Games Beaten 2016

[Ack]

Games Beaten 2016

Spirits of Xanadu - PC
Tales From the Borderlands: Episode 1 - PC
Operation C - Game Boy
That Dragon, Cancer - PC
Contra - NES
Super C - NES
Contra III - The Alien Wars - SNES
Tekken - PS1
The King of Fighters '99 - PS1
Street Fighter Alpha - PS1
Call of Duty: Black Ops III - PS4
Three Fourths Home - PC
Firewatch - PS4
Street Fighter V - PS4
Far Cry: Primal - PS4 *new*

Total: 15

Previously: 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Far Cry Primal is the best Far Cry that isn't Far Cry 2.

Explain. Seriously, I've only beaten the first in the series, and I would like to know what makes this one so much better than most of the others.

[BoringSupreez]

Games Beaten 2016

Spirits of Xanadu - PC
Tales From the Borderlands: Episode 1 - PC
Operation C - Game Boy
That Dragon, Cancer - PC
Contra - NES
Super C - NES
Contra III - The Alien Wars - SNES
Tekken - PS1
The King of Fighters '99 - PS1
Street Fighter Alpha - PS1
Call of Duty: Black Ops III - PS4
Three Fourths Home - PC
Firewatch - PS4
Street Fighter V - PS4
Far Cry: Primal - PS4 *new*

Total: 15

Previously: 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Far Cry Primal is the best Far Cry that isn't Far Cry 2.

Explain. Seriously, I've only beaten the first in the series, and I would like to know what makes this one so much better than most of the others.

Same, I'm curious to hear why. I've heard that Primal is just another Ubisoft: The Game.

[dsheinem]

Far Cry: Primal - PS4 *new*

Total: 15


Far Cry Primal is the best Far Cry that isn't Far Cry 2.

Explain. Seriously, I've only beaten the first in the series, and I would like to know what makes this one so much better than most of the others.

Same, I'm curious to hear why. I've heard that Primal is just another Ubisoft: The Game.

I think the criticism that it is another "Ubisoft: The Game" is a pretty valid one, actually, but I think that the general sentiment behind that phrasing obscures some of the fine differences between titles that exist. For example, I think Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is one of the best open world games of all time, and heads and shoulders above the other entries in the series in its writing, its setting, and the types of activities you can do (the naval battles alone are some of the most fun I've had in the water in any game). With AC:IV, you also have a minimization of the nonsensical Abstergo/Assassins & Templars stuff and the game truly feels like it is a stand alone swashbuckling adventure. Here was me gushing about it a few years ago:

The world seems gigantic, the ship battles are appropriately daunting and frantic, and the story moves along briskly, mostly unencumbered by the series "lore" stuff as you go (you can enjoy it completely without having played the earlier games). All the gameplay elements seem perfectly honed and the game simply "feels" like it should as you move through lots of different kinds of experiences. This must be the best the series has had....

(later)
Everything in this game just clicks - it isn't just the best in the series (it is easily the series' high point), but it is both the best pirate game and the best open-world game I've ever played. Finishing the campaign ended up taking me between 25-30 hours (just doing enough side missions to get supplies as needed) and I have no doubt that there's probably just as much content to go back to for me to dig into if I want. The ship battles are a real high point, but everything in the game is gorgeously realized, the combat is fun and adaptive to various play styles, and it plays like a giant labor of love from the team that created it....

(later)
It really feels like it could have been a new series almost - a pirate one. There are famous pirates, stunning naval battles that give you control of ships in a very novel way (that feels weighty and great), and all the pirate "stereotypes" that you might want are also there.

So that's a lot about AC:IV, but I think that the reaction I had to that game is pretty similar to the reaction I have had to Far Cry: Primal - the game feels like its own thing much more than it feels like an add on to Far Cry 4 or a new entry in the "Ubisoft: The Game" line of games. The removal of guns, vehicles, buildings, etc. is a revelation - the feeling of exploring the open wilderness with just your wits and your handcrafted weapons is really compelling. The absence of an actual language (other than subtitles), the raw and violent imagery, and the basic and base storylines make the world really come alive and feel singular in a way that the other entries in the FC series do not (with the exception of FC2, which is still the high mark for the series and one of the high marks of the FPS open-world genre period). Yes, you can still follow icons and clear campsites and the like, but the tools at your disposal are unique and interesting (e.g. an owl that swoops in and kills enemies like a drone, bees nest "grenades" that create swarms around your enemies, etc.), and this makes the game feel like a pretty novel experience overall, despite some familiar Ubisoft dressing.

