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1. Xenoblade Chronicles X - Nintendo Wii U - January 3
2. Fallout 4 - Xbox One - January 20
3. Yakuza 4 - PlayStation 3 - January 29
4. Yakuza: Dead Souls - PlayStation 3 - February 5
5. Yakuza 5 - PlayStation 3 - February 27
6. The Last of Us - PlayStation 3 - February 29
7. Yoshi's Wooly World - Nintendo Wii U - March 2
8. Bayonetta - Nintendo Wii U - March 6
9. Pikmin 3 - Nintendo Wii U - March 20
10. Pokémon Yellow - Nintendo 3DS VC - April 2
11. Wolf Among Us - Xbox One - April 11
12. Chrono Trigger - Nintendo Wii Virtual Console - October 18
13. Doom (4) - Xbox One - November 19
14. Torchlight 2 - PC - December 1

I loved the reboot of Doom. This was a marvelous game that I think did the series some true justice. It was frantic, it was scary, it was gory. It was a thrill to run around, it wasn't a chore to find the secrets or collectables. The game had a nice balance between going all out into the melee and risking your progress, to the conservative approach of gunning demons down. The glory kill system is a really neat one that is rewarding and challenging.

I had the itch for some Diablo II, but instead went with Torchlight II, which I had progressed in a little. Instead, I started a new character, flew through the entire game, and had a blast with it. I really love the soundtrack by Matt Uelman, and the gameplay is truly solid. Nice little hack-and-slash adventure to end the week.

127. Exile II: Janen no Jishou | PCECD | 1992 | 6/10

I decided after beating Exile I'd go ahead and do the sequel. So I started playing Exile: Wicked Phenomenon first. Right off the bat the difficulty was insane, and I immediately assumed Working Designs had screwed up the game. I was right:

"On Exile 2 it was an issue of limited number of modifications because we weren't doing the game reprogramming, Telenet was. It was a small number of tries. And on the second-to last time, we had it *almost* right, so we added like +1 to the monsters, but it was like that scene with the fat guy in Meaning of Life where the waiter gives him that one wafer and he explodes. That +1 exceeded some limit internally and made the monsters exponentially harder rather than incrementally. Since it was our last "fix" and we had production discs, I thought we were screwed and had made an unwinnable game. Fortunately, with some time and special strategies, we found out you could finish it. We made one of the hardest games ever - by accident." -Vic Ireland ( http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/exile/exile4.htm )

Myself not having the patience today for yet another Working Designs localization fiasco, decided instead to play the original Japanese version. Which in turn is way too easy. Seriously Exile II: Janen no Jishou is a piece of cake. I beat the game in an hour and a half barely even trying.



That's not to say Exile II doesn't have some improvements over the original. It's got better graphics, better level designs, the ability to switch between four main characters at any time, a more thoroughly realized middle eastern theme, and far more streamlined pacing. That means no more derpy "puzzles" or maze dungeons thankfully. However the OST isn't nearly as good as the original, opting for more classically themed middle eastern orchestration. Which I guess fits the mood and all but is kind of boring musically.



That said, there's no reason to bother with the other player characters, when none of them are as good as Sadler. There are far less cutscenes this time, with lots of walls of text instead. Having played through the game in Japanese I didn't know what was going on anyway. It really feels like the developers were short on cash and time with Exile II, but what's here is still pretty decent all things considered. If you enjoy the action portions of ActRaiser, you'll probably like this, as that's what it reminds me of. A nice little action-RPG/platformer snack. But if you do choose to play Exile II, make sure it's the original Japanese version. At least until some intrepid hacker combines the Working Design translation with the Japanese original balancing.

I bought the North American game because I'm insane. Gonna attempt it soon. January maybe.

Working Designs is both awesome and infuriating.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:I bought the North American game because I'm insane.

You will need to be insane to deal with massive amount of grinding you'll have to do up front to stand a chance.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:Working Designs is both awesome and infuriating.

