Games Beaten 2014

[dsheinem]

Games Beaten 2014
Primal Rage - 32X
Golden Axe - Genesis
To the Moon: Holiday Special - PC
Need for Speed: Rivals - PS4
Halo: Spartan Assault - Xbox One
Kolibri - 32X
Motocross Championship - 32X
Shank 2 - PS3
Colassatron: Massive World Threat - iOS
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - PS3
Snafu - Intellivision - Intellivision
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom - Wii
Street Fighter vs. Tekken - Vita
Wolf Fang - PS1/Vita
Mirror's Edge - iOS
Infamous: Festival of Blood - PS3
The Last of Us: Left Behind - PS3
Flappy Bird - iOS
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - PS4
Titanfall - Xbox One
Infamous: Second Son - PS4
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - PC
Killzone: Mercenaries - Vita
Shock Troopers - Arcade (PS2)
Borderlands - PC/PS3
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012) - Vita *new*

Total: 26

Games Beaten: 2013 2012 2011 2010

Vroom Vroom

Two NFS games this year, both of which were excellent. The series has really come into its own (again?) now that Criterion is behind the wheel...

[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 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 *new*

It's like playing with the Godzilla action figure you grew up with, but it's blue.

I actually heavily enjoy this game. It's repetitive as the music at The Limited, but I still find a way to think it's fun. Mothra blows, so I let the thing die first in every level, and then play with Godzilla the entire way through. The boss battles is where it's at, and where it's at is pretty neat.

I believe there are just over a dozen bosses, and although some are a bit tame, most are brawlers. Destroy All Monsters is next on my list...

[ExedExes]

The fact that the NES Godzilla was developed by Compile doesn't hurt either.

[Luke]

The fact that the NES Godzilla was developed by Compile doesn't hurt either.

It's a fun game. It's not great, but it is fun.

Sure, I'd rather have a Godzilla game where I crush cities instead of satellite dishes, plants, and brain mushrooms, but I dig the game. The game has big sprites with fluid motion, which was a challenge back then. Far from perfect, but fun balls

[prfsnl_gmr]

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)

Almost everyone has played Uncharted: Drake's Fortune; so, I won't write too much. That said, I described the game as "Tomb Raider 2 with more compelling combat and less compelling platforming" in another thread, and I stand by my description. It is quite fun, however, and the last third is excellent. I recommend it, and I am looking forward to the sequels. (I will probably place them on my "summer gaming challenge" list since completing them will allow me to achieve one of my gaming goals for 2014. Also, I have read that they are pretty good...)

Also, I nearly completed Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing. (I got through all the challenges, and I placed first in all of the Advanced cups. I also unlocked all the characters and tracks.) I expect to revisit it intermittently, and when I do, I will have the "expert" mode waiting for me.

[Violent By Design]

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)

Almost everyone has played Uncharted: Drake's Fortune; so, I won't write too much. That said, I described the game as "Tomb Raider 2 with more compelling combat and less compelling platforming" in another thread, and I stand by my description. It is quite fun, however, and the last third is excellent. I recommend it, and I am looking forward to the sequels. (I will probably place them on my "summer gaming challenge" list since completing them will allow me to achieve one of my gaming goals for 2014. Also, I have read that they are pretty good...)

Also, I nearly completed Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing. (I got through all the challenges, and I placed first in all of the Advanced cups. I also unlocked all the characters and tracks.) I expect to revisit it intermittently, and when I do, I will have the "expert" mode waiting for me.

I'm gonna check out Drake's fortune sometime this year as well. Not sure if I'll play the others this year, depends on how fresh I want the series to feel.

[Sload Soap]

Assassin's Creed 3(360)

Oy, where to start?

Assassin's Creed 3 is a shadow of its sequel and forebears. The parts for AC4 are all laid out here, but they are constructed in the most baffling way possible. If AC4 is a sleek ship of the line, AC3 is a battered old skiff ferrying manure. The mechanics are here to serve the plot and not, as it should be, the gameplay.

And what a disjointed mess of a plot it is. This is a case of "things happen". There is no story beyond the usual revenge driven quest that also framed AC2, though to say AC2 pulled it off better is an understatement. Player character Connor is most definitely the worst protagonist the series has had, possibly one of the worst in a major release. Ezio had elegance and wit to go with his passion. Edward was introduced as a down on his luck loser before we guided him to greatness. Even Altair had more to him.