Maybe it is that I grew up enjoying the caveman games of the 90s...but Far Cry Primal is anything and everything I could have ever wanted and more than I could have ever have dreamt about from a series like Turok. It also is smooth and satisfying to control - it plays better than anything in the sub-genre this side of Bonk, I'd venture.

I would agree that if you have played other Far Cry games (especially 3, Blood Dragon, or 4), that Primal will have more than a little passing familiarity in some of its design structure. Again, I think the same could be said for AC:IV. But, like with that game, there's enough in Primal to really make it stand out from the rest of the series and feel like its own thing: visceral, creative, and insanely fun. It is probably way better than it had any business being, and I throughly enjoyed the 25 hours or so I've sunk into it so far.

TLDR: You can throw burning spears through people's heads while riding on a saber-tooth tiger and chasing wooly mammoths across snowy ravines.

[Exhuminator]

Dave is my favorite retro gamer.

---

Ex's 2016 beat list:

1. Mega Man ZX Advent|DS|2007|platformer|8h|7/10
2. King's Field III: Pilot Style|PS1|1996|dungeon crawler|1h|8/10
3. Sleeping Dogs|360|2012|action-adventure|20h 45m|8/10
4. Sleepings Dogs: NiNP DLC|360|2012|action adventure|1h 22m|5/10
5. Chikyuu Kaihou Gun ZAS|GB|1992|shmup|33m|8/10
6. Vattle Giuce|GB|1991|shmup|45m|5/10
7. MechWarrior 2 (Clan Wolf)|PS1|1997|mech sim|2h 35m|7/10
8. Gradius: The Interstellar Assault|GB|1992|shmup|27m|8/10
9. SolarStriker|GB|1990|shmup|23m|7/10
10. Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|45m|6/10
11. Dead or Alive (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1998|fighter|23m|5/10
12. Asuka 120% Burning Festival Final (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|26m|8/10
13. Soul Blade (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1997|fighter|18m|9/10
14. Trax|GB|1991|shmup|23m|7/10
15. Street Fighter: The Movie (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1995|fighter|36m|5/10
16. Warpath: Jurassic Park (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|17m|4/10
17. Psychic Force (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1997|fighter|22m|7/10
18. Touki Denshou: Angel Eyes (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1997|fighter|27m|7/10
19. Advanced V.G. 2 (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1998|fighter|15m|8/10
20. StarHawk|GB|1993|shmup|1h 15m|4/10
21. Nemesis|GB|1990|shmup|28m|7/10
22. Cardinal Syn (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1998|fighter|54m|7/10
23. Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1997|fighter|15m|7/10
24. Street Fighter EX 2 Plus (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|22m|8/10
25. Battle Unit Zeoth|GB|1991|shmup|24m|6/10
26. Soul Calibur IV (Arcade Mode)|360|2008|fighter|12m|9/10
27. Mercenary Force|GB|1990|shmup|54m|5/10
28. Battle Arena Toshinden (Story Mode)|GB|1996|fighter|12m|8/10
29. Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams (Arcade Mode)|GBC|1999|fighter|10m|7/10
30. SD Hiryu No Ken EX (Story Mode)|GBC|1999|fighter|24m|7/10
31. Guilty Gear X: Advance Edition (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|8m|6/10
32. Super Street Fighter II Turbo: Revival (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2001|fighter|10m|7/10
33. Dual Blades (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|23m|4/10
34. Gradius Galaxies|GBA|2001|shmup|1hr 24m|8/10
35. Tekken Advance (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|15m|7/10
36. Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|22m|7/10
37. Black Belt Challenge (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|8m|4/10
38. Iridion II|GBA|2003|shmup|58m|9/10
39. King's Field III|PS1|1996|dungeon crawler|25h|9/10
40. Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel|360|2013|cover shooter|7h 54m|7/10
41. Panzer Dragoon|Saturn|1995|rail shooter|55m|7/10
42. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei|Saturn|1996|rail shooter|1h 25m|8/10
43. Kirby Air Ride|GameCube|2003|kart racer|45m|6/10
44. Mario Kart: Double Dash!!|GameCube|2003|kart racer|35m|8/10
45. Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (Arcade Mode)|GameCube|2002|fighter|35m|8/10
46. XG3: Extreme G Racing|GameCube|2001|racer|1h 35m|7/10
47. Mario Kart 7|3DS|2011|kart racer|1h 54m|9/10

