Games Beaten 2015

[noiseredux]

Gurumin!

...on Steam.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I can't play it on Steam and snuggle with my wife and babby at the same time.

I feel like I have to remind you guys every couple of weeks: handhelds > consoles > PC.

[MrPopo]

So do Bravely Default.

[darsparx]

The Silent Age(iOS) - don't know what compelled me to download and subsequently buy the second chapter but this was a excellent point and click type game(which I still missed a lot off little things that caused me to get stuck every now and then but all things considered still worth the 4.99) (now if I can manage to switch screens from my sp to original gba then I'll be golden and hopefully take some of those out on my breaks at work...)

[Ack]

1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
5. The Tick (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Alien vs Predator (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. X-Kaliber 2097 (SNES)(Action Platformer)
8. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)
9. Shadowrun (SNES)(RPG)
10. Quake II (PC)(FPS)
11. The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (SNES)(RPG)
12. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC)(Action)
13. A Story About My Uncle (PC)(Platformer)
14. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC)(FPS)
15. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith (PC)(FPS)
16. Catacomb (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
17. Catacomb Abyss (PC)(FPS)
18. Catacomb Armageddon (PC)(FPS)
19. Catacomb Apocalypse (PC)(FPS)
20. The Catacomb (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)

Now that I've played through all of the Catacomb Adventure series, I figured I should go back to playing through the original id Software trilogy. Yesterday I beat Catacomb Apocalypse, but I was well into The Catacomb by the time I posted here. I ended up clearing out The Catacomb a few hours later but wanted to wait until morning to write this up.

The Catacomb was originally titled Catacomb II, which would have been an apt name because it is a sequel to John Carmack's original release. It's longer, features a new monster design, and now sports a save feature and proper menus not found in the previous 10-level release. Instead, The Catacomb sports 30 all new levels(the last of which are based on Dante Alighieri's Inferno, but not all of them have to be played through, as it uses a hub system which lets the player skip around while trying to continue. I mentioned the hub system as a staple of the series when I discussed Catacomb Apocalypse, and this is where it got its start, on good old floor 10. From there the player must move through various worlds to try and find the magic mirror which will take them to the Forgotten Tomb on floor 12 and then on to floor 20 and the circles of Hell.

This game can be difficult if the player is not cautious and fails to properly trap larger and more powerful enemies into narrow corridors where they cannot get you. Advancing too far too fast in any map may bring about an onslaught of nasties which will quickly drain your health faster than you can spam the space bar. But if you take a step at a time, properly lead your targets, and don't waste your hard-hitting scrolls, beating the hordes of monsters will not prove impossible, even when facing multiple dragons, the biggest brute of them all.

Understanding the save system is also crucial; you do not save at a particular point, you only save on the floor you are on. If you save on floor 14 ,then you always reload at the start, no matter how far you were when you advanced. This means every floor is fresh and you are mostly safe when you reload, but it also means every floor must be beaten in one go or you will not be advancing. So save once on each floor.

Finally, the hub system presents both challenges and a few boons. One of the floors available at the hub has all of its enemies locked away and presents you with 10 potions every time you start there. You can easily farm for supplies and score on this level if you like by running through it multiple times. The game still tracks all of your items far beyond the visual limit it imposes on your stash, and running through this particular level will net you 10 potions every time(and quite a few magic scrolls, if you find where they are hidden). I farmed it 5 times before advancing beyond, and I never again dropped below the visual limit of what I was carrying. At the same time, a couple of the magic mirrors necessary to advance beyond the hub are invisible. Signs in the various levels hint at where these magic mirrors are hidden, but I admit that I eventually turned to a map to figure out how to get to the Forgotten Tomb. Yo have to go through floor 19, but to get to 19, you have to find where the mirror is hidden, and it's in a passageway with numerous locked doors where you only have one key, meaning if you open the wrong door, you have to reload.

