Games Beaten 2017

[Sarge]

...someone who's spending a year on NES platformers.

Hmm... I don't know anyone around here that does this!

[MrPopo]

Something else I've noticed in this thread is that different people may or may not log games that they've already beaten. Some use it as "this is what I finished this year" and some use it as backlog progress tracking.

[alienjesus]

Something else I've noticed in this thread is that different people may or may not log games that they've already beaten. Some use it as "this is what I finished this year" and some use it as backlog progress tracking.

I used to mainly only use it for backlog progress tracking, but I've decided to use it for everything now.

I've also decided to replay any game I buy that I've previously beaten in order to justify the purchase, so it works in tandem.

[Stark]

When I do post I use it as a way to discuss/review a game I beat, as well as have a list.

[BoneSnapDeez]

1. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
2. Gyromite (NES)
3. Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- (Steam)
4. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Famicom)
5. Radical Dreamers (SNES)
6. Video Games 1 (TI-99/4A)
7. Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (Famicom)
8. Exile (TurboGrafx CD)
9. Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (TurboGrafx CD)
10. Xak (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
11. Xak II (PC Engine CD, Xak I・II)
12. Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16)
13. Captain Silver (Sega Master System)
14. Märchen Veil (Famicom Disk System)
15. Vanguard (Atari 2600)
16. Kangaroo (Atari 2600)
17. Front Line (Atari 2600)

Originally a 1982 Taito arcade game, Front Line is essentially the original "one man army" top-down run and gun that would serve as inspiration for Commando, Ikari Warriors, and (my personal favorite) Shock Troopers, among others. The game received a crapload of ports. In addition to the Atari 2600 it can also be found on the ColecoVision, Famicom (not NES), FM-7, X1, MSX, and several NEC computers. An emulated version of the arcade original is also included as part of Taito Memories Gekan and Taito Legends 2. The Atari 2600 port was published by Coleco, which means the box art sports an image of the arcade cabinet. I love it.

While Front Line technically consists of just one level, it's divvied up into segments: forest, brush, desert, and fort. Our protagonist is pretty nimble, with the ability to move and shoot diagonally, though it is far too easy to get "stuck" momentarily in the bushes and other scenery. The weapons system is kind of interesting. The soldier is equipped with a gun and a cache of grenades, and he switches off automatically depending on what enemies are present on-screen. Bullets are for taking out enemy soldiers while tanks need to be blown up with grenades.

The soldier can also hop into a tank periodically. There are two different kinds - light and heavy - both with slightly different ammunition. Commandeering a tank will also buy the player an extra hit, though it's necessary to hop out of a damaged one that's about to explode.

Now, I suck at the arcade Front Line. But I can get through the Atari 2600 port just fine (the same rings true for Ikari Warriors). This has to do with the nature of the Atari hardware itself. Instead of being inundated with enemies, two or three buffoons will slowly lumber onto the screen. Even on subsequent loops and high difficulty settings the game never feels exceptionally challenging.

Sound effects are decent and although the visuals are simplistic I appreciate the variety of environments. This is a solid addition to any 2600 library (just make sure you get Front Line and not Frontline!). I really wish there were more retro top-down run and guns out there, this is a great genre.

[ElkinFencer10]

Games Beaten in 2017 So Far - 16

January (10 Games Beaten)

1. Persona 4 Arena - Playstation 3 - January 1
2. Chrono Trigger - SNES - January 7
3. Ys: The Vanished Omens - Master System - January 8
4. MUSHA - Genesis - January 10
5. Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below - PlayStation 4 - January 11
6. Ys I - TurboGrafx-CD - January 13
7. Ys II - TurboGrafx-CD - January 14
8. Dragon Quest Builders - PlayStation 4 - January 23
9. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - PlayStation 4 - January 26
10. School Girl/Zombie Hunter - PlayStation 4 - January 29

February (6 Game Beaten)

11. Fire Emblem Heroes - Android - February 3
12. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD - Wii U - February 5
13. Dante's Inferno - PlayStation 3 - February 7
14. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - DS - February 11
15. Persona 4: Dancing All Night - Vita - February 12
16. Sniper Elite 4 - PlayStation 4 - February 17

16. Sniper Elite 4 - PlayStation 4 - February 17



World War II is the single greatest setting for a video game, especially one that involves the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of people. The reason why is quite simple - there is nothing in this world more fun to kill (virtually, of course) than Nazis. They're the epitome of human scum and an exemplification of the dangers of far right wing politics. As a cherry on top, their skulls also pop like balloons if you're playing a Sniper Elite game.



