Games Beaten 2015

[nullPointer]

The list so far ...

1. BioShock 2 [PC/Steam]
2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES/bsnes v084]
3. Richard and Alice [PC/Steam]
4. Rygar [NES/Nestopia v1.40]
5. Mega Man [NES/Nestopia v1.40]
6. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood [PC/Steam]
7. River City Ransom EX [GBA/VBA-M v1229]
8. Super Mario All-Stars: Super Mario Bros. [SNES/bsnes v084]
9. Super Mario All-Stars: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels [SNES/bsnes v084]
10. King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (AGD Interactive) [PC]

11. Super Mario Land [GB/Gambatte r550]

Super Mario Land

Super Mario Land is pretty good for a GameBoy platformer, I'm just not entirely convinced it's a great Mario game. What I mean is that if you swapped out the Mario sprite and animations in this game for any other random platforming hero, this game would be almost unidentifiable as a Mario game. It almost feels like the same sort of sprite work patch over Nintendo pulled with Doki Doki Panic (AKA Super Mario Bros. 2 in the U.S.) … except that it's not.

If it sounds like I'm being a bit harsh towards this game, it's not necessarily intentional. It is a pretty solid platformer by GameBoy standards, if not a bit unremarkable. The platforming is fairly sharp and responsive, although it can feel a bit drifty at times. Some of the standard 2D Mario mechanics have been replaced with close, but functionally different ones. Rather than the old standby of Fire Mario, Fire Flowers now give us the ability to throw … uh … baseballs(?) that bounce around the screen. Rather than launching Koopa Shells when you hop on them, they just sit there … and explode. Instead of 4 levels for each World there are 3 (although to be fair this part might be in deference to the limited memory capabilities of the original GameBoy). Instead of rescuing Princess Peach you're rescuing Daisy … whoever that is, and so on.

Two levels in Super Mario Land swap out the familiar platforming gameplay altogether, for some side scrolling shmup action (featuring a submarine in one level and a spaceship in the final level). Between these levels and the fact that one of the worlds features a prominent Moai theme, one wonders whether this wasn't some sort of tip of the hat to the folks over at Konami.

One aspect of the game that stood out to me was the nice musical score. While the NES was only capable of mono output, the GameBoy was capable of stereo sound meaning that this little handheld could easily trump the sound and music capabilities of its older console brethren. At any rate the music in this game is catchy, nicely executed, and well suited to the game itself.

Overall this is a fun little platformer that's over relatively quickly. It's a nice diversion for the GameBoy although you might want to look elsewhere if you're after a uniquely 'Mario' type experience.

[emwearz]

Games Beaten 2015

1. New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 3DS
2. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker - Wii U
3. God of War - PS2
4. Gunman Clive - 3DS
5. Dead Space 3: Awakened (DLC) - PC
6. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - DS
7. Rogue Legacy - PS4
8. Spinmaster - Neo Geo (Via Neo Geo X)
9. The Walking Dead: Season Two - PC
10. Transistor - PS4
11. Shadow Warrior - PS4
12. Assassin's Creed Unity - PC

Total Games for 2015: 12

Shadow Warrior - PS4
This remake / re imagining of 3D Realms Shadow Warrior starts with a lot going for it. Old school corny charm (so many Wang jokes), simplistic but over the top gunplay and a fairly well formed sword play component and some cool powers to break it all up. The story is nothing special, but what were you really expecting, however the area the game really falls apart is repetition.

It had quite a few bugs throughout my sessions, the camera would often bug out when I looked down the sights (jerking left and right like the camera was having a fit), the touch pad would not recognize most gestures and as such healing was a pain, I died often trying to run away and heal, but instead throwing out a special move.

There are quite a lot of throw backs to the original which I like, characters in waterfalls (if you played the original you know which), whole rooms made up to be like the original with textures, etc.

For a game of this style, it is just too damn long. On the hardest mod I clocked in close to 14 hours, each mission taking roughly a hour give or take to finish. Howlongtobeat puts the game (just story) at 12 hours 25m, it is just too long for the game type, when not much new is being introduced in the way of gameplay mechanics and it just becomes a slog.

It is a decent enough game, but just so repetitive.

Assassin's Creed Unity - PC

I have had this for quite awhile but have been waiting for a patch to fix some of the issues the game had at launch, while most were fixed a few months ago, it is still not perfect.

This is the reverse of most Assassins Creed games in that I found the later part of the game far more interesting than the first parts. The story itself is fairly average, which is a shame as the backdrop of revolutionary France could have had for an awesome story, instead we get the same old, year after year tale of "Assassin taken in, trained, goes after grand master of Templar order." The story also has one of the most predictable twists/endings.

