Games Beaten 2020

[MrPopo]

1. Elite Dangerous - PC
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
9. Descent II - PC
10. Inbento - Switch
11. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - XB1
12. Doom Eternal - PC
13. Serious Sam 2 - PC
14. Black Mesa - PC
15. Descent 3 - PC
16. Darksiders II - PC
17. Resident Evil 3 (2020) - PC
18. Overload - PC
19. Final Fantasy VII Remake - PS4
20. Trials of Mana (2020) - Switch
21. Persona 5 Royal - PS4
22. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered - PC
23. Sublevel Zero Redux - PC
24. Final Fantasy XII: Zodiac Age - PS4
25. Maneater - PC
26. XCOM: Chimera Squad - PC
27. Sakura Wars - PS4
28. Stela - Switch
29. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - DC
30. Darksiders III - PC
31. Shadow Warrior (2013) - PC
32. Robotrek - SNES
33. Shadow Warrior 2 - PC
34. EVO: The Search for Eden - SNES
35. Blast Corps - N64

Blast Corps is an early N64 game which has the excusist of excuse plots so that you can destroy a bunch of buildings with a variety of vehicles. It feels like the sort of thing someone would make as their first Unity Engine game, which is made all the more impressive when you consider it was all done from scratch by three people just out of college at Rare. While the game does have some rough edges it's overall a fun time and quite beatable (though the platinum medals are something completely different).

The plot is simple; there's a truck with some nuclear warheads that is on autopilot driving in a straight line. If it contacts anything it will explode, which would be bad. So you need to demolish a path for it to make its way through in every level until eventually you can safely detonate it. Along the way there will also be a bunch of bonus levels (do a task in X time) and race levels (finish a course in a certain threshold). According to the game's designer (who called in for a run at AGDQ2016 and gave fantastic commentary throughout) the reason for the truck was to give you a reason to be destroying the buildings, as well as providing a sense of urgency which would become important in later levels.

Things start off fairly simply; just destroy buildings along the way. But later levels will have puzzle elements; maybe you need to take an alternate route to get where you need to go, maybe you need to manipulate things in the environment to build a path (such as moving a barge in a river to make a path), maybe you need to switch between vehicles in order to properly take out various buildings. The game is always giving you something new to keep you engaged.

The vehicles are a pretty good selection. You've got a good all rounder in the bulldozer, the specialist sideswipe which destroys things to each side, the missile firing rocket bike, the jet powered buggy which likes to land on buildings, and three different mecha. One of them has a jetpack and divebombs buildings while the other two will do spins into buildings. And finally, there's the backlash, the horrible dump truck. If you get really really good at it it can carve a path of destruction without stopping, but it's incredibly finicky. What's worse is that it has the worst handling of any vehicle and is most impacted by terrain; you can't even gets its sideswipe going right if you aren't on the right terrain. Unfortunately, the game also likes to give it to you more and more often as the game goes on (and it even calls out in the tutorial level for it that you'll need it later on). This is the primary sticking point for players, though with perseverance you can make it through.

In addition to clearing the path the game has Rare's trademark collectathoning. You need to destroy every building, light up every RDU (little lights on the ground), find every beacon (to open bonus levels), and find the six scientists. Once you do so you'll get the credits roll, but the game isn't over yet. First you clear a landing path for the space shuttle, then you hijack it and visit various bodies in the solar system for fun games. Each of these bodies involves lowered gravity, which leads to hilarity as you bounce around the landscape, demolishing things as you go. While a couple of them can be tricky they have a ridiculousness to them that keeps them fun. Once you finish those you unlock time trial mode for all stages where you can grind for the elusive platinums. This is the point to turn off the game if you value your sanity, as the times are extremely tight in many levels and there is no real reward to doing so (even Goldeneye gave you cheats of various qualities for meeting some of its nasty level times).

