Games Beaten 2016
Re: Games Beaten 2016
Lol....i feel like softmodding my XBOX just to see whether Gunvalkyrie really is that bad. It would only be added plus to try out some rare games imissed.
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PartridgeSenpai
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
alienjesus wrote:MrPopo wrote:Hey now, N64 FPS's weren't bad once you switched to a C-buttons for movement, stick for aiming system. You've got Z under your finger for shooting and R under the other finger for whatever the most common non-shooting action is.
Exactly how I prefer it.
I was so unused to the controls, I think that was one of the reasons I had so much trouble with Doom 64. You guys are really tempting me to go back and try playing (and being horrible) at it again
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
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ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
Exhuminator wrote::shock: I am impressed with your tenacity. Only sheer stubbornness sees a man through that game.ElkinFencer10 wrote:this game fucking sucks
it has LITERALLY the worst controls I've ever experienced
That price is way too steep
Accept P.N.03 as my apology.
I got almost halfway through that game last night. I'm not a fan of the camera controls, but I love literally everything else about it. Thank you, senpai.
Exhuminator wrote:Ecchi lords must unite for great justice.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
Think that might be the first game I check out with Dolphin.
Maybe the last too.
Maybe the last too.
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ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
Games Beaten in 2016 So Far - 98
January (20 Games Beaten)
February (8 Games Beaten)
March (8 Games Beaten)
April (13 Games Beaten)
May (6 Games Beaten)
June (13 Games Beaten)
July (7 Games Beaten)
August (15 Games Beaten)
September (8 Games Beaten)
98. P.N.03 - Gamecube - September 22
P.N. 03 is the second of the two games Exhuminator sent me in exchange for my reviews. I'm please to report that - unlike the first one - this game is totally playable and even enjoyable! Then again, I think drinking H2SO4 would have been enjoyable after GunValkyrie....
P.N. 03 (short for Product Number 03) is a Gamecube-exclusive third person shooter that is absolutely oozing with style. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a whole lot of substance to go with all that style. Truthfully, it suffers from a lot of the same problems that GunValkyrie does in terms of game substance. The good news, however, is that P.N. 03 controls perfectly fine and has a learning curve that isn't steeper than a graph of American public debt since Reagan took office.
Graphically, it's a good looking game. Truthfully, I thought this Gamecube game looks better than GunValkyrie on the Xbox despite the Xbox being a considerably more powerful console (playing on a Wii via component cables, anyway; below is a screenshot at 1080p using Dolphin so you can see the full potential). It's also got a truly rockin' soundtrack. The music is so good that even your character starts feeling it; leave her idle for even a second, and she starts bobbing her head and tapping her foot. I'm also fairly sure that your character is Tracer's grandmother or something because Vanessa's booty was CLEARLY an inspiration for Tracer's booty. They're both just so perfect.
The combat feels fluid and great. Once you're facing an enemy, it locks on and leaves you to just hammer the A button until it dies, tapping L or R every now and then to dodge attacks. Some attacks - like enemy missiles - will follow you, making you either dodge by hitting L or R at the right moment or jump over them by hitting B at the right moment. Jump or dodge too early, and the missiles will just follow you and hit you anyway. There are a few very minor platforming sections, and they can get frustrating, but it's not like Army Men: Major Malfunction or the first Uncharted game where your character will just arbitrarily decide not to grab a ledge and kill you. The combat, however, is definitely game's strongest point.
Conversely, the game's weakest point is probably the level design. It just gets extremely repetitive extremely quickly, and that's what I meant when I said that it doesn't have the substance to compliment its style. There are two or three varieties of level layouts, but truthfully, they all start to feel the same after mission 3 or 4 save for the couple of levels that start you off outside before entering a building (which proceeds to look and feel exactly like every other level). They all pretty much consist of "Run into room and kill bad guys, run into next room and kill bad guys, run into next room and find it empty, run into next room and kill bad guys, run into next room and kill boss, win" ad nauseam. The gameplay is fun, so while monotonous, it never stops being enjoyable, but it's definitely the game's weakest aspect.
