Games Beaten 2016
- Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
(3DS eShop) Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~
http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/ch ... mories-3ds
A detective story brought to us by some ex-CiNG developers, with a lead that resembles an incognito Kyle Hyde. First and foremost; Chase has a very very low budget, and is quite brief. You'll actually only solve one case, that's how brief it is. All the budget went to animating character talking heads, so the dialogue is at least dynamically acted. Thankfully the case in question is legitimately interesting, and ends on a cliffhanger. Chase is much more a visual novel, rather than a proper adventure game. The primary gameplay is simply advancing text and answering quizzes. The OST is mellow and jazzy, reminiscent of earlier CiNG material. If you keep your expectations low, you may find "Chase: Unsolved Cases Investigation Division - Distant Memories" to be an entertaining short story. But if you go into this hoping for another mystery adventure worthy of CiNG's glory days, you're gonna hit a cold case.
6/10
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
1. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)
2. Puzzle Link (NGPC)(Puzzle)
3. Illusion of Gaia (SNES)(RPG)
4. Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War (PC)(Strategy)
5. Shadowrun: Dragonfall (PC)(RPG)
6. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (PC)(RPG)
7. Drakkhen (SNES)(RPG)
8. Flight of the Amazon Queen (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
9. Shadowgrounds: Survivor (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
10. Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (SNES)(RPG)
11. BioShock (PC)(FPS)
12. Jeopardy! Sports Edition (SNES)(Game Show Sim)
13. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (PC)(FPS)
14. Thief Gold (PC)(Stealth)
15. Call of Duty 2 (PC)(FPS)
16. Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (PC)(RPG)
17. Alone in the Dark (PC)(Survival Horror)
18. Silent Hill (PS1)(Survival Horror)
19. Sanitarium (PC)(Point-and-Click Adventure/Horror)
20. Gauntlet: Slayer Edition(PC)(Hack and Slash)
21. Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES)(Fighting)
22. Ultima II (PC)(RPG)
23. System Shock (PC)(Action RPG)
24. DOOM (PC)(FPS)
25. Soul Blazer (SNES)(RPG)
26. Slave Zero (PC)(Action)
27. Broforce (PC)(Run and Gun)
28. Gothic (PC)(RPG)
29. Eye of the Beholder (PC)(RPG)
30. Outlaws + A Handful of Missions (PC)(FPS)
31. Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi (PC)(Survival Horror)
Outlaws
Outlaws is amazing. It's a Western-themed FPS, where the story is told through animated sequences, every level features a boss of some kind, and where all the weapons are pulled straight out of the 1800s. You have knives, revolvers, shotguns galore, a rifle that can be scoped to make it the first zoomable sniper rifle in FPS history, and even dynamite that you have to light with your cigar before throwing. The levels are also incredibly impressive, ranging from old forts to abandoned mines to small towns and so on.
I feel like I'm playing a violent cartoon about cowboys playing this game, because the visuals back it up. Your weapons have an animated flair that supports it, and your HUD is an old timey cash register. But what really sells the setting is the soundtrack, which is absolutely phenomenal. Apparently a full orchestra was used, which was rare at the time. It was worth it. This game sounds like an epic spaghetti western, and the sound effects are quite meaty. When you shoot someone, it sounds like it. When you unload a shotgun into them, launch them across the room, and hear them scream with an echo effect, it truly becomes something special.
Three difficulty settings(Good, Bad, and Ugly) add to the challenge; while on Good you can take a beating and can run around easily, you're going down in a single shot on Ugly, so you have to be cautious and stick to cover. Even on Bad, a stray bullet can knock you to half health, so your gameplay style has to change accordingly.
While the base game is only 10 levels long, there is also an added expansion set called A Handful of Missions which give you four new levels(including one which is broken into two parts) as well as Marshall Training, which is a new kind of level where you pick your target and then go hunt them down for points. This adds further replay, though I have varied opinions of the new levels. Some were really cool, such as the Civil War mission, but I loathed the Ice Flow.
Still, if there is one downside, it's that the game has some issues with modern tech. I couldn't use the rifle scope, because the game would crash every time I tried. I compensated around that though, so it's not an impossible thing. I'd just be wary any time I grabbed a scope.
John Romero considers this one of his favorite games, and I'm inclined to agree. I loved every minute of it and heartily recommend it.
