I agree. I enjoy Castlevania 4, Bloodlines, and even Dracula X more. Not saying Rondo is bad, but yes, a tad overrated. Likely so due to its scarcity for non-Japanese players during its day. Forbidden fruit's always sweeter.Sarge wrote:Rondo of Blood / I do think it's kind of overrated
Games Beaten 2017
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2017
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
Exhuminator wrote:and even Dracula X more.Sarge wrote:Rondo of Blood / I do think it's kind of overrated
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2017
I must agree somewhat with Gravity Rush 2. I so looked forward to it as I loved the first. Boy, the game sucks. The missions are awful and there is one that is so damn frustrating thanks to poor controls I flat quit the game. Shame as funny enough they improved everything else but took major steps back in the mission design.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
Same for me. I was looking forward it too but ended up hating it. First game wasn't great but it was miles better than the sequel.
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ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2017
Games Beaten in 2017 So Far - 129
* denotes a replay
January (10 Games Beaten)
February (12 Games Beaten)
March (6 Games Beaten)
April (9 Games Beaten)
May (14 Games Beaten)
June (10 Games Beaten)
July (20 Games Beaten)
August (9 Games Beaten)
September (14 Games Beaten)
October (7 Games Beaten)
November (18 Games Beaten)
129. Zombie Panic in Wonderland - Wii - November 22
If Zombie Panic in Wonderland sounds like a completely bizarre game, that's because it is. It's bizarre in the best way possible, though. Zombie Panic in Wonderland is an arcade shooter originally released on Wii and later ported to 3DS and mobile phones that ended up being a LOT more fun than I expected.
The premise of Zombie Panic in Wonderland is that throughout Wonderland, zombies have begun emerging, but no one quite knows why. I quit paying attention to the story after a while, but I can tell you that the game features characters from multiple fairy tales and similar works - Snow White, Dorothy, a ruined yellow brick road, Tin Man, and Red Riding Hood, to name a few. The game's story and cutscenes before each level are wacky and goofy and will definitely bring a smile.
The game is an arcade style shooter but not a traditional one in that it's not a rail shooter. In each level, the backdrop doesn't change at all with enemies just spawning in front of you rather than the camera moving around a world to the enemies as in most arcade shooters. You can move your character but only left and right. You only ways to avoid enemy attacks are to just stay out of the way or press the dodge button (Z) at the right time. It actually plays a lot like Wild Guns except with a submachine gun with a bottomless magazine and comical looking zombies.
Visually the game looks quite good, but the game's best aspect is definitely its music. The soundtrack manages to be ominous yet light at the same time. It's not scary, per se, but it definitely conveys the zombie theme. That's a terrible description, I know, but it's really quite good. The control, as well, is fantastic. It's tight and responsive with no random cursor spasms whatsoever. My only real complaint with the game is the difficulty balancing. There are three stages to the game, each with two or three levels, and while the first stage is pretty easy to let you get used to the controls, and the second stage is a decent but fair challenge, the third stage just seems to throw you at a wall. You go from the easiest of the game's three bosses straight into the most brutal of the game's stages, and while it's not the worst difficulty spike I've ever experienced, it'll give you some figurative whiplash.
Zombie Panic in Wonderland is a charming and fun to play shooter that I definitely recommend no matter how you play it - on Wii, on 3DS, or even on mobile phones if you're a scrub. It's a shame that the difficulty wasn't more smoothly balanced, but that shouldn't deter anyone from giving this a download before the Wii Shop Channel closes its doors. It support two player co-op, so give it a download, grab a buddy and some beers, and kill some goofy zombies.
* denotes a replay
January (10 Games Beaten)
If Zombie Panic in Wonderland sounds like a completely bizarre game, that's because it is. It's bizarre in the best way possible, though. Zombie Panic in Wonderland is an arcade shooter originally released on Wii and later ported to 3DS and mobile phones that ended up being a LOT more fun than I expected.
The premise of Zombie Panic in Wonderland is that throughout Wonderland, zombies have begun emerging, but no one quite knows why. I quit paying attention to the story after a while, but I can tell you that the game features characters from multiple fairy tales and similar works - Snow White, Dorothy, a ruined yellow brick road, Tin Man, and Red Riding Hood, to name a few. The game's story and cutscenes before each level are wacky and goofy and will definitely bring a smile.