Did I like The Catacomb? Yes, it feels like a worthy sequel to Carmack's original game. I also like that I can see how the series kept true to its roots even as it shifted perspective. I don't much desire to play through it again for a higher score, but I was entertained while I was going through it.

This only leaves Catacomb 3-D to beat, and then I'm done with the whole series.

[alienjesus]

1. Star Fox 2 SNES
2. Sonic Advance 2 GBA
3. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Wii U
4. Advance Wars: Dark Conflict DS
5. Joy Mech Fight Famicom
6. Grandia PS1
7. Money Idol Exchanger Game Boy
8. The Battle of Olympus NES
9. Lost Kingdoms 2 GC
10. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon DS
11. Code of Princess 3DS DL
12. Discworld Saturn
13. Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru [For the Frog the Bell Tolls] Game Boy
14. 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 3DS DL
15. 3D Streets of Rage 3DS DL
16. Pokémon Shuffle 3DS DL
17. 3D Altered Beast 3DS DL
18. 3D Super Hang-On 3DS DL
19. 3D Space Harrier 3DS DL
20. 3D Galaxy Force II 3DS DL
21. 3D Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master 3DS DL *NEW*
22. Sonic 3 & Knuckles Mega Drive *NEW*
23. Bayonetta Wii U *NEW*
24. Fighting Vipers Saturn *NEW*
25. Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan 3DS *NEW*

3D Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

This is my first time playing Shinobi 3 for more than 10 minutes or so, and it's pretty great.

The game feels a lot more fluid than previous Shinobi games, and you actually feel more like a steretypical ninja - you can run, drop kick, wall jump and swing from the ceiling - you're a lot more mobile than you have been before. It feels like there's more focus on being aggressive - run at your enemies and take them out before they attack - this is a real contrast to Revenge of Shinobi's very deliberate and careful pace. Is it better? ...No, not really. Is it worse? Definitely not. What it is is different, and I appreciate that in a series.

The difficulty of the game is much easier too - your extra mobility makes a lot of Shinobi's platforming challenges much simpler - that'd not to say they can't cause you some issues, but there's nothing like those pixel perfect leaps and double jumps over the water in the docks level of Revenge of Shinobi.

The 3D stuff in this one is cool. but seems kinda superfluous to be honest. This is a great game and you tend to zone out and forget it's in 3D at all. It's very nice looking and nice to see the effect in a longer game, but not a defining feature.

The music in the game is pretty good too, but I found it to be less memorable than in Revenge of Shinobi. I don't think this one was composed by Yuzo Koshiro, and I think it's fairly noticeable, but they music certainly isn't bad.

I'm hard pressed to decide which Shinobi game is my favourite, but both Shinobi 3 and Revenge of Shinobi are fantastic games, and must plays imo. The 3DS version is cheap, looks nice and is conveniently portable. A pretty great way to play the game.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

I'm kinda cheating a bit here, since I've beaten both of these games before, but this is the first time I've played both as a complete package.

Sonic 3 and me haven't always gotten on. I remember as a kid, seeing the game being sold on a market stall week after week, and it being just outside of my price range (at about £14). I owned Sonic 1, 2 and Sonic & Knuckles, but never 3. Fast forward years later, the game gets released on Wii VC and I finally get to experience it.

...And I don't really like it.

I don't like the redesigned graphics, I don't like most of the music, and most fundamentally of all, I don't really like the stage design - random spikes and backwards facing springs everywhere. Angel Island is forgettable, Hydrocity is meh, Marble Garden is awful, Carnival Night is the worst ever - that's a pretty bad run of zones to begin with.

Replaying the game for Sonic & Knuckles Together Retro month has given me a chance to change my opinion of the game and see it in a different light. Has it done so? Kinda.

