Games Beaten 2013

[dsheinem]

January-June (the first 50)
Commander Keen Episode 1: Marooned on Mars - PC
DLC Quest - PC
Live Freemium or Die - PC
Borderlands 2: Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt - PC
Marvel vs Capcom 3 - PS3
Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep - PC
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - PC
Street Fighter IV - iOS
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R - Vita
The Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim - 360/PC
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages - GBC
Killzone: Mercenary - Vita
Galaga Legions DX - PS3
Angry Birds Star Wars II - iOS
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack - Vita
Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower - PSP
Little Inferno - iOS
The Stanley Parable - PC
Plants vs. Zombies - - Vita
Device 6 - iOS
Gone Home - PC
Touch My Katamari - Vita
Bulletstorm - 360
Call of Duty: Ghosts - PS4
Killzone Shadowfall - - PS4 *new*

TOTAL: 76

Games Beaten: 2012 2011 2010

Another PS4 FPS down! It took me some time to warm up to this one, but by the second half everything just clicked. It combines a lot of elements from other FPSs that are new to Killzone, but does so in a novel way that makes for some challenging moments and occasionally innovative design ideas. I'd rank it somewhat squarely in the top echelon of KZ games, and beyond that it is a significant enough break from its predecessors that it makes me really interested to see what the series does next.

Also worth noting is that both of these PS4 games had campaigns more in the realm of 8-12 hours than 4-6 hours. If that turns out to be a trend for FPS campaigns this generation, I will be very happy.

[Gamerforlife]

1. Bare Knuckle III (Genesis)
2. Megaman 5* (PS2)
3. Final Fight 2 (SNES)
4. Final Fight 3 (SNES)
5. Bloody Roar (PSX)
6. Bloody Roar 2 (PSX)
7. Megaman 6* (PS2)
8. Nier (PS3)
9. Final Fight Double Impact (Guy)
10. Devil May Cry HD (PS3)
11. Dead Space 3 (360)
12. Devil May Cry 2 HD (PS3)
13. Dead Space* (360)
14. Dead Space 2 (360)
15. Bioshock Infinite (360)
16. Doom 3* BFG Edition + RoE + Lost Mission (360)
17. Lost Odyssey (360)
18. FEAR 2* (360)
19. Sonic CD* (PS3)
20. Resident Evil 4* HD (PS3)
21. The Darkness II (360)
22. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon (360)
23. Skyrim (360)
24. Metal Gear Solid 2* HD (PS3)
25. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker HD (PS3)
26. Metal Gear Solid 3* HD (PS3)
27. Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)
28. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3)
29. Zone of the Enders HD (PS3)
30. Devil May Cry 3 HD (PS3)
31. Devil May Cry 3 HD [PLATINUM] (PS3)
32. Onimusha Warlords (PS2)
33. Asura's Wrath (PS3)
34. Ratchet & Clank HD (PS3)
35. Sly Cooper HD (PS3)
36. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny* (PS2)
37. Devil May Cry 4* (PS3)
38. Vanquish (PS3)
39. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege* (PS2)
40. Ratchet & Clank Going Commando HD (PS3)
41. Resident Evil 5* Gold (PS3)
42. Silent Hill (PSX)
43. God Hand (PS2)
44. Resident Evil Revelations (PS3)
45. Silent Hill 2 (PS2)
46. inFamous (PS3)
47. Silent Hill 3 (PS2)
48. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3)



* = replay

Glad I gave this a shot.

- Fixed everything from XIII pretty much
- Customization and a little more openness from the get go
- Lightning is barely in it (she sucks)
- The soundtrack threw me off and was pretty awesome, didn't expect to like it as much as I did
- Decent enough story arc with the new main guy and the villain
- Amazingly cool final boss

It was a lot of fun and easy to play. I'm pretty excited for Lightning Returns even though I still hate her, but maybe it'll fix her. Who knows, it looks tons of fun though.

Nice to see a positive take given how much hate FF gets these days. There's a lot I didn't like about the story and characters, but it was fun to see an FF game play around with time travel. I also liked the twist ending. I find Lightning less annoying in FF X III-2, so I'm keeping an open mind about the next game. The most annoying character in FF X III-2 to me was the moogle. Part of that is just the awful voice acting Mog got.

I dug the music too.

