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1. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)(Adventure)
2. Final Fight [Japanese Version] (Switch)(Beat 'Em Up)
3. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)
4. Magrunner: Dark Pulse (PC)(FPS)
5. The King of Dragons [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Captain Commando [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. Knights of the Round [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
8. The Witcher (PC)(RPG)
9. Tenchi wo Kurau II (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
10. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (PC)(RPG)
11. Lichdom: Battlemage (PC)(FPS/RPG Hybrid)
12. Star Wars: Republic Commando (PC)(FPS)
13. DOOM 64 (PC)(FPS)
14. Half Dead 2 (PC)(Adventure)
15. Powered Gear - Strategic Variant Armor Equipment (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
16. Torchlight II (PC)(RPG)
17. Battle Circuit [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
18. Hard Reset Redux (PC)(FPS)

Battle Circuit

This marked the end of Capcom's run of arcade beat 'em ups, so it is the fitting choice to end the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle. It's strange that this almost hallucinatory massacre of robots, alien strong men, and one dude with a seriously huge head and a car like Snidley Whiplash in Wacky Races is the final product of a run that really got going with Final Fight, but by the end of things, I think Capcom was just seeing what crazy things they could do. Unlockable powers? You got it. Bizarre plots, bosses, and levels? You got it. A killer plant? Why not? By this point, it was everything but the kitchen sink.

That is both Battle Circuit's strength and weakness. It's ridiculous, it's fun, but it's also so over the top that I just feel lost. Not as in lost in the action, but lost in the insanity of it all, with an end result that has made me less interested on repeated playthroughs.

Battle Circuit is a fantastic game, but it's at its best as a surprise, and by now I've lost a lot of that magic unfortunately.

Still, in terms of design, it's pretty much the peak of how Capcom could push the genre. They got in, they changed, they got out, and the genre pretty much died in this form. What a shame.

Hard Reset Redux

Ok, so this game is an updated release of a game that had only come out a few years before it. You shoot robots, and in the strange cyberpunk world of Hard Reset, you have two guns that can transform into a variety of others, widening your arsenal up to ten depending on how you choose to spend your upgrade points, each with its own unlockable alternate fire mode.

Of those 10 options, I used...2. The basic machine gun and the rocket launcher were all I needed; the shotgun had moments of usefulness, but just moments, while all the other weapons were just weaker rocket launchers for me. That's ok, though, because I didn't just use guns. Hard Reset is big on environmental objects as weapons. See that explosive tank? Guess what you can trigger to blast apart your foes. Got an air conditioning unit? Spark electricity off it to fry some circuits!

The game is at its best when you enter an area full of killing options and go to town, unloading, dodging oncoming enemies, and using the world around you to create deathtraps. It's very well done, especially in the first half. In the second half, the level design gets messier, and while levels always consisted of going from point A to point B, it just feels much more apparent in the latter. That's likely because the second half didn't originally exist in the base game and was added on for the Redux release, and whatever magic went into those earlier levels just didn't feel as present. Not to mention the grey color palette of the first half suddenly seems fantastic compared to the near constant brown of the second.

Hard Reset Redux also suffers from a terrible ending, in that there isn't one. The game just stops. Between levels, you'd often get treated to a comic book-style presentation that, I admit, I really enjoyed. The plot was bananas, but it kept me interested in the flow of events just to see the artwork. After beating the big boss, some guy shows up, tells me "You made it," and the credits roll.

What? That's it?

What I like about this game, I really like. What I don't like, I really don't like. It makes this one hard to pin down for me. For all of the exhilaration of unloading near-infinite bullets into robot faces, there is just as much "you mean I spent 45 minutes just to go back to where I started and open a door?". Your mileage may vary.

The plot was definitely bananas. And that's when you've seen it fully written out in detail, and not just with the brief snippets that you get in the comic book form that if you glance to the side for a second you miss something crucial.

I'm surprised you didn't find any Plasma weapons that struck your fancy. The one tier one upgrade that makes it fan out in a web was fantastic for dealing with hoards of little guys.

