Games Beaten : 2011

[Ack]

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (PC)(FPS)
X-Men: Mutant Academy (PS1)(Fighting)
Street Fighter Alpha (PS2)(Fighting)
Extermination (PS2)(Survival Horror)
Spyro the Dragon (PS1)(Platformer)
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (PS1)(Platformer)
Myst III: Exile (PC)(Graphic Adventure)
Shaq Fu (GEN)(Fighting)
Spyro: Year of the Dragon (PS1)(Platformer)
God of War (PS2)(Action Adventure)
The Simpsons Game (PS2)(Platformer)
The King of Fighters '99 (PS1)(Fighting)
EOE: Eve of Extinction (PS2)(Beat 'Em Up)
Final Fight (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
Gundam Battle Assault (PS1)(Fighting)
Dark Rift (N64)(Fighting)
Deadly Arts (N64)(Fighting)
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (PS2)(TPS)
Vampire Hunter (SAT)(Fighting)
Super Scribblenauts (NDS)(Puzzle)
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (PS2)(Action Adventure)
Jet Force Gemini (N64)(TPS)
Super R-Type (SNES)(Shmup)
Mega Man X7 (PS2)(Action Platformer)
LittleBigPlanet (PSN)(Platformer)
Daikatana (N64)(FPS)
Kirby's Adventure (NES)(Platformer)
Viewtiful Joe (PS2)(Beat 'Em Up)
Final Fantasy II (SNES)(RPG)
Gex: Enter the Gecko (PS1)(Platformer)
Spyro: A Hero's Tail (PS2)(Platformer)
Deadly Premonition (Xbox 360)(Survival Horror)
The Temple of Elemental Evil (PC)(RPG)

TOTAL: 33

The Temple of Elemental Evil is one of the most famous adventure modules in Dungeons & Dragons, penned by Gary Gygax himself for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and published in 1985 by TSR. It's a classic of pen and paper role playing, and this PC recreation using what were at the time the brand new Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 rules...well, it works. It works very well.

First, while the game did make a few tweaks to rules that were too difficult to implement, the system is generally faithful to 3.0. I've played D&D 3.0 extensively, as well as 2.0, 3.5, and the newer Paizo Pathfinder spinoff, and I felt this was an accurate translation that kept the flavor and style of both the system and the title. Gameplay wise, I felt that The Temple of Elemental Evil was a solid mix of Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, two very solid western RPGs based on different generations of D&D gameplay.

The game does suffer from stability issues, and there are some terrible bugs. It crashed multiple times and became stuck in combat, particularly in regards to Attack of Opportunities being made by an NPC who I managed to recruit. It's recommended to anyone interested in playing this game that they patch it and then install the fan patches on top of that, as they make the game a great deal more stable. Not perfect, but more stable, particularly with later Windows OSes like Vista or 7.

The title is pretty short, as it was based on only a single module, so it pales in size when compared to either of the two games I mentioned previously, but there's still quite a bit of hidden content to seek out, such as numerous quests and recruitable NPCs. I ended up with a Hill Giant, a missing prince, and an evil cleric who was pissed at his former temple-mates and wanted revenge joining up with the team of five I created at the start. The game through a large variety of enemies to keep it interesting too, with the most epic fight probably being the battle against a Balor. Nasty bastards, Balors.

[Hazerd]

just beat Chibi-Robo on GameCube

total: 1



reminded me alot of Banjo-Kazooie with all the quirky characters and things to see and interact with.

and the best part was cleaning! and making everyone happy!

[alienjesus]

just beat Chibi-Robo on GameCube

total: 1



reminded me alot of Banjo-Kazooie with all the quirky characters and things to see and interact with.

and the best part was cleaning! and making everyone happy!

This is one of my absolute favourite games.

[BoringSupreez]

Spyro: A Hero's Tail (PS2)(Platformer)

Considering that's now the fourth Spyro game I've beaten this year (and almost the fifth, as I played through The Legend of Spyro back around December), I can safely say that this has become the Year of the Dragon for me. Haha, corny jokes aside, I liked this game overall. It's not perfect, but that's ok.

