Games Beaten 2014

[BogusMeatFactory]

38) Sleeping Dogs 360 *new*

Wow, that last mission is something else. An incredible game that gets tedious, but really makes up for it in the end.

I found that the game had some tedious side stuff, but there were a lot of great pinpoint moments that really stand out, like the end mission and also the wedding scene. Those were great that stand out as being really entertaining.

For me, I enjoyed a lot of the strange sandbox elements, much like what Cronozilla has mentioned before about the game, stuffing people into trunks, leaving your car door open to smash into people and wreaking havoc seems really fulfilling in ways that harken back to the old days of Grand Theft Auto.

I enjoyed the combat system, although it is a rehash of so many brawlers nowadays, nothing is more fulfilling than killing someone with a fish.

Also, because we can make everything seem like Shenmue, here is a nice mashup.

Sleeping Dogs/Shenmue Parody

[Luke]

38) Sleeping Dogs 360 *new*

Wow, that last mission is something else. An incredible game that gets tedious, but really makes up for it in the end.

I found that the game had some tedious side stuff, but there were a lot of great pinpoint moments that really stand out, like the end mission and also the wedding scene. Those were great that stand out as being really entertaining.

For me, I enjoyed a lot of the strange sandbox elements, much like what Cronozilla has mentioned before about the game, stuffing people into trunks, leaving your car door open to smash into people and wreaking havoc seems really fulfilling in ways that harken back to the old days of Grand Theft Auto.

I enjoyed the combat system, although it is a rehash of so many brawlers nowadays, nothing is more fulfilling than killing someone with a fish.

Also, because we can make everything seem like Shenmue, here is a nice mashup.

Sleeping Dogs/Shenmue Parody

Not the side stuff, the actual story missions were tedious. Same stuff over and over and over for nearly twenty hours. The hospital mission kind of stands out as it broke up the pace of doing the same stuff, but after ten hours in I was wondering if I was going to do anything that I hadn't already done in the game.

Beautiful game though. The fighting sequences reminded a lot of the Punisher game that was released when the second Punisher movie was released. Interactive environments, special kills, etc.

[Cronozilla]

Maybe I just enjoyed smashing people's faces in car doors too much?

The only thing I found tedious was completing the fighting circuits. But I found a lot of enjoyment from building up new move-sets.

Maybe I just played it over such a short amount of time I didn't notice some of the issues.

[emwearz]

Dave did you finish both sides of the Campaign, pain in the ass having to do it again as the Militia to unlock the other type of Titan.

Really wish the game had a server browser!

[dsheinem]

Dave did you finish both sides of the Campaign

Yeah, but each side only took like an hour and a half or two.

[Luke]

Yeah, but each side only took like an hour and a half or two.

Really? Sounds like a waste of campaign.

So I guess this is a "play with your friends online" game?

[Sload Soap]

I finished off a few games that I had left in various states of completion this week. X-Com I was two missions from the end and can't think now why I stopped. Mirror's Edge I was five levels in.

X-Com: Enemy Unknown(360)

This was my first exposure to the X-com franchise and damn is it a good game. I really don't know what made me stop playing as it is addictive as crack sandwiches.

I think the game works really well with a controller, something that is hard to do for this type of game. Commands are easy to bring up and execute and there is a nice sense of tactility when you squeeze the R-Trigger and make a killing shot. Satisfying. I feel the game rewards you for playing smart and punishes you for dashing everywhere which is how a good strategy game should be.

I like the base building and researching stuff as well. It breaks up what could be a drag of alien encounters and again adds a layer of strategy. Do you build satellites to make the people of Asia feel more secure, or do you point those points towards researching a new type of battle suit to keep your soldiers nice a safe? It isn't mega-deep but actions do have consequences, sometimes very severe ones. You really feel it when a soldier dies or a nation leaves the X-Com program.

I have a few minor gripes. First and foremost is that the game is buggy. I originally started an Ironman run as I was informed this was the way to play it, only for the game to bug four missions in rendering that save unplayable. Sometimes the camera would lodge itself under the play field after a turn as well. Happened twice, but was enough for two missions restarts which is unforgivable.

I also feel that, until you unlock sensor grenades and flight suits, the field of view is never very realistic and I ran into Thin Man or two by who I really should have been able to spot.

Overall though, this is how you do both reboots to a franchise and PC games on console. Don't patronise your audience and streamline the experience without losing its core appeal. Top quality stuff recommended to all.

