Games Beaten 2022

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:35 pm

REPO Man wrote:I'm legit surprised we haven't had a bigger FMV game revival, especially given how it could have rode in on the same wave as the rise of Telltale Games

If you like them, check out Wales Interactive. They publish most of the really good ones these days. Ghost Dog Films is a fantastic studio making them (and often have their productions published by Wales Interactive).

Post by **Note** » Mon Jul 18, 2022 12:28 am

1. Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth (N64)
2. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Arcade)*
3. Metal Slug 6 (PS2)
4. Time Crisis II (PS2)*
5. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (360)
6. Shining the Holy Ark (SAT)
7. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (SNES)
8. Soul Blazer (SNES)
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)*
10. Warriors of Fate (Switch)
11. Knights of the Round (Switch)
12. Armored Warriors (Switch)
13. Battle Circuit (Switch)

14. OutRun (GEN)

I've completed OutRun and wrote about it here a few times, so I'll keep this post quite short. OutRun is like gaming comfort food to me. It's one of my most played and enjoyed games over the years. I felt like popping it in again this weekend, and while I was rusty, I was able to complete it on my third attempt, going through the "E" route in the game. My background music of choice during this playthrough was Splash Wave, which is my favorite and preferred song offered.

I definitely recommend OutRun to anyone that's a fan of 2D racing games. I realized I haven't played the later OutRun titles, so another goal of mine is check out OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast later this year!

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Mon Jul 18, 2022 9:02 am

Games Beaten in 2021 - 36
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)

February (1 Games Beaten)

March (0 Games Beaten)

April (3 Games Beaten)

May (3 Games Beaten)

June (9 Games Beaten)

36. Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified - PlayStation Vita - June 20

Call of Duty campaigns are one of my guilty pleasures. Some are great, some are terrible, most are so-so. Unfortunately, this one falls into that middle category. It sucks that it sucks because I absolutely adore the Vita. I'm not generally a handheld guy, but the Vita is my big exception (I don't count the Switch as a handheld since I play almost exclusively docked). I had hoped that this would be a legitimate even if scaled down Call of Duty campaign. They put out halfway decent Call of Duty games on DS, and the Vita is *significantly* more advanced, so surely Call of Duty would be pretty decent here, right?

The core gameplay isn't the problem. The game plays pretty good in all honesty. There are a couple of quirks due to the way the handheld's controls; you hold your breath when sniping by touching and holding the back touchpad, you use your knife by swiping on the touchscreen, and you use grenades and gadgets by touching and dragging across the screen. That's pretty easy to get used to, though. The problem is how the campaign is structured. The campaign is broken into ten missions each of which are only loosely connected and take place in different years. This could be fine, but each mission is so short that you never end up feeling any investment in what's going on whatsoever. Most missions can be completed in a couple of minutes. The game also feels more difficult than console Call of Duty games. It might be the controls, but I felt like I died way more easily than I did in console Call of Duty games.

Visually, the game is fairly impressive. The Vita doesn't have an HD screen (no matter what Atari Jaguar-esque marketing crap Sony tried to push), but the hardware is pretty competent for a ten year old handheld, and Call of Duty does a pretty good job of showing that. Just as importantly, it doesn't just look good; the frame rate stays pretty good, too. On a technical level, it's a pretty impressive game. The multiplayer still works although I was only able to find games with two other people. If you happen to have a group of friends who also have a bad Call of Duty game for a failed handheld, then you can get an ad hoc multiplayer game going. Unfortunately, in 2022, multiplayer functionality in a game from 2012 is usually a moot point, and it definitely is here.

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified had a lot of potential, but it ended up being a slap in the face to Vita owner and Call of Duty fans. Multiplayer, when it launched, was probably pretty fun, but with empty multiplayer servers and an insultingly short and shallow campaign leave this game with very little to offer in 2022. It may be impressive technically and competent in terms of gameplay mechanics, but the actual content - the meat on the skeleton - is about as lackluster as it gets. The game usually goes for around $30 or $40 complete on the secondhand market, and it's definitely not worth that. I paid $25 for my copy last week, and I still feel like I overpaid.