So let's start with the big stuff. First, Spyro: A Hero's Tail is the fifth game in the original series line, meaning it wasn't made by Insomniac. Instead, Eurocom handled this, with Vivendi Universal Games publishing. I guess they learned their lesson after the mass of technical issues the fourth game was, which really was Universal Interactive's fault, since they basically killed a brand new game dev studio by forcing them to release a buggy title well before it was ready. End result: the game received a lot of bad press, the fans still bought it, but it wasn't enough, so developer Equinox Digital Entertainment tanked.

Anyway, since I know the Insomniac games are generally considered the best, I was hesitant to give this one a go. I'm glad I did, as it proved to be an overall enjoyable experience. Was it as good as the original trilogy? Well...no, I didn't think so. But don't take that to mean the game deserves flak for nothing, because it really is a solid game. It was criticized for a lack of difficulty and originality, as well as its short length. I want to take a moment here and point out that the game was meant FOR CHILDREN. By the time of its release, six years had passed since the original debuted on the PlayStation, so folks who happened to be 12 when it came out were signing up for Selective Service and buying porn. Of course old fans took issue with it being "too easy." And frankly, I didn't think that claim was even true. Spyro: A Hero's Tail starts simply but manages to steadily increase its difficulty over the course of the game, so that by the end I was having greater difficulty than I did in the first three, but I was still enjoying the game...for the most part.

Yes, there were things I disliked. While the Spyro portions were solid, I did encounter a couple of awkward glitches...but only a couple. I also didn't really care for some of the mini games, most notably Sparks' rail shooter segments(in particular I vehemently dislike the second level of this, where enemies clipping through doors in some places killed me quite a bit) and Blink's levels. Blink in particular annoyed me, and his levels revealed an issue with hit detection when grabbing for ledges. Multiple times I hit things I should have been able to grab onto, only to bounce off and fall to my death.

Another sticky subject(which actually increases the difficulty of the game) is the lack of temporary invincibility when you get hit. In most games, if you're hit, you're stunned for a second but rendered invulnerable to enemy attacks. Consider how many of you abused that in Mega Man. In Spyro: A Hero's Tail, Spyro has no such ability, so one enemy or trap can repeatedly smack the crap out of you with devastating results.

Inversely, there are no player lives. If you die, you simply return to the last checkpoint and start over again, but get to keep all of the gems you gathered in the meantime. And there are an infinite number of gems, as they're now used as currency to buy health, powerups, ammunition for special breath attacks, teleport passes, keys, etc.

Also, there were a couple of musical tracks in there I swear I'd heard in other places. In particular Blink's level reminded me a lot of the music from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness for some reason.

Ok, bottom line, Spyro: A Hero's Tail is not a bad game. It's not perfect, but it's worth playing if you like Spyro. Don't expect it to live up to the rosy nostalgia of the Insomniac games, because it can't. But appreciate that it is a decent game.

And there is nothing wrong with children's games. They're great for kids as well as folks just getting into gaming for the first time. Don't knock them just because you think they're "too easy," because they're not necessarily intended for you. I've had a lot of fun with children's games because I recognize that they're great for bringing in new people and teaching them the basic rules of video games to help get them started, and some of them are quite enjoyable for their art, music, and simplicity.

You know, actually, Insomniac has grown with it's fans, even if the Spyro series hasn't. Back in the PS1 days, they made the E-rated Spyro games. The, when the PS2 came out, they started making the T-rated Ratchet & Clank games. Now they make the M-rated Fall of Man games. So while the individual game series are only intended for one age group, Insomniac as a whole has stuck by it's original fan base. Same goes for Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch, now that I think about their libraries.

Sorry about the necro quote, it's just something I thought of when I read this post & saw what Ack was saying about the Spryo games today not being aimed at those who bought the first one back in 1998.

[SwooshBear]

You know, actually, Insomniac has grown with it's fans, even if the Spyro series hasn't. Back in the PS1 days, they made the E-rated Spyro games. The, when the PS2 came out, they started making the T-rated Ratchet & Clank games. Now they make the M-rated Fall of Man games. So while the individual game series are only intended for one age group, Insomniac as a whole has stuck by it's original fan base. Same goes for Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch

Holy crap I've never noticed that. That's so cool.

just beat Chibi-Robo on GameCube

total: 1



reminded me alot of Banjo-Kazooie with all the quirky characters and things to see and interact with.

and the best part was cleaning! and making everyone happy!