I agree. They really meant well despite questionable localization practices, but their cardinal sin for me was messing with the difficulty of the games. That's just dumb IMO. At least put an option in the option menu to choose "original" or "Irelandized" difficulty stats.

Games Beaten in 2016 So Far - 115

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)


October (10 Games Beaten)


November (6 Games Beaten)


December (1 Game Beaten)


115. The Legendary Axe - TurboGrafx-16 - December 3



Seeing some of the talk about TurboGrafx CD RPGs lately and my own brainstorming about the possibility of expanding my own NEC collection has sparked a bit of renewed interest in the TurboGrafx-16 for me. I was playing a bit of Blazing Lazers tonight (my favorite TG16 game) and I thought "You know, I never was able to get very far in Legendary Axe; I should give that a shot tonight." Well, it took me about five hours of almost non-stop play (just a 30 minute break between Game Over screens to pee and grab a slice of pizza), but I finally managed to finish the game.



For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the game, Legendary Axe was a launch title for the TurboGrafx-16 in America and a damn good platformer with hack-and-slash combat. The game is broken into five levels (technically six, but the six zone is just the final boss), each with a unique theme. The basic plot is that you're a barbarian (whom I will call Harambe), and you're trying to save your barbarian girlfriend (whom I will call Harambina) from some evil demon or something (whom I will call Kozuki). As you progress through the game, you'll fill your axe's power meter. The higher the meter, the stronger your attack is (it drains when you attack, but it refills automatically), and when you get enough power-ups to max out the meter, your attack becomes ridiculously powerful and dramatic.



The soundtrack is fantastic, and the visuals are quite good (especially if you have your TurboGrafx modded to output composite like I do). My only gripe with the game is the difficulty curve. The first stage can feel challenging at first if you're not used to the controls (or, if you're like me, forget that you have the jump button set to turbo and spend 20 minutes trying to figure out why you can't jump high enough to get to the next part of the level), but once you get a feel for the controls and the mechanics of the game, the first stage becomes a cake walk. Not gonna lie, the spider sub-boss always frustrates me, but I think that's as much because I hate giant spiders as it is because of any actual difficulty. Anyway, the second level isn't much more challenging than the first. Level three shows some moderate increase in difficulty, but nothing too bad if you don't rush ahead blindly. The boss for level three is a pain in the ass, but level four is where the difficulty really spikes. The stage itself is much more challenging and much longer than the previous one, and the level boss is a bitch. I've seen it described several times as the hardest boss in the game, and while I think that title goes to the level five boss, it's a close second. Speaking of level five, Jesus Christ, that level is balls hard, and it's longer than the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. After all that (and those last two levels took a LOT of repeat gameplay and memorization with game over screen after game over screen), the final boss is extremely anti-climactic. It mostly just jumps around, and while it's gigantic and easy to get crushed by, once you get a feel for his patter, all you have to do is make sure that you stay crouched and between his legs, you can just slash away at his ankles for a few minutes until he dies. I think that boss only killed me once (though I slipped up and nearly died the second time).



The movement controls can feel a bit heavier and slower than I'd like, but the game is so damn well made that it's more than worth it to be patient and get a feel for them. The Legendary Axe doesn't quite take the crown of my favorite TurboGrafx-16 game away from Blazing Lasers, but it definitely comes in at a damn close second. While it's not dirt cheap (it is a TurboGrafx-16 game, after all), you can find a copy for around $30, and it's absolutely worth that much. Honestly, I'd say you'd be getting your money's worth in terms of fun and quality up to $45 or $50, though I might be a bit biased given my love for the console. Point is, this game is fantastic, and you should absolutely play it any way that you can.