Sonic 3 is definitely still the weakest of the Mega Drive games in my eyes. I still think the level design is the weakest of the main 4, and I still vastly prefer Sonic 2. But my opinion of Sonic 3 has improved from playing through for all the emeralds - I like how big it feels, and it feels like they were trying very hard to blow the previous games out of the water. I like playing as Tails (with the ability to Fly, unlike 2) and Knuckles (when you add S&K), I like the Hyper forms, and I've warmed up a little to some of the zones (Angel island and Hydrocity are OK, but I still hate Marble Garden and Carnival Night).

Sonic & Knuckles suffers from inconsistent zone quality too - I like Mushroom Hill and Lava Reef, Love Flying Battery, think Sky Sanctuary is OK and hate Sandopolis and Death Egg. I just feel like the highs in the S&K half of the game are higher than those of Sonic 3, and the lows of Sonic 3 are lower than the lows of S&K.

Overall, I like the games. But they won't be replacing Sonic 1 or Sonic 2 in my eyes - those games feel purer, have a cleaner design and are just slightly more fun to me.

Bayonetta

Bayonetta is an odd one. It didn't look like my kinda thing - I'm not into the modern action game genre, I wasn't sure about the aesthetic, worried about the fanservicey character and just wasn't sure it was something I could get into at all.

It took a while, but eventually I managed to find my stride. I'm certainly not good at Bayonetta (I died a lot) but the game is actually fairly forgiving about not punishing you too much for dying, and I managed to get through on the Normal difficulty.

The action in Bayonetta is fast and fun, and I like how many combos you can pull off with your limited attack buttons - even if I often just mashed and hoped for some good ones. I enjoyed mechanics like Witch Time which rewarded you for successful dodging, and I liked the variety of weapons you could equip.

I even grew to quite like the main character. She's clearly very fanservicey, but she's also shown to be quite empowered and in control and that's a nice change - she doesn't need men to save her.

The story is really silly and quite enjoyable because of it. I grew to quite like some of the characters (like Luka) and enjoyed the ride even if I didn't really get what was going on most of the time.

The set pieces, especially the giant bosses, are very flashy and fun and ridiculous, and it just adds to the bizarre fun of the game.

It's not all positives though - I absolutely detested the quick time events, and I think it's a joke to be punished with instant death for missing one. I found the camera to be a pain too - the lock on system was flawed and ruined your attacks, so you were better without it, but it was all to easy be attacked from behind from offscreen. The worst offenders were the fast clawed enemies who I hated, and who you had to fight altogether too often.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Bayonetta. It was a game from outside my comfort zone, but one I quite enjoyed playing (and my girlfriend enjoyed watching too). I'll be playing through Bayonetta 2 before the year is up too I'd imagine.

Fighting Vipers

Fighting Vipers is a quirky fighting game for the Sega Saturn which i recently acquired as part of a bundle I bought.

The game feels more fluid than it's peer Virtua Fighter, with caged arenas that block ring outs and allow for juggling, but which you can also bounce off of to counter an attack that knocks you flying. It still has that early 3D game stiffness though - it doesn't flow as well as the likes of Tekken 2 from the same generation

The character roster feels a little uninspired - there's a military type, a rock star, a 14 year old skateboard kid, and an 16 year old girl who is far too keen on showing you her underwear and is definitely played upon as the games sex appeal. That's who I played as. I promise it was because I normally find the girl fighters quicker and more fitting to my fighting style.

The main campaign is pretty easy - I beat it without continuing on the default settings without too much effort. There are a number of unlockable characters to get, including the very silly Kumachan, a bear mannequin or something who doesn't move his limbs at all and just floats around bashing into people to attack.

There is a mechanic where you can hit the top or bottom of your opponents body to damage their armour, and eventually break it, making it more vulnerable. This results in the character losing clothes too. The whole mechanic feels very underplayed though, because attacks generally do so much damage the matches are over before it can play a role.

Fighting Vipers is fairly fun, but it sure is ugly. I know the Saturn wasn't a 3D powerhouse, but the polygons here are just unforgiveable considering how sparse the backgrounds are. It's hard to take Candy's supposed sex appeal seriously when she looks like this:

Fighting Vipers is a worthy pick-up for Saturn, espeically for the low value it commands nowadays compared to most of the library. It's not especially remarkable though. I liked it, but there are far better fighters, especially on the PS1, which could be occupying your time.

Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan

Etrian Odyssey IV is game E of my alphabet marathon, and it has been a LONG time coming.

EO4 was my first experience of the Etrian Odyssey series, and it was overall a positive one. Exploring the dungeons is relatively compelling, and I loved setting up my party skills. I adore how well your party functions as a team - they all come packed with move to support each other and there are plenty of ways to set up your party.

It did feel like going without certain classes would make things a ton harder though - my Fortress and Medic were so key to keeping my party functioning I think i'd have needed to grind another 20 levels to stand a chance without them.

I liked how random encounters were a genuine threat in EO4 - it really kept you on your toes when an unlucky encounter could spell death - this was especially prevalent early on when your options for dealing with enemies were limited due to poor move options and low TP (magic points).

In fact, the game was generally more challenge early on overall for these reasons - the 2nd and 3rd bosses were a genuine threat, but most enemies after that I breezed through.

One major issue I had with the game though, is that it's just too long. It took me about 55 hours to beat, and I feel it outstayed it's welcome. Once you get the last set of moves and have your party set up how you want, furhter skill points are just invested in making your party to the same stuff better. Over the early parts of the game, your playstyle varies a lot as you unlock new abilities, classes and subclasses, but at the end, the thought of greatly changing up your strategy is horrifying due to the tedious grinding, so you fall into a repetitive slump. The story is basic enough to not help keep you going either.

Overall I'm glad to have played this one, and I'll probably play other games in the franchise in future - but it'll be a while before I do so. How people can play new entries in this series as regularly as they release I don't know!

Oh, and for anyone who knows the game and was wondering, here's my party set-up:

Front Row:
Fortress/Dancer
Landsknecht/Runemaster
Dancer/Nightseeker

Back Row:
Runemaster/Imperial
Arcanist/Medic

[Sarge]

Have you given Fighters Megamix a shot? That's pretty good, too. Don't know if it's using the same engine, though.

Bayonetta is good, although I liked the DMC games better. I want the second game pretty bad, though, and I've heard it's an improvement on all fronts.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Have you given Fighters Megamix a shot? That's pretty good, too. Don't know if it's using the same engine, though.

Bayonetta is good, although I liked the DMC games better. I want the second game pretty bad, though, and I've heard it's an improvement on all fronts.

Fighters Megamix does take the style of Fighting Vipers, but with the added benefit of having the Virtua Fighter characters use the Virtua Fighter 3 moveset. I highly recommend it and it is great for those who want to add a fighting game to their beaten list as there are various challenges to complete and unlock the entire cast.

[noiseredux]

plus in Megamix you can be the car from Daytona USA.

[Exhuminator]

How people can play new entries in this series as regularly as they release I don't know!

I don't understand that either. I mean I think Etrian Odyssey as a series is great, but the games take serious time investment from the player. Especially on harder difficulties. (Beating Untold's story mode on Expert took me 115 hours for example.) I can't imagine nailing through through these games annually as some folks have. I mean I buy the games yeah, but playing them in that frequent of a fashion isn't gonna happen.

