Games Beaten 2014

[CFFJR]

1. Mortal Kombat II - 32X
2. Cosmic Carnage - 32X
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade - XBLA
4. X-men Arcade - XBLA
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist - Genesis
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time - SNES
7. Metroid: Other M - Wii
8. Donkey Kong Country Returns - Wii

What a blast. Plowed through it in two days. Excellent, fun, addicting game, with some fantastic music too.

I didn't go for 100% completion and don't have any plan to at the moment, but we'll see.

I'm now really looking forward to Tropical Freeze.

[Sload Soap]

More free time means more games complete.

Killzone

Killzone isn't a bad game, but it is hardly a very good one either. I remember at the time it was billed to be a Halo killer which is a bit laughable in retrospect. Anyway, it's pretty much your archetypal FPS: bunch of military guys who curse and bicker a lot fight off hordes of baddies.

Some of the weapons are really overpowered, some of them feel like you are shooting cotton balls. The AI is inconsistent as well, your squad mates know enemies are there but seem unwilling to fire on them and sometimes the enemy will just stand in place and let you gun them down. There aren't enough types of enemies either, coming in just regular and heavy varieties and the occasional tank.

The environments are lacking as well, taking you on a whirlwind tour of such eye catching vistas as: some slums, a shopping mall, industrial docklands, a swamp. The final scene is on a space station though. A very grey space station. It's like if you set a game about saving england in norfolk[*].

So yeah, a inconsistent but not awful experience probably not worth repeating with the range of great FPS games made in that era alone.

King's Quest 6

A childhood favourite. Second time I've completed it and still unsure exactly how. Some of the "puzzles" are completely bass-ackward and file destroying situations lurk round every corner. Save often and in different slots is the mantra here as ever.

I like Alexander though, he's a stand up chap. Even when confronted with some pretty mind boggling situations he takes it in his stride. And it was nice to play a game with zero violence after Killzone. I think there is perhaps too many collectibles over the course of the game that leaves you scratching your head on occasions but in the end it all makes a sort of sense. Weird ending song though.

I went through a few games on compilations. Compilations rock.

Knight of the Round
Solid but not exceptional golden-age beat'em up. The blocking adds some strategy to bosses but, I dunno, it still feels a bit too samey. Might be because the music is pish.

Super Sidekicks 3: The Next Glory
This game however is amazing. A football game where you can score by kicking the ball so hard it takes the goalie into the net with it. Shame it only has one half and the timer is so strict. We need more arcadey soccer games. Get on it SNK!

[*]Replace here with any flat, featureless and grim part of your own country.

[prfsnl_gmr]

1. Hotline Miami (PS3)
2. Boulder Dash XL 3D (3DS)
3. Mirror's Edge (PS3)
4. Orcs & Elves (DS)

Orcs & Elves is a first-person, turn-based, dungeon-crawling RPG developed by John Carmack (the creator of Doom) for mobile phones and later ported to the Nintendo DS. The game was incredibly easy (despite playing it on the highest difficulty setting); the story was boldly generic; and the graphics and sound are exactly what you would expect from a mobile game port. Nonetheless, the game is incredibly well-designed; the dialogue is thoroughly entertaining; the game has some great mechanics (such as the various ales, which increase your fortitude and strength to the detriment of your accuracy); and - most importantly - the game is really, really fun. In just over seven hours, I murdered every single monster (and found every single secret) in Mount Zharrkarag, and I recommend this game to anyone looking for a fun, portable, and short first-person dungeon crawler in the tradition of AD&D: Eye of the Beholder.

[kelsoanim]

7. Metroid: Other M - Wii

Absolutely fantastic, loved every minute of it.

I noticed you had played Metroid Other M so I had to go back a few pages to see what you thought. I'm glad to see you liked it, I really enjoyed the game too. Super Metroid is one of my favorite games and I really don't think Other M sullies the series that much. The cutscenes are dumb, Samus is mis-characterized but honestly, who cares about cutscenes in a Metroid game??? The gameplay I thought was a great take on the formula. It had all the hooks plus some interesting new mechanics. Great presentation and atmosphere throughout with satisfying exploration and secrets. Sure it's not the best Metroid by any means, but it was not a bad game, it just had bad cutscenes.