The game is an arcade style shooter but not a traditional one in that it's not a rail shooter. In each level, the backdrop doesn't change at all with enemies just spawning in front of you rather than the camera moving around a world to the enemies as in most arcade shooters. You can move your character but only left and right. You only ways to avoid enemy attacks are to just stay out of the way or press the dodge button (Z) at the right time. It actually plays a lot like Wild Guns except with a submachine gun with a bottomless magazine and comical looking zombies.
Visually the game looks quite good, but the game's best aspect is definitely its music. The soundtrack manages to be ominous yet light at the same time. It's not scary, per se, but it definitely conveys the zombie theme. That's a terrible description, I know, but it's really quite good. The control, as well, is fantastic. It's tight and responsive with no random cursor spasms whatsoever. My only real complaint with the game is the difficulty balancing. There are three stages to the game, each with two or three levels, and while the first stage is pretty easy to let you get used to the controls, and the second stage is a decent but fair challenge, the third stage just seems to throw you at a wall. You go from the easiest of the game's three bosses straight into the most brutal of the game's stages, and while it's not the worst difficulty spike I've ever experienced, it'll give you some figurative whiplash.
Zombie Panic in Wonderland is a charming and fun to play shooter that I definitely recommend no matter how you play it - on Wii, on 3DS, or even on mobile phones if you're a scrub. It's a shame that the difficulty wasn't more smoothly balanced, but that shouldn't deter anyone from giving this a download before the Wii Shop Channel closes its doors. It support two player co-op, so give it a download, grab a buddy and some beers, and kill some goofy zombies.
Patron Saint of Bitch Mode
Re: Games Beaten 2017
1. Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (PC)(Action)
2. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES)(Fighting)
3. DRAGON: The Bruce Lee Story (SNES)(Fighting)
4. Eradicator (PC)(FPS)
5. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PC)(FPS)
6. D-Force (SNES)(SHMUP)
7. Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (PC)(RPG)
8. Dying Light (PC)(FPS/RPG)
9. Dying Light: The Following (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Gauntlet: Slayer Edition (PC)(Hack and Slash)
11. Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (PC)(Walking Simulator)
12. Dead Pixels (PC)(Run and Gun)
13. Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D. (PC)(FPS)
14. Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit (PC)(Action Platformer)
15. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (PC)(FPS)
16. Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory (PC)(Platformer)
17. Zombie Shooter (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
18. Torchlight (PC)(Action RPG)
19. Descent II (PC)(FPS)
20. Might and Magic: Swords of Xeen (PC)(RPG)
Might and Magic: Swords of Xeen is effectively a fan game using the engine from Might and Magic 4 and 5 which ended up getting picked up and published by New World Computing, the makers of the M&M series. While its obvious that SoX was developed by different people (precisely two of them to be exact), the game still features the same combat, the same tactics, and a few little tweaks to the Might and Magic formula to allow for shapeshifting enemies. However, it doesn't adhere as strictly to the general design philosophy of the main series, and as a result, it feels more like a step between Might and Magic 3 and 4 instead of a game to build upon the success of the 5th and the Worlds of Xeen combo.
While Might and Magic 4 and 5 offer smaller worlds with much larger cities and dungeons, Swords of Xeen has an enormous world...that is sparsely populated. One of the standout elements is just how empty SoX feels when you play it. That's not to say there aren't quests to undertake and things to do, but despite the much larger overworld of SoX, cities and dungeons are fewer in number and much smaller on average. As a result, SoX feels empty. Again, this brings me to think of M&M3, which had islands chock full of monsters and dungeons, but these were disconnected with vast and often empty ocean between them.
Might and Magic 4 and 5 also feature voice clips with gatekeepers for every city and dungeon. SoX only does this for cities, and they only use one design, which makes the interaction feel limited compared to its cousins. Since 3 didn't use this convention, again SoX feels like a step up from 3 and down from 4 and 5.
Most importantly, and perhaps in the biggest departure, is that Swords of Xeen feels considerably more structured than any of the Might and Magic titles of its era. SoX starts you off with a party at level 10, and then it's off to save the first town, then the second, then the third, while also grabbing the six necessary weapons to finish the final dungeon. Typically the party only reaches about level 30 by the time you're done, as opposed to starting at level 1 and getting up to ridiculous heights in the other entries. While you do get to explore the world and slowly feel yourself become more powerful, SoX also inhibits this by strategically using quests to block the acquisition of necessary movement skills and places powerful monsters as gatekeepers to prevent the player from advancing at times. Eventually you get to a point where you can drop these gatekeepers, and it is a satisfying situation when you finally bring down your first dragon, power lich, or minotaur. But in the minotaur's case, that also means you're pretty much entering final dungeon territory, and you've had to stripmine the world of monsters to get there.