Yeah, I hardly used the Plasma guns, in part because the basic machine gun was just so much fun that I stuck to that side of the tree and only started upgrading plasma stuff near the end of the game. I would have been happy cutting most of the remaining guns and just letting me continue improving it, because it was a hell of a lot of fun.

1. Her Story (iOS)
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
8. Squidlit (Switch)
9. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan (Switch)
10. Mega Man Legends (PS1)
11. Revenge of the Bird King (Switch)
12. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch)

Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King Is a very on-the-nose tribute to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past by the team that made Rex Rocket, a brilliant, tough as nails metroidvania. Unlike Rex Rocket, however, Blossom Tales is not original enough to be brilliant, and it is very, very easy. If you’ve played, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, you’ve basically played this game. The mechanics are almost identical, which is fine. Blossom Tales mixes things up by throwing enormous hordes of enemies at you, a bit like Gauntlet, and the bosses throw projectiles at you like a bullet-hell shmup, which is very cool. The world is packed with secrets, and the optional sub weapons are actually worth finding since the are drastically more powerful than your sword. Unfortunately, however, the game world, despite its size never “feels” as big as The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Worse, the basic enemies don’t drop anything of value, and there’s no sense of impact when you hit them. Accordingly, there is little reason to engage in battle for most of the game, and as I moved toward the ending, I found myself just running around enemy hordes, rather than engaging them. Finally, the last boss is a bit underwhelming, despite a cool final dungeon; so, the game kind of sputters out at the end.

This isn’t to say I didn’t like Blossom Tales. I did. It looks good, sounds great (the dungeon scores sound like something from a Dario Argento film), and it borrows some pretty spectacular mechanics. It is a solid 7/10 game, and I recommend it to anyone looking to play something like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but that doesn’t want to play The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past again.

Ack wrote:Yeah, I hardly used the Plasma guns, in part because the basic machine gun was just so much fun that I stuck to that side of the tree and only started upgrading plasma stuff near the end of the game. I would have been happy cutting most of the remaining guns and just letting me continue improving it, because it was a hell of a lot of fun.

I upgrade the Plasma early both because I wanted to try out both, but also because it means I can swap weapons if ammo is ever a problem. And given how much of a video game item hoarder I am being able to double my effective ammo was a no brainer.

53. Ghostbusters (wii)

This has been on my list of games to play forever, for those who don't know this game acts as kind of a ghostbusters 3. It was written by Dan Akyroid and Harold Ramis (among others) and the entire original cast of ghostbusters does the voice overs for the characters. The result is a well written, funny game, which will definitely please fans of the source material.

You play as a nameless intern, the ghostbusters are thinking of franchising out so you are with them to learn the ropes of ghostbusting, Even though you cannot play as any of the classic busters you are almost always accompanied by one or more of the crew. There are very few sections where you are solo and I definitely liked the interaction between the busters as they are pretty much always bantering about what is going on and the writing perfectly captures each of their personalities.

The graphics of the wii game are done in a more cartoony style than its other releases. The game is exactly the same but given the limitations of the wii they went with a graphical style more akin to the real ghostbusters cartoon, I personally enjoyed it and was glad they went in that direction rather than just give us a watered down version of the ps3/360/PC game.

Gameplay wise this game really captures the feel of being a ghostbuster, you have a lot of different gadgets at your disposal and spend much of your time walking around with your PK reader out looking for hits to track down hiding ghosts, when you find them the battles become pretty fast paced. Just about every different ghost you run into (and there are quite a few) has a different pattern and different weaknesses, so learning the best way to fight each one is really fun. You basically have to wear a ghost down, trap them in your beam, and then lure them into a trap. It feels very authentic and replicates the action in the films nicely. In addition to the ghosts themselves there are also different minions frequently scattered througout the level (ie: posessed books, furniture etc) which can just be blasted without the need for a trap. There are also some pretty huge bosses to fight and they are all really well done and what you would expect to see in a ghostbusters film.