48. Code of Princess|3DS|2012|beat 'em up|4h 25m|7/10

Code of Princess is a medieval fantasy beat 'em up, with very light RPG elements sprinkled on top. It tells the story of a scantily dressed princess and her rag tag acquaintances-in-arms, as they attempt to defeat an evil queen and her legion of possessed soldiers and monsters. You can fight through the main campaign as the princess Solange, or as a few of her fellow fighters. Playing as the other characters doesn't change the story though, it only gives you access to their new moves.



As you battle you will find new status altering equipment on the field, and have the ability to buy new gear from a shop owner. To handle the occasional difficulty spikes during the campaign, optional quests are available to grind for experience and equipment. You will have to carefully manage your equipment, and level up wisely, to handle some of the harder main campaign quests. Luckily quests rarely last longer than three minutes before you beat them, making Code of Princess well designed for portable sessions.



It should be noted that Code of Princess is a short game, easily beatable in under four hours. On top of that, the gameplay itself is very shallow, this is a button-mashing beat 'em up for sure. Graphically Code of Princess is decent with excellent sprite animation, but the 3D effect isn't particularly engaging. The music is nothing memorable, but the voice acting is consistently above average and there's a lot of it. (Except for Allegro who has an insanely annoying voice.) Once you finish Code of Princess, I doubt you'll feel the urge to replay the game as a different character other than Solange, considering nothing really changes if you do.



If you're a fan of goofy characters and silly plots, scantily clad heroines, and simple beat 'em up fun, I'd recommend Code of Princess. If you're expecting the RPG side of the equation to hold any weight though, you'll be disappointed. There just wasn't enough code in this princess for that.

[ElkinFencer10]

I finished Saturday Morning RPG last night. Needed a break from Fire Emblem, and that provided just what I needed. Probably took me about 8 or 9 hours to finish all five episodes.

[Ack]

TLDR: You can throw burning spears through people's heads while riding on a saber-tooth tiger and chasing wooly mammoths across snowy ravines.

That was all I needed to hear. Now I'm interested.

[ElkinFencer10]

TLDR: You can throw burning spears through people's heads while riding on a saber-tooth tiger and chasing wooly mammoths across snowy ravines.

That was all I needed to hear. Now I'm interested.

Yep, sign me up.

[dsheinem]

Dave is my favorite retro gamer.

I know I have been listing off a string of new releases of late, but to my credit (and because I am an argumentative nerd) I think I do reasonably well with including retro titles in my annual rotations, and have been tracking this over the years:

2015: Modern: 46, Retro: 34
2014: Modern: 66, Retro: 34
2013: Modern: 54, Retro: 31
2012: Modern: 53, Retro: 27
2011: Modern: 51, Retro: 39
2010: Modern: 55, Retro: 45

So far this year I am at Modern: 8, Retro: 7

Across all that time, that's roughly 40% of my game-beating devoted to retro games. I think that's a pretty healthy percentage for someone who both wants to stay current with what is going on in contemporary games and keep one foot firmly planted in reliving or newly experiencing titles from the past. I enjoy the perspective created by regularly juxtaposing games both present and past, and I think it makes me a better well-rounded and more knowledgable gamer as well (including a better "retro gamer" than someone who exclusively plays retro games).

[Exhuminator]

I know I have been listing off a string of new releases of late, but to my credit (and because I am an argumentative nerd) I think I do reasonably well with including retro titles in my annual rotations, and have been tracking this over the years:

2015: Modern: 46, Retro: 34
2014: Modern: 66, Retro: 34
2013: Modern: 54, Retro: 31
2012: Modern: 53, Retro: 27
2011: Modern: 51, Retro: 39
2010: Modern: 55, Retro: 45

So far this year I am at Modern: 8, Retro: 7

Across all that time, that's roughly 40% of my game-beating devoted to retro games. I think that's a pretty healthy percentage for someone who both wants to stay current with what is going on in contemporary games and keep one foot firmly planted in reliving or newly experiencing titles from the past. I enjoy the perspective created by regularly juxtaposing games both present and past, and I think it makes me a better well-rounded and more knowledgable gamer as well (including a better "retro gamer" than someone who exclusively plays retro games).

[dsheinem]