First 50:

51. Akumajō Dracula (Famicom Disk System)
52. Castlevania (NES)
53. Classic NES Series: Castlevania (Game Boy Advance)
54. Guardian Heroes (Xbox Live Arcade)
55. Metal Slug (Neo Geo MVS)
56. Metal Slug 2 (Neo Geo MVS)
57. Metal Slug 3 (Neo Geo MVS)
58. Soul of Darkness (DSiWare)
59. Code of Princess (3DS)
60. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
61. Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
62. The Legend of Zelda 2: Link no Bōken (Famicom Disk System)
63. Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (PC)
64. Shan Gui (Steam)
65. Space Fury (ColecoVision)
66. Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (ColecoVision)
67. Gateway to Apshai (ColecoVision)
68. MURI (Steam)
69. Pink Hour (Steam)
70. Pink Heaven (Steam)
71. Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet (Steam)
72. Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt (Steam)
73. Haunted House (Atari 2600)
74. Gremlins (Atari 2600)
75. Alien (Atari 2600)
76. Xenophobe (Xbox - Midway Arcade Treasures 2)
77. Frankenstein's Monster (Atari 2600)
78. Ghost Manor / Spike's Peak (Atari 2600)
79. Higurashi When They Cry Hou - Ch.1 Onikakushi (Steam)
80. Dracula II: Noroi no Fūin (Famicom Disk System)
81. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)
82. Beneath the Cherry Trees (Steam)
83. Voices from the Sea (Steam)
84. Mushihimesama (Steam)
85. Sonic CD (Steam)
86. Shovel Knight (Wii U)
87. Super Mario World (SNES)
88. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy)
89. Operation C (Game Boy)
90. Metroid (Famicom Disk System)
91. Metroid (NES)
92. Breath of Fire (SNES)
93. Elisa: The Innkeeper - Prequel (Steam)
94. Cally's Caves 3 (Steam)
95. eden* (Steam)

So, of the handful of visual novels I have played this year there are two I'd consider outstanding. Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet and, this most recent discovery, eden*. Incidentally, both have a similar plot involving an apocalyptic world, a gruff male protagonist, and a mysterious female heroine.

While Planetarian featured a post-apocalyptic setting, the story of eden* occurs in a pre-apocalyptic time. Scientists discover that a star will collide with Earth, destroying the planet completely. A timeframe of one hundred years is approximated before Earth is toast. Thus begins a project to remove all humans from the planet and into outer space. Scientists create superhuman beings called felixes to develop the space travel technology and hasten Earth's evacuation.

The primary events of eden* occur close to the end of the world. The protagonist, a soldier named Ryou, is tasked with guarding Shion who's the most advanced felix and engineer of the space travel program. The game switches narrative styles frequently, from first-person (Ryou's thoughts) to third person where he's actually in the visual frames and speaking. It's all done very seamlessly.

The story is extremely well-written. There's very little action in the second half, but plenty of introspection and discussions on coping with grief and loss. The tale isn't completely linear, as there are several flashback sequences and some serious hints about what's to come, but all loose ends are tied up at the end. And yes, this one is a tearjerker.

This weighty tale is further bolstered by the phenomenal aesthetics. The game looks completely unlike most VNs. In lieu of the typical cut-and-paste waist-up character scenes, the game instead features dynamic cinematic shots with characters shown at all angles and positions. Those speaking are (slightly) animated, with moving mouths and blinking eyes. Voice acting is top-notch. The artwork itself is crisp, clean, and extremely professional. The characters looks great, and I even found myself admiring their outfits which is something I thought I'd never say. The music is appropriately alternates between charming and morose, and the option to listen to the OST and view specific still shots upon completing the game was more than welcome.

One negative aspect involves the bothersome anime and video game clichés regarding the design of the characters themselves. All the humans are far too young for whatever professions they hold. This is explained away by them be "prodigies" or whatnot, but it all looks very silly. The transformation of Ryou is central to the game, but there's way too much time spent at the beginning explaining how he's a total badass, hates everyone, kills without mercy, whatever. Planetarian, in contrast, does a much better job with their jaded soldier by employing a "show don't tell" approach. And then there's the felixes. Oh dear. These are well-written likable characters but I'm sure you can guess what they look like. Yes, they are super-geniuses who happen to look like barely-teenaged girls with frilly dresses. The game even goes full weeb at once point and takes time to explain that nothing pervy is going on because they're ackshully "100 years old." Yikes.