The story is also really lackluster. I'd comment more on it, but truthfully, I have no idea what it was about. Vanessa's a mercenary who is completing some job for an anonymous client (who is a total douchebag, by the way) and sends you in circles for 11 missions punctuated by a giant robot to blow up at the end. Beyond that, I have no clue what that game was about. There's supposedly some "dark past" that the back of the case talks about, but aside from the obvious that was hinted by the title of the game - being a clone or cyborg or some shit - I have no idea what that's supposed to be. Maybe it told me and I just got bored with the story too soon, but yeah, narrative here sucks. Blowing up robots is fun, though, so it balances.
It seems to be going for roughly $20ish on eBay right now, and I feel pretty good recommending it for those of you who enjoy third person shooters. If you're looking for a story-driven game or one with a lot of replay value, I'd either emulate or pass on this one. It's so short - it took me about 2 hours to finish - with such a lackluster story and minimal level variety that I really can't recommend anyone other than genre enthusiasts go out of their way to pick it up. I enjoyed my time with it, and while it's a good obscure game, I'm not sure I'd call it a hidden gem. Or like a hidden quartz crystal - pretty and cool to find, but not something to hunt for.
January (20 Games Beaten)
February (8 Games Beaten)
March (8 Games Beaten)
April (13 Games Beaten)
May (6 Games Beaten)
June (13 Games Beaten)
July (7 Games Beaten)
August (15 Games Beaten)
September (8 Games Beaten)
98. P.N.03 - Gamecube - September 22
P.N. 03 is the second of the two games Exhuminator sent me in exchange for my reviews. I'm please to report that - unlike the first one - this game is totally playable and even enjoyable! Then again, I think drinking H2SO4 would have been enjoyable after GunValkyrie....
P.N. 03 (short for Product Number 03) is a Gamecube-exclusive third person shooter that is absolutely oozing with style. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a whole lot of substance to go with all that style. Truthfully, it suffers from a lot of the same problems that GunValkyrie does in terms of game substance. The good news, however, is that P.N. 03 controls perfectly fine and has a learning curve that isn't steeper than a graph of American public debt since Reagan took office.
Graphically, it's a good looking game. Truthfully, I thought this Gamecube game looks better than GunValkyrie on the Xbox despite the Xbox being a considerably more powerful console (playing on a Wii via component cables, anyway; below is a screenshot at 1080p using Dolphin so you can see the full potential). It's also got a truly rockin' soundtrack. The music is so good that even your character starts feeling it; leave her idle for even a second, and she starts bobbing her head and tapping her foot. I'm also fairly sure that your character is Tracer's grandmother or something because Vanessa's booty was CLEARLY an inspiration for Tracer's booty. They're both just so perfect.
The combat feels fluid and great. Once you're facing an enemy, it locks on and leaves you to just hammer the A button until it dies, tapping L or R every now and then to dodge attacks. Some attacks - like enemy missiles - will follow you, making you either dodge by hitting L or R at the right moment or jump over them by hitting B at the right moment. Jump or dodge too early, and the missiles will just follow you and hit you anyway. There are a few very minor platforming sections, and they can get frustrating, but it's not like Army Men: Major Malfunction or the first Uncharted game where your character will just arbitrarily decide not to grab a ledge and kill you. The combat, however, is definitely game's strongest point.
Conversely, the game's weakest point is probably the level design. It just gets extremely repetitive extremely quickly, and that's what I meant when I said that it doesn't have the substance to compliment its style. There are two or three varieties of level layouts, but truthfully, they all start to feel the same after mission 3 or 4 save for the couple of levels that start you off outside before entering a building (which proceeds to look and feel exactly like every other level). They all pretty much consist of "Run into room and kill bad guys, run into next room and kill bad guys, run into next room and find it empty, run into next room and kill bad guys, run into next room and kill boss, win" ad nauseam. The gameplay is fun, so while monotonous, it never stops being enjoyable, but it's definitely the game's weakest aspect.
