Games Beaten 2015

[mjmjr25]

FEB: Gaia Seed (PSX-J)
MAR: Thunder Force AC (SAT-J)

This is a hybrid remake of Thunder Force III, ported from there to the arcade, then from there to SFC (Thunder Spirits) and also on the Thunder Force Gold Pack 2 on SAT-J.

The game would have been much harder like the R-Type and Gradius ilk, but unlike most games in the TF series, when you die, you only lose your primary weapon, you keep everything else. I actually sorta like this - but, it just makes the game very forgiving.

I've already moved onto Gaires and am through first 3 stages / no miss. The key to this game, aside being able to make out white and orange bullets on white and orange backgrounds, is changing your ship speed on boss fights. I didn't pick up on this my first few runs and even though the boss shot patterns are slow and consistent, you just can't get out of the way on slow, so you need to be on normal or fast (by tapping A button). Some of the captured teammates seem too overpowered too - not sure if this will change as I get further. Stage 4 boss is a quick wall, about 3 hours in. I'm really struggling with this background and getting a little bored as it takes about 20 minutes to get there and it's pretty monotonous. Will probably move on from this one next weekend if I don't sort the graphics out on this boss.

[REPO Man]

The Tomb Raider reboot on the Xbox 360. Didn't get all the achievements and didn't manage to get enough salvage to upgrade all my weapons until I beat the game, but thankfully it wasn't too much I needed since I only had one upgrade left so I just hunted some deer and got some salvage.

Most of the achievements are based on multiplayer, so I think I'm gonna just delete the game and reinstall it at a later point in time. Oh, and to have room for the new Games with Gold title, Bioshock Infinite.

[Key-Glyph]

1. Pokémon SoulSilver (DS)
2. Sushi Academy (DS)
3. Alcahest (SFC)
4. Comix Zone (GEN)
5. Lost Vikings (GEN)

6. Beautiful Katamari (360)
7. Toejam & Earl (GEN) *replay

Beautiful Katamari:

I'd actually started playing this particular Katamari game a few years ago, but when I picked it up I was surprised to discover I was just one stage away from beating it. So, I finished. Wee!

Katamari games are always fun, but having played a lot of We ♥ Katamari before this, the XBox version definitely suffers in comparison. It's not that Beautiful is bad or anything; the graphics are obviously improved and look amazing, the King of All Cosmos still delivers on the dialog, and so on. It's got everything you expect. The problem for me was that you're always technically in the same "instance."

At the beginning of an individual task you might start off in different shops or houses, but you generally roll out of them -- and when you do, it's always onto the same streets in the same town and world at large. This kind of consistency is actually pretty cool in theory, but in reality it gets boring somehow. And when you realize you're playing a katamari game and experiencing boredom, the cognitive dissonance sends you into minor shock. Contrast this to We ♥, which had a separate aquarium level, classroom level, and lightning bug level, among others.

Unfortunately this game also has on-disc DLC, which I hadn't realized until I booted it up one morning and the King praised me for visiting the XBox Marketplace. I guess they unlocked a few stages now that the game's been out for seven years. I was grateful... and pissed. More dissonance!

My only other issue was that the dash move was extremely hard to pull off with an XBox controller. The staggered analog sticks made it almost impossible for me.

Toejam & Earl:

What with the Toejam & Earl Kickstarter underway, I was getting a serious itch to play through the original game again.

I don't know what else to say about this game except that it makes me ridiculously happy every single time I play it. I've beaten it on both single- and two-player modes over the years and yet it never gets old. The feeling of haughty triumph that comes from popping boogiemen or dodging that last phantom ice cream truck never dulls. It's always a bit of a challenge, Random World mode keeps each playthrough fresh... and, of course, that soundtrack. Man. So much love for T&E. What a pick-me-up!

What exactly do you mean by "other moves"? Like the different jump attacks and whatnot? AFAIK, Turtles in Time has as many moves as Hyperstone Heist, and then some.

