Games Beaten 2016

[Exhuminator]

One of the best Contra like games I've ever played, is Gunforce 2 by Irem for arcade. It's like 65% Contra, 35% Metal Slug, but 100% awesome.





Definitely worth breaking out the ol' MAME for.

[Ack]

Just be sure to avoid the Super Nintendo port of the original GunForce. It is...not good.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Booo.

The hacking and final stretch with zombies were bad. Otherwise it's fantastic.

Yeah, zombie island was terrible. I actually liked the hacking; there was a lot of risk/reward involved vs. the Deus Ex "click the button" hacking.

It's been a while since I played that game, but I certainly don't remember any zombies O.o

I actually found HR much more enjoyable than the original, but perhaps that's because HR had better combat and I already basically knew the story to the first game going in. I can certainly see why people like the original so much for what it did in terms giving the player options to seriously affect the storytelling. Also I really enjoyed how medpacks work in the first game. Nothing like getting your legs blown off and being too stubborn to use a med-pack (or not having one). Then you've just gotta slowly crawl around the level hunting for one

Speaking of hacking though, the hacking in ShadowRun on the SNES is like one of the most fun parts of that game. Some games just really nail the mini-games I guess.

[Xeogred]

HR is favorite material for me but nothing touches the original (tend to see it as my favorite post SNES/PSX game). The biggest thing that takes it to another level to me are the AI's. The reporter girl was an interesting twist, but there was nothing complex or interesting about "her".

Plus you had insane hidden stuff in the original like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b-bijO3uEw

HR is remarkable for its time though and still did the series a lot of justice. I cannot say the same for something like the Thief remake, regardless of being from some of the same team, and plenty of other long term sequel releases to older series.

[ExedExes]

One of the best Contra like games I've ever played, is Gunforce 2 by Irem for arcade. It's like 65% Contra, 35% Metal Slug, but 100% awesome.
Definitely worth breaking out the ol' MAME for.

That IREM team from Gunforce 2 would become NAZCA Corporation, famous for well, Metal Slug! No coincidence!

Just be sure to avoid the Super Nintendo port of the original GunForce. It is...not good.

Yeah, and this too.

[MrPopo]

Booo.

The hacking and final stretch with zombies were bad. Otherwise it's fantastic.

Yeah, zombie island was terrible. I actually liked the hacking; there was a lot of risk/reward involved vs. the Deus Ex "click the button" hacking.

It's been a while since I played that game, but I certainly don't remember any zombies O.o

They're not undead zombies, but the last map turned a large number of people into mindless shambling melee hordes.

[Exhuminator]

Games Ex has beaten in 2016:

1. Mega Man ZX Advent|DS|2007|platformer|8h|7/10
2. King's Field III: Pilot Style|PS1|1996|dungeon crawler|1h|8/10
3. Sleeping Dogs|360|2012|action-adventure|20h 45m|8/10
4. Sleepings Dogs: NiNP DLC|360|2012|action adventure|1h 22m|5/10
5. Chikyuu Kaihou Gun ZAS|GB|1992|shmup|33m|8/10
6. Vattle Giuce|GB|1991|shmup|45m|5/10
7. MechWarrior 2 (Clan Wolf)|PS1|1997|mech sim|2h 35m|7/10
8. Gradius: The Interstellar Assault|GB|1992|shmup|27m|8/10
9. SolarStriker|GB|1990|shmup|23m|7/10
10. Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|45m|6/10
11. Dead or Alive (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1998|fighter|23m|5/10
12. Asuka 120% Burning Festival Final (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|26m|8/10
13. Soul Blade (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1997|fighter|18m|9/10
14. Trax|GB|1991|shmup|23m|7/10
15. Street Fighter: The Movie (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1995|fighter|36m|5/10
16. Warpath: Jurassic Park (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|17m|4/10
17. Psychic Force (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1997|fighter|22m|7/10
18. Touki Denshou: Angel Eyes (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1997|fighter|27m|7/10
19. Advanced V.G. 2 (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1998|fighter|15m|8/10
20. StarHawk|GB|1993|shmup|1h 15m|4/10
21. Nemesis|GB|1990|shmup|28m|7/10
22. Cardinal Syn (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1998|fighter|54m|7/10
23. Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1997|fighter|15m|7/10
24. Street Fighter EX 2 Plus (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|22m|8/10
25. Battle Unit Zeoth|GB|1991|shmup|24m|6/10
26. Soul Calibur IV (Arcade Mode)|360|2008|fighter|12m|9/10
27. Mercenary Force|GB|1990|shmup|54m|5/10
28. Battle Arena Toshinden (Story Mode)|GB|1996|fighter|12m|8/10
29. Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams (Arcade Mode)|GBC|1999|fighter|10m|7/10
30. SD Hiryu No Ken EX (Story Mode)|GBC|1999|fighter|24m|7/10
31. Guilty Gear X: Advance Edition (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|8m|6/10
32. Super Street Fighter II Turbo: Revival (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2001|fighter|10m|7/10
33. Dual Blades (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|23m|4/10
34. Gradius Galaxies|GBA|2001|shmup|1hr 24m|8/10
35. Tekken Advance (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|15m|7/10
36. Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|22m|7/10
37. Black Belt Challenge (Arcade Mode)|GBA|2002|fighter|8m|4/10
38. Iridion II|GBA|2003|shmup|58m|9/10
39. King's Field III|PS1|1996|dungeon crawler|25h|9/10
40. Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel|360|2013|cover shooter|7h 54m|7/10
41. Panzer Dragoon|Saturn|1995|rail shooter|55m|7/10
42. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei|Saturn|1996|rail shooter|1h 25m|8/10
43. Kirby Air Ride|GameCube|2003|kart racer|45m|6/10
44. Mario Kart: Double Dash!!|GameCube|2003|kart racer|35m|8/10
45. Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (Arcade Mode)|GameCube|2002|fighter|35m|8/10
46. XG3: Extreme G Racing|GameCube|2001|racer|1h 35m|7/10
47. Mario Kart 7|3DS|2011|kart racer|1h 54m|9/10
48. Code of Princess|3DS|2012|beat 'em up|4h 25m|7/10
49. Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy|3DS|2011|flight sim|3h 42m|7/10
50. Crimson Shroud|3DS|2012|JRPG|6h 55m|7/10
51. Gunman Clive|3DS|2013|platformer|54m|7/10
52. Gunman Clive 2|3DS|2015|platformer|1h 30m|7/10
53. Attack of the Friday Monsters!|3DS|2013|adventure|3h 2m|8/10
54. Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception|PSP|2006|flight combat|2h 25m|8/10
55. Ace Combat: Joint Assault|PSP|2010|flight combat|6h 26m|4/10
56. Nayuta: Endless Trails|PSP|2012|action-RPG|16h 03m|8/10
57. Alpha Protocol|360|2010|action-RPG|12h 20m|5/10
58. Makai-Mura Gaiden: The Demon Darkness|Game Boy|1993|action-adventure|6h|7/10
59. Hangman|Atari 2600|1978|puzzle|15m|8/10
60. Beneath Apple Manor|Apple II|1978|roguelike|2h 28m|9/10
61. Rusty|PC-9801|1993|platformer|3h 46m|7/10
62. Night Slave|PC-9801|1996|mech shooter|2h 37m|8/10
63. Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut|360|2013|action-RPG|31h 15m|6/10

64. Target Earth|Genesis|1990|mech shooter|49m|7/10

On its release, Target Earth was a progressive experience, allowing the player to control a mech in a side scrolling shooting-platforming hybrid experience. Target Earth's presentation was above average, in which the player always feels they are a part of a mech army, marching forward with their comrades in arms. Cutscenes with portraits and dialogue boxes drive the story, often overlaid atop the on screen action. Racking up kills nets points which unlock an ever more potent arsenal. Competent graphics and a fantastic OST help to immerse the player into Target Earth's world.



But there is one drawback to the experience; ultra hardcore difficulty. Target Earth is a supremely challenging game, and has no qualms utterly destroying the player endlessly. With waves of continuously spawning enemies, which continuously fire upon the player, you're in for a tough time. If you finish Target Earth, you'll find out it was so hard because the game is incredibly short. With just 8 missions, Target Earth's immense challenge was put into place to artificially prolong the experience. But to be fair, this method of gameplay prolonging was not exactly uncommon back in the late 80s and early 90s.