There were some awesome additions to the core mechanics as they stripped away a lot of the "clunk" from past titles. You now have a dedicated button to free run up or down, meaning you have more control as you travel around the city. Having overtly populated areas also was a large part of Unity and also one of the main reason the game was so broken, there is NPC pop in all over the place, the NPC's sometimes "walk" around in their sitting animations and most of the performance issues are based off the large NPC numbers. When the NPC's work how they should and performance is okay, then you can see what they were going for and it is pretty awesome, but the trade off was not worth it.

It is a decent enough game, the story is done well enough, the side missions are more useless than ever, the companion app is boring and half of the items you can buy in the game "encourage" real cash purchased through the app to get enough funds to buy them, that's right Assassins Creed now has micro transactions. Ubisoft released the first DLC for free and also reimbursed Season Pass holders with a free recently released title, but the damage was done.

Ubisoft really need to slow down with the series, people are already burnt out and this game really takes the series back to ACIII territory of doing very little new with a very average protagonist and a story that is lackluster.

[Sload Soap]

Sload: I just want to say that I really enjoyed those reviews - very nicely written, reflective of everything I'd expect them to be from someone with a good grasp of game history, and entirely on point based on my experiences with the (first two) games. Assigning grades is my job, and these are clearly "A" quality work. Thanks for putting so much thought into them!

Aww, shucks. Thanks very much.

[wclem]

1. Resident Evil 4 (PS3) Digital
2. Resident Evil 6 (PS3) Disc Version
3. Dying Light (PS4) Disc Version
4. Red Dead Redemption (PS3) Disc Version (Replay)
5. Batman Arkham City (PS3) Disc Version
6. The Order (PS4) Disc Version
7. Valiant Hearts (PS4) Digital Version
8. Tomb Raider Legend (PS3 HD Remaster) Disc Version

I was surprised I enjoyed this one. I never got around to playing the original so I have no bases of comparison.

The controls were ok, though at times they were infuriating. Sometimes when you landed a platform you were not expecting to land on but rather hang from you would go into a double jump and fly off the other side. I learned to hit jump and wait till I saw if I landed it or not.

The puzzles were at times too easy and other times they were completely abstract. The overall gameplay was done well though. Kind of made me feel like Uncharted was a direct ripoff of Tomb Raider though. Uncharted though did get things right where this game just did not seem to hit on all cylinders.Things like the camera would drive you nuts at times but never kept me from advancing in the game. Had to guess a few times with it though.

The game did bug out a few times. One time an elevator did not spawn that cost me an hour of going back and forth trying to find out how to advance. When I finally killed myself it magically spawned the next time I went in the room.

Average game, not gonna be replaying it anytime soon. On to the next one to see if they fixed some of the issues.

[Sarge]

Played a game that gets a lot of grief on the Internet, Fester's Quest. It's actually not all that bad. Some puzzling design decisions, but it's actually pretty competent overall. I can't really claim this as a legit run, but I know some tricks now to make it all easier.

Firstly, there's another life extension that I missed. I knew there was a second, but didn't find it.

Secondly, I wondered how the heck someone managed to get through the UFO without friggin' turbo-fire on their controller (I got tired and enabled it!), then realized that the nooses summon Lurch and clear the screen, and you get 15 of those. Should make those toughest enemies no problem.

Lastly, even if you don't cheese the final battle (and you can certainly do so by using the nooses above to conserve your stash of Invisibility and regular Potions), there's a safe spot at the corner of the screen. All of that combined should see me through to a legit win, and I plan on doing it!

[Ack]

Played a game that gets a lot of grief on the Internet, Fester's Quest. It's actually not all that bad.

Yeah, a lot of the games that get grief on the Internet really aren't as bad as advertised.

Good luck finishing the game!

[Exhuminator]

1. Devil's Attorney (Android) (lawyer strategy) (good game)
2. Resident Evil 5 (360) (survival horror cover shooter) (good game)
3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (360) (kart racer) (good game)
4. Dragon Quest VIII (PS2) (classic JRPG) (amazing game)
5. Gears of War (360) (dudebro cover shooter) (decent game)
6. Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) (Tomb Raider with a penis) (decent game)
7. Orcs & Elves (DS) (Id style dungeon crawler) (good game)
8. From The Abyss (DS) (simple action-RPG) (decent game)
9. Army of Two (360) (co-op cover shooter) (decent game)
10. Psychic World (Master System) (sadistic platformer) (subpar game)
11. Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii) (adventure/simulation) (amazing game)
12. Journey to Silius (NES) (sadistic platformer) (decent game)
13. Sword Master (NES) (hack'n'slash platformer) (subpar game)
14. Project: Snowblind (PC) (thinking man's FPS) (good game)
15. Yakyuuken Part II - Gal's Dungeon (Famicom) (stripping maze puzzle) (decent game)
16. Bishoujo Sexy Derby (Famicom) (stripping horse racing) (terrible game)
17. SiN Episodes: Emergence (PC) (amateur hour FPS) (subpar game)
18. Seirei Gari (AKA Ghost Hunter) (NES) (puzzle adventure) (subpar game)
19. The Guardian Legend (NES) (action-RPG/shmup hybrid) (amazing game)

