Games Beaten 2016

[Exhuminator]

Sweet, I'll add it to the GBC list. Was planning on hitting up GBC shmups after I ran outta GB ones.

Also Bone, I think the limited screen space and slow LCD refresh actually helps these old portable shmups be a bit easier. The devs had to work with those limitations and still make games that were playable after all.

I say that as someone who's pretty terrible at shmups. Especially arcade quarter munching ones. Double especially the bullet hell kind. But I do love shmups even though I'm embarrassingly bad at the pro tier ones.

[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

Another one of those games I had an end game save for. I think I was suffering fatigue at the time after making it through 50 hours of game and then I got distracted. But I fixed that now.

VC3 is the game that VC2 wanted to be, and it's an utter shame we didn't get it localized. I blame Sega for releasing them on the PSP which was already dying a slow death when VC2 came out. It didn't help that VC2 did a lot of things wrong (even though it did add a couple of interesting things) which led to terrible sales. I sincerely hope that the decision to bring the HD remaster of VC1 means we'll see the new game get localized as well.

VC3 is a side story to VC1 where you control the Nameless squad. It is a penal squad used for shit missions and everyone is known by high command only by number, hence the squad's name. Of course, since this is a Japanese game with cute anime girls, it's not exactly a bunch of gritty hard cases, but rather various soldiers who didn't quite fit in with the main army or suffered trumped up charges. One really nice thing about this game is that it gives characterization to much more of your squad; the sort of thing we didn't really see in VC1 until the Edy Detachment DLC. It makes me care about them more when I send them out.

VC2's biggest shortcoming was that due to the memory limitations missions consisted of several small interconnected maps, and you could only field up to 6 units with a limit of 5 on any sub map. While VC3 keeps the 5 per map limit you do get to go back to a total of 9 units (matching VC1). Additionally, there is a larger variety in maps, even though you do revisit a lot of them. The greater variety helps make things not feel padded like VC2, and there is much better context to all the missions. Like VC1 it feels like they all logically flow together in your mission to fight off the invasion of the Empire.

VC3 lets you reclass all your units, not just your main leader, and it removes a lot of the weird award and item grinding that you needed to do to level up your troops. Now you just need them to do well in combat to achieve the higher tiers of units. They also reshuffled some of the units around so that you aren't spammed with too many classes. Several of the split classes of VC2 have been recombined and differentiated by weapon choice, which lets you create a more balanced squad rather than having a shitton of specialists. They've also added special orders for your three main units; you get a limited number of uses of these special orders and are essentially super modes that are quite useful for breaking through a tough enemy formation.

The game is divided into 20 chapters of on average 3 story missions each, with 1-2 optional missions available. These optional missions sometimes will affect the story missions (such as cutting off artillery) but other times it's just for exp and money. There are also side missions available when you use a unit enough times; these are personal story missions for them.

The biggest problem with the game is the final mission; while every mission prior could be beaten if you use good tactics going in blind the final mission is more of a puzzle mission, and if you get halfway through the puzzle (but you're think it's the end) then you probably will be annihilated on the counter attack. If you know the right tactic you can beat it fairly easily, but that bait and switch is a pain.

[Key-Glyph]

I am totally fascinated by the GB shmup run, especially Chikyuu Kaihou Gun ZAS. I'm really interested in how the graphics take advantage of the blurriness. That sounds so freaking awesome!

01. MagMax (NES)
02. World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (GEN) [2-player]

03. Sonic Spinball (GEN)*

Remember the climatic scene in Cool Runnings? How a long struggle is finally paying off, finally going their way, and then everything falls to pieces? Well, that's sorta how I feel right now. On a much smaller scale, of course.

Sonic Spinball is a game that I'd hated for a long time after its release, but then suddenly one day I couldn't get enough of it. I'd say it's one of my most common replays. Like a salmon, or perhaps vulcan, ever year or few I get an uncontrollable urge to play through it again.

Something I'd never done, though, was get all the rings on each of the four levels. If you collect all the rings in a stage, it brings you to a bonus round. I always thought it would be cool to say I'd achieved this on each board, and I've been able to get to the bonus round on the first three since I was a preteen -- but I'd always abandon the challenge on the fourth. As a kid I thought it was perhaps unreasonable to achieve, and I was too fixated on the satisfaction of beating Robotnik to gamble away my lives and possibly crash out on the final zone.