The game on the wii works really well, analog stick moves, wii mote aims and shoots, d-pad changes gadgets, A/B are regular/alt fire, it feels really good. When you do trap a ghost in your beam you have to wait for arrow prompts and swing the wiimote in that direction to slam them around, these prompts were extremely responsive. You can also do all sorts of other things with the beam (move objects, manipulate backgrounds etc) and it all works really well.

Ghostbusters is a really fun game that does its source material justice. If you are a fan of the movies and always wanted a ghostbusters 3 then you really need to play this game, but even if you are not a huge fan this is a solid action/adventure game that stands on its own with fun gameplay and an amusing story.

It's been too long since I updated...hope I caught them all

Games Beaten 2020
Mortal Kombat 11 - PS4
The Force Unleashed II - 360
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom - Wii
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light - 360
Super Fantasy Zone - Genesis
Fable Heroes - 360
Castlevania Bloodlines - Genesis
My Friend Pedro - X1
Super Fantasy Zone - Genesis *new*
Darius - Genesis *new*
Ape Out - PC *new*
Doom Eternal - PS4 *new*
Dead or Alive 6 - PS4 *new*
Plague, Inc. - PC *new*

Total: 14

Previously:
2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

one sentence blurbs on each:

Super Fantasy Zone - The best game I have played in the series, aside from perhaps the ace 3DS entry/remake.

Darius - A game that deserves to be considered among the best in its genre on the Genesis; it alone should function as a system seller for the Genesis Mini.

Ape Out - Another great Devolver Digital title with cartoonish gore, challenging twitchy gameplay, and inspired funky style vibes.

sentences are too long. going with analogies now...

Doom Eternal - Doom:Doom II::Doom (2016):Doom Eternal

Dead or Alive 6 - Tekken 6:Tekken 7::DOA 5:DOA 6

Plague, Inc. - Living during Cold War:playing Missile Command::Living during COVID-19 Pandemic:playing Plague, Inc.

What is this, the SAT?

I know the Definitive Edition was released as one thing, but it was originally a game and an expansion, so that's how I'm counting it.

Games Beaten in 2020 - 17
* denotes a replay

January (1 Game Beaten)


February (2 Games Beaten)


March (10 Games Beaten)


April (4 Games Beaten)


16. Age of Empires (Definitive Edition) - Steam - April 4
17. Age of Empires: Rise of Rome (Definitive Edition) - Steam - April 5



Age of Empires is a game that always has had and always will have a special place in my heart. It was my first introduction to the real-time strategy genre, and it was my first non-shareware or freeware PC game. I first played the original Age of Empires back in elementary school - I think in the second grade - when my friend, Thomas, had it on his computer (probably a whim-of-the-moment purchase of his dad's). I vividly remember playing it on his dad's laptop on the counter in their kitchen sitting on barstools and being completely enthralled by the ability to build a city, raise an army, and destroy our enemies. That game set me on the path of RTS obsession that has lasted into the present day. Not that I've ever gotten any good at the games, but whatever, they're fun.



Age of Empires II, a sequel that was far superior by pretty much every metric, was definitely more popular and went on to receive both an HD remaster with new content as well as a later UHD remaster with even more new content. When a UHD remaster of the original game was finally announced (sadly without any cool new expansion like AoE2 got), I was obviously ecstatic. I did, however, make myself wait until it went on sale in one of my VERY rare moments of good financial sense. After all, I downloaded the HD remaster of Age of Empires II on day one (in one of my VERY common moments of bad financial sense), so other than nostalgia, there was no pressing need to download the remaster of the original game. That sale finally came (at least the one I noticed) during this COVID-19 pandemic - 50% off on Steam, marked down to $10 from $20. Normally $5 and below is my threshold for buying digital games I probably don't need, but whatever, I'll bite at $10 for the sake of nostalgia.