The story is also really lackluster. I'd comment more on it, but truthfully, I have no idea what it was about. Vanessa's a mercenary who is completing some job for an anonymous client (who is a total douchebag, by the way) and sends you in circles for 11 missions punctuated by a giant robot to blow up at the end. Beyond that, I have no clue what that game was about. There's supposedly some "dark past" that the back of the case talks about, but aside from the obvious that was hinted by the title of the game - being a clone or cyborg or some shit - I have no idea what that's supposed to be. Maybe it told me and I just got bored with the story too soon, but yeah, narrative here sucks. Blowing up robots is fun, though, so it balances.
It seems to be going for roughly $20ish on eBay right now, and I feel pretty good recommending it for those of you who enjoy third person shooters. If you're looking for a story-driven game or one with a lot of replay value, I'd either emulate or pass on this one. It's so short - it took me about 2 hours to finish - with such a lackluster story and minimal level variety that I really can't recommend anyone other than genre enthusiasts go out of their way to pick it up. I enjoyed my time with it, and while it's a good obscure game, I'm not sure I'd call it a hidden gem. Or like a hidden quartz crystal - pretty and cool to find, but not something to hunt for.
Exhuminator wrote:Ecchi lords must unite for great justice.
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
Gotta say, I enjoyed P.N.03 more than you. But I'm glad you beat it and at least somewhat enjoyed the game. It's really very arcade oriented, with speed runs in mind. There's also the optional missions which are randomly generated, don't know if you messed with those much, but that's how you generate all the cash you need to unlock all of Vanessa's outfits. Totally agree she has a perfect derriere, the best in gaming IMO. But beyond that, I did really enjoy the hardcore robot blasting action. The game reminded me of a prototype rough draft of Vanquish. And given the shared director, that's no surprise.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
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PartridgeSenpai
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- Location: Northern Japan
Re: Games Beaten 2016
Partridge Senpai's 2016 Beaten List
1. Tales of Vesperia
2. SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters Clash 2: Expanded Edition
3. Toro! Let's Party!
4. Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
5. Ghost Trick
6. Shining Force: EXA
7. Fire Emblem: Awakening
8. New Super Mario Bros. U
9. New Luigi U
10. Riviera: The Promised Land
11. (Dragon Quest) Mori Mori Slime 3
12. Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God
13. Yoshi's New Island
14. Yoshi's Island (repeat)
15. Super Back to the Future II
16. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
17. Binary Domain
18. Star Fox Assault
19. Chibi-Robo Park Patrol
20. Scurge: The Hive
21. Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
22. Yoshi's Woolly World
23. BOXBOY!
24. Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
25. Mafia II
26. Gears of War
27. Halo 3
28. Tales of Graces f
29. Tales of Graces f : Lineages & Legacies
30. DeathSmiles
31. Dishonored
32. Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall DLC
33. Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches DLC
34. Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival
35. Tales of Symphonia
36. Ninja Smasher
37. Samba De Amigo
38. Mario & Luigi 4: Dream Adventure
39. Alien on the Run
40. Resident Evil Revelations
41. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
42. Beautiful Katamari
43. Katamari Damacy (repeat)
44. Crazy Construction
45. Spec Ops: The Line
46. Wario World (repeat)
47. Resident Evil 4
48. Me & My Katamari
49. We Love Katamari (Repeat)
50. de Blob (Wii)
I have very mixed feelings about this game. It's a fairly unique concept of Mario 64 meets Katamari. You need to platform around to paint enough of the level and earn enough points to unlock the stage exit before time runs out. Along the way, there are several missions scattered around the stage which range from bashing enemies, to painting specific buildings specific colors, to foot(?) races. On one hand, the style, level design, and presentation are all top notch. On the other hand, the controls kinda make you wanna die, but only kinda.