The abovementioned is a small blemish in an otherwise fantastic game. I'd highly recommend it to those who have never played or visual novel, or anyone searching for one of the greats. If this were an actual paper novel I'd say "I couldn't put it down."

I'll have to get back to The Legendary Axe someday. It didn't agree with me when I played it but I love old platformers and should give it another go.

First 50:

51. Ori and the Blind Forest - Xbox One
52. AM2R - PC
53. Total Annihilation - PC
54. I Am Setsuna - PS4
55. Planetary Annihilation Titans - PC
56. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - PC
57. Dark Reign - Rise of the Shadowhand - PC
58. Dragon Age Inquisition - Jaws of Hakkon - PC
59. Dragon Age Inquisition - The Descent - PC
60. Dragon Age Inquisition - Trespasser - PC
61. The Witcher 3 - Hearts of Stone - PC
62. The Witcher 3 - Blood & Wine - PC
63. ReCore - Xbox One
64. Final Fantasy Tactics - PS1
65. Resident Evil 6 - PC
66. Knuckles Chaotix - 32X
67. Assault Suit Leynos - PS4
68. Might & Magic 2 - Gate to Another World - PC
69. Might & Magic 4 - Clouds of Xeen - PC
70. Might & Magic 5 - Darkside of Xeen - PC
71. Might & Magic 4&5 - World of Xeen - PC
72. Rise of the Triad - PC
73. Batman Arkham Knight - PC
74. Rise of the Triad (2013) - PC
75. Dishonored 2 - PC
76. TIS-100 - PC
77. Tyranny - PC
78. StarCraft II - Nova Covert Ops - PC
79. Raiden Fighters 2 - Xbox 360
80. Pokémon Omega Ruby - 3DS

Not a whole lot to say about this one. It's Pokémon, it's a remake of Ruby, but unlike HeartGold/SoulSilver it really doesn't add a lot. It's really just more of filing down some of the rough edges, since by the time Ruby came around the games had gotten pretty mature. There's some little gimmick things like being able to fly your LatiXs around, but it's still restricted in where you can go the same as Fly, so it's actually slower than using Fly. The main reason to get it is if you don't have the ability to transfer stuff from the GBA and DS games, as this helps fill out the Pokedex and tosses a bunch of legendaries at you for completion and traiding.

Games Beaten in 2016 So Far - 116

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)


October (10 Games Beaten)


November (6 Games Beaten)


December (2 Games Beaten)


116. Rise of the Tomb Raider - PlayStation 4 - December 4



I was a fairly later comer to the Rise of the Tomb Raider reboot several years ago. I skipped it on PS3, thinking "Eh, Tomb Raider was okay, but I'm not in any big hurry to play the reboot." I ended up picking up the PS4 rerelease on a whim because it was less than $20 at Gamestop, and my whole view of that series changed. I was sucked into the world and the exploration, and when Rise of the Tomb Raider was announced, I was extremely excited. I almost got it for Xbox One on release day, but as I prefer collecting for the PlayStation 4, I decided to wait and see if the exclusivity would be a timed thing with a later (and probably superior) PS4 version later released. My patience paid off.



First off, if you've played the reboot from a few years ago, then you've basically played this game. They play almost exactly same. This one just has a different setting, different foe, and takes places at the beginning of Lara's tomb raiding career. In this case, however, more of the same is fantastic. You get a LOT of optional quests, tombs, and collectables, and there are numerous weapon and equipment upgrades to get in addition to level up perks. One area in which Rise of the Tomb Raider VASTLY improves over its predecessor is the design of the optional challenge tombs. In the first game, the optional tombs were almost all extremely short and extremely simple. There are still a couple of short optional tombs in Rise of the Tomb Raider, but the puzzles that you have to solve in order to complete the tomb are MUCH better designed. They actually make you think instead of insulting your intelligence like some of the tombs in the previous game came off as.