I've always been a big fan of the combat system in FF XIII and FF XIII-2, so that's where my main interest in Lightning Returns lies. I'd like to see them not focus on the whole monster hunter thing though. I like controlling important characters, not random creatures. And I think I'd rather they bring back FF XIII's leveling system. I still find FF games to be the most fun and accessible jrpgs out there, even though the series gets a lot of flack these days (some of it well deserved I'll admit)

[Ack]

1-50

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)
11. Mario's Early Years: Fun With Numbers (SNES)(Edutainment)
12. CoD of Duty (PC)(FPS)
13. The Bard's Tale (PS2)(RPG)
14. The Great Circus Mystery, Starring Mickey and Minnie (SNES)(Platformer)
15. Deus Ex (PC)(FPS)
16. The King of the Wood (PC)(FPS)
17. Shadows of the Damned (PS3)(Horror Adventure)
18. Chuck Rock (SNES)(Platformer)
19. Arcana (SNES)(RPG)
20. Jurassic Park (SNES)(Action-Adventure)
21. Brawl Brothers (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
22. Monopoly (SNES)(Boardgame)
23. Dr. Mario (SNES)(Puzzle)
24. Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday (SNES)(Platformer)
25. Breath of Fire (SNES)(RPG)
26. The Death and Return of Superman (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
27. Battle Blaze (SNES)(Fighting)
28. Todd McFarlane's Spawn: The Video Game (SNES)(Action-Adventure)
29. Mario's Early Years: Fun With Letters (SNES)(Edutainment)
30. Dwarfs!? (PC)(I have no idea)
31. Super Adventure Island (SNES)(Platformer)
32. Batman Returns (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
33. Pit-Fighter (SNES)(Fighting)
34. Lester the Unlikely (SNES)(Platformer)
35. Killing Floor (PC)(FPS)
36. Dungeons of Dredmor (PC)(RPG)
37. The 7th Saga (SNES)(RPG)
38. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)(Platformer)
39. Super Mario Bros. 3, via Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World (SNES)(Platformer)
40. Sunset Riders (Arcade)(Run and Gun)
41. Battle Circuit (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
42. Monster Maulers (Arcade)(Boss Rush Fighter)
43. Metamoqester (Arcade)(Boss Rush Fighter)
44. Ninja Baseball Batman (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
45. Alien vs. Predator (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
46. Sunset Riders (SNES)(Run and Gun)
47. Chrono Trigger (SNES)(RPG)
48. Star Fox (SNES)(Rail Shooter)
49. Brutal: Paws of Fury (SNES)(Fighting)
50. Ultraman: Towards the Future (SNES)(Fighting)

51. The Binding of Isaac (PC)(Adventure)
52. DLC Quest (PC)(Platformer)
53. DLC Quest: Live Freemium or Die (PC)(Platformer)
54. Hotline Miami (PC)(Beat 'Em Up)
55. Anodyne (PC)(Adventure)
56. Scribblenauts Unlimited (PC)(Puzzle)
57. Puzzler World (PC)(Puzzle)
58. Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (PC)(FPS)
59. Cave Story+ (PC)(Adventure)
60. Duke Nukem 3D Megaton Edition (PC)(FPS)
61. Duke Nukem 3D: Duke It Out in DC (PC)(FPS)
62. Duke Nukem 3D: Life's a Beach (PC)(FPS)
63. Duke Nukem 3D: Nuclear Winter (PC)(FPS)
64. Dead Pixels (PC)(Run and Gun)
65. Rogue Legacy (PC)(Roguelike Platformer)
66. Doomsday Warrior (SNES)(Fighting)
67. Ultimate Fighter (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
68. Captain America and the Avengers (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
69. Jeopardy! Deluxe Edition (SNES)(Game Show Simulator)
70. Hook (SNES)(Platformer)
71. The Great Waldo Search (SNES)(Puzzle)
72. U.N. Squadron (SNES)(SHMUP)
73. Mickey Mania (SNES)(Platformer)
74. Super Earth Defense Force (SNES)(SHMUP)
75. Kendo Rage (SNES)(Action)
76. Imperium (SNES)(SHMUP)
77. Super Mario Kart (SNES)(Racing)
78. Super Scope 6 (SNES)(Light Gun)
79. Yoshi's Safari (SNES)(Light Gun)
80. The Adventures of Batman & Robin (SNES)(Action)
81. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (PC)(FPS)
82. Pinball Dreams (SNES)(Pinball)
83. The Peace Keepers (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
84. Gods (SNES)(Platformer)
85. ActRaiser (SNES)(Platformer/Sim Hybrid)
86. Picture Puzzle (NGPC)(Puzzle)
87. Soldiers of Fortune (SNES)(Run and Gun)
88. Dark Arms (NGPC)(RPG)
89. Metal Slug: 2nd Mission (NGPC)(Run and Gun)
90. SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium (NGPC)(Fighting)
91. GunForce (SNES)(Run and Gun)

Well, I was at least a little productive over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Dark Arms is a relatively short Neo Geo Pocket Color game in which you've made a pact with Death to enter the dark realm and obtain a super weapon. Unfortunately, things aren't exactly going well there, so you've got to use eggs to build weapons and then take down a demon. It features some interesting variety in weaponry and allows you to evolve them by feeding them the souls of your enemies as well as making them more powerful by leveling them up by killing things. The game's not particularly long, containing only a few dungeons (with a day/night mechanic which changes what kinds of monsters and NPCs are wandering about). There's a small bit of backtracking, but more interesting, there is a secret dungeon after beating the game which gives access to a special boss who happens to be much nastier than many of the previous bosses, most of which you'll have to fight on the way down. The moral of the story is to not make deals with demons for power...but really, you should know that.