Mirror's Edge(360)

I like the idea of Mirror's Edge but personally I feel the execution is flawed. It just didn't click with me, maybe because I don't have the patience to learn its systems. The audio and visual design is very clean with a faux-utopian sheen I can't fault it there. Neither can I fault Faith who is a decent female lead. And when the combination of jumping, sliding, disarming enemies works together it is a very absorbing experience. I just feel that those times are few and far between and a lot of time the jumps feel imprecise and the combat is weak. It's a fragmented experience at the end of it.

The game seems to want you to play it as a pacifist, disarming soldiers and knocking them out. In practice though, when facing more than one soldier at a time it is always better to punch one to death, steal his gun and kill his comrades. I had a similar problem with the recent Deus Ex; you want to be sly and stealthy but the game funnels you into sections where gunplay is the best recourse. You can't really run from danger either as the enemies hit-scanning weapons will always get you no matter how tight the angle. So you, like a lot of other games this gen, you sit in a corner waiting for your health to regenerate before popping your head out and having it blown off. Which might be okay if the meat of the game, the platforming, was tighter. It isn't though. I fell frequently on jumps that I should have cleared because, unless you constantly stare down at Faith's ninja feet, I was never 100% sure I was jumping at the very edge. It doesn't help that the Frostbite can make it feel like your character is a stack of boxes each delineating a separate section of the body.

Overall I can understand why the game is liked though. It just never really clicked with me. Shame.

Shipwreck(360)

Shipwreck is a indie game that is essentially an homage to Link's Awakening on the game boy. Unlike a lot of the games on the Xbox indie service, this game actually succeeds in getting the feel of its inspiration down very well with smooth scrolling, chunky combat and precise control. The service is an absolute quagmire of terrible Mega Man, Meat Boy and Zelda clones and it says a lot that this game can stand out against them.

It has four dungeons, each with a unique theme and set of puzzles like a Zelda game and it has a final Boss dungeon which tests all that you've learnt thus far. It's very solid effort from such a small team. It is quite short and a bit easy. I beat it in one sitting and died maybe twice in all. Enemies once vanquished don't respawn so that makes things a bit easier. That and the puzzles are never too taxing for someone familiar with 2D Zelda.

It's a bit more expensive than the average Indie title, but then it is a lot better than most. I'm not sure if it's on PC but I'm sure there's a chance in the future. Cool game.

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos(PS1)

This one is pure nostalgia. Nowadays, Croc is probably best known for being a failed Yoshi game and an also ran in the pantheon of potential PS1 mascots.

It isn't a good game by any means and like a lot of early fully 3D platformers not called Mario 64 or Crash Bandicoot is plagued by camera issues and problems with depth perception, along with controls that make it feel like you're steering Croc rather than controlling him.

But I can't help but like it. It's has this sort of charm to it. I think it's because it reminds me of when I first got a PS1 and was amazed by the graphics and environments. Now I can see that the environments are painfully small and underdeveloped, whilst the graphics have reused textures and jaggy edges all round. But still...nostalgia.

I can't really recommend this game unless you're a big platform fan though. It was flawed then and time has exacerbated those weaknesses. I like it though.

Soul Calibur V(360)

I'm not sure how, but SCV is more of a disappointment than SCIV which is saying something. Namco has a nasty habit these days of obfuscating what was good about older Soul and Tekken titles with unnecessary modes and features. I'm just going to bullet point my main grievances.

-Although they stated Soul V was going to move the series in a new direction, what Namco actually meant was they were going to replace your favourite characters with younger, whinier versions of themselves.

-Of these new characters, Patroklos and Pyrrha are among the whiniest, entitled and cliche. ZWEI and Viola are non entities who feel like they were bussed in from an anime convention.

-Instead on putting in a magic werewolf and a witch and a bunch of clones, maybe Namco could have put in a character from somewhere else in the world aside from Japan, China, Korea, Germany or France. An African fighter perhaps, or Indian. Or Native American. Or Arabia. Or fucking anywhere really. This is one of the foundations of the series guys, you can't just put in a hunky werewolf and I'll be like "yeah ok".

- The character creation mode is still a bit lame and I think it drains resources and talent away from the actual character designs. Astaroth has never looked less intimidating. Seigfried and Mitsurugi are just boring and I don't know what the heck Ivy is wearing in her alt. The new characters are all a bit drab honestly.

-The story mode is awful. I can't root for Patroklos because the first thing we see him do is murder someone in cold blood. Then we're supposed to feel sorry for Pyrrha who is also a genocidal maniac. This shit is tiresome enough when I see it in anime and comics.

