Games Beaten 2017

HLTB · by **Xeogred** Wed Jun 21, 2017 8:15 am

Maybe the scale is where the Suikoden comparisons come in. I like that. Big stories spread throughout a huge detailed world.

by **ElkinFencer10** Wed Jun 21, 2017 12:07 pm

The overall story is very serious, though there are, of course, moments of cuteness and silliness. I'd DEFINITELY recommend it. The general gameplay style that I think would be the closest comparison is the Re;Birth games of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, although the Tales games isn't a bad comparison either.

by **ElkinFencer10** Wed Jun 21, 2017 5:09 pm

Games Beaten in 2017 So Far - 56
* denotes a replay

January (10 Games Beaten)

February (12 Games Beaten)

March (6 Games Beaten)

April (9 Games Beaten)

May (14 Games Beaten)

June (5 Games Beaten)

56. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - PC - June 22*

Sit down, children. I'm going to tell you a story. This is the story of the greatest World War II shooter ever made and the middle school aged Mr. Deck who play the bejeezus out of it. I recently found the War Chest for Allied Assault - it includes the base game as well as both expansions - for like $2 on GOG's summer sale. Remember the fondness I had for this game as a child, I decided that couldn't just NOT buy it. Holeeeeeey crap, playing through this was like returning to my glorious childhood without today's adult concerns like bills, taxes, and the always looming specter of a nuclear holocaust at the hands of an orange psychopath.

Allied Assault is broken up into six missions, each one taking about an hour to complete and being broken into roughly four parts. You start in North Africa and proceed to fight in Norway, Normandy, Brittany, and start the Allied push into western Germany. The game centers around Lt. Mike Powell (odd for me since I used to go to church with a guy who had that name) and his exploits with the OSS. The gameplay shows its age, but I don't mean that in a bad way. There's no regenerating health; you have to find health packs to replenish your hit points. There's no aiming down the sight; your crosshairs is all you get. There's no sprint; you either casually jog through the battlefield or walk. While it took me a few minutes to get used to this again, I actually prefer this style of play over more modern conventions.

Another reason that the game feels so damn good to play and why I love it is that it runs on id Tech3, the same engine as some of my other favorite shooters - Quake III, Star Trek Voyager Elite Force, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and the original Call of Duty. id Tech3 is my second favorite engine of all time, second only to Unreal 2.5. I know, it's a weird thing to have a "favorite" for all, but I'm a weird dude. In this case, however, my weirdness helps this game make me even happier than it already would. It may not feel "modern" per se, but I'd still take Allied Assault over Modern Warfare 3 or Battlefield 3 any day. Being an older game, however, it does show its age visually. Having been released 15 years ago designed in part for Windows 98, even a bottom-of-the-barrel low end PC these days can run it no problem with settings maxed out, and that does help it look a little bit better. The faces still look kind of blocky, and the environments - especially the trees and shrubberies - still show their low resolution natures, but the character and gun models all look fine, even if not "photo-realistic."

One other aspect of the game that I never noticed as a kid but stuck out to me during this replay is the music. The soundtrack isn't super dramatic or in your face like a lot of shooters tend to be, but the music chosen is both very fitting for the game and only loud enough to accentuate the action rather than distracting from it. It's used to enhance the tone of the game, not set the tone, and that's a delicate balance that a lot of games don't always manage to nail. Allied Assault does it masterfully. With regards to the multiplayer, it's still accessible, but since GameSpy is long gone, it can be rather cumbersome to find a game if you're not playing LAN. If you care to go through the effort of finding and connecting to an online game, however, it's got really great team deathmatch and capture the flag.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is the greatest World War II shooter ever made. I stand by that claim, even in 2017. The story it tells, the tone it sets, and the combat it puts you through are all so well crafted and balanced that it's hard to find any true complaints. Sure, it can be a little bit of a pain to get running on modern PCs, but that's true of most old computer games, and when compared to some like Starfleet Command or Star Trek Armada, this one's downright simple to get to work. With how cheap the War Chest is on GoG as well as being available on Steam plus how daggone low the system requirements are these days, there's really no excuse for folks not to play this game.

by **BoneSnapDeez** Wed Jun 21, 2017 8:31 pm

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)
25. Dungeon Magic (PlayStation 2, Taito Legends 2)
26. The Lost Vikings (SNES)
27. Blue's Journey (Wii Virtual Console)
28. Wizard Fire (Wii, Data East Arcade Classics)
29. Super Mario Run (Android)
30. Dragon Warrior II (NES)
31. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (GOG.com)
32. Witch & Hero (Nintendo eShop)
33. Phoenix (Atari 2600)
34. Emerald Dragon (Super Famicom)
35. Sky Skipper (Atari 2600)
36. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
37. Cadash (TurboGrafx-16)
38. Cadash (Genesis)
39. Popeye (Atari 2600)
40. Mega Man 2 (NES)
41. Mother (Famicom)
42. Scramble (Game Boy Advance, Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced)
43. Super Cobra (Atari 2600)

Super Cobra is the sequel to Scramble, and it plays just like the first game. I don't have access to the arcade version. It's not on Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced. Rather, it can be found on Konami Arcade Classics (PSX), which is unfortunately kinda expensive. To the 2600 we go. This one was published by Parker Bros. Nintendo and Konami releasing games under the same publisher -- a board game company? The second gen was a weird time.

This time around the player controls a helicopter rather than a spaceship, though the game is structured similarly with a handful of levels (eleven, actually, impressive!) all strung together seamlessly. There are no boss battles, final or otherwise, though an "end goal" presents itself in the final stage.

