Games Beaten 2017

[foxhound1022]

@ Elkin - I try not to tell anyone else how to play, just a restriction I put on myself. When I was big into shmups, my rationale was that if you were playing said game at the arcade, you couldn't start from an exact point.

I know it seems silly, but I guess I'm just stuck in my old ways.

@Xeogred - I have all three and enjoy them immensely.

[ElkinFencer10]

Hey man, as long as you're not trying to tell me how to play the game, I'm not gonna criticize anyone for how they play.

[Xeogred]

1. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (PC)
2. Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter* (PC)
3. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (PC)
4. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (PC)
5. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (PC)
6. Deadcore (PC)
7. Yakuza 4 (PS3)
8. Hyper Light Drifter (PC)
9. Doom 2: Valiant (PC)
10. Resident Evil 7 (PS4)
10. Doom 2: Ancient Aliens (PC)
11. Doom 2: Vanguard (PC)
12. Doom 2: Doom 2 The Way id Did (PC)
13. Doom 2: Community Chest Pack 4 (PC)
14. Doom: Doom The Way id Did (PC)
15. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (PC)
16. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 (PC)
17. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WiiU)
18. Dishonored 2 (PC)
19. Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
20. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
21. Super Mario Land (GB)
22. Super Mario Land 2 (GB)
23. Mighty Final Fight (NES)
24. Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES)
25. Trip World (GB)
26. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Genesis)
27. Aladdin (Genesis)
28. Streets of Rage (SMS)
29. Bare Knuckle (Genesis)
30. Bare Knuckle 2* (Genesis)
31. Bare Knuckle 3* (Genesis)
32. Marchen Adventure Cotton 100% (SNES)
33. Earthworm Jim* (Sega CD)
34. Ghouls'n Ghosts (Genesis)
35. Contra (NES)
36. Super C (NES)
37. Final Fight 2* (SNES)
38. Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES)
39. Final Fight 3* (SNES)
40. Operation C (GB)
41. Contra Hard Corps [End B] (Genesis)
42. Mega Turrican (Genesis)
43. Prey (PC)
44. Dark Souls 3 DLC: Ashes of Ariandel & The Ringed City (PS4)
45. Spec Ops: The Line (PC)
46. System Shock" Enhanced Edition (PC)
47. Tekken 7 (PS4)
48. Nier Automata [Platinum] (PS4)
49. Nier (B) (PS3)
50. Drakengard 3 (A-C) (PS3)
51. FEAR Extraction Point* (PC)
52. FEAR Perseus Mandate* (PC)
53. Transmissions: Element 120 (PC)
54. Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
55. Rise of the Tomb Raider (PS4)
56. Sonic CD* (PC)
57. Alan Wake* (PC)

* replay

My second time through Alan Wake, now on PC. Loved it back in the day and it was fun to run through again, but time hasn't been perfect to this one. The issue I have is that the gameplay is incredibly simplistic and repetitive. The light and gun thing was kind of cool at the time, but in retrospect... you've got ~4 guns to work with, two "grenade" types, and about ~3 enemy types along with birds. Some of the levels drag on a lot and it's kind of a slog at times. But the character and charm is amazing, it's a shame Remedy will probably never finish off the story with that cliffhanger. Quantum Break has never sounded as good but I might check it out on a sale.

[Segata]

What the fuck? When did Contra Rebirth get a physical copy on Wii? I have never seen that box before!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Don't think it's a real box. "Cover" art has been made for digital games.

I could be wrong tho.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Partridge Senpai's 2017 Beaten Games:

1. Tales of Hearts R (Vita)
2. UPPERS (Vita)
3. Volume (Vita)
4. Overlord: Minions (DS)
5. Kirby: Planet Robobot (3DS)
6. Overlord II (PS3)
7. Overlord: Dark Legend (Wii)
8. La-Mulana (Remake) (PC)
9. Infamous: Second Son (PS4)
10. htol#NiQ: The Firefly Diary (Vita)
11. Blood Bowl (360)
12. Dead to Rights: Retribution (360)
13. Bioshock Infinite (360)
14. Bioshock Infinite: Burial At Sea Part 1 (360)
15. Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Part 2 (360)
16. Singularity (360)
17. Seifuku Densetsu Pretty Fighter X (Saturn)
18. Ultraman: Hikari No Kyojin Densetsu (Saturn)
19. Donkey Kong 64 (N64) (repeat)
20. Song of the Deep (PS4)
21. Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 3 (GCN)
22. Banjo-Tooie (N64) (repeat)
23. Wario Land (VB)
24. Yakuza HD Edition (PS3)
25. Yakuza 2 HD Edition (PS3)
26. Vanquish (PS3)
27. Watchdogs 2 (PS4)
28. Pikmin (Wii)
29. Pikmin 3 (Wii U)
30. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)
31. Super Mario 3D World (Wii U)
32. Tales of Innocence R (Vita)
33. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
34. Boing! Docomodake DS (DS)
35. Kirby Triple Deluxe (3DS)
36. Magicka 2: Learn to Spell... AGAIN! (PS4) (repeat)
37. Pokemon Moon (3DS)
38. Pokemon Black 2 (DS)
39. Pokken Tournament (Wii U)
40. The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth + (Switch)

41. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam (360)

I like me some Dynasty Warriors, that's no secret around here. This was one of a pile of cheaper older ones I picked up last year when I first got into the series. So far, it's up there with Hyrule Warriors as one of my favorites in the series. Actually, while it may not pass Hyrule Warriors in term of sheer fan-factor, mechanically this is my favorite I've played so far in the series. I finished all 6 possible campaigns in the Official Mode and beat Original Mode with 10 out of 16 characters. I finally unlocked the ability to play as the final boss (which I misunderstood the conditions for so it took me WAY longer to do than it could've) as a playable character, so I call that beat. All in all, I spent about 32 hours with it and damn well enjoyed them.

