Games Beaten 2014

[BogusMeatFactory]

No kidding.

*Holy Crap! MLHockey is $93.00 on amazon*

NHL '94 on the Sega CD is one of my all time favorite games. NHL 2002 and '94 are by far my favorite two hockey games. Once NH

L 2014 drops in price, I'm all over it for the revamped '94 bonus game.

Oh man, NHL '94 on the Sega CD is indeed the best hockey game ever. I still cherish my copy to this day and find that type of hockey game to be the most entertaining and fun. Also the same with Mutant League Hockey....some people hate it, but I love it to death still to this day!

[Luke]

Oh man, NHL '94 on the Sega CD is indeed the best hockey game ever. I still cherish my copy to this day and find that type of hockey game to be the most entertaining and fun. Also the same with Mutant League Hockey....some people hate it, but I love it to death still to this day!

You and I, hanging out.

One of these days.

All NHL '94 needs is a full season mode.

The fans pounding the glass, the fights, the organ music (they even included the teams' theme sons), just everything is perfect.

One thing both '94 and 2002 get right is the sixth sense of a hockey player. I've played hockey since I could skate, and when I play a certain offense I don't need to look around to know where my teammates should be. They nailed that in those games. Sure, sometimes when you pass blindly you pass to an empty space, but that's how hockey is.

And the manual line switches are also near perfect. Most EA hockey games stink when it comes to dumping the puck and pulling off a quick switch, but yet again, '94 and 2002 got it right.

[noiseredux]

yeah it was always a bummer that there's no season in NHL 94. So that's partly what makes the 2014 retro mode so cool. I've suggested NHL 06 to you a few times now, and still stand by that one. (Plus, it has NHL 94 as a bonus on the PS2 disc...)

[BogusMeatFactory]

yeah it was always a bummer that there's no season in NHL 94. So that's partly what makes the 2014 retro mode so cool. I've suggested NHL 06 to you a few times now, and still stand by that one. (Plus, it has NHL 94 as a bonus on the PS2 disc...)

Well you can technically make up your own season for yourself. Just play against the teams you were matched up with in 94 and track your results.

@Luke

You are spot on with the feel of a teams offense and defense. I am from the Detroit area, so I am a Red Wings fan and you can definitely get a sense of the team from playing it.

Also....after doing some research, because I wanted to prove that Ed Belfour had the best overall goalie rating of 98 (I know this, because...well...I played against them a lot because I'm from Detroit), I noticed an interesting website with online leagues for NHL 94 which you can browse Here! which is blowing my mind right now. You know you wanna start one.

[BoneSnapDeez]

NHL '94 is my fave too.

Too bad Mutant League Hockey is so pricey. I believe it was supposed to be included on EA Replay 2, but that game never materialized.

[Luke]

I have 06, 07, and 09. 2002 trumps them all.

The 'Hawks are a beast of a team in '94, as aforementioned. Belfour, Roenick, Chelios, Suter, Sutter. Amonte, Murphy, Savard (love that guy), and my homie Sergei Krivokrasov.

The only team, on paper, that could stand a chance would be the Bruins, stacking the deck with Bourque, Donato, Juneau, Neely, Oates, Sweeney, and I think Moog tended net.

[pierrot]

Megaman 8

I thought everyone hated MM8. I'm glad I'm not the only one who really likes it.

I especially enjoy the Saturn version. So many enemies on screen!

Yes! The Saturn version is glorious.

[BrokenGeode]

Haven't been able to game as much as I'd have liked to this year due to things such as exams and my social life but here's the progress I've made so far:
+Sin and Punishment 2: Star Successor
+Fire Emblem Awakening
+Hotline Miami

Yeah, I really haven't been able to play much this year so far.

[isiolia]

1.) Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)
2.) Remember Me (PC)
3.) Mirror's Edge (PC)
4.) Jumping Flash! (PS1)
5.) Run Saber (SNES)
6.) Heavenly Sword (PS3)
7.) X-Blades (360)
8.) Blades of Time (360)
9.) Trapt (PS2)
10.) Hunted: The Demon's Forge (360)
11.) Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3)
12.) Venetica (PC)
13.) Metal Gear (MSX)
14.) Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX)
15.) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD Edition (PS3)
16.) Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP)
17.) Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD Edition (PS3)
18.) Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Gamecube)
19.) Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD Edition (PS3)
20.) Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
21.) Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3)
22.) Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (360)
23.) Halo 2 (XBox)
24.) Halo 3 (360)
25.) Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3)
26.) Halo Reach (360)
27.) Halo 4 (360)

Thoughts

Halo 3

I think this was actually the first 360 game I bought, since, at the time, a large motivation for getting one was due to my group of friends shifting from Halo 2 to Halo 3 for our get-togethers.

Graphics and presentation felt like quite a jump – not just from Halo 2, but from Anniversary as well. Particularly noticeable in the later parts of the game that return to a Halo ring, compared to the prettied-up original.

Otherwise it felt like more of an evolution from Halo 2 to me. Not in a bad way though. There are the items to use, more limited dual wielding (where Halo 2 was maybe a little overboard on that), but mostly it was looking at the (kinda) HD update.

