than that, the frame rate is pretty rock solid (except for when in the Globox village) the bosses were pretty fun and interesting (aside from the second half of the final boss) and I was not disappointed at all despite having fairly lofty expectations (aside from the twitchy 3d models; watching the rescue ship float away is a hoot). Was also happy to see the widescreen mode in the game. I wasn't sure if there were any Dreamcast games that actually had that.
_____________________________________
Steam (and other) keys for trade/free: viewtopic.php?p=1189267#p1189267
B/S/T Thread: viewtopic.php?p=1188724#p1188724
Steam (and other) keys for trade/free: viewtopic.php?p=1189267#p1189267
B/S/T Thread: viewtopic.php?p=1188724#p1188724
Re: Games Beaten 2013
beat Ocarina of Time for the first time
Re: Games Beaten 2013
I've been looking at that one for a while now. It's been sitting in my Amazon cart for quite a bit (along with Lollipop Chainsaw, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, and The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky.....I should probably buy one of them at some pointdsheinem wrote:I finished the main story of Asura's Wrath, which is certainly one of the more memorable gaming experiences I've had this generation. I will probably download the DLC at some point to see the "final" episodes as I hear good things, but I feel like I've had my fill of the game for the time being.
). I really need to look into it more. I remember some of my friends telling me I'd probably really enjoy it.
-
noiseredux
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 38148
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:09 pm
- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2013
@Michi: SSF4 is a must. Lollipop Chainsaw is super fun. But if you own a PS3 or 360, then you should own some form of SF4.
Re: Games Beaten 2013
Oh, definitely. I really like Suda games, so Lollipop Chainsaw is a no-brainer. And I wanted to buy Street Fighter 4 when it was first released, but I just knew Capcom was going to release an updated version or two, so I held out. I don't think they're going to update it again, though, so it's probably safe to get it nownoiseredux wrote:@Michi: SSF4 is a must. Lollipop Chainsaw is super fun. But if you own a PS3 or 360, then you should own some form of SF4.