-

1. Devil's Attorney (Android | 2012 | strategy) (7/10)
2. Resident Evil 5 (360 | 2009 | action adventure) (8/10)
3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (360 | 2010 | kart racer) (8/10)
4. Dragon Quest VIII (PS2 | 2005 | JRPG) (9/10)
5. Gears of War (360 | 2006 | cover shooter) (6/10)
6. Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita | 2012 | action adventure) (7/10)
7. Orcs & Elves (DS | 2007 | dungeon crawler) (7/10)
8. From The Abyss (DS | 2008 | action-RPG) (5/10)
9. Army of Two (360 | 2008 | cover shooter) (7/10)
10. Psychic World (Master System | 1991 | platformer) (4/10)
11. Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii | 2010 | adventure / simulation) (9/10)
12. Journey to Silius (NES | 1990 | platformer) (6/10)
13. Sword Master (NES | 1992 | platformer) (3/10)
14. Project: Snowblind (PC | 2005 | FPS) (7/10)
15. Yakyuuken Part II - Gal's Dungeon (Famicom | 1989 | maze / puzzle) (5/10)
16. Bishoujo Sexy Derby (Famicom | 1988 | horse racing) (2/10)
17. SiN Episodes: Emergence (PC | 2006 | FPS) (5/10)
18. Seirei Gari (AKA Ghost Hunter) (NES | 1989 | puzzle / adventure) (4/10)
19. The Guardian Legend (NES | 1989 | action-RPG / shmup) (9/10)
20. Prey (PC | 2006 | FPS) (7/10)
21. Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (SFC | 1993 | action-RPG) (4/10)
22. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (GameCube | 2001 | combat flight sim) (3/10)
23. Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand (SFC | 1995 | action-RPG) (7/10)
24. Bonk's Adventure (TurboGrafx-16 | 1990 | platformer) (6/10)
25. Lost Kingdoms (GameCube | 2002 | CCG-action-RPG) (8/10)
26. Bonk's Revenge (TurboGrafx-16 | 1991 | platformer) (6/10)
27. Blazing Lazers (TurboGrafx-16 | 1989 | shmup) (7/10)
28. Heatseeker (PS2 | 2007 | arcade flight combat) (7/10)
29. Castlevania: The Adventure (Game Boy | 1989 | platformer) (3/10)
30. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Game Boy | 1991 | platformer) (7/10)
31. Castlevania Legends (Game Boy | 1998 | platformer) (5/10)
32. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Game Boy | 1994 | platformer) 7/10

Wario decides to steal a golden statue from some pirates in order to finance rebuilding his lost castle. Along the way he deals with a genie even greedier than himself and a surprise twist involving that wily ol' Mario.

As a sequel to Super Mario Land 2, Super Mario Land 3 changes up things quite a bit. Obviously you're playing as Wario, not Mario here, but that's only the start. The pace of this game feels slow, one assumes to accommodate the large sprites and minimize LCD blurring. Wario has quite a few abilities that Mario did not. For one thing Wario can wear different types of hats that give him unique powers. Wario can also dizzy enemies and then pick them up to throw as projectiles. To gain extra lives, Wario collects hearts. Wario also collects coins, but he must spend these to play mini-games and unlock doors for level progression. Also there are myriad hidden treasures throughout the world and if all are found, something special will happen at the end. All of that said, Wario still shrinks if he's damaged, and falling down a pit will end his life same as Mario. Maybe the two aren't all that different after all.

The overall design of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 is only slightly above average. While the graphics are quite nice, with large expressive sprites, the audio is a different matter. Wario Land's OST attempts to sound mischievous with impish melodies played off-key. However the soundtrack ultimately comes across as simplistic and amateur, with nary a catchy tune to be heard. Wario Land is also a very easy game, with level designs that often feel sparse and non-interactive. Only towards the very end of this game do levels begin to incorporate such rudimentary elements as moving platforms or vertically scrolling areas. So while Wario Land is a long game for its genre, much of these levels are utterly forgettable and blur together overall. Controls are simple and tight, with jump physics that feel different than Mario's but work very well. Boss battles are fun at least, although they follow the same formula time and again.

Wario Land deserves credit for initiating a new series for an emancipated mascot. Also for taking noticeable strides to have a different "feel" than a standard Mario platformer. But with the bland level designs, easy difficulty, and disappointing soundtrack, Wario Land comes across as a bit milquetoast in nature. So while Wario Land in itself doesn't match the heights of its immediate predecessor, the game did serve as a successful launchpad for further adventures of Wario. And considering how good some of those are, I for one am glad Nintendo took such a chance with Wario Land.