Target Earth is most notable for kicking off the Assault Suits franchise. Indeed, Target Earth's proper name is Assault Suit Leynos. And if you beat Target Earth, the game refers to itself as Assault Suit Leynos in the credits! While Target Earth was a good first start, far better things were to come as a result of its groundbreaking design. For without Target Earth, or rather Assault Suit Leynos, we might not have had such delights as Assault Suits Valken or the almighty Front Mission: Gun Hazard. So in that regard, I thank Target Earth for its forward thinking design, despite how brutally insane its Target Player challenge level is.

[REPO Man]

Another playthrough of Coming Out on Top, where I managed to hook up with Amos, a character who was introduced in an update.

[MrPopo]

1. Oni - PC
2. Donkey Kong 64 - N64
3. Yoshi's Story - N64
4. Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide - PC
5. Forsaken 64 - N64
6. Bloodrayne: Betrayal - PSN
7. Fire Emblem Seisen no Keifu - SNES
8. Fire Emblem Shin Monshō no Nazo: Hikari to Kage no Eiyū - Nintendo DS
9. Valkyria Chronicles 3 - PSP
10. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - DC
11. Rise of the Tomb Raider - PC
12. XCOM 2 - PC
13. Shadowrun Hong Kong Bonus Campaign - PC
14. Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3DS
15. Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 3DS
16. Lagrange Point - NES
17. Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations - 3DS
18. Cybernator - SNES
19. Outwars - PC
20. Resident Evil - GC
21. Resident Evil 2 - GC
22. Resident Evil 3 - GC
23. Resident Evil Code Veronica X - GC
24. Dino Crisis - PSX
25. Resident Evil 5 - PC
26. Dark Souls 3 - PS4
27. The Banner Saga 2 - PC
28. Bravely Second - 3DS
29. Star Fox Zero - Wii U
30. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - PC
31. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter Assault - PC

So the expansion for Dawn of War fixes most of my complaints I had about the base game. There are two other games, but they are standalone expansions and only hook up with the base game to expand your roster of playable factions.

Winter Assault consists of two 5 mission campaigns, with the fifth mission being one of two alternates depending on how you beat the fourth mission. One campaign is for Order (Imperial Guard + Eldar) and one is for Disorder (Chaos + Orks). The campaign missions are far more interesting than the missions from the base game. The mission objectives are more varied and some of them require you to take advantage of mission-specific abilities to win. And then there's Disorder mission 4. There seems to be no consensus on whether or not it's bugged, but the Orks start off with no resources while the Chaos forces start off with a good sized war chest. Add to that the fact that there are two implicit timers you have to deal with and you end up needing to know exactly what to do going in; blitz the Eldar base with the Orks and then have the Chaos forces take out the transport. From there you can take things at a leisurely pace. That was my only real complaint with the missions.

Unlike the base game the campaign gives you the opportunity to play with four races. For the Order campaign the first three missions are primarily Imperial Guard with some minor segments of using the Eldar to accomplish a specific objective with a small strike force. The Disorder campaign gives pretty equal time to Chaos and the Orks. The fourth mission on each side lets you switch between your two factions at any time, though only one victory condition can be met. This will determine which of the two stage fives you go to.

I personally didn't care much for how the Imperial Guard played. Maybe it's better in a skirmish, but the constraints they have under the main campaign means you're mostly using swarms of Imperial Guardsmen and it's very unsatisfying to use. Mission 4 is pretty much the only mission where you get the chance to just max out your supply and use high quality units. The Eldar I never really bothered exploring, so I can't comment much on them. The Chaos forces are just a slightly modified Space Marines, so they are boring. The Orks have an interesting dynamic; with the other races you might get a squad for four supply that has for individual units in it and then you can expand it to another four units plus a leader plus a hero. All that for four supply (of twenty). The Orks, by contrast, have you pay for every unit. So a group of Slugga Boys costs four supply for four Orks, then you can add another eleven reinforcements for another eleven supply, and finally a Nob for two supply. Your supply max ends up being 100 to account for this. It ends up allowing you to make some interesting choices, like going for a bunch of small squads to maximize your heavy weapons ratio vs. going for large squads to maximize the benefits of your Dok Boys attached to the squads.

Oh, and the final map is set on top of a Titan buried in the ice. It takes up pretty much the entire map, and in at least one mission you get to use its weaponry against your enemies. It's just as satisfying as it sounds.

[flash1987v2]

DoW 2 next? A very different but super fun game