Enjoyed it overall.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Barely counts, since I mostly just did the “main story” mission, but still. I’ve already commented elsewhere on this, but, I felt like it could almost be a new series versus a sequel. The gameplay is a bit more open and organic than prior entries (in a good way), Snake…does not sound like Snake, and thus far, it only really ties into Peace Walker (and post-game side mission Peace Walker at that).

Either way, The Phantom Pain will likely be fantastic, judging on what’s in this.

Halo: Reach

Not sure if it’s just me, but enemies in this seem smarter. I mean, I’m not exactly good at Halo, but, they move more, go for cover more, etc.
Plus, health is back, even though it’ll top itself off if you only lose a few bars. Could be that they’re meant more for multiplayer balance, or training, but it did serve to make some of it a teensy bit harder.

Graphics are better, though they looked softer, probably due to actually having AA (game is a higher native resolution than 3). Using a custom player character was a nice touch, though perhaps also there to make the jump to multiplayer more seamless. Despite that, it seemed like the story was a little more pervasive or integrated, at least at times.
Took me a little longer to warm up to this one, compared to 3, but I think around the time Noble 6 got to flex her dogfighting skills I was on board. Plus, no Flood.

Halo 4

343 loves them some bloom. Very nice looking for a 360 game, but yeeesh, my eyes. HDR was neat in Halo 3, volumetric fog in Reach, but they are abused here.

Back to Master Chief, and not having to search for health packs (maybe he’s just special), but still keeping the “suit upgrades” swappable powerups instead of the one-use ones from Halo 3. Also a new enemy, with a third set of weapons to maybe pick up.

While not ever terrible, I found this to be slightly hit or miss. Cool vehicle additions and sections, some really nice looking outdoor sets…but offset by a ton of fighting in areas that look like they’re out of Tron,

Similarly pervasive story to Reach, with nice looking cutscenes (and really nice looking Cortana), despite it feeling kind of forced. Occasionally, there was even time to take in the scenery, like 343 realized some of us were playing for the city-sized starships and alien vistas.

Largely liked it, which would apply to the series in general. It’s good, innocuous video game-y fun – not sure how Uncharted games rate a T and these an M.

Anyway, I think I have exhausted all the Metal Gear and Halo games I have/had plans to play (I have the GBC Metal Gear, and ODST, etc, just feel like moving on).

[Violent By Design]

1. Sonic Triple Trouble - Gamegear - 2D Platformer
2. Hearthstone - PC - Cardgame
3. Portal 2 - PC - Puzzle


Hearthstone

So I'll throw this in here, because I dipped a decent amount of time and I beat all the AIs.

So the game is pretty simple and easy to pick up, the matches are short and quick. It's very easy to get into a "one more game" type of groove. I didn't find it too addicting though (in a good way), it's very easy to get in a good 5 mins of gaming and just call it quits.

I was big into Yugioh in the day, so I like the whole calculating when to use your cards, and when to save them. The meta of field control and hand control is a bit magnified, because in the game you have the choice of either attacking your opponents monsters or his base HP (when that goes to 0, you win). So you either have to make a choice to go for the win, or go for field control, it's an interesting dynamic, though most of the time it's better to just attack monsters and shut down your opponent.

There are a lot of problems with the game though, I think you probably have to dish-out SOME money in order to have fun. Getting cards is really tedious, it takes a long time to get gold, and the boosters only have 5 cards (which are totally random, so you can get cards that you have before or cards not useful to your deck).

There are also really only 9 base decks, albeit competitively, there is decent variety, but on a casual level, it feels a bit limiting, especially in the beginning when you have so little cards to play around with.

Overall, like any trading card game, your expected to put money in it, hearthstone gives very good deals, you can get like 15 boosters for 20 dollars, which is worth it if you really want to explore the game. I'll likely dive more into it later in the year, but it's a pretty solid time waster.

8/10

Portal 2

I've played a bit of Portal 2 in the past, but I never finished it since my PC had burned out. I finally got around to playing it, and I was glued to my PC for 5-6 hours.

Great intuitive puzzles, that give a very rewarding "eureka" effect. The level design is really what makes the Portal series such brilliant games.

The dialogue was fantastic as well, very funny and light hearted. However, I think Portal 2 does offer a bit from trying too hard. There is a saying that less is more, and Portal 2 doesn't really understand that when it comes to commentary. Literally every level, every sentence that is ushered has a joke, that usually is layered in the same type of humor/delivery.

The parts where you hang out with Wheatly are awesome though, Wheatly surpasses Gladdos as the best character in the series.

I kinda hit a rut, when you go deep into the forgotten parts of Aperture Science with all the goo and stuff. The puzzles were well thought, but it felt like too large of a detour, though I did appreciate the exposition and hearing from the CEO of Aperture was a nice touch.

I was thinking the game was 9/10, but that final boss battle + ending was sooo on point, and the credits of course.

I give the game a 10/10 - I'm not sure if it beats Portal 1's original short 2 hour burst of fun, but it's certainly an extremely clever game and one that just about anyone would like, including non-gamers.