Blast Corps is an extremely fun N64 title that provides a lot of fun destroying things and a good amount of challenge at a reasonable curve, though some of the later levels can be quite a pain to deal with. But if you believe in yourself you can push through and enjoy one of the N64's real gems.

[Ack]

1. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)(Adventure)
2. Final Fight [Japanese Version] (Switch)(Beat 'Em Up)
3. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)
4. Magrunner: Dark Pulse (PC)(FPS)
5. The King of Dragons [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Captain Commando [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. Knights of the Round [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
8. The Witcher (PC)(RPG)
9. Tenchi wo Kurau II (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
10. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (PC)(RPG)
11. Lichdom: Battlemage (PC)(FPS/RPG Hybrid)
12. Star Wars: Republic Commando (PC)(FPS)
13. DOOM 64 (PC)(FPS)
14. Half Dead 2 (PC)(Adventure)
15. Powered Gear - Strategic Variant Armor Equipment (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
16. Torchlight II (PC)(RPG)
17. Battle Circuit [Japanese](Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
18. Hard Reset Redux (PC)(FPS)
19. The Stanley Parable (PC)(Walking Sim)
20. Waking Mars (PC)(Adventure)
21. Requiem: Avenging Angel (PC)(FPS)
22. Night Slashers (Arcade)(Beat 'Em Up)
23. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD (PC)(Action Adventure)
24. Strikers 1945 (Arcade)(SHMUP)
25. SiN Episodes: Emergence (PC)(FPS)
26. Crysis Warhead (PC)(FPS)
27. Metro 2033 (PC)(FPS)
28. Good Job! (Switch)(Puzzle)
29. Blasphemous (Switch)(Action Adventure)
30. Two Worlds: Epic Edition (PC)(RPG)
31. Chex Quest HD (PC)(FPS)
32. NecroVision: Lost Company (PC)(FPS)
33. Icewind Dale (PC)(RPG)
34. Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter (PC)(RPG)
35. Icewind Dale: Trials of the Luremaster (PC)(RPG)
36. Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession (PC)(RPG)

Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession is yet another SSI role playing game for PC that is based on 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons. While it traces its design heritage back through the Eye of the Beholder line, Strahd marked the beginning of a new engine that was used for only three games: Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession, Menzoberranzen, and Ravenloft: Stone Prophet. As Strahd is the first game in this line, it's also the most rudimentary in design, so the UI is simpler than Menzo and Stone Prophet and the game world is of a much shorter scale, literally; later games incorporate an amount of vertical movement not present in Strahd. Yet at the same time, Strahd also dropped a lot of the more linear nature of Eye of the Beholder and Menzo, embracing a more go-as-you-like approach that could sometimes get you into trouble if you weren't careful. And that's half the fun.

In Strahd's Possession, you start with a party of two characters, both level 5, who are in pursuit of a possible assassin who has stolen your king's holy symbol of Helm. Upon catching and killing the thief, you discover a hideous relic and are suddenly transported to the realm of Ravenloft, specifically Barovia, a land overseen by Count Strahd von Zarovich. As you progress, you can pick up additional NPC characters, find and complete sub-quests, and generally help the people of Barovia, all while trying to complete your end goal of getting the hell outta Ravenloft, because Ravenloft is a gothic nightmare.

If you're unfamiliar, Ravenloft is actually one of the most prominent horror settings for the Dungeons & Dragons series, and this portion pulls particularly from the Hammer Horror production Horror of Dracula. In truth, this is but one small domain of Ravenloft, and there are numerous monstrous entities and dark lords that pull inspiration from Universal Monsters/Hammer Horror as well as myth and folklore. Strahd happens to be the most famous and in some ways straightforward, so it's off to gothic dark fantasy land we go.