Another point of note: Swords of Xeen is rife with bugs and errors. Some are small, such as spelling mistakes. Hey, it was a two man team, I can't totally fault them on this. But then there are bigger things, like quests not wrapping up correctly. I still had two quests in my journal that I had actually completed when I beat the game, so I was unable to grab one of the titles I had rightly earned as the savior of Sand Town. This is frustrating, partly because it can lock a bit of content, and partly because it makes your quest journal less useful if you have to scroll through bugged out crap to figure out what you actually need to do.
Swords of Xeen also has a frustrating ending due to its tightly controlled progress, which means you're less likely to have a character with a high enough accuracy to hit many of the enemies in the final dungeon. Get through this by abusing tricks with the AI(particularly backing into them instead of approaching head on), and you're rewarded with a simple splash screen that makes for a pitiful attempt at an ending reward. When I wrapped up SoX, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Really? This is it? At least tell me we got a burger with the president or something." Nope, no dice, just a generic "You won" screen.
Overall, Swords of Xeen is probably best played by the RPG diehards who are just getting into the Might and Magic series. If you've only played up through Might and Magic 3, it'll feel like an upgrade in some manner. If you have moved on to 4 and 5, it'll feel like a slide backwards. It's not necessary for those who want to stay with the main series, though it does help rekindle some of the nostalgia for the 3-5 era of the series if it's been a while. Despite the problems, I'm happy to have played and beaten it; it has been an experience I've been meaning to seek out for a while. Now that I'm done though, I'm also happy to set it aside and move on to 4 and 5.
2. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES)(Fighting)
3. DRAGON: The Bruce Lee Story (SNES)(Fighting)
4. Eradicator (PC)(FPS)
5. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PC)(FPS)
6. D-Force (SNES)(SHMUP)
7. Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (PC)(RPG)
8. Dying Light (PC)(FPS/RPG)
9. Dying Light: The Following (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Gauntlet: Slayer Edition (PC)(Hack and Slash)
11. Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (PC)(Walking Simulator)
12. Dead Pixels (PC)(Run and Gun)
13. Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D. (PC)(FPS)
14. Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit (PC)(Action Platformer)
15. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (PC)(FPS)
16. Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory (PC)(Platformer)
17. Zombie Shooter (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
18. Torchlight (PC)(Action RPG)
19. Descent II (PC)(FPS)
20. Might and Magic: Swords of Xeen (PC)(RPG)
Might and Magic: Swords of Xeen is effectively a fan game using the engine from Might and Magic 4 and 5 which ended up getting picked up and published by New World Computing, the makers of the M&M series. While its obvious that SoX was developed by different people (precisely two of them to be exact), the game still features the same combat, the same tactics, and a few little tweaks to the Might and Magic formula to allow for shapeshifting enemies. However, it doesn't adhere as strictly to the general design philosophy of the main series, and as a result, it feels more like a step between Might and Magic 3 and 4 instead of a game to build upon the success of the 5th and the Worlds of Xeen combo.
While Might and Magic 4 and 5 offer smaller worlds with much larger cities and dungeons, Swords of Xeen has an enormous world...that is sparsely populated. One of the standout elements is just how empty SoX feels when you play it. That's not to say there aren't quests to undertake and things to do, but despite the much larger overworld of SoX, cities and dungeons are fewer in number and much smaller on average. As a result, SoX feels empty. Again, this brings me to think of M&M3, which had islands chock full of monsters and dungeons, but these were disconnected with vast and often empty ocean between them.
Might and Magic 4 and 5 also feature voice clips with gatekeepers for every city and dungeon. SoX only does this for cities, and they only use one design, which makes the interaction feel limited compared to its cousins. Since 3 didn't use this convention, again SoX feels like a step up from 3 and down from 4 and 5.