For those unfamiliar with the series, Sniper Elite is a series of sniper-centric shooters taking place in World War II developed by Rebellion. The series spans now four games (seven if you include the Nazi Zombie Army spin-offs) on a whole range of platforms. I, for example, have Sniper Elite on Wii, Sniper Elite V2 on Wii U, Sniper Elite 3 on PS4, Sniper Elite 4 on PS4, and Zombie Army Trilogy on Steam and PS4. In the fourth main series installment, you play as an OSS sniper in Italy who is working with the anti-fascist Partisans as well as the Mafia to clear the way for the Allied invasion of mainland Italy in the latter portion of 1943. You're still fighting Germans, but this is because the Italian army was basically non-existent after Operation Compass and Operation Torch and the subsequent collapse of the Axis North African front.



Sniper Elite, especially the more recent games, really is the greatest series for stealth/sniper combat. Rebellion has done a masterful job of balancing the game to appeal to literally all skill levels, and they do this in large part with one single feature - custom difficulties. The game already has a handful of difficulty settings ranging from hella easy all the way up to "Authentic" which is a legit sniping simulator complete with gravity effects, wind effects, extremely perceptive and accurate enemies, and no HUD whatsoever. What makes Sniper Elite so great and unique is the inclusion of a "custom" difficulty that you can tweak to your heart's content. My custom difficulty, for example, was to set the bullet physics on bitch mode (since I'm total trash at shooters, ESPECIALLY sniping-with-physics shooters), enemy perception on one notch above normal, and enemy aggression and accuracy on normal. You can also modify your character's health, frequency of ammo drops, your HUD information, sniping aim guide (it's not auto-aim but it shows a red diamond where your bullet will hit when you hold your breath to help you learn the bullet ballistics). It really does ensure that the game can appeal to the most hardcore of the hardcore as well as the most novice of scrubs alike and provide tools for the latter to improve.



One of the neatest aspects of Sniper Elite is the different types of kills you can get. Depending on what part of the body you shoot, you may get a special kind of kill which will net you a little more xp. The coveted Testicle Shot is, of course, the most awesome, but you also have the classic Headshot, the more specialized Eye Shot, the Lung Shot, Heart Shot, Liver Shot, Kidney Shot, and even a Grenade Shot if you happen to shoot a grenade on the dude's belt and blow him into tiny bits of Nazi paste that way. If you just shoot them in the toes or something until they die, it will just say "Infantry Kill," but I'd wager that at LEAST half of your kills will end up being some special kind of kill. And really, that's basically the coolest thing in the world. The confirms for you that you LITERALLY shot him in the dick. And that's not all - Sniper Elite has some of the most metal af melee kills I've seen in a long time.



Obviously, the graphics are pretty. It's certainly not as stunning as something known for placing graphics above all else like Call of Duty or Battlefield, but it's a pretty good looking game. Especially the Nazi skeletons as they shatter from the force of your weaponized freedom. The music isn't particularly outstanding, but it uses the Sniper Elite theme that long-time players have come to know and love, and the sound design, while subdued (other than the gunshots, obviously), is all around very fitting for the game.



One aspect of Sniper Elite that I absolutely adore and simply must point out is that the game lets you play however the hell you want. Obviously it's easiest to play with stealth and long range kills - the game's called SNIPER Elite, after all - but if you want to Rambo it like a dumbass (like I do), you can do it. You better be good at it, but you can make it work. What I typically did was creep around, kill a couple Nazis, creep to a different spot where they weren't looking for me, kill a few more, rinse and repeat until they found me. Then I'd run around with my SMG or revolver until I found a nice little hallway or some similar such structure and massacre everyone who came for me until no one was left alive. Okay, so I left out 30 deaths and a stubborn refusal to play the game like I'm not slower than a nonagenarian in mid-January, but the point is that I did, in fact, shove my head against the brick wall until it broke. And it was freaking awesome.



Pretty much everything I've said so far could be described as "Sniper Elite III but more of it," but there is one change that Rebellion made with Sniper Elite 4 that just makes the game kick way more ass. The levels are ENORMOUS. Sniper Elite III had some pretty intricate levels, but these levels are huge. I'm talking the potential for sniper kills at distances of nearly a kilometer if you're a good shot with a good scope. Each mission also includes a whole handful of optional objectives and more collectables than you shake Hitler's decapitated corpse at. I completely ignored the collectables and just focused on the optional objectives, and it still took me about an hour on average to complete each of ten missions. They're gigantic physically, and they're packed full of Nazis to kill, objectives to complete, collectables to find, and democracy to spread.