The Official Mode follows the story of the original series story, through the One-Year-War with Amuro Ray through the AEUG conflict with Kamille Bidan all the way through Judau Ashta's brief encounter with Haman Kale. In traditional Warriors fashion, they REALLY skim through the details and give you only the briefest amounts of context you need, but it's enough to get you where you gotta. The Original Mode is an original story for this game. It's a crossover between the Universal Century arc's characters featured in the Official Mode as well as some characters from a few more recent spin-offs in a battle to stop a rogue planet from crashing into the Earth. It's a bit like Subspace Emissary from Smash Bros Brawl in how no one is really sure what they're fighting against at first other than whom they perceive as enemies amongst each other, but it's quite well written, all things considered. There are some characters with very conflicting philosophies about war who have to join forces, and I found their interactions very interesting.

Official Mode has like 6 or 7 maps between the 6 characters' campaigns, and Original Mode has 5 maps that you'll go through with each character, although in different orders and with different missions in them. Not too many maps, but they're big enough that the varied mission goals and set-ups keep them from feeling too stale. My only real complaint, and this is something more or less every other Warriors game up to that point had done, is once you start unlocking extra characters, their campaigns can sometimes be exactly the same as one you just went through. Granted, this does seem a little obvious, given the characters you unlock are generally the companions of the guys you just used, but it was still a little dissapointing. Luckily, the bad guys' campaigns you unlock are great. In the Official Mode and in the Original Mode, they tend to be a harder remixed version of the heroes' campaigns, with harder mission parameters and extra boss fights in each mission. I really enjoyed those, even if some of them were fairly retrodden ground

Now the mechanics of this game were what I liked the best. Like in other Warriors games, you can acquire items from fallen foes to equip between battles for passive buffs, as well as level up your pilot and mobile suits (aka gundams) as you use them. Each mobile suit acts more or less as its own character, having a unique move-set unto itself. Given that there are like 15 or 20 of 'em, there's quite a lot to choose from eventually (as everyone is locked to their specific suit in that scenario until you beat their campaign once). Unlike in other Warriors games, however, are your main face buttons. While one does do a normal attack, instead of the strong attack, that button fires your lasers/ranged weapons. Now that's not too impressive (I generally never used them save for chip-damaging scary bosses), what was impressive is what they give you in place of the dodge. Instead of the dodge or jump command found in (some) other Warriors games, you get a "boost," which fires your mobile suit's boosters to launch you in the direction you're currently pointing the left joystick. It allows for far more dynamic and agile fighting than in other Warriors series, and definitely makes for some really heated boss battles. My particular brand of fighting lent so heavily towards boosting and agility, I went 20 some hours without knowing the camera-refocus button was also your block button! I just assumed there wasn't a block command (which to be fair some other action games do, though I'm not 100% sure all Warriors games do).

Any complaints I have are ones even I generally level at the series. With no tutorial, the barrier to entry is fairly high in terms of just learning how to play, although figuring out the best way to go about a mission isn't nearly so difficult as previous entries, as sub-missions throughout each battle are given often enough to give a general layout of a battle plan for you. However, there is no place to look at these submissions. Once they show up, you better fuckin' remember 'em, cuz they won't tell you again! This goes back to another complaint I have about the earlier games in the series: Lack of player information. In addition to the lack of any kind of tutorial, the stats of each mobile suit are very poorly displayed for you. It's sensible enough what "melee" and "shot" refer to, but what is the difference between "defense" and "armor?" I eventually found out that "armor" is just their word for health, and "defense" manages damage reduction, but there are even stats the game just never displays to you.

Each mobile suit has a certain tendency to stagger after getting hit. Some tend to stagger more than others, although you'd never KNOW that without a fuckload of trial-and-error and paying really close attention (as I've done). MS's like Scirroco's 0 and Judan's ZZ-Gundam (and the final boss's MS) can take WAY more punishment than other, lighter MS's. However, they tend to move a bit slower, and default move-speed is another stat the player just isn't given. Not to mention some MS's can do a Transformers and have a jet mode they can do a prolonged airborne boost in, but you'd never know unless you happened upon it yourself.

Verdict: Recommended. Even though some of the newer Warriors games (like Dynasty Warriors 7) have a much better introduction to the series in terms of showcasing the mechanics through things like intro levels and tutorials, this is still one of the best I've played so far in the series. Granted, I still have a long way to go in trying all the games, but the Gundam series definitely ain't no slouch entry in the franchise. If you've enjoyed any of the other entries in the series, this one is definitely worth checking out

[ElkinFencer10]

Don't think it's a real box. "Cover" art has been made for digital games.

I could be wrong tho.

You are correct. It's still digital only; I just thought it looked cool.

[Segata]

Damn, I got trolled. I thought maybe I could search eBay because that would be awesome. Maybe Konami could do a Rebirth collection for Switch in retail.

[Flake]

Damn, I got trolled. I thought maybe I could search eBay because that would be awesome. Maybe Konami could do a Rebirth collection for Switch in retail.

I have this suspicion that there is some degree of exclusivity for the Rebirth games. I cannot think of any other reason why they have been so forgotten.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Damn, I got trolled. I thought maybe I could search eBay because that would be awesome. Maybe Konami could do a Rebirth collection for Switch in retail.

I have this suspicion that there is some degree of exclusivity for the Rebirth games. I cannot think of any other reason why they have been so forgotten.

My best guess is that Konami thinks people have no interest in video games any longer, which is why they only do cash-in mobile games and pachinko games now