Connor though? He's both boorish and a bore, traits he never grows out of. He has everything given to him while he picks up and then drops allegiances on a whim. He's surly and obnoxious to everybody up to and including George fucking Washington! Seriously. He looks on with disinterest as the declaration of independence is signed, is sassy to Samuel Adams and Paul Revere and generally uses the war of independence as a means to and end while having the nerve to criticise the founding fathers for doing the same. I half expected him to shout "Later losers!" and then skateboard through the streets of ye olde Boston to a hang around the ye olde mall.

What's most amusing is that he is completely overshadowed in his own game by his much cooler, more interesting father. Ubisoft perform a switch and bait having us control Connor's father Haytham Kenway for the opening section. And Haytham rocks. He has all the best lines, he has a clear goal, is charming and most importantly he is not a prick. As if the underline AC3's narrative problems it turns out that Haytham, the most likable character in the game, is the bad guy.

Obviously other games have had villains more interesting than the leads, Vaas of Ubisoft's own Far Cry 3 comes instantly to mind, but never have I wanted to not only be the baddie, but for him to succeed. Vaas was a good character but I wanted him dead. Dead as spam. Sephiroth, Kefka and Kuja light up their respective stories, but they needed to be stopped. With Haytham I felt only longing, like somehow the developers would realise their mistake and we'd be put back in control of him and the Templar's would win the day.

Ordinarily I wouldn't be so arsed about any of this IF the gameplay remained unmolested, but that isn't the case. Playing as Haytham is fun and the twist that he's a Templar is cool but Ubisoft uses up three of the games twelve "sequences" to show this. Before we even begin the plot is playing catch up. Worse still the fourth sequence is used up with exposition and the learning of mechanics that are only helpful in (tedious) sub-missions. Essentially AC3 blows a third of its run time on its introduction. In comparison by the fifth sequence of Black Flag you're free to roam the seas, have been introduced to crucial plot points and met many of your allies and enemies. Not since FFXIII have I played a game that took so long getting to the bloody point with both story and mechanics.

The aspect of the game that takes the biggest hit though is the setting. What a waste to use the Revolution as the backdrop to this turd. As mentioned, most of the famous historical figures are there to be insulted by the lead but it gets worse as you get shoved between famous battles with very little thought by Ubisoft as to why you would be there in the first place. Speaking frankly 18th century Boston and New York are boring with few of the landmarks that nowadays define them. The war doesn't seem to effect the cities or it's people with Redcoats patrolling the streets and countryside after the game finishes.

Exploration is hampered as well. It's nearly as bad as the first AC game for having the narrative curtail any chance to explore the world, the game constantly picking you up at the end of missions and plonking you elsewhere. I guess I won't bother finding synchronisation points or treasure chest then. A decent sized chunk of frontier land is replicated, but it's too craggy to explore on horse and too vast to explore on foot so I didn't bother with either. Ubisoft should have looked towards Red Dead to get this aspect right; flatter land may logically seem boring but in practice is more enjoyable to pass through.

Mission structure is odd. A lot of missions are just you following other characters between cut-scenes either on foot or horseback. The assassinations are lame. I often over thought them which lead to frustration before realising how obvious the "correct" way to do them was. Pitcairn's assassination in particular leaves no room for the player to apply their own tactics and practically insists on performing an aerial execution.

All this and I haven't even mentioned how buggy the game is. There are glitches for everything: horses getting stuck on and in scenery, voice samples abruptly stopping mid-sentence, cut-scenes not loading, spawning under the scenery when using fast travel, texture pop-in, short draw distances, etc, etc. Not up to snuff for such an expensively made game.

You'll note I haven't mentioned any of the Desmond stuff. This is because I've always found that aspect totally redundant and even though the most major plot point in the series happens while in Desmond's shoes, it's full of stupid techno-babble and is so poorly directed I couldn't care less.

