Games Beaten 2014

[dsheinem]

Games Beaten 2014
January-June
Spider - iOS
Metal Torrent - NDS
Injustice: Gods Among Us - PC
Thief Gold - PC
Shovel Knight - 3DS
Wolfenstein: The New Order - PC
Spoiler Alert - PC
Battle Arena Toshinden - Game Boy
Dungeons and Dragons - Shadow of Mystara - PC
Diablo III - PC
Dungeons and Dragons - Tower of Doom - PC
Expendabros - PC
Doom III: The Lost Mission - PC
Borderlands 2: Headhunter 1: T.K. Baha's Bloody Harvest - PC
Kangaroo - Atari 2600
Escape Goat - PC *new*
Borderlands 2: Headhunter 2: The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler - PC *new*
Borderlands 2: Headhunter 3: How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day - PC *new*
Ninja Spirit - PCE
Borderlands 2: Headhunter 4: Wedding Day Massacre - PC
Proteus - Vita
Destiny - PS4
Karnov - NES
Bug Princess - iOS
Contra: Hard Corps - Genesis
Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge - PS3
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel - PC
Vib-Ribbon - PS1
Deathsmiles (360 Mode) - 360
Vampire Savior (Darkstalkers 3) - PS3
Forza Horizon 2 - - Xbox One *new*
Total: 81

Games Beaten: 2013 2012 2011 2010

It's been like 2+ weeks since I've posted in here as my pace has slowed down a good deal the past few weeks as the busiest stretches of the semester have set in. Still, I have been enjoying a ton of Forza Horizon 2 over the last week or so...

My previous experience with the Forza series is with a few hours here and there in the mainline games, but none of them - for me - can touch the excellence and sheer FUN FACTOR of Horizon 2. It blends the best parts of something like Burnout Paradise and its open-world exploration with a great open off-road exploration series like Smuggler's Run...all with a roster of 200+ real-world cars (including some truly exotic ones, classic ones, entry level ones, etc.) that are tuned to sound, look, and drive like the real thing (like what you'd expect in Forza's main series). There's a great XP and cash system, leveling up is worth doing, and there are soooo many things to do - stunts, races, looking for hidden things, smashing stuff, etc. It is pretty much anything I'd want in a racing game with the exception of the NFS cops/crooks stuff. Oh, and it looks AMAZING the entire time. This one is high in the running for my GOTY list.

tldr: Forza Horizon 2 is Skyrim with cars.

[alienjesus]

First 50:

1. Kirby's Epic Yarn Wii
2. To The Moon Christmas Special PC
3. Super Mario 3D World Wii U
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD Wii U
5. Chiki Chiki Boys Mega Drive
6. World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Mega Drive
7. Metal Gear PSVita
8. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake PSVita
9. Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy 3DS
10. Akai Katana 360
11. Metal Gear Solid GBC
12. Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland PSN
13. Tearaway PSN
14. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA ƒ PSN
15. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd PSP
16. Final Fantasy VII PS1
17. Dead or Alive 5 Plus PSVita
18. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 3DS
19. NES Remix 2 Wii U eShop
20. Starfox Assault GC
21. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 3DS
22. Cybernator SNES
23. Gravity Rush PSVita
24. Perfect Dark N64
25. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood PSP
26. Wave Race 64 N64
27. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend PSP
28. Mischief Makers N64
29. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night PSP
30. Snowboard Kids N64
31. Mario Kart 8 Wii U
32. Double Dragon NES
33. Shantae 3DS VC
34. Maestro: Jump in Music DS
35. Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure DS
36. Bangai-O DC
37. Ristar Wii VC
38. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty PSVita
39. Muramasa Rebirth PSN
40. Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom Wii U eShop
41. Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara Wii U eShop
42. Mega Man Wii U VC
43. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together PSP
44. Mega Man 3 Wii U VC
45. Mega Man 4 Wii U VC
46. Scooby Doo: Classic Creep Capers GBC
47. Kirby's Dream Land 2 3DS VC
48. Mega Man 5 Wii U VC
49. Mega Man 6 Wii U VC
50. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Wii U

51. Sayonara Umihara Kawase 3DS eShop
52. Konami Krazy Racers GBA
53. Final Fantasy X HD Remaster PSVita
54. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS 3DS eShop
55. Kirby: Triple Deluxe 3DS eShop
56. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call 3DS
57. Hyrule Warriors Wii U *NEW*
58. Final Fantasy PSP *NEW*

Hyrule Warriors

Hyrule Warriors is a game I was uncertain about when it was announced, but as it got closer and closer to release, the hype machine did it's magic and I ended up picking it up at launch (well, sorta. It got lost in the post and I didn't get it until a few weeks later).