What would happen if you took The Legend Of Zelda and mixed it up with a game like Zanac? Compile answered that question in 1988, with The Guardian Legend. In this game a parasitic alien menace has infested a one peaceful world "Naju", turning it into a biomechanical nightmare star teeming with vicious monsters. Now this terrible lair of doom is hurtling towards Earth in a mission to infect it as well. As the cyborg warrior "Miria", the player must enact her role as The Guardian, flying from Earth to Naju to stop it. To do so, Miria must destroy all the parasite bosses guarding the self destruct mechanisms that can destroy Naju before it reaches Earth.

While traversing Naju, Miria does so from an overhead perspective (Zelda-esque). Enemies abound on the surface of Naju and will attack Miria relentlessly. Combing the mazelike passageways Miria seeks out weapon and system upgrades, as well as the keys that let her reach the corridors where the bosses reside. Once Miria enters a corridor, the gameplay changes to that of a frantic scrolling shmup (Zanac-esque) that will test the mettle of the player. This game's greatest challenges are the corridor bosses themselves, but each one is taken down easily if the player uses the right weapon (Mega Man-esque). Along the way Miria can also buy upgrades from friendly aliens called Blue Landers. These adorable capitalists will also provide her checkpoints and passwords to continue her mission.

The Guardian Legend has aged extremely well. Graphically it is clean and vibrant, with fast action and nice animation. The soundtrack is above average with a few outstanding tracks all its own. Controls are simple and responsive, with an interface that is easy to read and even includes an in game map. While the shmup stages can get overwhelming at times, the incredible variety of weapons available insure the player always has a fair fighting chance. The Guardian Legend is chock full of content indeed, and will provide hours of entertainment as Miria explores Naju.

It's hard for me to find fault with this game honestly, outside occasional difficulty spikes The Guardian Legend is exceptionally well made for its era. (Honestly this is one of the most impressively programmed NES games I've ever played.) If you've never played The Guardian Legend you're missing out on a true classic. Don't wait any longer! Strap on your hot pink go-go boots, ignite your butt mounted rocket boosters, and go explode those poor little Blue Lander's home planet with zero remorse.

[Sarge]

Excellent review, Exhuminator! It's certainly one of the most technically-accomplished games on the NES. Compile knew their stuff. Perhaps Recca is more impressive from a technical aspect, but that also came four years later!

Man, you've got me wanting to play through it again now.

[Exhuminator]

It really is an amazing game. The last boss had me frazzled for a minute, then I figured out its secret and took it down easily. Every time I thought I was going to lose my mind on one of these bosses I eventually found the right weapon and things got exponentially easier. Funny thing is I rented this game as kid back in 1990 and got nowhere in it. All it took was 25 years for me to realize it's great.

[Sarge]

I knew going in that you can't throw enemies at the screen, but that you still could grab foot soldiers by the arm and slam them back and forth. However, that move is hard to pull off. In Turtles in Time, you can just about do it whenever you feel like it (it's a great move to clear out enemies if your becoming surrounded). In Hyperstone Heist, it just seems to happen sometimes if you're close to an enemy and mash the A button.

I meant to hit on this earlier, but it's actually pretty easy to consistently pull the thrash move if you use the dashing tackle move to hit an enemy, let off the d-pad when you hit, then smash the A button. That's pretty much how I go through the entire game.

You're right, though, if you're trying to pull the move without doing that, the spacing required is pretty tight, so it appears almost totally random.

It really is an amazing game. The last boss had me frazzled for a minute, then I figured out its secret and took it down easily. Every time I thought I was going to lose my mind on one of these bosses I eventually found the right weapon and things got exponentially easier. Funny thing is I rented this game as kid back in 1990 and got nowhere in it. All it took was 25 years for me to realize it's great.

Ha, yeah! I mean, there are games I'm revisiting that I hated, too, and now I appreciate them a lot more. Street Fighter 2010 was one that I thought was hot garbage, and maybe it is, but it's a lot better than I'd given it credit for.

(You probably used the Fireball, didn't you? That's the one I always use.)