Games Beaten 2017

[Xeogred]

Not everyday you see someone talk about 2 as their favorite. Always loved it though, it improved the gameplay from the first tenfold and being able to dual wield plasmids and guns was awesome. In addition to being able to set traps to handle the Big Sisters... and the Little Sister moment near the end was really cool. Damn good game that sadly so many skipped over, because you were back at Rapture. God forbid, other sequels never went back to their old environments? lmao, such a weak complaint. It was great to be back in such a unique city.

Infinite is probably my favorite personally but I love them all. If you liked Lost and want to see the story get even more ridiculous, check out the two DLC's for Infinite. It was also really cool to be in Rapture with Infinite's engine and one of the DLC's has you playing as Elizabeth, turning it into something a bit more Thief-esque.

2's Minerva's Den is amazing DLC as well.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Not everyday you see someone talk about 2 as their favorite. Always loved it though, it improved the gameplay from the first tenfold and being able to dual wield plasmids and guns was awesome. In addition to being able to set traps to handle the Big Sisters... and the Little Sister moment near the end was really cool. Damn good game that sadly so many skipped over, because you were back at Rapture. God forbid, other sequels never went back to their old environments? lmao, such a weak complaint. It was great to be back in such a unique city.

Infinite is probably my favorite personally but I love them all. If you liked Lost and want to see the story get even more ridiculous, check out the two DLC's for Infinite. It was also really cool to be in Rapture with Infinite's engine and one of the DLC's has you playing as Elizabeth, turning it into something a bit more Thief-esque.

2's Minerva's Den is amazing DLC as well.

I'll admit I'm in the minority on 2 being my favorite, but I don't care. That's probably one of my most played through FPS games, right up there with New Order. I have to agree that Minerva's Den is absolutely fantastic. The storytelling and plotting are so damn tight and excellently executed. The pacing of the weapons and plasmids especially are totally unlike anything else in the series. I plan to go onto the DLC's later this week (the rest of today is occupied) for Infinite, so it's cool to hear they're something different from the main game as well.

Rapture was a huge damn city as well. Not to mention 2 takes place a decade after 1, I don't think you ever even go to any of the same locations from 1 (though I could be wrong on that. It's been a while since I've played 1). I'm also glad they kept the stage-based approach for Infinite from 2 (even though it wasn't the same team, but whatever). Bioshock 1 really didn't know if it wanted to be an open world or a stage-based game, but there was really no reason to go back to old areas (literally ever, I think). Adjusting it to stage-based really added a sense of permanence to what you were doing as well as
enhancing the stakes of the moment.

[Kuruwin]

The second game definitely play's better than the first one but the story and characters are lot weaker. Not bad story per se but it doesn't compare to the first game.

Never played the DLC myself.

[PartridgeSenpai]

The second game definitely play's better than the first one but the story and characters are lot weaker. Not bad story per se but it doesn't compare to the first game.

Never played the DLC myself.

If you have Minerva's Den, it's absolutely worth playing. Where I will agree that 2's base story is just adequate enough to tie together all the fantastic action sections, Minerva's Den gets to that level that the first game set the bar at in terms of characters. Although I will admit that I do prefer Subject Delta over Jack (or whatever the protagonist of 1's name is). Who he was before he was Subject Delta is certainly nowhere near interesting enough, but I genuinely enjoy the story of his mission to reunite with his little sister.

[Markies]

1. Phantasy Star II (GEN)
2. Guitar Hero (PS2)
3. Adventures of Lolo (NES)
4. Animal Crossing (GCN)
5. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES)
6. Beyond The Beyond (PS1)
7. R.B.I. Baseball (NES)
8. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (PS1)

I beat Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo on the PS1 this evening!

I had dabbled with the Arcade version of this game, but I had very rarely touched it. The Arcade version was quite mean and I got easily destroyed. So, I was a bit hesitant when I played the home console version.

The computer is still VERY mean in this game. You will be playing and then suddenly, your entire screen is covered and there is nothing you can do about it. Also, for long periods of time, you just will not receive attack gems.

Thankfully, the difficulty can be changed and it is still easily playable. I was able to beat the game with all characters as they all play differently. Once you get combos going and start dousing your opponent, it can be quite fun.

However, the best part of the game is how tongue in cheek it is. The little cut scenes are absolutely hilarious and perfect for any fan of the Capcom fighting genre. That alone was worth the purchase along with some good music and some cute graphics.

So, I enjoyed myself and would recommend it to anybody who likes falling block puzzles and Street Fighter games with a sense of humor.

[Raz]

1. Dragon Quest Builders (PS4)
2. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS)
3. Wild Guns: Reloaded (PS4)
4. World Heroes (SNES)
5. Arkanoid: Doh It Again (SNES)
6. Strider (PS4)
7. Super Bust-A-Move (PS2)
8. Mr. Driller Drill Spirits (DS)
9. Mickey to Donald: Magical Adventure 3 (SFC)
10. Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition (Steam)
11. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Wii U)