In practice, this game is effectively an anti-undead campaign. While you'll find a few brigands, werewolves, and wargs along the way, the vast bulk of what you'll fight are undead: vampires, ghouls, zombies, skeletons, wights, so on and so forth. While these are no strangers to D&D video games, many of them have skipped over one of the nastiest elements in these creatures repertoires, so you may not be accustomed to level drain, but these critters can do it. What is level drain? It's literally the enemy touching you and dropping your character by a level. This is how D&D symbolizes the life being drained from your body, but in truth it is also a frustrating mechanic to deal with and not a particularly fun one, which is why it's often dropped. However, it is something that can be restored if you have the money or magic power...

...except you're in Ravenloft, son, so you ain't getting that kind of help. Instead, you have to take preventative measures and savescum. The spell Negative Plane Protection is your best friend, so you better have brought a Cleric with you. In fact, don't even bother playing the game if you lack a Cleric; you need the healing, you need the protection, and you NEED the Turn Undead ability. Whatever else you want to bring is fine; I brought a Fighter/Thief that was only useful as a Fighter and completely unnecessary as a Thief, so I wasted a dual class on something useless, but I brought a Cleric and therefore survived. Also, combat is real time, so if you're gonna use range and magic to face your foes, get used to backpedaling and trying to click through your spellbook as fast as possible, because the game only pauses when you're selecting spell targets or looking at your inventory. Screw up, and that wight has just dropped your front line by several levels as you choked on your own Magic Missile page.

Yeah, that's right, Ravenloft ain't easy. Nor should it be. It's a horror campaign setting, so to get through, you're gonna need guts, gumption, and grit. However, it's not all pain and sorrow; there are some interesting sidequests, like helping restore a fallen paladin's faith and rescuing a repentant werewolf. Even the main quest has fun moments like the time you get possessed by a pissed off ghost so he can get revenge on a ghoul king that murdered him back when they were both still alive. You also get some fun undead encounters that aren't commonly seen outside of Ravenloft, like the dreaded Zombie Golem, which will mess you up unless you use Turn Undead. Because you brought a Cleric, right?

Also, the game has some elements that can easily be abused, such as fooling enemy AI into being unable to come through a doorway. Instead of attacking you, monsters will often get stuck running back and forth because they can't quite figure out how to progress, making them juicy targets. Also, Turn Undead generally causes them to flee, but do it point blank, and the AI will often freak out and simply spin in a circle while you hack away without a care in the world. It's a great way to improve your survivability and knock the crap out of enemies that would otherwise turn your face into meatloaf.

As nasty as the enemies can be, I had a lot of fun with Strahd's Possession, and I'm looking forward to porting my two main party members into the next game, Ravenloft: Stone Prophet. While that's unfortunately where the Ravenloft games end for SSI (there is a PS1 fighting game too, but it's not good...and I've already beaten it), I still want to experience the adventure. Plus that one has mummies.

If you haven't noticed a theme as I make my way through Dungeons & Dragons video games, it's that YOU ALWAYS BRING A CLERIC.

[Markies]

Markies' Games Beat List Of 2020!
*Denotes Replay For Completion*

1. Pikmin 2 (GCN)
2. Banjo-Tooie (N64)
3. Contra: Hard Corps (GEN)
4. Super Baseball Simulator 1,000 (SNES)
5. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers 2 (NES)
6. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection (PS2)
***7. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PS2)***
***8. Cruis'N USA (N64)***
9. Arc The Lad Collection (PS1)
10. Halo 2 (XBX)
11. Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings And The Lost Ocean (GCN)
12. DuckTales 2 (NES)



I beat DuckTales 2 on this Nintendo Entertainment System this evening!

