Games Beaten 2014

[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
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 *NEW*
27. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend PSP *NEW*
28. Mischief Makers N64 *NEW*

Another 3 games for this list!

Wave Race 64

Wave Race 64 is my 2nd summer challenge game. It is a game I rather enjoyed during all the moments I wasn't hurlign abuse at my TV whilst playing it. I summed up some final thoughts in the summer challenge thread here: viewtopic.php?f=44&t=46318&start=601

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend

DIVA Extend is the 3rd in the series, and also the 3rd I played (I've played the 4th and 2nd games earlier this year. It still has a lot of the flaws on DIVA 2nd, which isn't surprising, seeing as this is essentially an expansion pack for that game. Your grades aren't tracked, the videos are a bit boring and the lack of the technical zones and chance time mechanics of F mean that it's not as varied in gameplay. Also, a lot of the songs are recycled from earlier games in the series which is a shame.

On the other hand, this game trumps DIVA 2nd massively (and competes with DIVA f too) in two of the most important departments. First, the sounds track in this one is brilliant. Not all of them are to my taste, but those are the exception rather than the rule. It's a lot more rock orientated than the very digitised sounding DIVA 2nd. Secondly, the note charts in this one are a lot of fun - much more intricate and challenging than the raher dull charts in 2nd, and more akin to the stuff in DIVA f. It's probably the most challenging of the three from what I've seen.

Were someone to ask where to start with this series, I'd recommend DIVA F everytime. But if they were to ask which of the three original PSP games to go for, I'd be leaning towards this one right now. It's pretty great.

Mischief Makers

Whilst I had my N64 set up for Perfect Dark and Wave Race for my summer challenge, I thought I'd try and clear out the last few unbeaten N64 games in my collection. Mischief Makers has long been on this list, due to what I thought was a defective cartridge causing constant crashing and glitching. I tried it again with a new cartridge and encountered the same issues.

Long story short, the Expansion Pak in my N64 ws causing some sort of issue with the game. Jumper Pak at the ready, I managed to play through the rest of this game at long last.

Mischief Makers is a very odd game, as you might expect from Treasure. The story is bizarre, humourous, surreal and really nonsensical. It seems badly translated, but based on everything else in the game, it probably gets the point across about as well as you might expect. The graphics in the game are also pretty bizarre, but honestly they're kinda ugly. Prerendered sprites, low resolution and a kinda ugly art style don't do the game many favours, but its nothing too offensive. The music is kinda weird too, but it works well enough.

The gameplay feels a little unrefined. You can dash, roll, jet and jump about, but it never flows particularly well. The grabbing mechanics of the game are used a lot, but the shaking objects to make them to stuff feels a little udnerdeveloped.

The game likes to throw lots of new ideas at you, and often they're used for just one stage. When the game is throwing crazy new level concepts at you, it's at it's best. When you get a generic level where you just walk through doing conventional platforming and fighting a few enemies, it's a bit naff. Boss fights are hit and miss too, with the game having some of the most awesome boss fights ever (riding a cat riding a missile whilst catching a laser beam in your hands is a moment that never gets old) and some totally forgettable ones (most of the 'mini' bosses who appear, such as the mole, frog and bee bosses).

The game is a fun game worth trying in my opinion, but it's not perfect. Your mileage can and will vary

Next up: Snowboard Kids (the one N64 game left unbeaten in my collection), and I'll be chugging through more summer games too - Castlevania:SotN and Double Dragon as the most likely candidates.

[AppleQueso]

Next up: Snowboard Kids (the one N64 game left unbeaten in my collection)

I prefer the sequel honestly, but they're both good.

[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
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale - PS3
Muramasa Rebirth - Vita
Spyro The Dragon - PS1/Vita
Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - PC
Gears of War: Judgment - 360
Raiden III - Arcade (PS2) *new*
Strider - Arcade (PS2) *new*

Total: 33

Games Beaten: 2013 2012 2011 2010

Played these two arcade ports while in a credit-feeding mood. I was able to do so reasonably in Raiden III, but not so reasonably in Strider. Strider was for the Summer Challenge.

[Sload Soap]

Super Mario Bros 3(Snes)

Part of my summer games challenge. More in depth thoughts in that thread. Short version: it's amazing. Played on the All Stars cart.

World Cup France 98: Road to Win(Saturn)

With the World Cup around the corner I did a playthrough of this reasonably obscure Saturn release. I was a bit worried it'd be a duffer, but it turns out it's a hidden gem of sorts. Essentially it's Sega Worldwide Soccer 98 but with club teams replaced by the international ones who contested the 98 finals. France 98 was a pretty good world cup by all accounts so there are some real classic teams and players here which brought back fond memories.