[BoneSnapDeez]

The game was incredibly easy

Time for some Etrian Odyssey.

[Hazerd]

1. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction - PS3 - BEATEN!



Tachyon defeated! ended up getting the last piece for the Ryno IV then going back to Sargasso to have it built, very cool weapon too bad i wont see it at level 5 with full upgrades till i progress in Challenge Mode (which is basically a New Game+ mode).

Have Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time on the backlog.

Up next, 1 of 3 games: Black on oXbox, Legend of Zelda: Albw on 3DS, or Metro Last Light on PC, probably finish Metro Last Light next.

[Xeogred]

How would you compare that one to the PS2 trilogy? I'll probably get through the Future trilogy throughout this year myself.

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
2. Caveman Ninja (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
3. Crude Buster (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
4. Heavy Barrel (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
5. Secret Agent (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
6. Wizard Fire (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
7. Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
8. Burning Fight (PlayStation 2 - SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1)
9. Magician Lord (PlayStation 2 - SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1)
10. Metal Slug (PlayStation 2 - SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1)
11. Sengoku (PlayStation 2 - SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1)
12. Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy (PlayStation 2 - SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1)

Now for some SNK. Don't want to bother with the insane prices or inconvenience of tracking down MVS/AES games? Get this compilation!

Burning Fight is a sub-mediocre Final Fight clone. The fact that people are still willing to pay $200 for the AES cart is downright baffling.

Next is Magician Lord - a side-scrolling action game and one of the defining Neo Geo titles. It's gorgeous to look at and to listen to, but on the flip-side is its infuriating difficulty. Enemies come at you in droves and your good magician walks slower than Lester the Unlikely or the lemmings in Lemmings. Plus, the fast-paced action tends to grind to a halt quickly as the game is full of dead-ends and even a Super Mario Bros. style looping castle. If these flaws had been ironed out I'd rank it up with gems like Skyblazer - regardless, it's still one of the best Neo Geo launch titles. And the Engrish text/voice acting had me cracking up.

This is actually my first time playing Metal Slug, but I have played several of the sequels so I knew exactly what to expect. Classic comedic run 'n' gun action. I continued 11 times, which I have to admit is much better than I expected to do. I figured I'd at least use up 25 credits. I think with some practice I could complete the game on 5 credits. Maybe.

Sengoku is a great beat 'em up, where you battle feudal Japanese warriors that have invaded modern times. With power-ups and transformation abilities aplenty it's quite the entertaining ride. If the game's ending cutscene is any indication, apparently player 2 is forced to play as a horrendously goofy out-of-place blond cowboy.

I thought Top Hunter would be a shmup as the instructions told me to push a certain button to "change planes." Turns out "planes" in this respect refers to perspective - Top Hunter is a platformer where you can jump back and forth between the foreground and background. It's an incredibly innovative gimmick and adds quite a bit of depth (heh) to the game.

That's about it for this SNK compilation. I screwed around with the sports games, but didn't finish any. I suck at fighting games. Last Resort is impossible. And I'm saving Shock Troopers for Together Retro.

[BurningDoom]

I beat Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara tonight, the Xbox Live Arcade version. Both the Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara. And no, I didn't do it on one continue.

Both are pretty short, which is to be expected from a beat-em up. But there was a lot more going on here than your average beat-em up. Light-RPG elements. Item usage. Equipment pick-ups. Magic spells (for magic-users). And even a couple special moves. And each playable character felt unique to play as with their own set of specials and different feel to their movements. Very nice looking 2D graphics, too. A lot to like here.

Highly recommended for fans of Golden Axe or Cadash.

[Violent By Design]

I beat Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara tonight, the Xbox Live Arcade version. Both the Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara. And no, I didn't do it on one continue.

Both are pretty short, which is to be expected from a beat-em up. But there was a lot more going on here than your average beat-em up. Light-RPG elements. Item usage. Equipment pick-ups. Magic spells (for magic-users). And even a couple special moves. And each playable character felt unique to play as with their own set of specials and different feel to their movements. Very nice looking 2D graphics, too. A lot to like here.

Highly recommended for fans of Golden Axe or Cadash.

Does this have online co-op?