Working off of the Dynasty Warriors formula, Hyrule Warriors is definitely a very simple and quite repetitive game. Slice down hordes of enemies with your fairly limited combos, defend you base, capture your enemies ones etc etc. Your teammates are useless and most enemies are barely a threat.

And yet, it's all quite a lot of fun. Difficulty mainly seems to come from trying to multitask - the game often wants you to be in several places at once, and managing where to be and when is the real meat of the game mechanics imo. Whilst the variety of combos available to you is shallow, the characters do all feel significantly different and elements of the Zelda series have been worked into the formula well - I liked using subweapons and finding skulltulas and loved all the references and callbacks to the franchise.

I played a lot of the game in 2 player, and whilst it is undoubtedly very fun, returning to single player afterwards reveals just how limited the 2 player is technically - there are at least 4 times as many enemies displayed on screen at once in single player, and the graphics take a notable knock when another player joins the game.

Overall, whilst it's not a game I could play for very long sessions, I've had a lot of fun with Hyrule Warriors and it's definitely a game I would recommend people pick up for the Wii U.

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy is the 3rd game in the series I've beaten this year (after FFVII and FFX) and the 7th I've beat overall (III, IX, IV, V, VII, X, I). It's certainly interesting comparing the series over the generations to see where it came from and where it headed. FFI is definitely archaic, but it has a simple charm that made it enjoyable enough to play.

That said, there are definitely some issues I had with it. Grinding for money to buy spells and armor is horrible early in the game, and at the very end. A lot of the time it's not clear where to go, and sometimes stuff happened without me really knowing why, which makes me feel like I missed some dialogue somewhere that would explain it. This was especially evident in the final dungeon where my party seemed to know what they were doing here, but I didn't know how they knew that.

Although those issues are symptoms of age, my biggest issue with the game can't be attributed to age at all - it's endemic of the GBA and PSP remakes. The difficulty in the remakes might best be described as 'pathetically easy'. Other good descriptors would be 'monotonous', 'mindless' or 'mind-numbing'. Most enemies do pathetic damage and die in one hit, yet the encounter rate is high meaning you spend a lot of time on auto pilot. This is compounded by the magic system revamp of the remakes - with limited spell charges like the original, I could imagine there being some challenge from the battle of attrition, and you might take a few gambles to save your spells just a little longer. With the MP system here though, you just heal whenever you need too. I got a little low on MP at some points, but I never had to use a potion, so it was never an issue - if I'd ran out of magic I had hundreds of healing items at the ready.

So overall Final Fantasy was a mixed bag. It was charming, the music and graphics were great and it was compelling enough for an old-school RPG. But it was let down by tedious grinding and tedious dungeons full of tedious enemies that just weren't a threat at all. Not my favourite in the series for sure.

[Sload Soap]

Desert Strike (Snes)

It's probably been close to twenty years since I last had a concerted effort to beat Desert Strike but amazingly I found that, due to the unforgiving nature of the series, a lot of the game was burned into my memory.

If you're not familiar with the Strike series, they are a bunch of helicopter based non-linear isometric shooters with a leaning towards strategic and tactical thinking. The first two games are very clearly takes on the first Gulf War (Desert) and the invasion of Panama (Jungle). Despite or perhaps because of that the series in generally fairly tongue in cheek and cartoony. The military hardware on show is authentic but this isn't a simulation game.

I've never been a huge military junkie or anything but I do love the gorgeous pixel representations of early nineties military hardware. The designers also do a good job of making the enemy vehicles and guns look dangerous even before they fire: the first time you see an MLRS you will most probably shit yourself and flee.

There are also lots of lovely incidental details; the clear blue sea lapping at the desert shore, camps of Bedouin with their camels tied up, a downed F-15 pilot waving for a pick-up by the burning wreck. Desert Strike isn't the most impressive looking game ever, far from it, but the graphics and animations go a long way to setting the tone and mood of the game.

