Games Beaten 2014

[alienjesus]

1. Kirby's Epic Yarn Wii *NEW*

First game beaten in 2014.

Kirby's Epic Yarn is a game that was charming and delightful throughout. It has simple but fun platforming mechanics - nothing complicated, just jump, grab and throw with a few extra basic moves on top such as a groundpound, a move to slow your descent and a dash. It uses all these mechanics very effectively though, and the whole package is a wrapped up in a delightful yarn bow with some awesome cute music on top of it all. The game isnt perfect - I beat it in 2 player with my girlfriend, and it was too easy to screw each other over - particularly with the dash manoeuvre which tended to knock your partner off of ledges, and the screen scroll which seemed iffy about when it automatically return your partner to you and when you had to both get through a section manually. Some of the levels in particular didn't seem designed for 2 players and were impossible to get medals on. Certain transformation levels were crap in 2 playertoo, with player left relegated to boring side functions - particularly the penguin and tank stages. Speaking of medals, I've heard a lot of people say this game is easy, and I generally agree, but I'd rater have had a health bar of some sort and the possibility of death than the gem and medal mechanic. Falling into a pit near the end of the level to watch your 2000 gems become 800 gems and your gold medal become a bronze whilst you can do nothing about it sucks, as does having to start the whole level over for another attempt. It kinda shares this frustration with Wario Land 2 and 3 in this respect - enemies attacks cause annoyance rather than death.

Overall though, it was an absolutely lovely game to play through, and definitely worth a play. I think I might prefer Kirby's Adventure Wii (Return to Dream Land in the US) to this one though, despite the lesser art style of that game.


Next Up: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros., Super Maario 3D World and Phantasy Star Online are all underway. We'll see which comes first.

[Cronozilla]

First game of 2014

GTA5

Option C

Hopefully I can get through more games this year. Since I've been keeping track I've noticed the amount is just miniscule.

[Gamerforlife]

I've seen similar complaints about Castlevania IV from big Castlevania fans, I don't think it's insane at all. IV whip certainly makes it the easiest Castlevania, which is a turn off to some people.

I've never understood that odd "hardcore" mentality. A fun game is a fun game, regardless of difficulty. I don't give a crap how hard or easy a game is, and it plays no role whatsoever when I evaluate a game's quality, unless it's something that actually deters my enjoyment of the game, which can happen when a game is hard to the point of being annoying

Bloodlines..

Bloodlines still feels like Super Contra with a whip to me. All action, no adventure.

That's pretty much ALL classic Castlevania games. They're linear action games, well except for Castlevania 2 I guess. But really, there was no adventure to this series until Symphony of the Night

I actually prefer Bloodlines to Super Castlevania and Rondo, mostly due to its story. I like incorporating history and Lady Bathory. The game's setting due to its story was interesting. Super Castlevania I prefer to Rondo, just because Rondo's level design was annoying. Honestly though, all three games are largely interchangeable. Castlevania didn't really change until Symphony of the Night came out, and put all three of the aforementioned games to shame in how awesome it was.

[Violent By Design]

I've seen similar complaints about Castlevania IV from big Castlevania fans, I don't think it's insane at all. IV whip certainly makes it the easiest Castlevania, which is a turn off to some people.

I've never understood that odd "hardcore" mentality. A fun game is a fun game, regardless of difficulty. I don't give a crap how hard or easy a game is, and it plays no role whatsoever when I evaluate a game's quality, unless it's something that actually deters my enjoyment of the game, which can happen when a game is hard to the point of being annoying

Well obviously some people think the game is so easy to the point where it deters their enjoyment on the game. How is that any different from what you just said?

[isiolia]

1.) Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)
2.) Remember Me (PC)
3.) Mirror's Edge (PC)
4.) Jumping Flash! (PS1)
5.) Run Saber (SNES)


Thoughts:

Remember Me
This was one that I liked the look of when it was shown at E3, but wound up being one that I figured I’d wait for a price drop on. While it has largely eluded Steam sales for some reason, Green Man Gaming had it for 75% off, so I finally snagged it.

Remember Me’s basic concept of remixing memories to control people has a lot of potential for a game. For some reason, however, Dontnod manages to almost entirely waste the idea, mostly turning it into a surrogate for simply grabbing a keycard or having a conversation. Even the handful of memory remix sections could have served as branching paths or a morality system, but only have one “right” end result to progress (there are trophies for achieving other outcomes though).