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Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi
I could have labeled this either Survival Horror or FPS because in truth the game is both, though not all of the weapons involve shooting. N:TWoM throws the hero into a castle with randomly generated interiors. You have an hour and a half to go through the castle to try and rescue your numerous family members before they are killed. Succeed, and you're awarded peace of mind as well as whatever items they carried in their suitcases. Some of the family are also required to rescue to open up new areas of the castle to visit, though not all.
Even if you fail to save everyone though, you then wait until morning and take on the rest of the castle at dawn, which is the only time during which you can open the door for the final encounter. But there are numerous foes within the castle, ranging from devil dogs to vampires of various types to ghosts, zombies, gypsy servants of the vampires, killer bats, and even the odd gargoyle. And each of these enemies has different types of strengths and weaknesses, so certain weapons are very effective against them while others are a complete waste of time.
While the randomized nature of the castle keeps things interesting, the game becomes significantly easier once you understand how to deal with each type of enemy. What should you use a cross on, versus what gets a stake? What situation is best for the revolver or the musket? Is holy water overpowered? Yes, holy water is very overpowered, I'm just gonna tell you now. The truth is in fact that much of the threat of some of these creatures is entirely removed once you know what weapon to us, and that's when you discover that you're a bit hampered by the weapon swap controls, which take forever. You also have limited ability to modify said controls, which is a shame; I'd have loved to up my mouse sensitivity, though I guess it isn't necessary.
I won't lie, the game has some problems. It's poorly optimized, so the main central courtyard causes lag. The lack of certain options certainly holds the game back too. Worst of all though are the unskippable cutscenes. I really don't want to watch the 5 minute long intro cinematic every time I start a new game, and while I appreciate the finality of the poem I am shown every time a family member is killed, they all share the same background video. If you aren't any good, you'll be seeing the same thing over and over again. That said, those poems are pretty devastating. My first time through, the main character's father and sister were killed. Seeing "Your father is dead" splashed across the screen was more than a little uncomfortable.
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi is an entertaining idea, though it's not something I want to go back to. After a while it wears out its welcome as I feel like I've seen all of the enemies it keeps throwing at me and know how to handle them. If you get the machine gun, it's pretty much over, and the holy water freaking eats the bosses. And even with the changing layouts, many of the rooms just feel like the same thing over and over again. I am glad I finally got to play this game, but I don't think I'll be returning to it for a long while.
2. Puzzle Link (NGPC)(Puzzle)
3. Illusion of Gaia (SNES)(RPG)
4. Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War (PC)(Strategy)
5. Shadowrun: Dragonfall (PC)(RPG)
6. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (PC)(RPG)
7. Drakkhen (SNES)(RPG)
8. Flight of the Amazon Queen (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
9. Shadowgrounds: Survivor (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
10. Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (SNES)(RPG)
11. BioShock (PC)(FPS)
12. Jeopardy! Sports Edition (SNES)(Game Show Sim)
13. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (PC)(FPS)
14. Thief Gold (PC)(Stealth)
15. Call of Duty 2 (PC)(FPS)
16. Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (PC)(RPG)
17. Alone in the Dark (PC)(Survival Horror)
18. Silent Hill (PS1)(Survival Horror)
19. Sanitarium (PC)(Point-and-Click Adventure/Horror)
20. Gauntlet: Slayer Edition(PC)(Hack and Slash)
21. Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES)(Fighting)
22. Ultima II (PC)(RPG)
23. System Shock (PC)(Action RPG)
24. DOOM (PC)(FPS)
25. Soul Blazer (SNES)(RPG)
26. Slave Zero (PC)(Action)
27. Broforce (PC)(Run and Gun)
28. Gothic (PC)(RPG)
29. Eye of the Beholder (PC)(RPG)
30. Outlaws + A Handful of Missions (PC)(FPS)
31. Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi (PC)(Survival Horror)
Outlaws
Outlaws is amazing. It's a Western-themed FPS, where the story is told through animated sequences, every level features a boss of some kind, and where all the weapons are pulled straight out of the 1800s. You have knives, revolvers, shotguns galore, a rifle that can be scoped to make it the first zoomable sniper rifle in FPS history, and even dynamite that you have to light with your cigar before throwing. The levels are also incredibly impressive, ranging from old forts to abandoned mines to small towns and so on.
I feel like I'm playing a violent cartoon about cowboys playing this game, because the visuals back it up. Your weapons have an animated flair that supports it, and your HUD is an old timey cash register. But what really sells the setting is the soundtrack, which is absolutely phenomenal. Apparently a full orchestra was used, which was rare at the time. It was worth it. This game sounds like an epic spaghetti western, and the sound effects are quite meaty. When you shoot someone, it sounds like it. When you unload a shotgun into them, launch them across the room, and hear them scream with an echo effect, it truly becomes something special.