Post by **Note** » Mon Jul 18, 2022 11:13 am

1. Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth (N64)
2. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Arcade)*
3. Metal Slug 6 (PS2)
4. Time Crisis II (PS2)*
5. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (360)
6. Shining the Holy Ark (SAT)
7. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (SNES)
8. Soul Blazer (SNES)
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)*
10. Warriors of Fate (Switch)
11. Knights of the Round (Switch)
12. Armored Warriors (Switch)
13. Battle Circuit (Switch)
14. OutRun (GEN)

15. Kirby's Adventure (NES)

While browsing through the Switch online service, I was in the mood to play something originally released on the NES, and something that I might be able to complete over a weekend. As I never had a NES when I was young, I played it at the homes of cousins and friends, but I missed out on a lot of great titles for the console. Kirby's Adventure is a game I was interested in for years, as I thought it looked great for a NES game. With it being released very late in the console's lifespan, HAL Laboratory squeezed everything they could out of Nintendo's system. Kirby's Dreamland debuted on the GameBoy, and this was the protagonist's first title to hit a home console.

Kirby's Adventure is a side-scrolling platformer, consisting of seven worlds, and six stages in each world. Each world also contains a bonus stage or two, which I found to be pretty different and fun. Some of the bonus stage options consist of a crane game, a Wild West style shoot out, arena fights, and an egg eating game. Kirby's Adventure has quite a few quirks to differentiate it from the pack. Kirby is able to suck in just about any enemy you come across and absorb their ability to be used. This game does a great job of including a ton of different abilities to keep things interesting and to give the player multiple options to clear a specific battle or area. Sometimes if you have the right ability equipped you can use it to open up a different area, to get some extra items. Certain enemies can also have a weakness to an ability, which will help you clear a battle much quicker.

As mentioned earlier, the graphics in Kirby's Adventure are a technical feat. This game really pushes the limits of Nintendo's first system. Not only is it very colorful throughout, but there are some impressive visual effects too. One of my favorites being the tower, which I believe is spotted in a few levels throughout the game, and it appears to be rotating as you're walking forward. I've seen effects like this on 16-bit systems, was quite surprised to see it here as well. The soundtrack is also impressive, IMO. As the game has a laidback and charming vibe, I think the soundtrack fits the world and style of the game very well. To be fair, it's not something I think I would listen to outside of the game, but it fits the world created here. Also, can we talk about the box art? The illustration is just awesome, and it's hilarious that Kirby is about to suck up the right side of the box art, with some enemies lurking in the background there.

Overall, this game is amazing, and I think any fan of platforming or the 8-bit generation of consoles should experience it. The game isn't too challenging until the very end, as I found the final boss fight to be somewhat difficult. The easy challenge is refreshing though, as it's nice to play something with a laidback approach. At the moment, I think this might be my favorite Kirby game, but I look forward to revisiting others later this year. I'm glad I finally checked this one out, and I highly recommend it!

Post by **Markies** » Tue Jul 19, 2022 11:10 am

Note, those are some fantastic games!

I hope to go back to OutRun on the Genesis rather shortly as I want to experience all of the Paths. Such a great driving game and Splash Wave is the correct choice!

And Kirby's Adventure is one of the best games on the NES. Glad you got to play that for the first time!

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Tue Jul 19, 2022 11:28 am

Games Beaten in 2021 - 37
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)

February (1 Games Beaten)

March (0 Games Beaten)

April (3 Games Beaten)

May (3 Games Beaten)

June (10 Games Beaten)

37. The House of the Dead Remake - Switch - June 24

I'm a huge fan of rail shooters. As such, the fact that House of the Dead was a system exclusive is a big part of why I bought a Sega Saturn when I started collecting older games and hardware. I quickly became enamored with the system's fun gameplay and campy humor and voice acting. I had always hoped that we'd get an HD remaster of the first three games in the series for PS3 or Wii U, but that never happened. Turn out, Sega did what they do best and lost the source code for the original game, so it couldn't just be remastered or ported. Instead, they had Microids completely remake the game from the ground up, and I was over the moon when it was announced.

House of the Dead is not a game that people play for the deep narrative or compelling characters, but there is an overarching story that gives some context to the game. Dr. Curien is a researcher who goes full mad scientist in his obsession with overcoming death. He ends up creating a bunch of creatures that he unleashes on his own researchers, one of whom is Sophie. Sophie's fiancee is an agent with AMS, a US government agency whose purpose is never explicitly stated aside from an inferred "fight zombies and monsters and stuff." Sophie calls her fiancee, Thomas Rogan, begging him to save her. Thomas and his partner, G, show up two days and later and find the research mansion (Resident Evil reference, anyone?) overrun with zombies and other mutated creatures as the helpless scientists try desperately to flee or hide.

