Games Beaten 2014

[Sload Soap]

although some people will say SMS Altered Beast is terrible,

It really is though.

[Luke]

although some people will say SMS Altered Beast is terrible,

It really is though.

It is. And Altered Beast on the Genesis, or in whole, isn't what I would call a great game...But I'm still enamored by it. If I had to write a review of it I would give it two stars out of four at best, still, it was something else when I was younger. Tinted glasses and such.

[BurningDoom]

although some people will say SMS Altered Beast is terrible,

It really is though.

It is. And Altered Beast on the Genesis, or in whole, isn't what I would call a great game...But I'm still enamored by it. If I had to write a review of it I would give it two stars out of four at best, still, it was something else when I was younger. Tinted glasses and such.

It was an early Genesis title, so you've got to keep that in mind. When it came out, it was amazing! This was when the next best beat-em up on home consoles were the Double Dragon games.

[Luke]

It was an early Genesis title, so you've got to keep that in mind. When it came out, it was amazing! This was when the next best beat-em up on home consoles were the Double Dragon games.

And also the only Genesis game I owned as it came with the console. Again, it was "bringing the arcade home" feeling that made me love the game.

Not that I don't love the NES, but TMNT II The Arcade Game, wasn't the arcade game. At all. But when Sega dropped Altered Beast, Super Hang-On, Super Thunderblade, and other arcade games I was in console heaven.

[dogman91]

Weirdly enough, I only learned to appreciate Altered Beast NOW rather than back then in the early 90's. My four-year old self didn't have patience for the slow plodding gameplay at all versus the fast-paced fluid platformers I was used to; made me diss the entire Genesis mistakenly enough in favor of the SNES. I think it's an okay game now (as in I do "like" it.) I loved the Sonic series later on though on PC (Windows 98) through the S3&K collection, which made me open up to the Genesis at that point.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Assassin's Creed IV Wii U
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon PC

Well. That was an interesting use of my day today.

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is exactly my kind of game. Campy, gamy, and a non stop thrill ride to the end. Yeah some of the internet meme references were annoying and if the game were any longer than the 3 hours or so it took me I imagine the over the top 80s stuff would get old. For what it was though, it was great. Frankly, I feel like I got much more enjoyment out of that short adventure than the base Far Cry 3 game gave me last year. I never stopped grinning the entire way through and it was certainly a memorable experience. I wouldn't mind if more games took the cheap and short fun approach. I liked being able to sit down and beat a game in a day.

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
2. Caveman Ninja (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
3. Crude Buster (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
4. Heavy Barrel (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
5. Secret Agent (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)
6. Wizard Fire (Wii - Data East Arcade Classics)

Completed six games on the Data East Arcade Classics compilation - used the Classic Controller Pro for all of them.

I played the hell out of Bad Dudes on NES as a kid, probably because I didn't know of any other beat 'em ups. It's a very rudimentary game, but fun to roll through every now and again. Here's something that made me chuckle: when you save the president he says "Let's go for a burger." If you play the games on this compilation in order the one that immediately follows Bad Dudes is... BurgerTime.

Caveman Ninja (aka Joe & Mac) is a platfomer where your character is a caveman. It's quite scientifically inaccurate as most of your foes are dinosaurs instead of Ice Age mammals. It's also one of those rare instances where the console versions are superior to the arcade original. For example, the SNES port doesn't deduct health on a timer, features longer levels, and is lacking the incredibly idiotic (and politically incorrect) endings. Seriously, skip this one if you own a console port.

I wasn't familiar with Crude Buster, but it appears to be a spiritual successor to Bad Dudes. I guess there's a Genesis port called Two Crude Dudes (ugh... so 90s). The futuristic (well, formally futuristic - the game takes place in 2010) setting is great and your character looks like he's straight out of Shadowrun. It's vastly superior to Bad Dudes, as the controls are tighter and you can now throw enemies. The difficulty is cranked up to somewhat annoying levels though - as you're constantly swarmed by enemies who have have the potential to incapacitate you for several seconds. It's most definitely a quarter-muncher.

Heavy Barrel is a Commando-style overhead shooter. Fun game overall, but don't even get me started on how much I despise dual analog controls.

Secret Agent is heavily influenced by James Bond and features Rolling Thunder style gameplay. You end up fighting a lot of sharks in this game. That was unexpected.