Three difficulty settings(Good, Bad, and Ugly) add to the challenge; while on Good you can take a beating and can run around easily, you're going down in a single shot on Ugly, so you have to be cautious and stick to cover. Even on Bad, a stray bullet can knock you to half health, so your gameplay style has to change accordingly.
While the base game is only 10 levels long, there is also an added expansion set called A Handful of Missions which give you four new levels(including one which is broken into two parts) as well as Marshall Training, which is a new kind of level where you pick your target and then go hunt them down for points. This adds further replay, though I have varied opinions of the new levels. Some were really cool, such as the Civil War mission, but I loathed the Ice Flow.
Still, if there is one downside, it's that the game has some issues with modern tech. I couldn't use the rifle scope, because the game would crash every time I tried. I compensated around that though, so it's not an impossible thing. I'd just be wary any time I grabbed a scope.
John Romero considers this one of his favorite games, and I'm inclined to agree. I loved every minute of it and heartily recommend it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi
I could have labeled this either Survival Horror or FPS because in truth the game is both, though not all of the weapons involve shooting. N:TWoM throws the hero into a castle with randomly generated interiors. You have an hour and a half to go through the castle to try and rescue your numerous family members before they are killed. Succeed, and you're awarded peace of mind as well as whatever items they carried in their suitcases. Some of the family are also required to rescue to open up new areas of the castle to visit, though not all.
Even if you fail to save everyone though, you then wait until morning and take on the rest of the castle at dawn, which is the only time during which you can open the door for the final encounter. But there are numerous foes within the castle, ranging from devil dogs to vampires of various types to ghosts, zombies, gypsy servants of the vampires, killer bats, and even the odd gargoyle. And each of these enemies has different types of strengths and weaknesses, so certain weapons are very effective against them while others are a complete waste of time.
While the randomized nature of the castle keeps things interesting, the game becomes significantly easier once you understand how to deal with each type of enemy. What should you use a cross on, versus what gets a stake? What situation is best for the revolver or the musket? Is holy water overpowered? Yes, holy water is very overpowered, I'm just gonna tell you now. The truth is in fact that much of the threat of some of these creatures is entirely removed once you know what weapon to us, and that's when you discover that you're a bit hampered by the weapon swap controls, which take forever. You also have limited ability to modify said controls, which is a shame; I'd have loved to up my mouse sensitivity, though I guess it isn't necessary.
I won't lie, the game has some problems. It's poorly optimized, so the main central courtyard causes lag. The lack of certain options certainly holds the game back too. Worst of all though are the unskippable cutscenes. I really don't want to watch the 5 minute long intro cinematic every time I start a new game, and while I appreciate the finality of the poem I am shown every time a family member is killed, they all share the same background video. If you aren't any good, you'll be seeing the same thing over and over again. That said, those poems are pretty devastating. My first time through, the main character's father and sister were killed. Seeing "Your father is dead" splashed across the screen was more than a little uncomfortable.
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi is an entertaining idea, though it's not something I want to go back to. After a while it wears out its welcome as I feel like I've seen all of the enemies it keeps throwing at me and know how to handle them. If you get the machine gun, it's pretty much over, and the holy water freaking eats the bosses. And even with the changing layouts, many of the rooms just feel like the same thing over and over again. I am glad I finally got to play this game, but I don't think I'll be returning to it for a long while.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
1. Rise of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One)
2. DOAX3 Fortune Edition (PS4)
3. Uncharted 4 (PS4)
4. DOOM (2016) (PC)
5. Halo 5 (Xbox One)
6. Dark Souls (PC)
7. Call of Duty (PC)
8. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC)
9. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
10. King's Field: The Ancient City (PS2)
11. Bloodborne (PS4)
12. SOMA (PC)
13. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4)
14. Dark Souls III (PS4)
15. Lords of the Fallen (PC)
16. Demon's Souls (PS3)
17. Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (PC)
Technically, I could have, maybe should have simply played through this earlier in the year when I played through Dark Souls, since while it's the DLC, it's included as part of the PC release anyway. I didn't, and Dark Souls immediately drops you into the NG+ cycle after you roll the credits (Bloodborne and DeS are the same, DSII and III are not). While I did back up my save file from earlier this year, I was curious how I'd find the game after playing through the rest of the series. So, I'm just listing it here as the DLC, but I actually played through the entire game again.