Metal Slug: 2nd Mission is a portable Metal Slug game, but with a few twists; you can take several hits before dying(and health items are often dropped by enemies but vanish quickly), you must pick between two characters with different storylines, and the game features branching pathways which will change which levels you visit over the course of your adventure. There's also a list of 100 hostages to find spread throughout the game, and a military rank system which affects whether hostages can provide intel to you. While the game keeps the quirky artwork of the Metal Slug games and generally holds to its spirit, it modifies the formula in ways that I feel keep the series from going stale. Unfortunately its boss fights aren't as interesting and in a couple of cases are just flat out cheap, with one giant cannon on wheels in particular sweeping the screen with a massive unavoidable laser. It's a cheap hit that feels poor in a series that focuses so heavily on skill to avoid such traps. Also, since some projectiles are tiny, they tend to get lost in the dull background. This game could have greatly benefited from front lighting.

My copy of Match of the Millennium arrived in the mail over the holiday, so I sat down and ran through with Chun Li. The control scheme takes some getting used to, since it takes four- and six-button characters and reduces them to 2, though I did manage to figure out a few tricks, and the NGPC's joystick is a blast to use. I love the SD sprites of the various characters(indeed, I also enjoy them in my copies of Samurai Shodown! 2, Fatal Fury First Contact, and King of Fighters R-2 on the handheld), and I think it is wonderful that it was kept consistent across the various NGPC fighting games. Animation is fluid, control feels solid, and the sound is great. There's also an impressively large roster available featuring favorite characters from both companies' various properties. I'll be sinking a lot more time into this one, along with the rest of the NGPC fighting library.

And then there is GunForce, which is the odd man out here because it's one that I'm going to heavily criticize. I want to start by saying that GunForce is an arcade game by Irem that plays similar to a Contra and features some gorgeous and fluid animation along with good controls. The GunForce port by Bits Studios is nowhere near as good. I don't mind the dubbing down of the graphics, but the removal of so many frames of animation, the horrid controls, the bizarre hit boxes...this port is a mess. Enemy attack patterns seem entirely random, your character floats like he were walking on the moon, and aiming is atrocious. More than once I was leaping out of the way of an enemy projectile only to discover that I floated down on top of it or died spontaneously because an otherwise immobile enemy suddenly shot the pixels next to my foot. And the special weapons provide a little variety, though certain ones suffer horribly. The flamethrower in particular was a mess, with a tiny attacking range hidden somewhere within its much larger sprite. It's a bitch to aim, and with only 8 very specific directions to aim, there is no way to arc and sweep it the way a flamethrower needs to be used. Bits Studios dropped the ball, and while I won't say this is as bad as the Pit-Fighter port...well, it's certainly not good. Contra, Sunset Riders, and Super Turrican run circles around this game.

[ExedExes]

If GunForce wasn't so damn slow on the SNES, it's a good game. Bonus - the devs from Irem who worked on that would form Nazca Corporation years later, famous for another run n gun series, Metal Slug!

[Luke]

Huh?



What the what?

Any idea what game this is? Apparently I beat a game and can't remember what game I beat. In my defense, a guy can lose track when he's beaten almost 150 games in a year.

[noiseredux]

Huh?



What the what?

Any idea what game this is? Apparently I beat a game and can't remember what game I beat. In my defense, a guy can lose track when he's beaten almost 150 games in a year.

Dr. Mario

[Ack]

If GunForce wasn't so damn slow on the SNES, it's a good game. Bonus - the devs from Irem who worked on that would form Nazca Corporation years later, famous for another run n gun series, Metal Slug!

Yeah, comparing the arcade version to the SNES port is like apples to oranges. This is just a bad port of a good game unfortunately. But looking back at Bits' work, there's a lot of handheld ports for companies like LJN, so...yeah...

[prfsnl_gmr]

Dr. Mario

Nice. I kept thinking it was one of the Lolo games...

[ExedExes]

Dr. Mario

Nice. I kept thinking it was one of the Lolo games...

It wouldn't be Lolo 2, I just beat that! Going through Lolo 3 right now.

[Luke]

So is that the end screen for Dr.Mario? I honestly don't remember taking that picture (you can tell by the framing).