Well, tonight I finally did it. I got all the rings on all four stages in one run.

BUT THEN I CHOKED AT THE FINAL BOSS!

I usually destroy Robotnik and his stupid ship on my first round in it. It takes about five minutes, tops. I even did this last night. But this time, I don't even know what was going on. I kept falling out of the ship for stupid reasons, my aim was shoddy... I kept recovering spectacularly and then making some bonehead maneuver that wrecked my climb.

So, after all that work, and with Robotnik within THREE HITS OF DEFEAT, I got a Game Over.

I'm not sure whether I should be proud of myself that I finally achieved my stated childhood goal -- "get all the rings on all the levels" -- or if I should be utterly disappointed that I didn't pull it off in one complete triumphant run. I just feel so robbed.

So here I go, carrying my broken bobsled over the finish line.

* = replay

[MrHealthy]

1/19: Picross E (3DS DL)

Check out Paint it Back on steam if you want to scratch that itch some more. Includes some rather large 40 x 30 puzzles. I have over 12 hours in it so far and I am no where near completing all the puzzles.

[Exhuminator]

The biggest problem with the game is the final mission; while every mission prior could be beaten if you use good tactics going in blind the final mission is more of a puzzle mission

That's kinda how Valkryia Chronicles' last mission was as well. Also I loved Valkyria Chronicles II, I mean yeah it wasn't as serious or varied as the first game, but it was still highly entertaining. I'm glad though, that VC3 has a more serious tone and greater challenge. Looking forward to tackling it someday.

--

I dug out some PS1 fighters last night and beat their arcade modes:


10. Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|45m|6/10
Really nice 3D models and animation, tight fighting controls. There just isn't enough meat to the experience, it's an arcade port without any extra bells and whistles. Geese is ridiculous as usual.


11. Dead or Alive (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1998|fighter|23m|5/10
This particular entry in the series was only notable for having sexy ladies with jiggle physics. Everything else about the experience is mediocre at best. Luckily, later entries to this franchise put as much effort into the actual gameplay and design, as they did the alluring females.


12. Asuka 120% Burning Festival Final (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1999|fighter|26m|8/10
This 1999 release was the final version of Asuka 120%, hence the addendum Burning Festival "Final". This is a 2D Japanese only fighter for PS1 that is a lot of fun. It's got a very fast pace, great controls, and the AI can be super challenging. Almost all the characters are high school girls, and they have a lot of goofy attacks and funny voice samples. The spritework is pretty good and the animation gets the job done. If you can read Japanese there is a story mode as well. My only real complaint is that on higher difficulties the computer AI is freaking super human difficult. If you like a challenging fighter, you'll find it here.


13. Soul Blade (Arcade Mode)|PS1|1997|fighter|18m|9/10
Soul Blade is one of the best fighters on the PlayStation. Amazing graphics, fantastic gameplay, and lots of options to keep the player busy. Soul Blade is polished to a sheen, and there's very little to complain about. I guess the one negative thing to say is, it's easy to cheese the AI and knock them out of the ring. But just going toe-to-toe with the AI can still be a challenge, if you avoid ring outs. All the same, this is a must-own AAA fighter, if you're a genre fan with a PlayStation.

So in less than 2 hours I beat four fighting games. As in actually saw credits. These things are pretty quick to finish if you're just banging through the arcade modes. Not up to doing reviews for all four today though. Edit: Changed muh mind.

[ElkinFencer10]

I just finished Silent Hill: Homecoming. With the exception of Book of Memories, that was definitely my least favorite Silent Hill game. The story was actually pretty good IMO, but the gameplay did was Resident Evil 5 did (although to a much lesser extent) and put the actual horror on the backburner for the sake of action.