Finally played this, not sure why I waited so long to play it (maybe because I have other games to play, too). The Shantae series is a series of 2D platformers that began on the Gameboy Color. The previous game (Risky's Revenge) ended on a "to be continued" kind of note. There wasn't any news for a few years, and then there was a reveal in the second to last issue of Nintendo Power. I enjoyed this game more than the other Shantae games I've played so far, mainly because a few differences. The two previous Shantae games had dancing transformations, but Pirate's Curse has new Pirate items you collect throughout the game. I enjoyed this approach more because I could use all of Shantae's collected abilities any time instead of taking a moment to go through the dances to activate the transformation I needed to use a certain ability for. Damage you deal and damage you take is now numbered, so you can get an idea of how much more useful your damage upgrades are instead of just guessing. I also like that each Pirate item feels more useful than the last, starting out with a pistol that is better used for activating switches than for actual combat, and ending with an item that allows you to quadruple jump, with no double or triple jump upgrades in between, just straight from one jump to four jumps. My only problem with the game is that I wish there was a harder difficulty. Hearts can split up into four sections now instead of one hit always taking away one heart. You won't be taking full hearts of damage until later in the game, but by then I had hoarded a large number of healing items dropped by defeated enemies to counter this increase in damage. I got through the whole game (only one health upgrade away from 100%) without ever using that first auto-potion you receive at the start of the game. I just wished there was a way for the game to be harder from the very beginning without having to force some kind of special rule on myself.

[Sarge]

Pirate's Curse is probably the best Shantae game. It's solid all the way through. And that final gauntlet was definitely just that. Much tougher than the final stretch in Half-Genie Hero (which is also very good).

[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)
18. Mario Bros. (Atari 2600)
19. Harmonia (Steam)
20. Donkey Kong (Atari 2600)
21. Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600)
22. Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (TurboGrafx CD)
23. Gorf (Atari 2600)
24. Neutopia II (TurboGrafx-16)

I popped Neutopia II into my console, turned 'er on, and was greeted by a rather impressive scene of flashing lightning and some distinctly familiar music. Hey now, that's just a variant of the Neutopia title screen music! I began playing and encountered several more recognizable tunes. Yup, Hudson Soft recycled and remixed a bunch of Neutopia tracks for this game. That's kind of genius. The old favorites, combined with a plethora of standout exclusive tracks, give II the upper hand in the soundtrack department.

Graphically, Neutopia II is about identical to its predecessor as well. The hero sprite may just be the same one from the first game, but here it's explained that he's actually a different dude (some sort of descendant). The overworld and dungeon scenery is strikingly familiar, though Hudson Soft was kind enough to include a new enemy roster. Everything still looks bright and bouncy and colorful and "12-bit." In short, this is what you could call a "mission-pack sequel", or, to give a comparison, Neutopia II is to Neutopia as Super C is to Contra. And much like that first game, this one apes heavily from The Legend of Zelda.

There are admittedly some changes to the formula that need to be addressed. Alterations that make Neutopia II the superior series entry. First, the overworld is one large seamless area. No more "spheres" connected to a central hub. Additionally, there are towns containing shops, save points, and advice-doling NPCs. Said towns drastically improve the flow of the game. They provide "home bases" to retreat to after each rigorous dungeon outing, and there's no more hunting for shops and save points hidden under random trees and rocks.

II's hero has a greater range of movement: eight directions. There's still no Link-esque lazer sword, but some additional staves are available. Once again, the emitted projectiles vary depending on health. Having a wide range of projectile weapons is handy, but the staves have this annoying quirk of sometimes bouncing enemies back into you. Unacceptable. Then there's the boomerang (wonder where they got that idea), which can actually fly off the screen never to be seen again. I used it twice. There's a hookshot that deducts a whopping ten gold per use. I used it once.

Dungeons are way more complex this time around. They span multiple floors and are littered with traps and switches. Once again, they're disappointingly generic: just nondescript stacked boxes of gray stone. Many of Zelda's dungeons were undeniably spartan, but their garish colors and bizarre shapes supplied a massive dose of charm and particularity. Bosses are mediocre. Inconsistently difficult HP tanks.

Speaking of Zelda, there are some elements of Neutopia II that are strangely reminiscent of A Link to the Past. There's a goddess mythology slowly revealed by NPCs, as well as a sleeping princess that looks much like Zelda under the spell of Agahnim. I'd chalk this up to coincidence, or perhaps these are common tropes, as Neutopia II hit shelves two months before ALttP. Or maybe Nintendo took revenge and ripped off Hudson Soft!

Neutopia II has a markedly better flow compared to its predecessor, and is unquestionably more entertaining to play. And, honestly, they're so similar that playing both is not entirely necessary. II is probably more than enough. Both Neutopia entries are worse than The Legend of Zelda, and Neutopia II looks downright amateurish stacked up against the closest chronological Zelda entry (A Link to the Past).

One final caveat: the American release of Neutopia II is stupidly expensive. Like, $175+ for the TurboChip alone. Go for the import if you must have a physical copy, or hit up the Virtual Console.

[Kuruwin]

I'm actually currently playing Pirate's Curse and it's yet another game i have mixed feelings about. It can be fun but the ways that the devs attempts to change up the gameplay haven't been really succesful for me at least. The part where you carry the zombie girl for instance wasn't exactly hard but there's long segments on that section and if you get hit even one time then you have to start from the start of the screen and this sort of thing isn't exactly fun even if you don't actually fail (unnerving)

There are also part's where the game doesn't even seem to hint or it does bad job explaining what you are suppose to do. On the ham part i was thinking way too deply and wasted time (i went back to the squid thinking you need to get the water back first) eventhough all i had apparently to do was keep hitting that ham constantly. On the mummy part i just used the walktrough because how i was suppose to know that the other sarcophagus on the first island? You can see it when you first get there but i don't think most people can recall that sort of details.

It also feels at times that the enemy placements are cheap and the game just covers it by giving you tons of healing items.

[Sarge]

That's when you bust out the "I don't remember where that was, so start poking around everywhere" response. That's what I used to do in Metroid or Castlevania games. Still, do, actually.