The Worldwide Soccer engine has held up remarkably well over the years and the game is still a ton of fun to play. It's arcade-y but not as overtly so as say Virtua Striker or The Next Glory. There is a decent amount of ways to score, which may sound silly, but one of the major criticisms of early 3D football games was their reliance on super-goalies and "proper" ways to score (something FIFA 14 keeps up to this day). By also having such a narrow focus on just the World Cup I also didn't feel the fatiguing effect that modern footy games can have with their enormous career modes and extended online play options. Indeed, I actually beat the game twice, once as England (of course) and once as Holland. I might try again to lift the trophy with either Japan, Croatia or Nigeria or all three.

At the time it would have been a very cynical product, a quick cash in for the tournament. Now though it is a nice slice of nostalgia from a period when people other than Konami and EA made good football games. Bring on Brazil 2014!

Ghost Recon: Future Solider(360)

Continuing the recent theme of me playing violent modern shooters, comes Ghost Recon: Future Soldier from Ubisoft, in the many storied Tom Clancy family of games. I haven't played a proper Ghost Recon and I seriously doubt I still have but it was a fun experience overall, if one that is slightly gimped in single-player.

It plays like a cross between Splinter Cell and Conflict: Desert Storm with some modern third person shooter elements like roadie runs and waist-high cover everywhere. The future soldier aspect only really enters in the form of semi-invisible active camouflage and X-ray optics for guns. You'd think that being nearly invisible would be a massive tactical advantage for a team of Special Ops marines, but you still end up just shooting most people to death anyway so whatever. It's actually quite funny when later on you fight enemies wearing the active camo you're wearing and you realise how obvious it is.

Anyway, it's an odd game in that you'd think the emphasis would be on stealth and avoiding conflict but there are many points when you will be forced to just break cover and open fire. It's kind of annoying. There was one particularly egregious situation where I had sneaked my way to the target (a truck with a laptop in it) and turned round to see my team miles back taking up positions. Turned out we needed to kill everyone and then move up, even though after obtaining the laptop we moved into a sewer section.

There is one concession to stealth with the sync takedown: you can highlight up to four targets and when each member of the team is properly positioned activate a simultaneous kill. That's really it though and your squadmates will move and position themselves of their own accord. This can lead to the player going too far ahead and getting shot to bits, or they position in a bunch leaving massive spaces for the enemy to close down on you.

So the stealth wasn't really what I was expecting but the gunplay is actually very good. Weapons are meaty and you get good feedback off of hits. Though it's probably more forgiving than a regular Ghost Recon game, health is still low and you will find yourself sticking to cover and looking for ways to flank enemies in firefights.

I also liked the globe hopping level designs and how nice it was after Rogue Warrior and Homefront to have a game where the challenge doesn't flatline after the second level, actually getting harder as the plot gets crazier. Imagine that!

I don't think I can do a proper "review" of this game as a lot of it seems bound to co-op and online play. As it is though I'd say it was an above average cover-shooter with a cool gimmick and some nice locations to butcher people in. If you liked any of the other Tom Clancy games you'll probably get a kick but if you want a more substantial single player experience I'd stick to Vanquish, Binary Domain or Gears of War. Otherwise bring friends and money for those Uplay passports

[Xeogred]

1. Dead Space 3* + Awakened (PS3)
2. Legend of Zelda Wind Waker HD (WiiU)
3. Super Metroid* (WiiU)
4. Binary Domain (PS3)
5. New Super Mario Bros U (WiiU)
6. Silent Hill 4 The Room (PS2)
7. Deus Ex: HR* Director's Cut (WiiU)
8. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)
9. Donkey Kong Country Returns: Tropical Freeze (WiiU)
10. Resident Evil 6 (PS3)
11. Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (WiiU)
12. Dark Souls 2 (PS3)
13. Dark Souls (PS3)
14. Deadly Premonition: Director's Cut (PS3)
15. Killzone 3 (PS3)

* = replay

A fun romp like the second game. This series feels like shmups in first person form, SHOOT AND DON'T STOP! And it does it well. Overall I'd probably say I like the second game more, as it was longer, bigger levels, and a bit less on rails... but Killzone 3 did that stuff pretty well and got pretty epic. I did like feeling a bit lighter too.

I still see this as Sony's answer to Halo, where Halo excels with the music by a long shot, I think Killzone had way better sound. The guns are 20x more intense and awesome. Brutal might be the word, I love how metallic these games were.

[kelsoanim]

I've been slacking on tracking the games I've beaten this year. I had a strong start in January but things started to slip as I started too many long RPGs (still waffling over trying to beat Bravely Default...). I'm trying to keep a ballance of long RPG and short action/adventure/platformer games.