First up, my biggest (and really only) complaint: The goddamn controls. In the lovely THQ fashion of running with a gimmick so hard that it is a serious detriment to the game, *cough* Udraw tablet *cough* de Blob really feels like an earlier Wii game. This is exemplified entirely by the fact that jump is NOT a button, no dear reader, it is SWINGING THE WIIMOTE UP. Let me repeat: IN A 3D PLATFORMER, JUMP IS NOT A BUTTON. Why couldn't it be A? Well, that's your compass button. Why not any of the D-pad buttons for the compass and let A be jump? Well, those are already occupied with precision camera controls on Right and Left, and a first person view by holding the Down arrow. The Up arrow, oh, that's right, that does JACK SHIT.
I'm giving the developers the benefit of the doubt, since they seem very competant, that THQ higher-ups forced them to incorporate motion controls, so the view-button was changed from Up to Down, compass changed from Down to A, and jump from A to swinging. For the record, B is your breaking maneuver (you zoom towards the ground and lose basically all momentum: useful for stopping in the air), C repositions the camera behind you, and Z targets things in a Zelda style, so you can smash them in a Sonic Adventure Homing-bash style. All of those things work just fine (or as well as they possibly could, in the case of the homing smash).
Now, as my rant hopefully gets across, this is an annoying mechanic, but is it game breaking? The answer, thank goodness, is no. Being that the prime objective is painting the level to earn points, hyper precision platforming isn't usually necessary. It can make wall-jumping a pain, but you almost never need to do them unless you're doing the challenge stages (which are really good fun, actually, in a welcome change for challenge stages) or going for very out of the way collectibles in the normal stages. The game just isn't that hard, and that's to its benefit. The clock is SUPER generous, especially if you kill enemy packs and do missions, both of which get you loads of extra time, and just the way damage works on enemies, it's pretty tough to die, and you get plenty of lives and forgiving checkpoints for even if you do. This lets you concentrate far more on having fun by jumping around, painting all the things, collecting all the things, and generally derping around.
The presentation is also very good. The story is very wacky and light hearted, and actually quite genuinely gave me good belly laughs once or twice. A colorful, happy world of Raydians is invaded by the evil Inkies, who force them and their world to all become horrible and monochrome like them, and use their world for Ink production (which is truly quite horrifying occasionally, somewhat reminiscent of the Shroobs from Mario & Luigi Partners in Time). A small rebellion exist, but they're no match for the might of the Inky empire, that is, until you, DE BLOB show up! There's not that much story, but what there is is told in cutscenes before each level. My favorite character by far has to be Comrade Black, the leader of the Inkies. He's sort of a wonderfully silly dictator (almost definitely a Hitler parody, despite his title of Comrade), and it's just so funny watching him try and keep his cool when dealing with the incompetance of his subordinates. De Blob himself comes in at a close second, as he has a very snarky, Rayman-ish disposition that makes his pre-level vigniettes very silly, more often than not, just making the Inky soldiers look like fools.
The level design is also soooo fun. Each level is gated off into sections that you unlock by getting enough points, and they all make up one large city district in each of the 10 or so stages (each of which take about an hour or less). Every section is just so fun to enter, though! You go through the previous section, exploring and completing missions and painting everything to look pretty, and then you find a new one full of blank, boring buildings and full of nasty ink, all to purify again! The locations are very varied as well, and even though your tasks are usually similar, the mission variety and level layouts are varied enough that it never gets boring. There're also a ton of music tracks, which while not all exactly "put on your iPod"-worthy, are all hopping and jumping and even get faster and happier as you paint more of the level without taking hits.
Verdict: Recommended. It's not the best platformer on Wii, but it's probably one of the best 3rd party ones on Wii. It's a colorful, fun time, and while it did occasionally make me rage when I messed up a jump a few times (those challenge levels caused much rage), It was always so satisfying to be done. It's like $3 anyway, so it's definitely at least worth a try if you see it somewhere.