I made it through Assassin's Creed 3 more out of a morbid curiosity than any real desire to beat it. It's almost fascinatingly broken on nearly every level. It's badly plotted, paced and performed while many of its mechanics go to waste. It squanders its setting telling a dull story of revenge with pantomime villains. Though some 20+ years pass as the story proceeds, no one ages or gains any weight. It tries its hand at critiquing the motives behind the birth of America with about as much intelligence and maturity as a high school kid who just saw "Loose Change" for the first time. It has game breaking bugs and worse graphical and audio fidelity than its predecessors. It's a maddeningly shoddy product from a studio that should have learnt what its fanbase expects from the franchise.

TLDR/ Assassin's Creed 3 is total mess from beginning to end and joins Final Fantasy XIII and Resident Evil 6 as one of the worst triple A releases in recent years. Avoid even if you like the franchise.

[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 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 *new*
62) Jackal nes *new*

I also beat Mike Tyson again. Fun day of gaming yesterday was.

[ExedExes]

1. Metal Gear - NES (February 27)
2. Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault - PC (March 4)
3. Thunderbirds - NES (March 9)
4. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 - Gamecube (March 22)
5. Army Men: Sarge's War -Gamecube (March 22)
6. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas - PC (April 5)
7. Army Men Advance - GBA (April 16)
8. *NEW* Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death - PC (April 27)

A FPS I was initially unaware of but thanks to a timely suggestion by Ack I was able to get it on GOG for 70% off. Futuristic, dark & bleak cityscapes reminiscent of Deus Ex, the ability to disarm enemies and arrest them as opposed to killing them, a zombie-themed mall level and your standard weapon has 6 types of shots available. You may not have heard of it, but not a bad way to spend your time either.

[alienjesus]

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 *NEW*
20. Starfox Assault GC *NEW*

Two more for the list. Feel like I'm finally picking up the pace, although I've played a lot of short stuff lately

NES Remix 2
The first NES Remix was a game that I enjoyed a lot when it came out at the end of last year. It's hard to place exactly why - it often felt like a tutorial turned into a mini game, and there were too many simple game challenges and not enough of the crazy new remixes.

NES Remix 2 is pretty much more of the same. There aren't any more remixes than last time, and there's actually slightly less of the basic challenges too. The games chosen are better games certainly, but I kind of feel a lot of the original games worked better for the short form fun challenges that the game consists of. I also feel that the challenges were a lot easier this time - getting 3 stars on some missions was pretty tough in NES Remix 1, but I got them first time on 99% of stages here.

The game is still a lot of fun though, despite being shorter and easier. I think the big problem was that it just didn't feel as fresh as it did first time around. The challenge mdoe and luigi bros bonuses were nice, but I'd have liked to see a bit more innovation in the main meat of the game.

I actually enjoyed my time with this game, and I'd recommend it to people happily. It just didn't grab me like the first.

Starfox Assault
Starfox Assault is a game I think gets a lot of stick, somewhat unfairly. It's certainly not without it's problems. The game is really short, there isn't a huge amount of replay value due to it's linearity, the story is stupid (and front and centre in the game) and the voice acting is bad. There's also too much traipsing about on foot and not enough flying around in your arwing. They're all valid complaints.

To a point at least. The game is really short, but it feels like a well rounded campaign. There are one or two dud missions, but the variety of mission types is reasonably high and each mission has multiple sections where the objective changes to keep it interesting. The fact that there are only 10 and it's all linear is an issue, but at least there are medals and suchlike to come back to and achieve, which grant rewards including multiplayer arenas and an unlockable version of Xevious.

The story is bad, but honestly, it's no worse than that in Starfox64. In addition, it comes across with a so bad it's good Saturday morning cartoon vibe that I honestly found myself quite enjoying, even if it was mostly in an ironic way. It's much better than the story in Starfox Command which reads like terrible fan fiction.

The traipsing around on foot isn't as fun or as polished as flying around in the arwing, but it was a fun attempt to do something new and different with the game. I like levels where I can jump in and out of the arwing and landmaster, even if the basic flying missions are still the best ones.

The game has a lot of good points I feel get ignored too - it controls wonderfully, the multiplayer mode is fantastic, and the number of enemies on screen at once is pretty impressive and can make some of the fights feel really epic.

I like Starfox Assault. It's definitely flawed, and it doesn't match up the great Starfox 64 or the amazing SNES original, but it is a lot of fun, and that's enough for me to appreciate it.