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Soul Calibur IV 360 new!

I don't have the time right now to lay out the new format I'd like to see for this thread, but I had to at least start it.

I'll add to this post later, but what I would like for people to add is more info on the game. If we have 12+ hours to spend beating a game, the least we should do is spend five minutes to write a little something about it. Unfortunately, my in-laws are on their way over, so I have some cleaning to do. But! I'll be sure to say a little bit about this fighter soon enough.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (PC)(FPS)

TOTAL: 1

What, how did you spend YOUR New Years?

I've beaten Serious Sam before, but what with New Years, friends were in town, and we hit up the local computer lab for some fun times. 9 player co-op on Hard mode makes for good times.

For those of you not in the know, Serious Sam is like Doom 3, only you can see what's happening. Grab an item and hordes of enemies will mob you while you unload in just about every direction. Deadly traps will be navigated. Massive bosses will be faced. Huge levels will be explored. All so you can take a cannon and unload on a massive lava monster. If you play just one FPS this year, play Serious Sam. Seriously.

Ok, the game's absolutely ridiculous, but handles it extremely well. It feels like a pseudo-satire of the Doom clone, with "Serious" Sam Stone stepping in to take the place of admittedly immature characters like Duke Nukem and Lo Wang. I love this game for its frantic action and constant massing of enemies along with its bright colors and entertaining settings. I find I like the game a lot more than Painkiller, which I feel was very similar in terms of design but tried to take itself too seriously. Instead, Serious Sam is a fun romp and just goes to show how much fun can be had when an FPS decides to bypass realism in favor of entertainment value.

I will say one thing about my review though. I have never played this game in single player, and I don't know if I really want to. It's a title that's best shared with friends, and if possible, in the same room (heck, you can set up 4 characters on the same computer and cram everybody around the keyboard together).

Last night, at about 1:30 AM, I beat Super Donkey Kong 2 for the Super Famicom.

Complete so far: 1

EDIT: I also beat Super Mario Bros. 3 on Super Mario Collection for Super Famicom.

Complete so far: 2

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin(Beaten IN FULL as I avoided the bad ending this time)

This was a game I had played on and off again in 2010. I finally committed to it recently and had posted it as my last game beaten in the 2010 thread, but I got the bad ending and only saw half of the game. Well I finished it in full today on New Year's Day and I have to say, the game was a lot of fun. I don't really expect much from 2D Castlevania games. I expect them to just recycle Symphony of the Night and provide me with an experience that is fun, but also very familiar(like 2D Mega Man games). In fact, in the case of Order of Ecclesia(the last Metroidvania game I had played before this one), I got a game that wasn't even as good as Symphony of the Night. However, Portrait of Ruin surprised me. It was actually a LOT more fun than Order of Ecclesia. Order of Ecclesia messed with the SOTN formula too much with the annoying Glyph system and the lack of a connected world. Portrait of Ruin keeps the SOTN formula untouched, but refines some things, adds a light hearted anime art style and cooperative gameplay between the two main characters

The tag team gameplay really works well. It's like the 2D equivalent of games like Ico, Enslaved, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom and Resident Evil 5. It works really well here with certain parts of the game being innacessible unless you get the two characters to work together. The co-op gameplay is also used very creatively in certain boss battles as well like attacking a certain boss from both sides or another boss fight where you can get caught by a trap that will instantly kill you unless the second character frees you from it. For combat purposes, many of the gameplay mechanics here feel like Marvel vs Capcom. You can summon your partner onscreen for an attack at any time like assists in MvC, you can perform team super attacks like MvC and you can summon your partner to stay onscreen permanently and fight with you like the crossover mode in MvC. Your partner's health is determined by your magic points. When they hit zero, your partner is down and out, but can be summoned back when you gradually regenerate your MP.

I used to be pretty dead set on SOTN's art style being the best for Castlevania in 2D and was happy to see it return in Order of Ecclesia. However, I really enjoyed the anime art style in POR and also enjoyed the variety of enemy character designs as well as the entertaining sound bites some of them have. POR officially has one of my fave enemies of all time now. A demon maid who attacks you with kung fu and a demon vacuum cleaner. That's FUCKING AWESOME!

This game's only flaw, like SOTN, Order of Ecclesia and probably every other 2D Metroidvania game is that collecting items is annoying due to low enemy drop rates. Fortunately, being a portable game means you can distract yourself with something like the tv, while you constantly respawn that one enemy who refuses to drop that uber item that you want(like the eye of decay item, which really opens up the game). This is why games with japanese rpg elements work better on portables I think. Other than that, the game is perfect. It feels more refined in many ways than SOTN which I guess shouldn't surprise me given that it's not the first game to copy SOTN. However, it's a better game than Order of Ecclesia(AND Lords of Shadow) despite the fact that Order of Ecclesia came out after it. I'd rate the the game a 9 out of 10

I have been on a bluray binge but plan to game soon enough

I'll try to get back to you all on that... or not.

Chop Chop Caveman - iPhone

Graphics
Love the design and it supports the Retina Display

Controls
The game originally had very awkward controls, but was updated with a virtual d-pad and dedicated attack/jump buttons. This update was a huge improvement and the controls work as expected on a touch screen. They aren't perfect, but aren't frustrating either.

Comments
The game is very easy up until the last level (Volcano). I really wish they had made some of the previous levels a little harder. Each stage has 3 hidden gems and a hidden food item to collect. There is a puzzle element in virtually every stage, but most are solved for you with a breadcrumb type layout of gems that show you what to do. There is an ice level that is coming soon and will definitely play it when the update hits. Overall I recommend this game, it's a very enjoyable platformer for the iPhone.

Game List
Chop Chop Caveman - iPhone

Systems
iPhone - 1

Genres
Platformer - 1

A couple of questions:

How do you consider a fighting game beat? Also, how do consider a game like crazy taxi beat? S ranking?

swiftzx wrote:A couple of questions:

How do you consider a fighting game beat? Also, how do consider a game like crazy taxi beat? S ranking?

I believe a fighting game is complete when you beat the game once with every character.

if I beat all opponents with a single character, I consider it beat. (Generally if you do so, you will see an "ending")