Visual Design is a high point for the game. Much like the concept, it doesn’t exactly feel particularly fresh or original, but is executed nicely. Good soundtrack to boot. On the other hand, character models and animations struck me as dated, and many environmental elements are reused often.

With the basic idea of the game, a brawler wouldn’t really be the first thing to pop to mind. Yet, that’s what most of the gameplay is. The combo system is basic, but serviceable, and enemy encounters are designed to get you to use most of what you have available. I found a few sections really annoying and cheap, nearly all of which were a result of being overwhelmed by trash enemies. Otherwise, solid, but not stand out.
Between encounters, the exploration/traveling is very basic. For all the effort that went into the city design, practically any corner you can turn that isn’t exactly where you need to go is just there for a collectible item. Puzzles and stealth/avoidance (you die instantly if seen) are fairly basic as well.

My general impression while playing it was that the developers must have thought they were making a game in 2003, not 2013. This would have stood out more as a PS2 title, and the character models and such almost make it feel like an HD update of a game from that era. The story, characters, dialogue, and so on would have fit better in that time too. I think they could have made a handful of changes and gotten a T rating these days.
One aspect I think they did very well with regardless is how they handled the main character. Nilin is a (half) black woman, and the game makes nothing of it. The character isn’t defined by race or gender. For as often as the “could just as well be…” statement is true, relatively few games actually make good on it.

As it stands, I felt like it was a fine bargain bin purchase, but I wish they could have done more with the concept.

Mirror’s Edge
Long has it sat there in my Steam list. I’ve tried it before, briefly, but I don’t think I got much past the tutorial.

The story is contrived, predictable, anti-authority BS, but, itdoes have the task of explaining why SWAT teams are being tasked to take down free runners. Personally, this wasn’t a game I was holding out much hope for a story from, which is probably for the best. It does do a good job of setting up the gameplay.

The visual design is great. It stands out aesthetically, but also proves functional while playing. The soundtrack is excellent as well.

First person platforming has obvious issues – namely that precise positioning can be difficult to discern. I felt like Mirror’s Edge could stand to be more forgiving due to that. I missed many, many, many attempts due very slight positioning or timing issues that didn’t feel fairly indicated. Not to mention the slow landings due to missed rolls, early slides, and that kind of thing. My general pattern playing certain portions of Mirror’s Edge was like playing Super Meat Boy. I’d make a run over and over until I succeeded. Unlike that game, however, it just didn’t always feel like it was my fault. I’d clip through something I was trying to grab, or fall just short, despite feeling like I should have nailed it.

Sections with combat (or avoidance of the same) were even worse. Simply put, the combat is terrible, and the handful of times it can’t be avoided prove to be aggravating. It’s an unforgiving game in general – about all the help you get is in the tutorial at the start. Forgot about L jumping by the time it’s actually needed? Don’t look for a reminder.

Thankfully, for both purely running, and avoiding/fighting “blues”, checkpoints were frequent enough that it was a matter of figuring out a path that worked and trying to execute it. Sometimes frustrating, but also ultimately satisfying when I finally pulled it off. I might have been cursing at the computer, a controller was thrown at least once…but I turning around to retry as many times as it took.

Overall, I liked it, but I do hope that the sequel can manage to feel just that little bit more spot on with regard to control (at least).

Jumping Flash!
Way back when the PS1 first came out, my dad bought one for me for my birthday. It was completely out of the blue. At the time, we lived on Yokota AFB in Japan, but he’d bought an US model from AAFES. Incidentally, they had no games for it when I went to go get something to play. So, I spent a lot of time with the demo disc. One of those demos was for Jumping Flash.

Other than that, I hadn’t spent much time with the game, but I did buy it on PSN a while back, and had it downloaded on my Vita.

I played through the “normal” game, I guess. It does kick you back to the menu and offer the Extra levels, and I didn’t finish those because my interest had worn out.

For the most part, Jumping Flash feels like a tech demo. It’s interesting for the time, but is veeeery primitive compared to where the genre would go just a year or two later (and yet, still far better than Bubsy 3D ). Precise movement can be difficult; aiming up and down is painfully slow, and finding the items to collect is annoying with the limited view/radar.
Probably would have been better left as fond memories of the demo, but I can’t say I hated it. I liked the music, and it’s almost charming in its simplicity.

Run Saber
My brothers and I rented this multiple times back in the day, and eventually purchased it. It’s one of my favorite SNES games, and I hadn’t played it in a while.

Usually I’ve played it coop, but since I have yet to teach my dog to use a controller, I had to get Sheena through it solo. While I often opt for female characters now, Run Saber is the first game I recall doing so (or having the choice to).