Yeah, I mean the different variations. In Hyperstone Heist you can do a regular jump kick, a slow descend with your weapon bared, or a hop-kick very close to landing, for example. And the floor slide and so on.

[Ack]

1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
5. The Tick (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Alien vs Predator (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. X-Kaliber 2097 (SNES)(Action Platformer)
8. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)
9. Shadowrun (SNES)(RPG)
10. Quake II (PC)(FPS)
11. The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (SNES)(RPG)
12. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC)(Action)

We will go with the generic "action" genre for this one.

It was a brutal 25 blood-spattered level slog, but I have finally gotten through to the end of Hotline Miami 2 and witnessed the bittersweet end credits with a sense of resignation. There is still plenty to do in the game for me, but for now I have successfully finished the first run. Overall I enjoyed the experience, though I have a few mixed feelings as well. But I will get to all of these in time.

But first, the obvious point: the music is awesome. Everyone agrees the music is awesome. People who have never played the first Hotline Miami, reviewers who disliked Hotline Miami 2, old fans and new ones, all agree that the music is awesome. What's more awesome than listening to Carpenter Brut's Roller Mobster as you rush through several stories of a skyscraper, taking out the Russian mafia? Or watching the Son gyrate to the beat of Auto Delta Time's Ms. Minnie? I laughed when I realized he dances while going to the bank robbery.

But on to the actual game. The gameplay in this sequel is similar to the first, but with additional layers of complexity from the large cast of characters, as so many have new abilities and limitations imposed on them. Be it the soldier who can switch between his chosen weapon and his knife(which I vastly preferred), or Corey in her Zebra Mask who can dodge roll, or especially the twins, Alex and Ash, who the player controls simultaneously. I have yet to get the hang of the dodge roll, though it is a cool feature, but the twins I find really difficult to play. And many of these characters receive little explanation. I got brutally slaughtered on the soldier levels because I kept running out of ammunition until I finally discovered he had a knife. Still, the core gameplay doesn't change too much between them, so once you've got the basics down with one, you've got the basics down with all of them.

But this game isn't basic, it's effectively a hard mode continuation of the first. This game builds on the first one's difficulty, and there are some really tough but still inspired moments, like Richter's levels, which feel the most like the original game. Richter's first level in a bar involves you walking in and immediately hitting a guy, grabbing his gun, and unloading on the horde of men which come charging at you, because otherwise you're screwed. His second involves killing down a corridor but having to beat up one man, grab his shotgun, and take out the second in a matter of milliseconds. I managed to kill the first guy, then kite the hulking bastard for a swing around the floor before finally grabbing the gun and offing him.

Overall levels are bigger, much much bigger in some cases, and I dislike that even the far view has a limit. I spent a lot more time looking ahead in this game than I did in the first one, and I admit that I got through most levels by being cautious and playing a waiting game. Yes, my scores sucked as a result. But I got through. One personal thing I dislike about the controls is that the far look is left shift. Some of you may know that I broke a bone in my left hand a few years ago, and now extended use of my pinky on a keyboard wears out my hand and causes it to hurt after a while. I ended up switching to a controller after a bit to get around the pain, though I may experiment with new key mappings on my keyboard.

While levels are bigger and feel more like a master class in game difficulty when compared to the first, they're still really interesting to play through, though I have a few that I am not a fan of, and one that I intensely dislike: the strip club. I hate this level, at least partly because the dogs are nearly invisible on the dark floor. I'm not even sure why there are dogs in a strip club to begin with. Ds warned me about the prison level, but I actually didn't find that one that difficult in comparison and thought it was a really cool design. Enemy placement in a few is rough, and quite a few have some awesomely frantic beginnings that I learned to handle through repeated, frustrating starts. But the final level is absolutely incredible. That was definitely the highlight of the game for me.

Anyway, my scores suck, so I'll have to go through replaying levels until I get A+ or better in all of them. I also need to try Hard mode; I'm curious about what this game considers "hard" compared to what it thinks is normal. And there are a bunch of hidden videos that lead to scenes or secret levels that I missed, as well as 2 pages of the newspaper and 3 weapons that I did not use. I will likely focus more on other games now and only slowly slog my way through the rest of this, but I'm having fun, and I'm curious about the level editor I keep hearing about.