I don't know if the horrible mutilation of Nazis that the game makes possible is coloring my vision or if it really is a damn masterpiece, but I just had endless fun with Sniper Elite 4. The difficulty is so perfectly done that ANYONE can find a setting that they're comfortable with, and the levels are so big that there's legitimate exploration you can do. You might find a little inconsequential Nazi camp to liberate and pilfer, you might find a bunker tunnel that leads to a shortcut you wouldn't have otherwise found, you might find a collectable or a room with a normally locked weapon, etc. The game's also very fair. With only a couple of exceptions, I always knew exactly why I died (it was usually because I was being a dumbass). There are a couple times when I seemingly died out of the blue, but 99 times out of 100, you'll know exactly why you died. Utter bullshit moments are few and far between here. If you're into stealth shooters or third person shooters in general, I definitely recommend you check out Sniper Elite 4. It's a rootin' tootin' Nazi shootin' good time.

[PartridgeSenpai]

The only important question with any WWII FPS is: Is it better than or at least comparable to Wolfenstein: The New Order?

[Xeogred]

Games Beaten in 2017 So Far - 16

January (10 Games Beaten)

1. Persona 4 Arena - Playstation 3 - January 1
2. Chrono Trigger - SNES - January 7
3. Ys: The Vanished Omens - Master System - January 8
4. MUSHA - Genesis - January 10
5. Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below - PlayStation 4 - January 11
6. Ys I - TurboGrafx-CD - January 13
7. Ys II - TurboGrafx-CD - January 14
8. Dragon Quest Builders - PlayStation 4 - January 23
9. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - PlayStation 4 - January 26
10. School Girl/Zombie Hunter - PlayStation 4 - January 29

February (6 Game Beaten)

11. Fire Emblem Heroes - Android - February 3
12. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD - Wii U - February 5
13. Dante's Inferno - PlayStation 3 - February 7
14. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - DS - February 11
15. Persona 4: Dancing All Night - Vita - February 12
16. Sniper Elite 4 - PlayStation 4 - February 17

16. Sniper Elite 4 - PlayStation 4 - February 17



World War II is the single greatest setting for a video game, especially one that involves the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of people. The reason why is quite simple - there is nothing in this world more fun to kill (virtually, of course) than Nazis. They're the epitome of human scum and an exemplification of the dangers of far right wing politics. As a cherry on top, their skulls also pop like balloons if you're playing a Sniper Elite game.



For those unfamiliar with the series, Sniper Elite is a series of sniper-centric shooters taking place in World War II developed by Rebellion. The series spans now four games (seven if you include the Nazi Zombie Army spin-offs) on a whole range of platforms. I, for example, have Sniper Elite on Wii, Sniper Elite V2 on Wii U, Sniper Elite 3 on PS4, Sniper Elite 4 on PS4, and Zombie Army Trilogy on Steam and PS4. In the fourth main series installment, you play as an OSS sniper in Italy who is working with the anti-fascist Partisans as well as the Mafia to clear the way for the Allied invasion of mainland Italy in the latter portion of 1943. You're still fighting Germans, but this is because the Italian army was basically non-existent after Operation Compass and Operation Torch and the subsequent collapse of the Axis North African front.



Sniper Elite, especially the more recent games, really is the greatest series for stealth/sniper combat. Rebellion has done a masterful job of balancing the game to appeal to literally all skill levels, and they do this in large part with one single feature - custom difficulties. The game already has a handful of difficulty settings ranging from hella easy all the way up to "Authentic" which is a legit sniping simulator complete with gravity effects, wind effects, extremely perceptive and accurate enemies, and no HUD whatsoever. What makes Sniper Elite so great and unique is the inclusion of a "custom" difficulty that you can tweak to your heart's content. My custom difficulty, for example, was to set the bullet physics on bitch mode (since I'm total trash at shooters, ESPECIALLY sniping-with-physics shooters), enemy perception on one notch above normal, and enemy aggression and accuracy on normal. You can also modify your character's health, frequency of ammo drops, your HUD information, sniping aim guide (it's not auto-aim but it shows a red diamond where your bullet will hit when you hold your breath to help you learn the bullet ballistics). It really does ensure that the game can appeal to the most hardcore of the hardcore as well as the most novice of scrubs alike and provide tools for the latter to improve.