JANUARY
1. Castle of Illustion (PC)
2. Fallout: New Vegas (360)
3. Super Mario 3D World (WiiU)
4. Alien Rage (PC)
5. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
6. Bravely Default - demo (3DSDL)
7. Magic Sword (SNES)
8. Far Cry 3 (PC)

FEBRUARY
9. Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS2)
10. Zone of the Enders (PS3)
11. Marvel Super Heroes (PS)

MARCH
12. Metal Slug (PS2)

APRIL
13. Space Invaders Extreme 2 (NDS)
14. Rayman Legends (WiiU)

MAY
15. Bionic Commando (360)

I consider Bionic Commando an under-rated gem. Sure, the story is ridiculous (man, that ending...) as are the main character's dreads and "personality", but the mechanics are actually pretty fun. I enjoyed the open traversal levels and once you gain all the abilities the combat gets really fun and challenging. Nothing like herding guys together through a choke point then picking up a car and slamming it down at all of them. Or aiming at an enemy towards a ledge then grapple kicking them off. There are some cool orchestrated covers of songs from the NES original that get things pumping during intense moments. I liked some of the boss battles too, the giant mechanical worm stands out with some over the top action. All in all a good game with some flaws that can be over looked if the mechanics grab you enough.

[Flake]

1/12: Kirby's Adventure (NES)
1/20: Injustice: Gods Among US (WiiU)
1/25: Super Mario 3D World (WiiU)
1/29: Metroid Fusion (GBA)
1/30: Metroid II: The Return of Samus (GB)
2/8: Metroid Zero Mission (GBA)
2/23: Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (WiiU)
3/9: Megaman Zero (DS)
3/14: Megaman Battle Network (GBA)
3/19: Star Fox 64 3D (3DS)
3/23: Megaman 6 (NES)
4/9: Project Justice: Rival Schools 2 (DC)
5/12: Capcom vs SNK (DC)
5/17: Megaman: Wily's Revenge (GB)
5/19: Megaman II (GB)
5/23: Megaman III (GB)
5/24: Megaman IV (GB)
5/25: Megaman V (GB)
5/25: Megaman Powered Up!

Megaman V is, in my opinion, one of the best games in the series. It outstrips in scale and ambition every one of the NES originals save Megaman 3. It's almost paradoxical how much effort Capcom's developers put into this gameboy game where Megaman 6 for the NES was so telephoned in. I think the only flaw that Megaman V has is that it's a little too easy. The plot makes it clear that the Stardroids are a veritable apocalypse come to visit the earth but to be frank, I felt that I curb stomped every single one of them. Terra was tripping over himself to give me his lunch money. Any of you Racketfolk who have a 3DS but have not felt like shelling out the $50 bucks for the cartridge original, I'd go ahead and plunk down the $4 this game will cost you on the e-shop.

Megaman Powered Up! is still a really fun game, even 8 years later. Whenever I do my sorta-annual Megaman marathon, I typically allow this game to supplant the original. This morning I opted to run through the game with Protoman, something I actually hadn't bothered to do before. While I think Protoman's execution in Megaman 9 and 10 is functionally better than how it was done in Powered Up!, it's still a lot of fun to do battle with DLN-0 and see how the story of the original game would have changed if Blues had been present. The very last moment, when you see that because Protoman hadn't run off, Rock was never upgraded, was very gratifying. That attention to detail is something that I miss about Capcom's games these days.

[Sload Soap]

Duke Nukem Forever(360)

Jeez, what a complete mess of a game. Duke Nukem Forever is a walking contradiction: it's a game that was in development for 14 years yet feels rushed. It wants to be be an old fashioned FPS but awkwardly crowbars in regenerating health and a two weapon limit. There is destructible scenery...sometimes. There are loads of pointless little interactive items scattered about like pool tables, coffee cups and hard hats to the point I briefly thought I'd been transported back in time to a era when shit like this was actually impressive. The year 2000 I think. Which is appropriate because DNF feels like something designed to take on the original Half-Life.

Having said that though, I did actually find some enjoyment to be had and while I think the game does deserve most of the bad reviews it got, it is not an atrocious game. It is very poorly optimised; even after installing in onto my 360 the load times were staggering for graphics that wouldn't have been impressive in 2006. And somehow there is slowdown.

