Games Beaten 2016

[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

The second entry in The Banner Saga trilogy (presumably; the current storyline should be wrapped up in the next game), BS2 is mostly an iteration on what came before. You still have the same pretty animation and backgrounds with that mash up of Oregon Trail and Final Fantasy Tactics. The main change is that the level cap has been raised from 5 to 10. This gives two things: when you level to six you get a second personal ability and there are new three point passive talents unlocked by maxing out a particular stat. The second passive is usually the ability to select from one of a few abilities that related units have; think of the various sub classes of the basic shield and axe human. However, the main story units get unique second abilities, some of which are ok while others are hilariously overpowered (hi2u Alette!). And if you imported a save all your units have the same stats/kills as before, so you can potentially get a jump and level a few units immediately.

Speaking of the save import, it copies over all your characters, items, and choices. The nature of the story means that many of the choices don't matter beyond their initial effects, but there are callbacks in the dialog, and one choice from near the end of the previous game is reflected in this one (I'm avoiding spoilers). I wouldn't be surprised to find that the devs plotted out all the important choices when they started on the first one and then let it be chopped up into the three games. Storywise it's clear that they were always planning the trilogy. This entry doesn't answer too many questions, but it does build on a lot of the bits you were starting to see in Banner Saga 1. The nature of what's going on starts to be much more apparent, though only at the very end do you start to really get an idea of what the true story going on is. It ends on a pretty major cliffhanger; think of the Star Wars trilogy. The first game ends with more to come, but there was a pretty clear beginning and end of a journey. It stands alone fairly well. The second game definitely needs the final payoff from the upcoming third game.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Binary Domain (PC)

I went into this game having mostly only heard of it offhandedly via a joke from the Starship Amazing crew, so I thought I might get some giggles out of it and maybe play it for like an hour. Eight straight hours later I was watching the credits back, holding back crying at the happy ending (and I'm very much a sucker for a happy ending).

On the technical side, the game isn't anything totally groundbreakingly amazing: It's a 3rd person cover shooter. Though it mixes things up with upgradable guns, and passives you can buy to toggle in and out of your various squad members, those don't really add too much. There's a kind of squad maneuvering system where you actually talk into your microphone to issue commands to your squad to give them instructions beyond their AI, but I felt way too embarrassed to really give it any decent attempt, and there are hotkeys you can use by holding TAB anyway, so it's really just a novelty. I personally never used the squad system much, but maybe it's one of those things that's only necessary on harder difficulties.

The one bit I did think was pretty cool was, because most all the enemies you fight are (at least vaguely) humanoid robots, you can shoot off their limbs, and their combat tactics will shift accordingly. Lose their gun holding arm? They'll pick it up in their other one and keep firing at you. Lose their legs? They'll crawl at you, "Aliens"-style, graspin' at ya, and you'll have to shoot them off your leg if they get'cha. And, if you shoot off their head without damaging them too much before hand, they'll start firing on their robo-comrades, giving you an incentive to be accurate.

The game also has tons of really big and varied boss battles, most of which I can't imagine doing on a controller because your shots would need to be so precise, but damn, that final boss was a tough bastard.

The combat was fun and fast-paced enough that it let me really enjoy the story. The story is almost a BattleStar Galactica-type deal, but before any of the actual show. It's 2080, and robots have become a big deal in replacing humans in the workforce after climate change-induced flooding kills 75% of the world's population. Although, recently robots completely indistinguishable from humans have shown up, so good they don't even know they're robots, and humans are understandably upset about this. Your mission is to break into a fascist-run isolationist Japan and find the robot-producing company owner you think is responsible.

The main character doesn't seem like he has too much personality at first, especially with how you, the player, are kind of intended to provide his voice usually during the game-play's banter, but he starts talking a lot more after the first chapter. Your squad mates though, they're where all the great stuff is. I found just about everyone from pig-headed, one-liner quipping Big Bo, to the no nonsence Faye all very griping, and it really had me by the throat to see the conclusion.

Conclusion: This is another little single-player (though it does have online) gem that really flew under the radar of most everyone last gen, it seems. It's nothing incredible in terms of innovative gameplay, but it tells a great and compelling story, and considering it's on PS3, 360, and PC and routinely goes for under a fiver for each, it's a great way to spend half of a day.

[Xeogred]

Binary Domain was done by the Yakuza team and it shows. Great stuff.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Binary Domain was done by the Yakuza team and it shows. Great stuff.

Ooooo, now I'm really excited for the next time the Yakuza 1 & 2 PS3 rerelease is one sale on Play Asia. I'll try anything those guys have done if they write like that.