As a child, I used to rent a ton of NES Capcom games from the local video store. I remember renting the entire Mega Man series, Little Nemo and all of the Disney Capcom games as well. One of my favorites was DuckTales as I was a large fan of the Disney Afternoon shows at the time. We stopped renting video games after the NES died down, so one of the last games I rented was DuckTales 2. I remember actually beating the game over the weekend. My gaming skills were improving and I found the game rather easy. Because of that, I never felt the need to go back to the game or buy it for myself. Well, that was a giant mistake as by the time I was interested in purchasing the game, it had skyrocketed in price. I searched for DuckTales 2 for several years as the game become my white whale of gaming. Last year, I was walking around our game convention when a guy was selling several copies of super expensive NES games in terrible shape. He had a DuckTales 2 that had a terrible back. Considering the condition, he was offering decent money, so I decided to jump on it. After buying a cheap NES game, I switched out the backs and I had a near flawless copy of DuckTales 2. After spending so much on the game, I figured it was time to actually play it.

DuckTales 2 is pretty similar to the first DuckTales game, but they do add some nice improvements. For one, you can upgrade your can several times to get through several different areas. It is interesting and adds a bit of strength to the cane. Also, there are significantly more treasure to find along with pieces of the treasure map to get the best ending. You need the upgrades and to explore the entirety of the levels to find everything you need. The levels aren't as memorable as the first game and I would also say they are significantly easier than the first game, but they are still enjoyable and the game is fun for the short experience that you have.

Overall, DuckTales 2 is not as great as the first game, but is still a fun game by itself. It is game that you can beat in less than an hour, so the value for the game is just not there. It's a fun play, but it is hard to justify the price for the game. However, for me and the price of being able to relive some nostalgia along with finding the game I had been looking for so long, the game was worth every penny that I paid for.

[Note]

Blast Corps is an extremely fun N64 title that provides a lot of fun destroying things and a good amount of challenge at a reasonable curve, though some of the later levels can be quite a pain to deal with. But if you believe in yourself you can push through and enjoy one of the N64's real gems.

Great game. I purchased and finished this game around the time it was originally released, I forget how I heard about it but it was most likely through Nintendo Power, since I was a subscriber at the time. This is game I haven't revisited since then, and I'd like to check it out again eventually.

Overall, DuckTales 2 is not as great as the first game, but is still a fun game by itself. It is game that you can beat in less than an hour, so the value for the game is just not there. It's a fun play, but it is hard to justify the price for the game. However, for me and the price of being able to relive some nostalgia along with finding the game I had been looking for so long, the game was worth every penny that I paid for.

Awesome story about finally finding this game and switching the backs of the cartridges. I didn't have a NES growing up (but did play it at family or friend's homes) and haven't looked into purchasing much for the system, so I was unaware of the going price for this game. Glad you were able to finally grab a copy and enjoyed revisiting it. I gotta try out the first one.

[Markies]

The first DuckTales is a classic and a game every NES owner should own.

To be able to play The Moon level while that beautiful music is playing, there is no experience like it. Utterly Classic!

[Nemoide]

Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession

I'm impressed! I started that game a couple months ago because I felt like lockdown was a good time to explore the old SSI D&D games I bought in a collection 15+ years ago. I couldn't handle it. It probably took me a dozen tries of just trying to survive the first couple of battles with worgs as soon as I got into Ravenloft. Then I managed to actually explore a little bit, still dying regularly. I eventually found a walkthrough online and found out I missed a party member I could have recruited, but I guess I waited too long and he had died. Each time I got into combat, it just felt like I was clicking on enemies a thousand times until one of us died - one of my party members being just as likely as the enemy. I finally quit playing before I even reached a town. The game felt so clunky and awkward and the difficulty so high, I just couldn't take it. Maybe if it was turn based and grid-based or something I wouldn't have minded so much.

But yeah, I'm impressed that you managed to beat it!

[Ack]

Thanks, Nemoide. I admit, having experience with these games helps, as I have previously beaten Menzoberranzen. However, I did also get my butt kicked right at the start. A couple of things that helped: I built a party intending to handle a fight at the very beginning, hence Fighter/Thief and Cleric, and I found a safe spot to rest as quickly as I could. In that first area, there is a hidden trapdoor in the ruined cabin which leads to a basement with no enemies. You can rest down there without fear of attack.