I did have a significantly easier time with it. In part due to experience with the series, in part due to thwomping things on the head with a Zweihander just being pretty overpowered. I more or less cut my playtime in half (I was around 27 hours and change going into the DLC), with the 5-6 hours of DLC combining to push things into the 33 hour range for the entire thing.
The DLC itself is solid, with great lore, largely good level design, and of course it's home to some of the more difficult bosses in the game. Shifting tactics made relatively short work of all of them for me though. I wound up building the Greatshield of Artorias which was a game changer for Manus and Kalameet (I spent a lot more time on the latter trying to cut his tail than trying to win, before looking up a better way to bait prime tail slicing time). They'd definitely be very challenging if stuck with or intent on certain tactics.
2. DOAX3 Fortune Edition (PS4)
3. Uncharted 4 (PS4)
4. DOOM (2016) (PC)
5. Halo 5 (Xbox One)
6. Dark Souls (PC)
7. Call of Duty (PC)
8. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC)
9. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
10. King's Field: The Ancient City (PS2)
11. Bloodborne (PS4)
12. SOMA (PC)
13. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4)
14. Dark Souls III (PS4)
15. Lords of the Fallen (PC)
16. Demon's Souls (PS3)
17. Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (PC)
Technically, I could have, maybe should have simply played through this earlier in the year when I played through Dark Souls, since while it's the DLC, it's included as part of the PC release anyway. I didn't, and Dark Souls immediately drops you into the NG+ cycle after you roll the credits (Bloodborne and DeS are the same, DSII and III are not). While I did back up my save file from earlier this year, I was curious how I'd find the game after playing through the rest of the series. So, I'm just listing it here as the DLC, but I actually played through the entire game again.
I did have a significantly easier time with it. In part due to experience with the series, in part due to thwomping things on the head with a Zweihander just being pretty overpowered. I more or less cut my playtime in half (I was around 27 hours and change going into the DLC), with the 5-6 hours of DLC combining to push things into the 33 hour range for the entire thing.
The DLC itself is solid, with great lore, largely good level design, and of course it's home to some of the more difficult bosses in the game. Shifting tactics made relatively short work of all of them for me though. I wound up building the Greatshield of Artorias which was a game changer for Manus and Kalameet (I spent a lot more time on the latter trying to cut his tail than trying to win, before looking up a better way to bait prime tail slicing time). They'd definitely be very challenging if stuck with or intent on certain tactics.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
That's disappointing to hear, Exhum. I'll probably check it out when it goes on sale.
- Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
Sarge wrote:That's disappointing to hear, Exhum. I'll probably check it out when it goes on sale.
Get it on sale yeah, it's worth $2 at most. $5.99 is a bit much, but I paid out of respect for the director.
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https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... mind&hl=en
InMind VR (Android) 7/10
Here's a fun little game for VR users, where you shoot viruses out of a brain's synapse clusters. It's a shooter essentially, and you simply have to stare at a virus long enough to initiate a laser blast at it. Sounds simple at first, but timing gets difficult towards the end, as you desperately whip your head around trying to blast all the viruses. InMind VR is a quick game to beat, and although it's very simple, the game's got some great immersion and a good sense of humor. Not a bad way to spend some time in VR land for rail shooter fans.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
- noiseredux
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
So weird. I played InMind VR on Rift last night. Not sure if they are different versions. This was like F-Zero, and the moving with my head started to give me motion sickness at such speeds. Controller was better.
Edit, no wait I played InCell VR haha. Nevermind.
Edit, no wait I played InCell VR haha. Nevermind.
- Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
noiseredux wrote:Edit, no wait I played InCell VR haha. Nevermind.
Yeah InCell is different, I agree it reminds me of some parts of F-Zero GX where you race on tubes and avoid obstacles. Tilting your head to control the rotation along the tubes was a cool idea.
The only VR stuff I've used that have given me motion sickness, have been some of the roller coaster rides. Doing Cedar Point VR three times in a row was probably a bad idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqb9jAar09I
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ntVR&hl=en
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
- ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
Games Beaten in 2016 So Far - 103
January (20 Games Beaten)
February (8 Games Beaten)
March (8 Games Beaten)
April (13 Games Beaten)
May (6 Games Beaten)
June (13 Games Beaten)
July (7 Games Beaten)
August (15 Games Beaten)
September (8 Games Beaten)
October (5 Games Beaten)
103. EVE: Valkyrie - PlayStation 4 - October 14
I'm late posting a review of this - pneumonia kind of kicked my ass all of a sudden - but I'm finally getting around to writing up a review for EVE: Valkyrie. This was my first foray into PlayStation VR and virtual reality in general (minus the Virtual Boy), and I gotta admit....I'm not disappointed. I actually beat this four days ago when I was just trying out my PS VR, but I'm gonna go ahead and say that this is a title that every PS VR owner needs to pick up.