[Xeogred]

Yep, I'm no Yakuza expert (only played 3 so far), but the humor and characters were pretty similar in Binary Domain. The parts in between levels where you walk around some strip malls and can talk to a bunch of NPC's was very Yakuza-like.

It's a shame we probably won't get more Binary Domain haha, the robot enemies were really cool and it was one of my favorite third person shooters last gen next to Vanquish.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Yep, I'm no Yakuza expert (only played 3 so far), but the humor and characters were pretty similar in Binary Domain. The parts in between levels where you walk around some strip malls and can talk to a bunch of NPC's was very Yakuza-like.

It's a shame we probably won't get more Binary Domain haha, the robot enemies were really cool and it was one of my favorite third person shooters last gen next to Vanquish.

Is Vanquish in the same realm as Binary Domain? I've been eyeing it up for a while because the gameplay looked pretty cool, but I've heard some not so great things about the story.

[Xeogred]

Yep, I'm no Yakuza expert (only played 3 so far), but the humor and characters were pretty similar in Binary Domain. The parts in between levels where you walk around some strip malls and can talk to a bunch of NPC's was very Yakuza-like.

It's a shame we probably won't get more Binary Domain haha, the robot enemies were really cool and it was one of my favorite third person shooters last gen next to Vanquish.

Is Vanquish in the same realm as Binary Domain? I've been eyeing it up for a while because the gameplay looked pretty cool, but I've heard some not so great things about the story.

The story is freaking hilarious. It's on par with Metal Gear Rising, hilarious evil America politics and that crap. I don't know why anyone would take it seriously!

Gameplay wise frankly I think it's the best third person cover shooter ever, blows Gears of War away and all that. You can do so much more than cover. Gliding around and crazy jump kicking backflips, slow down time to shoot rockets in the air, huge bosses including the T1000 from Terminator basically, with DBZ level QTE's that are so insane even if you don't like QTE's you just have to laugh. Some references to God Hand and some other Shinji Mikami stuff. It's damn good! Probably bargain pin prices now so I give it a very high recommendation. If you liked Binary Domain's combat... well, Vanquish's is even better and more polished. Quality stuff.

My sales pitch go to video for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZznD8LWRdFQ

[PartridgeSenpai]

Yep, I'm no Yakuza expert (only played 3 so far), but the humor and characters were pretty similar in Binary Domain. The parts in between levels where you walk around some strip malls and can talk to a bunch of NPC's was very Yakuza-like.

It's a shame we probably won't get more Binary Domain haha, the robot enemies were really cool and it was one of my favorite third person shooters last gen next to Vanquish.

Is Vanquish in the same realm as Binary Domain? I've been eyeing it up for a while because the gameplay looked pretty cool, but I've heard some not so great things about the story.

The story is freaking hilarious. It's on par with Metal Gear Rising, hilarious evil America politics and that crap. I don't know why anyone would take it seriously!

Gameplay wise frankly I think it's the best third person cover shooter ever, blows Gears of War away and all that. You can do so much more than cover. Gliding around and crazy jump kicking backflips, slow down time to shoot rockets in the air, huge bosses including the T1000 from Terminator basically, with DBZ level QTE's that are so insane even if you don't like QTE's you just have to laugh. Some references to God Hand and some other Shinji Mikami stuff. It's damn good! Probably bargain pin prices now so I give it a very high recommendation. If you liked Binary Domain's combat... well, Vanquish's is even better and more polished. Quality stuff.

My sales pitch go to video for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZznD8LWRdFQ

It's been sittin' at my local resale store for 8 bucks for a while, so I'm definitely takin' that bad boy home now. You super sold me on it

[Exhuminator]

I've only played (and beaten) the first two Yakuzas on PS2. But they were awesome action-adventure-RPG hybrids. Absolutely worth playing. I think of them as Shenmue done right.

Vanquish is god tier amazing. It's the best third person shooter I've ever played. People who decry the game for its weak story are totally missing the point.

[Fragems]

The game also has tons of really big and varied boss battles, most of which I can't imagine doing on a controller because your shots would need to be so precise, but damn, that final boss was a tough bastard.

It actually controls very well on a 360 pad that's how I played it. I think one of the big things that dragged down the game was the voice commands. While an awesome idea they don't always register properly and that probably turned off a lot of people who didn't realize that their are hotkeys on the keyboard for it as well as key combos on game pads.

I totally loved the game though played it through twice in about 4 sittings.

Which ending did you get because there is one which involves getting your relationship high with all of the party members which is pretty hard if you play favorites like I did my first time around.