[Blu]

I've already moved onto Gaires and am through first 3 stages / no miss. The key to this game, aside being able to make out white and orange bullets on white and orange backgrounds, is changing your ship speed on boss fights. I didn't pick up on this my first few runs and even though the boss shot patterns are slow and consistent, you just can't get out of the way on slow, so you need to be on normal or fast (by tapping A button). Some of the captured teammates seem too overpowered too - not sure if this will change as I get further. Stage 4 boss is a quick wall, about 3 hours in. I'm really struggling with this background and getting a little bored as it takes about 20 minutes to get there and it's pretty monotonous. Will probably move on from this one next weekend if I don't sort the graphics out on this boss.

I know what you mean. Are you playing on Genesis or the board? There's a few true challenges on Genesis: Adjusting speed, knowing best shot powerups, and contrasting the backgrounds. That and there's certainly some skill involved in knowing when to send out your little parasite to pick up powers. I spent so much time learning the patterns, sometimes to no avail. The backgrounds don't necessarily help either. Is there a lot of strategy in knowing what the best shot patterns/power-ups are worth using? I was never quite sure what would be the most potent weapons to use in certain stages or boss fights. Being the King of Shmuplympus, what would be your counsel?

Even the Dracula boss at the start beats the snot out of me. It's unforgiving. I could never beat it.

[dsheinem]

that last level is so awesome, Ack

[Ack]

that last level is so awesome, Ack

Yeah, I'm still pretty psyched about it, especially the two-headed final boss. Incredible. What a trip...literally.

[dsheinem]

that last level is so awesome, Ack

Yeah, I'm still pretty psyched about it, especially the two-headed final boss. Incredible. What a trip...literally.

shame it is the easiest level, though.

the prison level was great until the room where you had to keep switching between a gun and a melee weapon/shiv because of all the cannibals...including one who shoots

and yeah, the soldier's best in knife mode most of the time.

I had no problems with the twins at all and thought they were one of the easier characters/levels. *shrug*

[Ack]

that last level is so awesome, Ack

Yeah, I'm still pretty psyched about it, especially the two-headed final boss. Incredible. What a trip...literally.

shame it is the easiest level, though.

the prison level was great until the room where you had to keep switching between a gun and a melee weapon/shiv because of all the cannibals...including one who shoots

and yeah, the soldier's best in knife mode most of the time.

I had no problems with the twins at all and thought they were one of the easier characters/levels. *shrug*

Haha, you mean the final room in the prison? Yeah, I eventually came up with a strategy to deal with it which involved toothbrush shanking two guys to get a gun, blowing away the big dude at the bottom, and then working my way around the room clockwise.

I don't mind the final level being the easiest. It was a nice, relaxing touch at the end after the mansion level with the Son(where I was still annoyed about the strip club). And it was way easier than the "final boss" in Hotline Miami, definitely. I also like how it kinda sorta in a drugged out way explains what happened to all of the Fans.

As far as the twins are concerned, I had some issues with the second one getting stuck on corners a lot(in one level, she didn't even enter the first door), and the shooting feels awkward because she doesn't quite line up where I want her to. I managed to get the achievement for using them though, and with subsequent plays I'll probably get over their kinks. They are pretty fun once you start getting the hang of them.

Beyond the final level, I was also a big fan of the power plant with the soldier. That was a beast of a mission, but it felt awesome to clear each area of it. What a rush! I brought the sniper rifle, and it worked perfectly.

[noiseredux]

nah I figure I'll work on Eggerland for a couple more months, then I'll post Elevator Action in disgust sometime around May, then start an F game that I lose interest in just in time to beat one game of the ten I've picked for my Summer Gaming list. It's gonna be awesome and anticlimactic.

update, on level 55 or so of Eggerland. 55 out of 105.