1. Tales of Vesperia
2. SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters Clash 2: Expanded Edition
3. Toro! Let's Party!
4. Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
5. Ghost Trick
6. Shining Force: EXA
7. Fire Emblem: Awakening
8. New Super Mario Bros. U
9. New Luigi U
10. Riviera: The Promised Land
11. (Dragon Quest) Mori Mori Slime 3
12. Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God
13. Yoshi's New Island
14. Yoshi's Island (repeat)
15. Super Back to the Future II
16. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
17. Binary Domain
18. Star Fox Assault
19. Chibi-Robo Park Patrol
20. Scurge: The Hive
21. Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
22. Yoshi's Woolly World
23. BOXBOY!
24. Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom
25. Mafia II
26. Gears of War
27. Halo 3
28. Tales of Graces f
29. Tales of Graces f : Lineages & Legacies
30. DeathSmiles
31. Dishonored
32. Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall DLC
33. Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches DLC
34. Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival
35. Tales of Symphonia
36. Ninja Smasher
37. Samba De Amigo
38. Mario & Luigi 4: Dream Adventure
39. Alien on the Run
40. Resident Evil Revelations
41. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
42. Beautiful Katamari
43. Katamari Damacy (repeat)
44. Crazy Construction
45. Spec Ops: The Line
46. Wario World (repeat)
47. Resident Evil 4
48. Me & My Katamari
49. We Love Katamari (Repeat)
50. de Blob (Wii)
I have very mixed feelings about this game. It's a fairly unique concept of Mario 64 meets Katamari. You need to platform around to paint enough of the level and earn enough points to unlock the stage exit before time runs out. Along the way, there are several missions scattered around the stage which range from bashing enemies, to painting specific buildings specific colors, to foot(?) races. On one hand, the style, level design, and presentation are all top notch. On the other hand, the controls kinda make you wanna die, but only kinda.
First up, my biggest (and really only) complaint: The goddamn controls. In the lovely THQ fashion of running with a gimmick so hard that it is a serious detriment to the game, *cough* Udraw tablet *cough* de Blob really feels like an earlier Wii game. This is exemplified entirely by the fact that jump is NOT a button, no dear reader, it is SWINGING THE WIIMOTE UP. Let me repeat: IN A 3D PLATFORMER, JUMP IS NOT A BUTTON. Why couldn't it be A? Well, that's your compass button. Why not any of the D-pad buttons for the compass and let A be jump? Well, those are already occupied with precision camera controls on Right and Left, and a first person view by holding the Down arrow. The Up arrow, oh, that's right, that does JACK SHIT.
I'm giving the developers the benefit of the doubt, since they seem very competant, that THQ higher-ups forced them to incorporate motion controls, so the view-button was changed from Up to Down, compass changed from Down to A, and jump from A to swinging. For the record, B is your breaking maneuver (you zoom towards the ground and lose basically all momentum: useful for stopping in the air), C repositions the camera behind you, and Z targets things in a Zelda style, so you can smash them in a Sonic Adventure Homing-bash style. All of those things work just fine (or as well as they possibly could, in the case of the homing smash).
Now, as my rant hopefully gets across, this is an annoying mechanic, but is it game breaking? The answer, thank goodness, is no. Being that the prime objective is painting the level to earn points, hyper precision platforming isn't usually necessary. It can make wall-jumping a pain, but you almost never need to do them unless you're doing the challenge stages (which are really good fun, actually, in a welcome change for challenge stages) or going for very out of the way collectibles in the normal stages. The game just isn't that hard, and that's to its benefit. The clock is SUPER generous, especially if you kill enemy packs and do missions, both of which get you loads of extra time, and just the way damage works on enemies, it's pretty tough to die, and you get plenty of lives and forgiving checkpoints for even if you do. This lets you concentrate far more on having fun by jumping around, painting all the things, collecting all the things, and generally derping around.