[CFFJR]

Castlevania didn't really change until Symphony of the Night came out, and put all three of the aforementioned games to shame in how awesome it was.

Bah.

Unpopular Opinion:

Symphony did indeed change Castlevania. For the worst.

You ask me, Rondo and Bloodlines are the peak.

[AppleQueso]

Castlevania didn't really change until Symphony of the Night came out, and put all three of the aforementioned games to shame in how awesome it was.

Bah.

Unpopular Opinion:

Symphony did indeed change Castlevania. For the worst.

You ask me, Rondo and Bloodlines are the peak.

I like Symphony and the Igavanias, but I'll take the classic series over those any day.

[Gamerforlife]

Next Up: Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros., Super Maario 3D World and Phantasy Star Online are all underway. We'll see which comes first.

Mario & Luigi is on my to do as well. I started it last year and loved it, but kept getting distracted by other games. I can't believe what should have been in the Games Beaten 2013 thread for me is gonna end up in this one instead

[Gamerforlife]

Castlevania didn't really change until Symphony of the Night came out, and put all three of the aforementioned games to shame in how awesome it was.

Bah.

Unpopular Opinion:

Symphony did indeed change Castlevania. For the worst.

You ask me, Rondo and Bloodlines are the peak.

I like Symphony and the Igavanias, but I'll take the classic series over those any day.

I just don't get it. They're such simplistic games. Castlevania was always just sort of okay to me before Symphony. I played them, and I thought they were cool, but they were no different to me than any other popular action platformer of the day like Mega Man or Ninja Gaiden, and both of those series I actually thought were much more fun to play than the Castlevania games. Symphony finally took a good series and made in great IMO.

But whatever, this is one of those debates that just comes up all the time. Some like the old series better, and some (like me) prefer Igavania

[Sload Soap]

I personally don't prefer or find any "version" of Castlevania to be superior to another. I'd say it's to the series credit that it can be both a superlative sidescroller and action-rpg hybrid and retain such a strong following for so long. I think some of the 3D efforts are pretty spiffy as well, Lords of Shadow in particular.

Batman: Arkham Origins

I actually very much enjoyed this game. It is definitely the red-headed step-child of the series, but is still a very competent Batman game and a lot of fun to play. It has some genuinely fun and challenging boss encounters, Deathstroke being the highlight, and the plot is perhaps a bit tighter and more intimate than Arkham City. Joker actually comes across as more three dimensional than even City's portrayal and both Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker as Batman and Joker respectively give great performances. I liked the expanded Gotham overworld that included some more imposing and gigantic Gothic skyscrapers the hero is known for, although they caused a few problems of their own.

There are some downsides though. The game is much buggier than the previous entries, with a few occasions where I had to reset my 360. Some context sensitive prompts are glitchey as well, notably the Enigma informants who need to be interrogated and occasionally a takedown prompt arriving too late to be useful. Some enemies will get caught on scenery and jog in spot until you take them down. The taller buildings of Gotham's Diamond district are mostly there for show with no grapnel points, which can make them a pain to bypass. And the less said about the bridge that links the new section to Arkham City's section, the better.

I agree with Gamerforlife's earlier sentiments on the ranking system, not only does it break immersion it also doesn't really work. For example, taking down one armed goon on a rooftop with a stealth attack will earn you an S rank. However a twenty man melee in which you get to a 50x combo and use a variety of gadgets will earn you a B rank if you are punched once. Dumb.

There are some issues created with the continuity by setting the game as a prequel. Firstly, Batman has access to most of the gadgets he has in City which is fine from a gameplay perspective, but this is supposed to be a younger Bruce in a less advanced Gotham. The police are still using typewriters but Batman has his cryptographic computer, a wrist-mounted 3D display screen and a EMP gun. A certain DC character makes an appearance at one point and looks older here than in Asylum or City. I guess white face paint really masks those wrinkles. That or she took a bath with Ra's al Ghul.

These are nitpicks but point to my strongest criticism of the game: what a missed opportunity this game is.

We could have had a game showing a more inexperienced Batman, somewhat less reliant on high-tech gadgets and more on his wits, more agile and quicker than his burlier older self more lithe and gymnastic but also one more likely to fall for an enemies ploy or the advances of a female opponent. They get his early brashness down well, his pig-headed refusal to compromise, but all that is in cutscenes. The game itself plays almost exactly like Arkham City before it. A bit more time and effort and this could have really been a Arkham prequel in more than just name.