I've never played an EVE game before, so I don't know how well this fits in terms of lore or whatever, but what I do know is that it's a damn good space flight blow-shit-up simulator, and that's pretty much everything I want out of a virtual reality game. You fly your ship with the standard gamepad controls, but you can turn your head in the cockpit to look around, and your homing missiles are aimed at a target with your head movement, not the control stick, so you can (in theory) fly towards and shoot one target while aiming missiles at a target in a different direction. Just being able to look around the cockpit, though, is incredibly immersive.
Because it's a PlayStation VR game, the visuals aren't super impressive - you gotta make sacrifices when your headset is designed to be affordable (affordable being a relative term when the headset costs more than the console needed to use it) - but the immersion of the gameplay more than makes up for any graphical sacrifices IMO. The story campaign is really short - like six missions, I think - but there are a couple of other offline modes, and there's a really good online component. You can either do PvP team deathmatch or co-op vs AI team deathmatch online. The matchmaking is very smooth, and I experienced zero latency with the online play. It was so smooth that I thought it had put in an entirely offline match until I saw the PSN IDs.
It's only a launch title for PlayStation VR, so keep that in mind if you pick it up, but for a launch title, it's breathtaking. It's a bit shallow in terms of single player offerings, but the gameplay is so much fun and the online matchmaking so smooth that even the single player Nazi that I am is thoroughly pleased with this. This is what we need on VR platforms - spaceship combat.
January (20 Games Beaten)
February (8 Games Beaten)
March (8 Games Beaten)
April (13 Games Beaten)
May (6 Games Beaten)
June (13 Games Beaten)
July (7 Games Beaten)
August (15 Games Beaten)
September (8 Games Beaten)
October (5 Games Beaten)
103. EVE: Valkyrie - PlayStation 4 - October 14
I'm late posting a review of this - pneumonia kind of kicked my ass all of a sudden - but I'm finally getting around to writing up a review for EVE: Valkyrie. This was my first foray into PlayStation VR and virtual reality in general (minus the Virtual Boy), and I gotta admit....I'm not disappointed. I actually beat this four days ago when I was just trying out my PS VR, but I'm gonna go ahead and say that this is a title that every PS VR owner needs to pick up.
I've never played an EVE game before, so I don't know how well this fits in terms of lore or whatever, but what I do know is that it's a damn good space flight blow-shit-up simulator, and that's pretty much everything I want out of a virtual reality game. You fly your ship with the standard gamepad controls, but you can turn your head in the cockpit to look around, and your homing missiles are aimed at a target with your head movement, not the control stick, so you can (in theory) fly towards and shoot one target while aiming missiles at a target in a different direction. Just being able to look around the cockpit, though, is incredibly immersive.
Because it's a PlayStation VR game, the visuals aren't super impressive - you gotta make sacrifices when your headset is designed to be affordable (affordable being a relative term when the headset costs more than the console needed to use it) - but the immersion of the gameplay more than makes up for any graphical sacrifices IMO. The story campaign is really short - like six missions, I think - but there are a couple of other offline modes, and there's a really good online component. You can either do PvP team deathmatch or co-op vs AI team deathmatch online. The matchmaking is very smooth, and I experienced zero latency with the online play. It was so smooth that I thought it had put in an entirely offline match until I saw the PSN IDs.
It's only a launch title for PlayStation VR, so keep that in mind if you pick it up, but for a launch title, it's breathtaking. It's a bit shallow in terms of single player offerings, but the gameplay is so much fun and the online matchmaking so smooth that even the single player Nazi that I am is thoroughly pleased with this. This is what we need on VR platforms - spaceship combat.
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- noiseredux
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- ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
noiseredux wrote:how long was the single player stuff in EVE:V?
The "story" component is probably an hour, maybe two. I broke it up with some online matches between, so I'm not 100% sure. There are some extra tutorials for each class that will add another 45 minutes or so, and some scouting missions (which I got bored with and quit after the first one) along with a wave survival mode.
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