One of the neatest aspects of Sniper Elite is the different types of kills you can get. Depending on what part of the body you shoot, you may get a special kind of kill which will net you a little more xp. The coveted Testicle Shot is, of course, the most awesome, but you also have the classic Headshot, the more specialized Eye Shot, the Lung Shot, Heart Shot, Liver Shot, Kidney Shot, and even a Grenade Shot if you happen to shoot a grenade on the dude's belt and blow him into tiny bits of Nazi paste that way. If you just shoot them in the toes or something until they die, it will just say "Infantry Kill," but I'd wager that at LEAST half of your kills will end up being some special kind of kill. And really, that's basically the coolest thing in the world. The confirms for you that you LITERALLY shot him in the dick. And that's not all - Sniper Elite has some of the most metal af melee kills I've seen in a long time.



Obviously, the graphics are pretty. It's certainly not as stunning as something known for placing graphics above all else like Call of Duty or Battlefield, but it's a pretty good looking game. Especially the Nazi skeletons as they shatter from the force of your weaponized freedom. The music isn't particularly outstanding, but it uses the Sniper Elite theme that long-time players have come to know and love, and the sound design, while subdued (other than the gunshots, obviously), is all around very fitting for the game.



One aspect of Sniper Elite that I absolutely adore and simply must point out is that the game lets you play however the hell you want. Obviously it's easiest to play with stealth and long range kills - the game's called SNIPER Elite, after all - but if you want to Rambo it like a dumbass (like I do), you can do it. You better be good at it, but you can make it work. What I typically did was creep around, kill a couple Nazis, creep to a different spot where they weren't looking for me, kill a few more, rinse and repeat until they found me. Then I'd run around with my SMG or revolver until I found a nice little hallway or some similar such structure and massacre everyone who came for me until no one was left alive. Okay, so I left out 30 deaths and a stubborn refusal to play the game like I'm not slower than a nonagenarian in mid-January, but the point is that I did, in fact, shove my head against the brick wall until it broke. And it was freaking awesome.



Pretty much everything I've said so far could be described as "Sniper Elite III but more of it," but there is one change that Rebellion made with Sniper Elite 4 that just makes the game kick way more ass. The levels are ENORMOUS. Sniper Elite III had some pretty intricate levels, but these levels are huge. I'm talking the potential for sniper kills at distances of nearly a kilometer if you're a good shot with a good scope. Each mission also includes a whole handful of optional objectives and more collectables than you shake Hitler's decapitated corpse at. I completely ignored the collectables and just focused on the optional objectives, and it still took me about an hour on average to complete each of ten missions. They're gigantic physically, and they're packed full of Nazis to kill, objectives to complete, collectables to find, and democracy to spread.



I don't know if the horrible mutilation of Nazis that the game makes possible is coloring my vision or if it really is a damn masterpiece, but I just had endless fun with Sniper Elite 4. The difficulty is so perfectly done that ANYONE can find a setting that they're comfortable with, and the levels are so big that there's legitimate exploration you can do. You might find a little inconsequential Nazi camp to liberate and pilfer, you might find a bunker tunnel that leads to a shortcut you wouldn't have otherwise found, you might find a collectable or a room with a normally locked weapon, etc. The game's also very fair. With only a couple of exceptions, I always knew exactly why I died (it was usually because I was being a dumbass). There are a couple times when I seemingly died out of the blue, but 99 times out of 100, you'll know exactly why you died. Utter bullshit moments are few and far between here. If you're into stealth shooters or third person shooters in general, I definitely recommend you check out Sniper Elite 4. It's a rootin' tootin' Nazi shootin' good time.

I've never paid attention to this series until hearing things about this one, it definitely sounds cool.

[Ack]

Keep in mind Elkin, folks like you and I spend our gaming time playing single player games, so that tends to end with beating them. Others spend most of their gaming downtime playing online multiplayer games that don't technically get "beaten". That type of online gaming doesn't equate into this thread, despite how much time is actually invested in it.

Yeah, like how I have spent a solid chunk of time in both Vermintide and Killing Floor 2 so far this year. Vermintide does technically have an ending, so I marked it when I beat the boss, but seeing as it also has multiple difficulties to unlock, I have kept going back. Killing Floor 2, I have beaten every main level currently available on all difficulties and maxed out four of the ten classes, but I am by no means done with it. I expect to put a lot more time into it too.

But every now and again I need a break, so I beat a couple of SNES fighters and have been playing an older single player FPS for the last day or so.

I have a couple of games on the back burner too, but they are longer titles: a tactics/strategy and a RPG. While I intend to get back to them eventually, I don't know when that will be. I am also quite busy doing non-gaming stuff these days, so finding the time isn't always easy.

[Exhuminator]

I still do the 2-3 hour late night gaming sessions as I've done for years now. Gaming during the middle of the day, or even early evening, just isn't in the picture for me. I still average 14 or so hours a week, unless I'm traveling or on vacation.