Add that there is no music outside of the menus leaving you with just the sound of your propellers creating an oddly lonely experience. It reinforces that you are a one man army but it also hints that you'll be getting no help on this quest. It's usually the calm before the storm though as gunfights are noisy but quick affairs punctuating the relative silence. I'm not sure if this was an intentional design choice but I think it worked out for the best this way. It adds a real tension, something akin to playing Battlefield online or even, dare I say it, a Souls game.

Like those games, it's safe to say that Desert Strike is a tough old beast. There is a very high chance you will fail on a first attempt and the key to survival is learning the ammo and fuel placements on maps and avoiding conflict wherever possible.

At first it seems an antithetical way to approach the game: you are the pilot of a heavily armed and armoured helicopter gunship and you are much more maneuverable than your ground based targets. Well yes you are, but fighting wastes ammo and more importantly fuel and both are in limited supply. So instead of unleashing the full fury of your arsenal on the enemy you will most likely bypass them altogether.

The game is also excellently structured. There are four levels (or campaigns) each played on a large map where you must complete objectives to progress. There is a hint of genius in that while some objectives, especially on later maps, are obscured until a previous one is complete , there is ample room for sequence breaking.

Whether intentional or not this gives the player room to exert his or her own playstyle or tactics onto the game and it really helps to relive the frustration of retries as you can always opt to approach an objective in a different way or order.

However the open structure does lead to a few issues most notably where difficulty comes in. Most games you would expect the difficulty to increase as you neared the finish. Not so Desert Strike. Here the difficulty can peak and fall from objective to objective creating a rather uneven overall experience when missions are played back to back. There are moments in the second mission which are harder than those in the final mission for example.

It also leads to a lot of deaths purely because you ran out of fuel. At first fuel and ammo crates are shown on the in game map screen but later their locations become concealed. It is recommended that your first attempt at a mission will best be served as a scouting trip, destroying any and all buildings looking for those precious cargoes. (I seem to recall slapping plain paper on the monitor and tracing these locations for future use.)

I would never call Desert Strike unfair though. It might seem like it delights in downing your chopper just as you find some fuel drums or putting an important rescue target in your direct line of fire but it's actually teaching you to be patient and to think.

Desert Strike comes across as some mad guns-blazing shooter but there is a lot of tactical depth here as well as a game that doesn't patronise its player. It's one of those games you can beat in a night but it probably took you weeks of replaying to get to that level of skill and it's all totally worth it.


(As a side note I thought I hadn't ever beaten the game before but it turns out I had. The DOS version I played way back when had an extra level that followed after the "final" level fooling me into thinking it was the true last level. It isn't and it isn't present in the Snes version anyway.)

Jungle Strike (MD)

I remember me and my brothers pleading with my dad to upgrade our (his) PC from 4MB RAM to 8 just so we could play Jungle Strike. He did in the end bless him, although I don't think his intentions were entirely altruistic.

Jungle Strike is kind of your typical sequel: you take everything the fans liked about the game and make them bigger. Desert Strike had four missions, Jungle Strike has nine. Desert Strike had an Apache helicopter, Jungle Strike upgrades to a Commanche and lets you pilot a hovercraft, bike and stealth fighter. Desert Strike was set in the Gulf, Jungle Strike is set all over South America. The graphics are better, the environments are more varied and everything is just a touch smoother.

It seems like a recipe for a great game but I feel like the team slipped up in a few departments and, although I used to feel oppositely, I think Jungle Strike is actually inferior to its predecessor.

Now it's not a massive downgrade or anything, far from it. Jungle Strike comes out of the blocks very strongly with the first five missions offering a bevy of exciting set pieces including a terrorist attack on Washington D.C and night time mission to rescue POWs that is lit up by your gunfire. It's much more varied than Desert Strike was.

It's all good until you reach mission six where you suddenly realise you're doing much the same objectives you were in mission three, but this time in the snow and there are stupidly strong tanks EVERYWHERE. To me it felt like the designers had taken the easy route with regards difficulty i.e, a previous challenge but with more numerous and tougher enemies. I'd rather the game's difficulty was uneven than unfair and unfortunately Jungle Strike kind of crossed that line for me.