Oddly enough, one of my favorite parts of the game wasn't the story (though it was quite good) or the wide array of special ammo for the weapons (though that was awesome) but the hunting. I really, really enjoyed being able to sneak up on a rabbit or a squirrel and blow it to smithereens with a grenade fired from a rifle mounted launcher or rush into a bear's den and unload into its gaping maw with a submachine gun or an assault rifle. The best is when there's a Siberian lynx running at you to eat you and you fire a flaming shotgun blast into its face. The possibilities are wide and universally entertaining.



Since I have the PS4 anniversary edition, I have all of the DLC, but the only one I've played was the Baba Yaga mission set since it's accessible during the main game as opposed to being an extra game mode. It fits in very nicely with the rest of the game and is a REALLY fun little set of side missions. My only grip with it is the challenge. Most areas have at least one challenge, something you can do just for the sake of experience and completion. With the Baba Yaga area, you have to shoot ten hanging lanterns. Easy enough, right? It would be if I hadn't had two glitch out one me. The actual lantern part just vanished entirely, so I was left to try to hunt down two tiny wooden blocks floating WAAAAAY above me as I'm on a moving platform that I can't control. To make matter worse, the tiny wooden blocks are all hanging right in front of and underneath large wooden beams, making them practically invisible. To make matters worst, part of their glitch-seizure was that they were pinging all around the radius of the rope from which they were hanging, making it virtually impossible to shoot. I had to equip my shotgun with the fastest firing rate and just spam in the general direction in hopes that I eventually hit something. It took a few passes before I eventually did manage to shoot them, completing the challenge, but damn, it was annoying.



One of the features that most impressed me is one that most players of this game will never experience, and that's the optimization options if you have a PS4 Pro. Xbox One players won't experience this for obvious reasons - they have an Xbox One. PC players always get a wide range of performance tweaking options because of the wide array of computers out there. Most PS4 players probably won't use this because I doubt the PS4 Pro will ever outnumber the standard PS4 (though I could be wrong). For those of us who have this game on PS4 and do have a Pro, however, the game offers three different performance options, something I think is fantastic and worth praising. You can choose between having the standard 1080p visuals but running the game at a solid 60 fps, having the resolution stay at 1080p but using enhanced textures with a minimum 30 fps frame rate, or having the game run natively at 2160p (4K) and target 30 fps. Normally I'll always pick frame rate over visuals, but when the options are two entirely different resolutions, even I will opt for the resolution bump. I tried out on all three settings briefly just to compare, and they're all fantastic. The 1080p60 setting is smooth as silk and a definitely boon to gameplay. The 4K setting that I played almost all of the game on isn't a smooth as I'd like - there were several times the frame rate dropped to between 20 and 30 fps, though those weren't extraordinarily frequent - but looked beautiful, especially when looking at the wider landscapes. The enhanced 1080p30 setting I found to be a sort of inverted Goldilocks, personally. It performed worse than 1080p60 and looked worse than 4K. If you only have a 1080p display, then it will definitely make the game textures look a bit more detailed, but I personally would suggest foregoing that slightly improved texture detail in lieu of the higher frame rate. The lower frame rate drop is really only worth it for the bump to 2160p IMO. The enhanced 1080p definitely improves textures and lighting effects over the standard 1080p, but it's just not enough of an improvement to justify 30 fps.




Regardless of what platform you play on, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a dream for fans of third person adventure games. It may be Uncharted with a heroine, but that heroine kicks ass and has a kick ass game. There's plenty to keep you busy if you go after the optional collectables, and the DLC is solid. I'd suggest playing it on PS4 just because the DLC is bundled, but the important thing is to the play game, no matter if that's on PS4, Xbox One, or PC.