-Speaking of the story mode, seven characters don't even make an appearance and only three are playable. Not cool.

-Which genius decided that Patroklos' alpha form should use the hardest to master fighting style the series has ever known?

-I can fight Dampirre clones in quick battle, but I have to pay to download him? Sounds like a scam.

-I hate the super moves. They're ok in multi-player but the CPU will bust them out instantly and although it looks like you have enough time to block them, the timing is very tight. Also, super moves in a 3D fighter? Get outta here.

-The graphics are not noticeably any better than SoulIV. Soul Calibur used to be a luxurious fighter to look and listen to; now it has been totally eclipsed by Virtua Fighter 5.

-Absolutely no attempt made to even explain why Ezio is even here. He just is because guest characters is a thing they feel they need to do.

Some of these might seem nit-picky but I can't stress enough how badly they all come together to muddy the texture of the game. Soul games were once top of the line products with tons of modes and galleries and options. Now we have a six battle arcade mode with no boss, an unfairly hard arcade mode with no boss, a faux online mode which doesn't really work, a bare bones training room and the worst story mode in a fighting game ever. The focus on online has and aping Street Fighter's success has damaged this product. What happened to having a thorough single-player aspect? What was wrong with that? It's laziness. Add that to mounds of useless and expensive DLC and you have an incomplete product at that.

Soul Calibur 2 was obviously the best this series was going to do. Namco either needs a complete reboot and rethink, or they need to let this series go. It's moving backwards with every iteration in my opinion. Do not like.

[noiseredux]

@Sload: Enemy Unknown really is amazing. One of my favorite games of the 360/PS3 generation. And to my knowledge, the first game I ever hit 100 logged hours on. Any plans to give Enemy Within a go now?

Also... I hated Soul Calibur V. I hated the replacement characters. I hated the stupid Story Mode. I just thought it was bad. I didn't even hang on to it long enough to play online, so who knows - maybe the 2P Vs stuff is good, but to be honest I enjoyed SCIV for online, so didn't really see a need to hang onto V.

[Luke]

1) Kung Fu NES
2) Altered Beast Genesis
3) Golden Axe Genesis
4) Golden Axe GBA
5) Golden Axe Dreamcast
6) Golden Axe PS2
7) Golden Axe Sega CD
Golden Axe 360
9) Ninja Gaiden xbox
10) Ninja Gaiden NES
11) Cool Spot Genesis
12) The Duel Genesis
13) Pit Fighter Genesis
14) Hard Drvin' Genesis
15) Death Duel Genesis
16) Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis
17) Mutant League Football Genesis
18) TMNT Hyperstone Heist Genesis
19) Streets of Rage Sega CD
20) Streets of Rage 2 Genesis
21) Golden Axe 2 Genesis
22) Sewer Shark Sega CD
23) Chiki Chiki Boys Genesis
24) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Genesis
25) Mega Man 2 NES
26) Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! NES
27) TMNT Fall of the Footclan Gameboy
28) TMNT Something Sewers Gameboy
29) Punch-Out!! Wii
30) Diddy Kong Racing N64
31) StarFox 64 N64
32) StarFox snes
33) Metal Gear nes
34) Mario Superstar Baseball Gamecube
35) Star Wars Rogue Leader Gamecube
36) Super Mario Land 2 Gameboy
37) Duck Tales Gameboy
38) Sleeping Dogs 360
39) Sonic Triple Trouble SMS via Sonic Gems collection *new*

Great looking game, great controls, terrible, terrible level design. There's not a lot of running to the right in this game, which slows it down to a slugs pace at times. At times I threw my hands up asking "Where am I supposed to go?", which doesn't happen often in Sonic game, but happens a lot with Triple Trouble.

Other than that, it's pretty easy as the game is very generous with extra lives and continues.

[alienjesus]

Great looking game, great controls, terrible, terrible level design. There's not a lot of running to the right in this game, which slows it down to a slugs pace at times. At times I threw my hands up asking "Where am I supposed to go?", which doesn't happen often in Sonic game, but happens a lot with Triple Trouble.

Other than that, it's pretty easy as the game is very generous with extra lives and continues.

For what it's worth, all the 8 bit games on Sonic Gems collection are Game Gear versions. Triple Trouble was never on Master System as far as I know.

I love the SMS Sonic the Hedgehog and enjoy the SMS Sonic 2 aswell, but the Game Gear games are awful due to how zoomed in they are.