So this Definitive Edition includes both the five campaigns from the original Age of Empires as well as the five campaigns from the Rise of Rome expansion pack. Visually, they didn't rework the models for everything to the point where it looks like Starcraft II or Halo Wars, but the visuals definitely got a very nice overhaul, and there are three specific parts of the visuals that do deserve extra praise for looking especially outstanding - the water animations, the fire animations, and the destroy building models and animations. They really went above and beyond on those three things specifically, so much so that it almost looks out of place with the rest of the game just how good those look.



It's been so long since I've played the almost-quarter-century old release, so I can't be sure if the audio was actually good then, or if it's nostalgia coloring my memory, but everything sounds as crisp in the remaster as I remember it sounding in the original. Your villagers still say the classic "Rogan?" when you select them, and the priests still chant the famous and heavily memed "Wololo!" when converting an enemy unit. Honestly, "Wololo" and my fond memories of that are half the reason I took the 20+ hours to replay all ten campaigns. Another thing gloriously retained from the original release are the cheat codes. It's worth noting that the cheats do NOT disable achievements (although the achievements are all really easy to get without cheats except for the one that requires winning a ranked match online), but who cares about achievements - I can spawn babies riding tricycles with shotguns or stormtroopers with nuclear-armed rocket launchers at my Town Center! Also worth noting is that Microsoft has integrated Age of Empires's achievements with the Xbox achievement system, so your achievements give you points for your Xbox Live Gamerscore.



The campaigns themselves have always been a bit of an annoyance for me in their pacing. They jump around chronologically. You'll do a campaign taking place in the 300s CE and then the very next campaign is in the 200s BCE. As a history teacher, I know full well that you don't always teach history in a strictly chronological order, but when all of your campaigns (in the second half, anyway) deal with the Roman Empire, I feel like chronology is a good thing to maintain there. At least the campaigns themselves are pretty fun, and they do a good job of talking about the events they're depicting in the instruction section before you start each mission. I also need to give the devs a shout-out for using CE and BCE as opposed to the archaic and inherently sectarian AD and BC. For those who don't know, AD is "Anno Domini" which is Latin for "In the year of the Lord," and BC is "Before Christ." Those are, for reasons that should be obvious, not fit for a secular academic context. Instead, academics use CE for Common Era and BCE for Before Common Era.



All things considered, Age of Empires Definitive Edition is an exemplar of what a remaster should be in my opinion. They don't add much, but they don't take away, either; they give you a game you remember fondly from childhood (or adolescence) but make it prettier and smoother to fit with modern standards. The scenario and campaign creators are kept fully intact, the campaigns are kept intact, and the cheats are kept functional. They've also increased the number of units you can select at one time and the number you can have assigned to a specific hotkey (up to 36 from an original of 8 or 16 if memory serves). It's Age of Empires that you don't need Windows 95 to run well, and it looks great on modern displays. What more could an old school RTS fan ask for?

1. Her Story (iOS)
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
8. Squidlit (Switch)
9. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan (Switch)
10. Mega Man Legends (PS1)
11. Revenge of the Bird King (Switch)
12. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch)
13. Gato Roboto (Switch)

Gato Roboto is a brisk, monochrome Metroidvania in which play as a cat piloting a robot suit and, occasionally, other vehicles to help your person after crash landing on an extraterrestrial research facility. The game is incredibly charming, and while its primary inspiration is Super Metroid, the ability to exit your robot suit to explore narrow passageways demonstrates that it was also influenced, a bit, by Blaster Master. Most importantly, the game “feels” more like Super Metroid than any game since, well, Super Metroid. Movement is quick, and the game world can be navigated very quickly. Backtracking for upgrades and equipment is both rewarding and painless. The boss fights are intense, but not overly challenging. Save points are a bit too frequent, but the game remains challenging. All of your abilities are consistently useful, and the game throws obstacles at you encouraging you to test their limits, especially if you are hunting down optional upgrades. Everything about the game just works, and while it’s not purr-fect (I couldn’t resist) and a bit short, I enjoyed the game tremendously. Highly recommended.