That's not even mentioning mission seven's execrable Stealth Fighter. What should have been a cathartic joy piloting a plane with unlimited fuel and ammo turns instead into a very unresponsive Zaxxon clone where ground based targets are hard to hit even when lined up and merely brushing the side of anything higher than a horse will cause you to immediately explode. And I do mean brush; the hit detection in this section is awful. To play the level properly is an exercise in tedium as you try your hardest against deliberately laggy controls to make tight circles around ground targets hoping that your missile barrage hits home. Rubbish.

Thankfully mission eight rescues things by putting you back in the chopper and giving you a proper challenge. There are some great bits here like hunting down hidden tomahawk launchers by finding the artillery protecting them or a frantic dash to capture the Drug Lord before he escapes on a riverboat. It makes an excellent climax to the game and nearly redeems levels six and seven...before the game pulls a pointless and lazy switcheroo and makes you fight again on the streets of Washington D.C again.

This last level is perplexing for a lot of reasons. For one it lazily reuses the Washington map from the first level. This could be seen as a narrative device closing the story at its beginning which would be fine if the level didn't properly slow the game right down with an asinine hunt for hidden APC's.

Mainly though it's not even that hard. The final level of Desert Strike has you unloading all your arms desperately into the Madman's bomber as he tries to take off but here you casually incinerate the baddies (who choose incredibly conspicuous methods of transportation to escape in) before destroying some nuclear bomb carrying trucks at a leisurely pace. I felt it a weird and unnecessary coda to an otherwise taunt (missions six and seven excluded) experience.

I've been perhaps a bit overly critical here but I do think that whereas Desert Strike is a game that keeps you coming back, Jungle Strike veers very close to outstaying its welcome. Two thirds of the game are great and better than Desert Strike (possibly the best in series) but as a whole that leaves one whole third that is irritating and repetitive and cheap.

Jungle Strike reminded me oddly enough of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped in that it adds too much to the mix and almost derails the core experience. It's a nice idea on paper to have a jet fighter and a bike and a level in the snow but they aren't implemented in a cohesive manner which leads to some sloppy design choices elsewhere.

I still highly recommend it overall but I would recommend playing it in chunks. And don't get into that bloody F-117A Nighthawk whatever you do.

(As with Desert Strike the DOS version had an extra level although this time it was more explicitly stated to be an extra. Good to know I was a member of the PC master race back then.)

Starwing (Snes)

Route one run, nice and easy. I think people find Starwing (Star Fox) to be more of an artifact these days than a game but myself, I don't think it's aged at all.

It plays like a dream and looks like a dream and I mean this in all seriousness; Andross is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in a game. That isn't nostalgia either as I hadn't beaten Starwing until maybe two years ago.

For me it's very telling that when the game starts up it's in this window in the middle of the screen but, like a great movie or TV show, those black borders soon disappear as you are sucked into the action. It's engaging, it looks like a bizarre cubist experimental piece and it moves at a perfect pace.

Great game. Falco can jog on though. I hate him more than Slippy.

[alienjesus]

Great game. Falco can jog on though. I hate him more than Slippy.

I'm sure I know what he'd say to that too.

'WUR WURR WURR DAMUN!'

[Sload Soap]

Great game. Falco can jog on though. I hate him more than Slippy.

I'm sure I know what he'd say to that too.

'WUR WURR WURR DAMUN!'

I do love that sound effect despite my hatred for that blue twat.

[Luke]

First 50

)
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
8 ) 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 Game Gear
40) Batman NES
41) Actraiser snes
42) Bioshock Infinite 360
43) Street Fighter II snes
44) Maximum Carnage snes
45) Super Empire Strikes Back snes
46) Madden 94' snes
47) Super Star Wars snes
48) Super Return of the Jedi snes
49) Super R*Type snes
50) Super Mario World snes