This is one of my absolute favourite games.

Wait you can actually beat this game? I could never figure it out lol

[alienjesus]

You know, actually, Insomniac has grown with it's fans, even if the Spyro series hasn't. Back in the PS1 days, they made the E-rated Spyro games. The, when the PS2 came out, they started making the T-rated Ratchet & Clank games. Now they make the M-rated Fall of Man games. So while the individual game series are only intended for one age group, Insomniac as a whole has stuck by it's original fan base. Same goes for Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch

Holy crap I've never noticed that. That's so cool.

just beat Chibi-Robo on GameCube

total: 1



reminded me alot of Banjo-Kazooie with all the quirky characters and things to see and interact with.

and the best part was cleaning! and making everyone happy!

This is one of my absolute favourite games.

Wait you can actually beat this game? I could never figure it out lol

Yup. There's even a final boss.

[REPO Man]

Mortal Kombat (2011) - Story Mode

Also completed Arcade Mode with Freddy Krueger, Scorpion and Reptile. Still got some more shit in the Krypt to unlock.

And I really wish they'd release a new costume for FK, preferably the New Nightmare costume:


Oh, and Jason and Leatherface DLC characters. And maybe Voldemort (he's dead now... OOPS!) and Rorschach from Watchmen.

[Croooow!]

Trax for Gameboy
Super Mario RPG for SNES
Ikaruga for Gamecube
Mercs for Arcade
A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! for PSP
Psychonauts for PS2
Firemen for SFC
Crash Bandicoot for PS1
Outrun SP for PSP
Raiden II for PS1
Kirby's Adventure for NES
After Burner: Black Falcon for PSP
Yoshi's Story for N64
Metroid Fusion for GBA
Little Big Planet for PSP
Street Fighter II Champion Edition for Arcade
Burnout Legends for PSP
Castlevania Chronicles for PS1
Eco Fighters for Arcade
Sonic 2 for Genesis
Super Mario Bros 2 for GBA
Killzone: Liberation for PSP
King of Fighters '94 for Neo Geo
Donkey Kong Country II for SNES *new* I know a lot of people prefer this one over the original, but I didn't find this one to be as fun as DKC1. While there was much more items to collect, I found charging coins for saving and Funky Kong flights to be irritating. I thought the music was very much inferior to the original and except for the bramble and pirate stages none of the stages were very memorable. I liked the increase in difficulty, even if it was inconsistent, but this game kind of killed my appetite for platformers for the time being.

[Gnashvar]

Darn I'm really lagging behind this year. My only game this year is:

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Wii) (Got everything so 100%)

So that makes it

1

[alienjesus]

Trax for Gameboy
Super Mario RPG for SNES
Ikaruga for Gamecube
Mercs for Arcade
A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! for PSP
Psychonauts for PS2
Firemen for SFC
Crash Bandicoot for PS1
Outrun SP for PSP
Raiden II for PS1
Kirby's Adventure for NES
After Burner: Black Falcon for PSP
Yoshi's Story for N64
Metroid Fusion for GBA
Little Big Planet for PSP
Street Fighter II Champion Edition for Arcade
Burnout Legends for PSP
Castlevania Chronicles for PS1
Eco Fighters for Arcade
Sonic 2 for Genesis
Super Mario Bros 2 for GBA
Killzone: Liberation for PSP
King of Fighters '94 for Neo Geo
Donkey Kong Country II for SNES *new* I know a lot of people prefer this one over the original, but I didn't find this one to be as fun as DKC1. While there was much more items to collect, I found charging coins for saving and Funky Kong flights to be irritating. I thought the music was very much inferior to the original and except for the bramble and pirate stages none of the stages were very memorable. I liked the increase in difficulty, even if it was inconsistent, but this game kind of killed my appetite for platformers for the time being.

Thats a shame. I pretty much agree with everything you said. I personally think DKC3 fixed a lot of that stuff though, and it's my favourite in the series.