Bizarrely though, as an unintended side effect of being such a hodge-podge of ideas and mechanics from the last decade and a half of FPS development the game ends up unfocused, but rarely boring. There is fun to be had in the gunplay and a decent variety in enemy types. I quite liked the old fashioned mentality of the boss encounters and there is reasonable variation in environments. If you have the right mentality, the mix of strippers, aliens, old internet memes and bombastic weaponry could be seen as high camp, though there is one ill judged section where both come together to create a very squicky sequence. It's not all bad basically. It's just weird and outdated and stupid which in itself is kind of charming.

I think Edge magazine had it right when they said DNF is game you should play once just for the experience and I get the feeling it'll be dissected in game design classes from now until the apocalypse. You should still probably play Prey or Painkiller though if you want an old fashioned FPS that actually works.

[laurenhiya21]

It's been a while since I've updated because I was in the States for a few weeks, but I have been playing games so... a big update yay (well big by my standards anyway)

1/6: Dear Esther (Steam)
1/11: Hydrophobia: Prophecy (Steam)
1/14: Spirit Camera: Cursed Memoir (3DS)
1/26: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
2/1: 1,000,000 (Steam)
3/14: Thomas Was Alone (Steam)
3/15: Fairy Bloom Freesia (Steam)
3/22: Suikoden (PS1)
3/25: Wizorb (Steam)
3/28: Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (Steam)
3/29: Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)
3/30: Chibi-Robo! (GC)
3/31: Luigi's Mansion (GC)
4/13: Deponia (GOG)
4/13: Shatter (Steam)
4/14: Rusty's Real Deal Baseball: Cage Match (3DS)
4/19: Super Mario Sunshine (GC)
4/23: Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia (PS2)
4/25: Freddi Fish 3: Case of the Stolen Conch Shell (PC)
4/26: Frogatto & Friends (Desura)
5/6: Persona 4 (PS2)
5/9: The Last Us (PS3)
5/24: Atelier Ayesha: Alchemist of Dusk (PS3)

Freddi Fish

I honestly have no clue why I decided to play this, but it's wasn't too bad considering it's a kid's game. Only actual complaint was that one of the mini-games was mind numbly dull with no reward what so ever ._. Don't know why kids would want to play that ugh

Frogatto & Friends

A really fun, colourful platformer that I don't see many people talking about for some reason. It's a shame too because it's definitely one of the best platformers I've played. Plus it actually had an interesting story and main character, which I wasn't expecting at all ha.

Persona 4

After a long while of dawdling to get back to this, I've finally beat it It did get a big grindy for me at some points but the story and character interaction was worth it for me. Oh and the true ending was definitely worth the extra trouble for me :3 I wish it was a bit easier to fuse good Personas without a guide though but that won't stop me from replaying this sometime in the future haha

The Last of Us (I'll try and give my thoughts without spoiling...)

I'm a bit surprised about all the hype for this now that I've actually played it but... I guess the story wasn't bad? I think I just had a really hard time sympathizing with Joel after what he does throughout the game... Plus one hit kills from the Clickers is just so annoying :/ (and 2 of the stages just made me ARG) Umm but... I did like Ellie and how pretty the games was?

Atelier Ayesha: Alchemist of Dusk

I was extremely hyped for this game, and it didn't disappoint in the slightest. (unless you count my disappointment in my ability to time manage...) Great music, not too much grinding, likeable characters, and an awesome alchemy system (once you figure it out) made this a really great game for me :3 Not recommended if you don't like a butt ton of reading though haha

[graffix_13]

1. Tearaway- PS Vita (Platinum Trophy)
2. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag- PS4 (Platinum Trophy)
3. Resogun- PS4 (Platinum Trophy)
4. Super Stardust Delta- PS Vita
5. Galaga Legions DX- PS3
6. Under Defeat HD- PS3 (Platinum Trophy)
7. Ketsui Extra- PS3
8. Tomb Raider: DE- PS4 (Platinum Trophy)
9. DoDonPachi- PS1 (Japanese PSN)
10. Strider- PS4 (Platinum Trophy)
11. Demon's Souls- PS3 (Platinum Trophy)
12. Shadow of the Colossus- PS2
13. Guacamelee!- PS Vita (Platinum Trophy)
14. God Hand- PS2
15. Outlast- PS4
16. Octodad: Dadliest Catch- PS4
17. Transistor- PS4 (Platinum Trophy)

Transistor- I never played Bastion so this was my first SuperGiant game. I enjoyed the combat and graphics, the story really didn't do much for me. My favorite part was setting the Functions and finding out what worked best for your playstyle. Overall it was a short game, and my NG+ playthrough was done pretty quickly. I was able to 1 shot the final boss on all of his phases for an easy victory (as opposed to my first playthrough where he actually took me a few tries). If you can find the right Fuction combination, the game becomes pretty easy. Bounce () upgraded with Tap () and Crash ()= total pwnage.