Lastly, Wizard Fire was quite the unexpected and pleasant surprise. It's an overhead action game with an isometric viewpoint - very reminiscent of Taito's Dungeon Magic. All of your typical medieval fantasy characters are here - I chose to play as the elf as she was the supposedly the fastest and most definitely the cutest. The game features frequent cutscenes with some absolutely amazing/corny voice acting. Apparently Wizard Fire is a sequel to another game called Gate of Doom, which sadly isn't featured on this compilation.

[Luke]

If you play the games on this compilation in order the one that immediately follows Bad Dudes is... BurgerTime.

That's hilarious.

I still have my Bad Dudes, CIB from launch. Loved the arcade game so much, which makes me wonder if there was ever a decent Bad Dudes port. Was there? With the "Don't do drugs" start up screen and the whole nine?

Another arcade port I'm dying to own is from the same era, WWF Superstars (I think that's the name).


edit* I really need to update my list soon, but for now I can say without hesitation that the GBA version of Golden Axe is pretty much Golden Axe on speed. It looks great, plays great, but the tempo of the game seems almost two fold. Even the music* is ramped up.
I've played and beaten almost every port of the game that I own, and I still prefer the game on the Sega CD, but it is a bit bizarre how quick the GBA version is.

*I've learned most of the score for Golden Axe for the piano by playing by ear. The intro and first level tracks are my favorite to play, as they're pretty darned easy to pick up.

[isiolia]

1.) Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)
2.) Remember Me (PC)
3.) Mirror's Edge (PC)
4.) Jumping Flash! (PS1)
5.) Run Saber (SNES)
6.) Heavenly Sword (PS3)
7.) X-Blades (360)
8.) Blades of Time (360)
9.) Trapt (PS2)
10.) Hunted: The Demon's Forge (360)

Thoughts:

Trapt
Technically, this is the fourth game in the Deception series (though Deception 4: Blood Ties is coming soon, so either they forgot about this one...or just want to). It’s a follow-up to Kagero: Deception 2. After reading about the series, I thought it sounded like an interesting premise, so I added it to my library. Trapt is the first one I’ve wound up playing.

I still think the concept for the game has promise. Essentially, your character (a princess, outside of the first game) gains demonic power that allows them to operate traps. Whatever misgivings they have about that power are put aside as they are forced to use it to defend themselves – attacking intruders and assailants indirectly. The developers make an effort to create those mixed feelings in the player, as every character they throw against you has a name, a little backstory, and dying words.

Unfortunately, playing through it, the concept was really the only thing that came across as particularly strong with Trapt.

The story is weak. Overall, the game is set up so that you work towards a 100% completion. Doing that means killing every character to add them to the index, buying every trap, and so on. It’s made to be played through multiple times, and probably then played in Survival mode to finish unlocking things (I only played through it twice, in order to see all the side story missions).

Translation isn’t great – aside from calling the main character Allura when the Japanese voice work (all that’s available) is saying Alicia, it’s rife with Engrish. Still, barely localized is better than not localized. I still found that the main characters just weren’t written well enough to care about. Maybe that’s a product of the translation, but since very nearly everyone winds up betraying someone else and/or trying to kill you…probably the actual writing is more at fault.

Gameplay was disappointing as well. I was expecting more of a puzzle type challenge. Basically, you have three types of traps, floor, ceiling, and wall. You can pick three of each type to have available and set one of each at a time, in addition to whatever unique hazards are in the room itself. You can also run between rooms, and access to them is something you unlock. To its credit, there are a lot of possibilities, including Fatality style elaborate traps unique to a room that can be set up.

The problem to me was that almost none of it is necessary. I was able to set up essentially the same trap combo nearly every single mission and easily win. It’d be hard to call it a challenge at all outside of the last two or three missions and side stories, and even then it’s mostly due to gimmicks. The only question tended to be where the particular room had a point that I could force the AI to path through.

On top of all that, the camera is outright terrible. Seriously, possibly the worst I’ve ever encountered. You know how some games the camera can get squeezed against a wall (or something) and angle oddly so you can’t really see well? This one does that pretty much all the time. Trapt also likes to interrupt you to show when a new attacker has entered the room (it can only apparently support two at a time), and when one dies, which can be annoying.