1. Sly 2 Band of Thieves HD (PS3)
2. Black (Xbox)
3. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)
4. Super Mario Bros Advance 4: SMB3 E-Reader Levels (WiiUVC)
5. Galerians (PSX)
6. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (WiiU)
7. TRAG / Hard Edge: Mission of Mercy (PSX)
8. Soul Blade (PSX)
9. Castlevania Circle of the Moon* (WiiUVC)
10. The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess* HD (WiiU)
11. Mega Man 9* (PSN)
12. Mega Man 10* (PSN)
13. Dark Souls 3 (NG++) [PLATINUM] (PS4)
14. Mega Man 1* (PS4, MMLC)
15. Mega Man 2* (PS4, MMLC)
16. Mega Man 3* (PS4, MMLC)
17. Mega Man 4* (PS4, MMLC)
18. Mega Man 5* (PS4, MMLC)
19. Mega Man 6* (PS4, MMLC)
20. Doom [PLATINUM] (PS4)
21. Quake (PC)
22. Quake 2* (PC)
23. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (PS3)
24. Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon (PC)
25. Quake 2 Mission Pack 1: The Reckoning (PC)
26. Quake Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity (PC)
27. Quake 2 Mission Pack 2: Ground Zero (PC)
28. Quake: Dimensions of the Past (PC)
29. Bayonetta 2 (WiiU)
30. Wolfenstein The Old Blood (PC)
31. Dishonored DLC The Knife of Dunwall (PC)
32. Dishonored DLC The Brigmore Witches (PC)
33. Metro Last Light Redux (PC)
34. Doom 3 BFG Edition* (PC)
35. Metro 2033 Redux (PC)
36. Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil* BFG (PC)
37. Doom 3 The Lost Mission* BFG (PC)
38. Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge (PS3)
39. Ultimate Doom* (PC)
40. Devil's Third (WiiU)
41. SOMA (PC)
42. Doom 2* (PC)
43. Gone Home (PC)
44. Metroid Other M (Wii)
45. Deus Ex Human Revolution Director's Cut* (PC)
46. AM2R: Return of Samus (PC)
47. Call of Duty: Ghosts (PS4)
48. Metroid Zero Mission* (WiiUVC)
49. Alan Wake's American Nightmare (PC)
50. Odallus: The Dark Call (PC)
51. Deus Ex Mankind Divided (PC)
52. Resident Evil HD* [Chris & Jill] (PS3)
53. Resident Evil Revelations 2 (PS4)
54. Resident Evil Code Veronica X* HD (PS3)
55. Resident Evil 5* [PLATINUM] (PS4)
56. Resident Evil Zero* HD (PS4)
57. Resident Evil 4 HD* (PS4)
58. Titanfall 2 (PS4)
59. Another World: 20th Anniversary (PC)
60. Xeodrifter (PC)
61. Firewatch (PC)
62. Axiom Verge (PC)


* replay

Axiom Verge.



I think it summed it up well earlier... it's Metroid, Blaster Master, Contra, Bionic Commando, 80's David Cronenberg, and HR Giger all rolled up into one. And yeah, it doesn't get much cooler than that. The icing on the cake is that this is Another World case, a game solely developed by one guy, Tom Happ.



Final stats:
Time: 8:48 (beefy for a Metroidvania!)
Items: 74%
Map: 92%
Death Count: 14

There were some crazy hidden secrets here and there, a bit more ambiguous than even Metroid's trickiest secrets at times. So yeah, pretty crazy I only got 74% items. There was only maybe 2-3 rooms I noticed that I could not figure out how to navigate to get an item. I also maybe missed out on some of the lore or something, you find a lot of log books but they're in some alien language. I never figured out how to translate them or whatnot.



Overall, not sure if it beats Shovel Knight... but I think I can comfortably say this is my #2 favorite indie game by a few thousand miles and even topples a lot of 8/16bit gems in their own right. This is an absolute must play. It plays and feels just as good as it looks.