Most importantly, and perhaps in the biggest departure, is that Swords of Xeen feels considerably more structured than any of the Might and Magic titles of its era. SoX starts you off with a party at level 10, and then it's off to save the first town, then the second, then the third, while also grabbing the six necessary weapons to finish the final dungeon. Typically the party only reaches about level 30 by the time you're done, as opposed to starting at level 1 and getting up to ridiculous heights in the other entries. While you do get to explore the world and slowly feel yourself become more powerful, SoX also inhibits this by strategically using quests to block the acquisition of necessary movement skills and places powerful monsters as gatekeepers to prevent the player from advancing at times. Eventually you get to a point where you can drop these gatekeepers, and it is a satisfying situation when you finally bring down your first dragon, power lich, or minotaur. But in the minotaur's case, that also means you're pretty much entering final dungeon territory, and you've had to stripmine the world of monsters to get there.
Another point of note: Swords of Xeen is rife with bugs and errors. Some are small, such as spelling mistakes. Hey, it was a two man team, I can't totally fault them on this. But then there are bigger things, like quests not wrapping up correctly. I still had two quests in my journal that I had actually completed when I beat the game, so I was unable to grab one of the titles I had rightly earned as the savior of Sand Town. This is frustrating, partly because it can lock a bit of content, and partly because it makes your quest journal less useful if you have to scroll through bugged out crap to figure out what you actually need to do.
Swords of Xeen also has a frustrating ending due to its tightly controlled progress, which means you're less likely to have a character with a high enough accuracy to hit many of the enemies in the final dungeon. Get through this by abusing tricks with the AI(particularly backing into them instead of approaching head on), and you're rewarded with a simple splash screen that makes for a pitiful attempt at an ending reward. When I wrapped up SoX, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Really? This is it? At least tell me we got a burger with the president or something." Nope, no dice, just a generic "You won" screen.
Overall, Swords of Xeen is probably best played by the RPG diehards who are just getting into the Might and Magic series. If you've only played up through Might and Magic 3, it'll feel like an upgrade in some manner. If you have moved on to 4 and 5, it'll feel like a slide backwards. It's not necessary for those who want to stay with the main series, though it does help rekindle some of the nostalgia for the 3-5 era of the series if it's been a while. Despite the problems, I'm happy to have played and beaten it; it has been an experience I've been meaning to seek out for a while. Now that I'm done though, I'm also happy to set it aside and move on to 4 and 5.
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2017
I think it's pretty awesome that you beat Swords of Xeen, just on principle. Nice to see some proper retro-CRPG action up in here. I take it you've already beaten Clouds of Xeen, Darkside of Xeen, and World of Xeen? Personally I find the PC-98 versions of these games to have superior graphics and audio to the PC incarnates. Sadly the PC-98 versions aren't in English though.Ack wrote:When I wrapped up SoX, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Really? This is it? At least tell me we got a burger with the president or something." Nope, no dice, just a generic "You won" screen.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
I intentionally avoided beating 4-5 before playing Swords of Xeen, both because I found the idea of doing two M&M games back to back a little daunting after my runthrough of Might and Magic III but also because I'd heard Swords of Xeen was a bit of a step back. Popo confirmed this when he tried getting into it after doing World of Xeen. So now that I've beaten Swords, I'm getting into World of Xeen, starting with the Clouds side. I prefer to do things "properly" I guess, at least based on how I see it even if Swords is technically a later release. I'm now playing the DOS releases via GOG.Exhuminator wrote:I think it's pretty awesome that you beat Swords of Xeen, just on principle. Nice to see some proper retro-CRPG action up in here. I take it you've already beaten Clouds of Xeen, Darkside of Xeen, and World of Xeen? Personally I find the PC-98 versions of these games to have superior graphics and audio to the PC incarnates. Sadly the PC-98 versions aren't in English though.Ack wrote:When I wrapped up SoX, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Really? This is it? At least tell me we got a burger with the president or something." Nope, no dice, just a generic "You won" screen.
It's also caused me to install Mandate of Heaven and think about potentially backtracking to the first two in the future, though I'll wait and see how I feel after this two part juggernaut. I need to go back to when Popo played through them and read over his thoughts again.
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2017
You are doing it righter than right. I have a hard time getting into the original PC versions of earlier Might & Magic games, simply from an aesthetics point of view. It's not that the graphics are old, but rather the abecedarian art style employed. That's not to say the underlying gameplay isn't great, and of course the gameplay itself is the point. In that regard, I think it's great that you're playing through these classic CRPGs. Looking forward to your thoughts as they come.Ack wrote:I'm now playing the DOS releases via GOG.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.