Unfortunately, we're past the age of light guns, so the more practical but less accurate gyroscopic aiming has taken its place. Xbox One, obviously, only allows for the regular controller, but Switch gives you the option of a pro controller (or pair of Joycons) or using a single Joycon like a Wiimote, and the PlayStation 4 version gives you the option of choosing between the DualShock 4 or the PlayStation Move controller. Like the original, the game supports two player local co-op. The game is split into four chapters, and your "choices" - mainly made depending on which scientists you manage to save, taking damage, manipulating switch, etc. There are also a handful of bosses to fight each of which have their own weak spots.

The House of the Dead Remake is a pretty faithful and extremely fun remake of the arcade and Saturn classic. Its a bit lackluster visually, though. It certainly doesn't look bad, but it doesn't really impress. It runs at 720p on Switch both docked and handheld with a 60 fps target docked and a 30 fps target handheld. Naturally, the visuals and performance is better on PlayStation and Xbox, but I played a pretty decent chunk on Switch, and I was satisfied with the performance especially when playing solo as local co-op does cause performance to take a small hit. Regardless of your system of choice, though, this is a solid remake. It's a shame that it didn't add more content or push the visuals more, and there are games on Switch that pushed the system's visuals more while still maintaining a more stable frame rate, but even with that said, I have no problem recommending this to any fan of zombie games or rail shooters.

Post by **Note** » Tue Jul 19, 2022 4:23 pm

Markies wrote:Note, those are some fantastic games!

I hope to go back to OutRun on the Genesis rather shortly as I want to experience all of the Paths. Such a great driving game and Splash Wave is the correct choice!

And Kirby's Adventure is one of the best games on the NES. Glad you got to play that for the first time!

Had a great time playing both games! It was a quiet weekend where I was home dog sitting for a friend without any plans, so it was the perfect time to spend some hours gaming. I especially enjoyed Kirby's Adventure.

I'll have to challenge myself to beat all the path's in Outrun again sometime soon too. Haven't done that in a while.

Post by **BoneSnapDeez** » Tue Jul 19, 2022 8:39 pm

Kirby's Adventure is so tasty.

I suck at OutRun. I like the aesthetics and music so much more than the game.

Post by **Limewater** » Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:03 am

I have Outrun on the SMS and still have never completed a full course. I guess I suck at it, too.

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Wed Jul 20, 2022 10:39 am

Games Beaten in 2021 - 38
* denotes a replay

January (20 Games Beaten)

February (1 Games Beaten)

March (0 Games Beaten)

April (3 Games Beaten)

May (3 Games Beaten)

June (11 Games Beaten)

38. Halo Wars Definitive Edition - Xbox One - June 29

As far games go, Halo Wars is the earliest point in the Halo timeline. If you've read the novels, it takes place a few years after first contact with the Covenant and the glassing of Harvest. Unlike most of the Halo series, Halo Wars is a real time strategy game. You control a group of UNSC marines and a base to create more units to achieve your objectives. As such, the action may be very different from what Halo veterans are used to, but the story and characters feel very much at home in the Halo universe. The last two images are pretty heavily compressed, so in-game visuals are better than what those screenshots suggest.

Five years into the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC Spirit of Fire is sent to Harvest to investigate Covenant activity on the surface. Harvest had been retaken from the Covenant, but after the initial brutal assault on the planet, it's unclear what could possibly interest anyone. What the UNSC forces discover, however, is that the Covenant have found something of great value, and a new battle on Harvest begins. If you've only played the main series games, then this may leave you feeling a little out of place as this game takes place over 20 years before the destruction of Reach and the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.

Halo Wars was, in opinion, an impressive achievement when it initially released in 2009. RTS games had never really worked super well on consoles outside of a few well-done instances, but Halo Wars absolutely nailed it. It obviously feels more natural on PC, but no RTS had ever felt that natural and comfortable on a console with a traditional control up to that point. For the most part, the Xbox One definitive edition is basically just a little more polish on the Xbox 360 original. The levels are the same, the difficulty is the same; it just looks and runs a little better. That visual polish is fantastic, though; the original game looked great already, but the definitive edition on Xbox One looks phenomenal.

I understand that not all Halo fans are going to be intrigued by the idea of playing an RTS game, but if you're a Halo fan because of the games' stories and world-building (which is, in my opinion, the best part of the series), then you absolutely owe it to yourself to play Halo Wars. Before this, we'd never gotten a view of the Human-Covenant War prior to the Battle of Reach, and by that point, the war - which lasted over twenty years - was already in its last months. Halo Wars is a fantastic look at the UNSC in the early years of the war when there were still dozens of Spartans and precious few victories against the Covenant. If Halo isn't your cup of tea but you like RTS games, then this is still worth taking for a spin as you'll be hard-pressed to find many better RTS games on console.

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