51) Final Fight snes
52) DOOM snes
53) Aladdin snes
54) Earthworm Jim Genesis
55) Earthworm Jim 2 Saturn
56) Tekken Tag 2 and stuff 360
57) Ninja Gaiden 2 nes
58) Metroid Zero Mission gba
59) Metroid gba
60) Godzilla nes
61) Contra nes
62) Jackal nes
63) Top Gun nes
64)TMNT II The Arcade Game NES
65)TMNT: Turtles in Time
66)X-Men Genesis
67)Soul Calibur II
68)Captain Skyhawk
69)Golden Axe
70)Streets of Rage
71)Donkey Kong Country
72)Super Mario Bros 3
73)Gradius III
74)Separation Anxiety
75)Ninja Gaiden III
76) Super Castlevania IV snes
77) Castlevania nes
78) Mutant league hockey genesis
79) DOOM 3 xbox
80) Zombies ate my neighbors genesis
81) Rebel Assault Sega CD
82) Rebel Assault II Playstation
82) Crash team Racing Playstation
83) Contra Legacy of War Playstation
84) TMNT nes
85) Hulk Ultimate destruction xbox
86) Fester's Quest nes *new*
87) LHX dos *new*


Fester's Quest is terrific "Saturday Morning" game. Great music, great graphics, and it will keep you busy for a few hours. Also, it's a controller thrower. Worth the frustration if you ask me.

LHX. Not much to say about it other than twenty or so years ago I loved it. Not so much any more.

[prfsnl_gmr]

First 25

1. Hotline Miami (PS3)
2. Boulder Dash XL 3D (3DS)
3. Mirror's Edge (PS3)
4. Orcs & Elves (DS)
5. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
6. Justice League Heroes: The Flash (GBA)
7. Metal Gear (MSX/PS2)
8. Wario Land: Shake It! (WII)
9. LittleBigPlanet: Game of the Year Edition (PS3)
10. Drill Dozer (GBA)
11. LittleBigPlanet 2: Special Edition (PS3)
12. South Park: The Stick of Truth (PS3)
13. Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing (PS3)
14: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
15. Angry Birds: Star Wars (3DS)
16. Nervous Brickdown (DS)
17. Dragon's Lair (ARCADE/DS)
18. Flashback: The Quest for Identity (GEN)
19. Jumping Flash! 2 (PS1)
20. Virtual Boy Wario Land (VB)
21. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (PS3)
22. Nectaris: Military Madness (PS1)
23. Military Madness (TG16/PS1)
24. Thomas Was Alone (PS3)
25. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (SNES)

26. Alien Chaos 3D (3DS)
27. Return Fire (3DO/PS1)
28. Puppeteer (PS3)
29. Giana Sisters DS (DS)
30. Street of Rage 2 (GEN)
31. Halo 2 (XBOX)
32. OutRun (ARCADE/GBA)
33. Dig Dug (ARCADE/GBA)
34. Tron (ARCADE/GBA)
35. Spider Man (2600)
36. One-on-One Basketball (7800)
37. Jak & Daxter (PS2/PS3)
38. Front Line (ARCADE/PS2)
39. DuckTales Remastered (PS3)
40. Donkey Kong Country Returns (WII)
41. Barbie & The Three Musketeers (WII)
42. Ghostbusters: The Video Game (PS3)
43. Wendy: Every Witch Way (GBC)
44. Track & Field (ARCADE/DS)
45. Guitar Hero (PS2)

My three-year-old son decided that he likes to rock; so, I decided to play through the original Guitar Hero. I played a ton of Guitar Hero II back in 2007, but I have not touched any game in the series since then. (Likewise, I have never played any of the Rock Band games.) Accordingly, my plastic guitar skills were a bit rusty. I picked them back up quickly enough, however, and although my fingeres are not as nimble as they were seven years ago, I still played a decent cover of Bark at the Moon on "normal" difficulty last night. Regardless, the game is tremendous fun, and the feeling you get when you nail a difficult solo is exhilirating. The series certainly deserved all of its success, and I will probably go back and improve some of my scores and unlock a few more guitars, skins, and songs.

[Luke]

Karnov - NES

Nice. One the best Data East games on the nes.

Still remember the first time I played Bad Dudes and saw Karnov's cameo. Bitchin'.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Karnov - NES

Nice. One the best Data East games on the nes.

Still remember the first time I played Bad Dudes and saw Karnov's cameo. Bitchin'.

I love that he was Data East's mascot and that he is the villain in Data East's best fighting games.

[Luke]

I love that he was Data East's mascot and that he is the villain in Data East's best fighting games.

I love that somehow I've beaten Karnov a few times, that I still have no idea how the game works. It's bizarre but extremely fun.