While gameplay isn’t interrupted by it, the game loads a lot. It has occasional slowdown as well.

Basically, this game felt to me like it was not done. It’s like they got the basics kinda-sorta running and then released it. I respect that it’s likely a niche game that probably didn’t get much of a budget, but c’mon Tecmo.
Maybe the nine years they’ve had since Trapt will mean better things for Deception 4.


Hunted: The Demon’s Forge
Another action game from the average/slightly above average pile.

Hunted is designed more around cooperative play. Playing it single player, as I did, just means that the AI takes the other character. Caddoc, the guy, is a melee/tank, and E’lara, the scantily clad elf, is focused on ranged. Caddoc can push things, E’lara can light arrows on fire. There are spots that allow you to swap between characters, but I just stuck with E’lara past the intro tutorial.

The partner AI is good…possibly too good (I played on medium, the game tries to default to easy). For a bit, I felt like AI-Caddoc was essentially carrying me. Then I realized I was trying too hard. I’d assumed that I actually needed to put more effort into shooting the bow than was really required. I’d even gotten frustrated at how the targeting reticle was so fussy. Had I realized before chapter 5 (of 6) the degree to which the game just auto-targets anyway…I’d have been more effective sooner.

Still, I think the not-particularly-challenging gameplay is part of the point. So is the plot. It’s not that deep. The main characters aren’t particularly well developed. Diablo-esque, perhaps. The banter between them is decent enough. I think though, that it was intentional. Again, it’s a game made for cooperative play. It features a story and characters you can get a friend up to speed on in minutes (if that) and gameplay easy enough that it’s easy to adapt to.

At least, I should hope the writing was intentional, as plenty of people have since given inXile plenty of money for Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera.

[kelsoanim]

Going to try and keep my backlog to new games ratio at least neutral this year. In other words, I'm going to try not to let my games purchased count get higher than my games beaten count. I definitely failed at that last year. And the year before. And the year before that. I've come to realize that I've gotten stuck in this loop of "oooh, the game I need to play is that one I don't have yet," but as soon as I get that game I'm thinking "oh, but look at that other game I don't have." It's a stupid cycle and I intend to break it.

So enough ranting, here's my progress so far this year.

1. Fallout New Vegas (360/PC) - 1/4
2. Castle of Illusion (PC) - 1/5
3. Super Mario 3D World (Wii U) - 1/9
4. Alien Rage (PC) - 1/11
5. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS) - 1/19

Luigi's Mansion is a really great game. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It takes some simple adventure game mechanics and mixes them up for just enough variety across a lengthy handheld adventure. It's one of those games where you don't have to interact with everything but you want to so you can find all the treasures and just to see what happens. I loved all the humor and little touches in the game, and all of the animations on the characters and the world. Most objects move when you suck them with the vacuum and some unlock secrets when you do. There are some silly moments and I even laughed out loud once or twice. The game definitely has a lot of charm. Good stuff, it's not my favorite game I've ever played, but I would say it's a must have for a 3DS game library if you are into adventure games.

Thoughts on the previous games:

Alien Rage:
It was a game, that's for sure. I actually enjoyed it a bit. Didn't blow me away of course. Was obviously a CoD clone but I am a sucker for cool looking sci fi stuff. I probably wouldn't have beaten it if it was longer than the few hours it was. There were some serious balance issues and plain old bad design (bosses, I'm looking at you...) but I got some entertainment value out of it anyway. The story might as well not have existed, the writing was atrocious, and I'm not really sure I know what happened in the story after beating it. I like playing a mindless fps every now and then though and this game was certainly that.

Super Mario 3D World:
Like most recent Mario games I found this one too easy over all but it was still a lot of fun. Tons of creativity and unique levels in the game. Great graphics and music. The final boss battle with Bowser (spoiler) was one of the funnest in recent memory. I haven't gone through the post-game stuff yet but it seems to be ramping up the challenge level which is good, it should be fun.

Castle of Illusion:
A fun little platformer and a nice tribute to the Genesis originals. Nice graphics too. Probably too easy but the presentation was so good I didn't really mind, especially since I got it for a few bucks on a Steam sale.

Fallout New Vegas:
This had been lurking in my backlog for a while. It fun, it's buggy, it's addicting. I got a real crappy ending so I intend to go back to an older save and re-align my choices for a better one.