Also, skip that first fighter NPC and instead hit the road! He's not worth the fights with the troop of goblyns and wargs, and you find a Fighter/Thief/Mage a little ways up the road.

[prfsnl_gmr]

First 25

1. Her Story (iOS)
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
8. Squidlit (Switch)
9. Sydney Hunter & The Curse of the Mayan (Switch)
10. Mega Man Legends (PS1)
11. Revenge of the Bird King (Switch)
12. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch)
13. Gato Roboto (Switch)
14. Kamiko (Switch)
15. Night Slashers (Arcade)
16. Subsurface Circular (Switch)
17. Iconoclasts (Switch)
18. Wonder Boy Returns Remix (Switch)
19. Resident Evil 3 (PS1)
20. The Messenger (Switch)
21. The Messenger: Picnic Panic (Switch)
22. Samsara Room (iOS)
23. Heroes of the Monkey Tavern (Switch)
24. Sayonara Wild Hearts (Switch)
25. Gris (Switch)

26. Donut County (iOS)
27. Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES)
28. Donkey Kong Country 3 (SNES)
29. Contra (Arcade)
30. Super Contra (Arcade)
31. Minesweeper Genius (Switch)

Minesweeper Genius is a breezy little puzzle game that combines gameplay elements from Picross with gameplay elements from Minesweeper to create a fun, challenging-but-not-too-challenging experience. In it, you guide a little bearded man across a grid toward a glowing goal. Numbers along the grid’s sides indicate how many mines are in a row or column, and stepping on a mine costs you one of the three stars you have to complete the level. Special tiles cause you to shift, flip, or skip over rows or columns, and you must step on each special tile on your way to the goal. There is only one route to the exit, and as in Minesweeper, you can flag mines to make sure you don’t step on them. The puzzles are procedurally generated based on a set of conditions, and impressively, they are designed (like a Picross puzzle) so that you never have to guess as to your next move. (You just have to employ a lot of logic.) Moreover, if you fail a level, you get a new one; so, you can’t “brute force” your way through the puzzles either.

The game is by no means perfect. The music is bad, and the graphics make it apparent that it is a port of a mobile game. (You can turn off the music, thankfully.) Moreover, the main campaign is way too easy, and someone experienced with Picross puzzles could probably blow through all the normal levels in less than an hour. Getting a three-star rating in each level would take a little longer, and you can unlock drastically more challenging “advanced” puzzles. Getting a three star rating on all of those takes a bit longer, but completing the game still took me less than three hours. (That said, the puzzle format was getting a bit stale by that point; so, this is just about the perfect length, in my opinion.)

The game is normally $6 in the eShop, which is way too much, but I got it on sale for $1.01, which is $0.98 less than the game costs in mobile app stores. I heartily recommend picking up the game at that price, but if it’s much more than that, I recommend waiting for a sale.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Looks like a cute game. Is there no copyright for "Minesweeper"? There seems to be hundreds of these games. I mean, Steam has a "Hentai Minesweeper"....

It's always amusing to see how the "Nintendo Tax" plays out on the Switch eShop. Just check out the price differential here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/774171/Muse_Dash/
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/muse-dash-switch/

[prfsnl_gmr]

Looks like a cute game. Is there no copyright for "Minesweeper"? There seems to be hundreds of these games. I mean, Steam has a "Hentai Minesweeper"....

It's always amusing to see how the "Nintendo Tax" plays out on the Switch eShop. Just check out the price differential here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/774171/Muse_Dash/
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/muse-dash-switch/

Yeah...I was a bit surprised that Minesweeper isn’t copyrighted or trademarked too.

Also, I’m not sure Muse Dash is a great example of the Nintendo tax. That games has a bunch of DLC, and buying all of it through Steam costs $19.49 which, coincidentally, is exactly how much the game costs in the eShop!