The presentation is also very good. The story is very wacky and light hearted, and actually quite genuinely gave me good belly laughs once or twice. A colorful, happy world of Raydians is invaded by the evil Inkies, who force them and their world to all become horrible and monochrome like them, and use their world for Ink production (which is truly quite horrifying occasionally, somewhat reminiscent of the Shroobs from Mario & Luigi Partners in Time). A small rebellion exist, but they're no match for the might of the Inky empire, that is, until you, DE BLOB show up! There's not that much story, but what there is is told in cutscenes before each level. My favorite character by far has to be Comrade Black, the leader of the Inkies. He's sort of a wonderfully silly dictator (almost definitely a Hitler parody, despite his title of Comrade), and it's just so funny watching him try and keep his cool when dealing with the incompetance of his subordinates. De Blob himself comes in at a close second, as he has a very snarky, Rayman-ish disposition that makes his pre-level vigniettes very silly, more often than not, just making the Inky soldiers look like fools.
The level design is also soooo fun. Each level is gated off into sections that you unlock by getting enough points, and they all make up one large city district in each of the 10 or so stages (each of which take about an hour or less). Every section is just so fun to enter, though! You go through the previous section, exploring and completing missions and painting everything to look pretty, and then you find a new one full of blank, boring buildings and full of nasty ink, all to purify again! The locations are very varied as well, and even though your tasks are usually similar, the mission variety and level layouts are varied enough that it never gets boring. There're also a ton of music tracks, which while not all exactly "put on your iPod"-worthy, are all hopping and jumping and even get faster and happier as you paint more of the level without taking hits.
Verdict: Recommended. It's not the best platformer on Wii, but it's probably one of the best 3rd party ones on Wii. It's a colorful, fun time, and while it did occasionally make me rage when I messed up a jump a few times (those challenge levels caused much rage), It was always so satisfying to be done. It's like $3 anyway, so it's definitely at least worth a try if you see it somewhere.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
-
ElkinFencer10
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- Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:34 pm
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
Exhuminator wrote:But beyond that, I did really enjoy the hardcore robot blasting action. The game reminded me of a prototype rough draft of Vanquish. And given the shared director, that's no surprise.
I kept thinking the exact same thing. Don't get me wrong - I definitely enjoyed the game. I just feel like it could have been so much better with some level diversity. Gotta admit, though, it's got some of the most satisfying robot explosions I've seen in a game in a long time.
Exhuminator wrote:Ecchi lords must unite for great justice.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
ElkinFencer10 wrote:Graphically, it's a good looking game. Truthfully, I thought this Gamecube game looks better than GunValkyrie on the Xbox despite the Xbox being a considerably more powerful console (playing on a Wii via component cables, anyway; below is a screenshot at 1080p using Dolphin so you can see the full potential).
I don't know that the disparity is that great. The XBOX is more powerful, but by how much, I'm not entirely sure. It's not a huge step. Both of them are significantly more powerful than the PS2, though.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
Sarge wrote:ElkinFencer10 wrote:Graphically, it's a good looking game. Truthfully, I thought this Gamecube game looks better than GunValkyrie on the Xbox despite the Xbox being a considerably more powerful console (playing on a Wii via component cables, anyway; below is a screenshot at 1080p using Dolphin so you can see the full potential).
I don't know that the disparity is that great. The XBOX is more powerful, but by how much, I'm not entirely sure. It's not a huge step. Both of them are significantly more powerful than the PS2, though.
The Xbox is more traditionally powerful, being effectively a PC. The GameCube is more narrowly tailored and can thus get more performance out of less metal. Plus, the memory design in the GameCube is quite elegant.
Dope Pope on a Rope
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The PC Engine Software Bible Forum, with Shoutbox chat - the new Internet home for PC Engine fandom.
B/S/T thread
My Classic Games Collection
My Steam Profile
The PC Engine Software Bible Forum, with Shoutbox chat - the new Internet home for PC Engine fandom.