[prfsnl_gmr]

1. Ultimate NES Remix (3DS)
2. Space Invaders Infinity Gene (iOS)
3. World of Goo (iOS)
4. A Dark Room (iOS)
5. Shovel Knight (WII U)
6. The Room (iOS)
7. Mega Man 10 (PS3)
8. The Room Two (iOS)
9. Braid (PS3)

Braid is a very solid puzzle game, and it is fantastically designed. It does not contain quite enough content, however, and the much-lauded story is shoehorned in a bit awkwardly. Moreover - and with the excepton of the game's sublime final level - the story does not have any impact on the gameplay. Thi contrasts starkly with a game like Brothers, which uses gameplay to enhance the story's emotional impact. Accordingly, and while I enjoyed the game tremendously, I am not sure its reputation as one of the very best indie games is entirely justified.

[Stark]

1. Ultimate NES Remix (3DS)
2. Space Invaders Infinity Gene (iOS)
3. World of Goo (iOS)
4. A Dark Room (iOS)
5. Shovel Knight (WII U)
6. The Room (iOS)
7. Mega Man 10 (PS3)
8. The Room Two (iOS)
9. Braid (PS3)

Braid is a very solid puzzle game, and it is fantastically designed. It does not contain quite enough content, however, and the much-lauded story is shoehorned in a bit awkwardly. Moreover - and with the excepton of the game's sublime final level - the story does not have any impact on the gameplay. Thi contrasts starkly with a game like Brothers, which uses gameplay to enhance the story's emotional impact. Accordingly, and while I enjoyed the game tremendously, I am not sure its reputation as one of the very best indie games is entirely justified.

I think Braid is one of those games that is a game changer, if you'll forgive the play on words, and it was amazing at the time and while it may not hold up as one of the best indie games ever, it has to be looked at in the light of completely defining the coming wave of XBLA/PSN indie titles that followed.

[Exhuminator]

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)|PS1|1999|fighter|45m|6/10
11. Dead or Alive (Arcade)|PS1|1998|fighter|23m|5/10
12. Asuka 120% Burning Festival Final (Arcade)|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


Trax is a cute little shmup made by Hal of all companies. The player drives a little tank with a rotating turret through four shooting stages and a handful of bosses. Trax has a lot of charm in its graphics, and a whimsical nature about the whole affair. It's a very short game though, with a difficulty level that is quite low, making finishing it a breezy jaunt. Outside the main game, there is a deathmatch mode where the player can compete with up to three enemy tanks across a variety of stages. Trax might not be the most complex or challenging shmup on Game Boy, but it's got a lotta heart.

[PartridgeSenpai]

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

Another one of those games I had an end game save for. I think I was suffering fatigue at the time after making it through 50 hours of game and then I got distracted. But I fixed that now.

VC3 is the game that VC2 wanted to be, and it's an utter shame we didn't get it localized. I blame Sega for releasing them on the PSP which was already dying a slow death when VC2 came out. It didn't help that VC2 did a lot of things wrong (even though it did add a couple of interesting things) which led to terrible sales. I sincerely hope that the decision to bring the HD remaster of VC1 means we'll see the new game get localized as well.

Did you play an emulated fan patch, or can you read Japanese, too, Popo Sensei?

Also in regards to Diablo 3, I'm also part of the "What's the big deal?" club in regards to that game. Once I played through it once and knew the story, even with friends I really had no desire to play it any more.

Icewind Dale II (PC)

A really fun infinity engine game: It is in essence, (as one might expect) as Baulder's Gate's sequel was to its predecessor. Narrative is hugely improved, and the magic items are much more abundant and varied. I mean, in terms of gameplay, it's a DND CRPG from Black Isle: They're all basically the same XP. I'd put this at my 3rd favorite Infinity Engine game, with Planescape Torment taking #1 and Baulder's Gate 2 at #2, and that's mostly because of the decending order of how much I enjoyed their narratives, which is the main point of games like this (other than min-maxing DND characters for the sake of min-maxing).

I will say my main complaint, if anything, with the game is that it's too easy. Compared to the final battles of Baulder's Gate 2, and especially Icewind Dale 1, which was crazy freaking hard, (I never actually got to the end of BG1 because of a glitch, so didn't do that final boss) the final boss could've been any other mid-level encounter, as far as difficulty was concerned. For reference, just because of the layout of the game compared to its narrative, I don't really even consider the combat of Planescape Torment in regards to how much I love that game, thus I don't care that it's final boss was easy, even though you could just talk him down in a Fallout-esque fashion. It's a very Deadly Premonition-esque case for me in that it might as well not even be there with how much the rest of the game shines.