The controls are kinda weird and Atari-ish. As there's only one action button so you have to alternate between normal bullet shots and bombs. This creates an additional strategy element, as I found myself having to remember which came next, or firing off a junk shot or two to reset things to where I wanted them. Hitting the fuel tanks is really tricky here, though each one restores a ton of gas so most can be skipped. Enemies aren't particularly aggressive - the invincible fireballs of Scramble don't make an appearance - though there is plenty of challenge due to how many tight weaving tunnels must be flown through. The game offers up unlimited continues, rare for an Atari title, so anyone with enough patience could conceivably get through this.

The ending's a little different. There's a square with a dollar sign that has to be picked up to beat the game. So the helicopter was after "loot" all along? Strange.

I like this. It's fun, smooth, and just as good as the ColecoVision's Cosmic Avenger. I'm really digging these old shmups. Worth picking up if you have a 2600, 7800, or good taste in games.

by **prfsnl_gmr** Wed Jun 21, 2017 9:05 pm

Keep being awesome, Bone. I am digging the second gen reviews.

HLTB · by **Xeogred** Wed Jun 21, 2017 11:53 pm

I'm disappointed that isn't Super Contra.

by **MrPopo** Thu Jun 22, 2017 12:01 am

Xeogred wrote:I'm disappointed that isn't Super Contra.

Two days ago I learned Super Contra only lets you feed in a limited number of quarters. Also, the joystick is a horrible way to control a Contra game.

by **bmoc** Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:08 am

ElkinFencer10 wrote:The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II is the second part in the Trails of Cold Steel trilogy which is itself a sequel to the Trails in the Sky trilogy. Having not played Trails in the Sky yet because I'm an idiot and didn't realize they were a thing, I'm not entirely sure how Trails of Cold Steel fits into that timeline, but the folks at Falcom do excel at world-building and establishing lore, so that trilogy is definitely on my "games to play at some point in relatively near future hopefully maybe if I'm lucky" list.

I highly recommend Trails in the Sky - at least the first one. I haven't played the 2nd and 3rd one yet. The the 2nd and 3rd games are available on Steam and rumor has it that the Steam Summer sale will start today. I've been holding off on playing Trails of Cold Steel until I finish those. I wonder if I will have a PS4 in time to play Trails of Cold Steel III when it comes out? If the localization turn around time of Trails of Cold Steel I & II are any indicator, I've probably got about 2 years to save up. :lol:

by **ElkinFencer10** Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:08 am

Games Beaten in 2017 So Far - 57
* denotes a replay

January (10 Games Beaten)

February (12 Games Beaten)

March (6 Games Beaten)

April (9 Games Beaten)

May (14 Games Beaten)

June (6 Games Beaten)

57. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Spearhead - PC - June 22

Speadhead is the first of two expansion packs for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and while it's certainly shorter than the main game - three missions clocking in around three hours total as opposed to six missions clocking in around six hours total - it's still a substantial little campaign. It's basically more of the same and even revisits Normandy albeit in the context of the aftermath of the D-Day invasion rather than the invasion itself. In addition to Normandy, you fight the infamous Battle of the Bulge as well as the Battle of Berlin.

In terms of gameplay, it plays exactly like the base Allied Assault game which makes sense considering that it's just an expansion pack, or as the young people these days would call it, "DLC," back when you paid $20 or $30 for an extra campaign instead of $5 or $10 for two or three extra multiplayer maps. Despite being essentially "more of the same," I was left the impression that Spearhead felt a bit rushed. The difficulty wasn't nearly as well balanced as in the core game with some portions being an absolute breeze and others - the infamous snowy "sniper alley" level where the snipers are all Tiger tanks - are balls hard are no matter what difficulty you play on. The health drops also seemed rather haphazard and much less thoughtfully placed. Like with the difficulty, some stages would have you think Costco was having a clearance sale on medkits whereas I literally couldn't find a single health kit in others.

One positive thing that Spearhead did better than the core game in my opinion, however, was ally diversity. In the core game, you were pretty much always fighting with Americans. You may have a British SAS agent or a French resistance operative helping you, but it was pretty much American combat. In Spearhead, you fight with an American unit in one mission, a British unit in another, and a Russian unit in the last (which is obvious to anyone who's familiar with the Battle of Berlin). It's a small thing and something that a lot of folks likely don't care about at all, but it gave it some nice variety for me.

The Spearhead expansion for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a fairly good albeit somewhat disappointing add-on to a legendary game. The gameplay is what you've come to love from Allied Assault, but the whole expansion feels like another couple months in development could have made a world of difference. That's really all it would have needed because there aren't any glaring issues but rather minor indicators of a rushed production - unbalanced difficulty, haphazard health placement, more numerous graphical and terrain glitches, etc. It's by no means bad, and it could certainly hold its own against many stand-alone World War II games, but given the game of which it's an expansion, it's impossible not to feel a little disappointed after finishing Spearhead.

by **ElkinFencer10** Fri Jun 23, 2017 9:29 am

Games Beaten in 2017 So Far - 58
* denotes a replay

January (10 Games Beaten)

February (12 Games Beaten)

March (6 Games Beaten)

April (9 Games Beaten)

May (14 Games Beaten)

June (7 Games Beaten)

58. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Breakthrough - PC - June 22

Breakthrough is the second of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault's two expansion packs, and this one has you fight against the Italians (and, obviously, some Germans) in North Africa and Sicily. Like Spearhead, being an expansion of Allied Assault, the gameplay is obviously the same, but unlike Spearhead, I wasn't left feeling rather disappointed after finishing Breakthrough.

The big way that Breakthrough differs from Spearhead is that this expansion didn't feel rushed at all. The difficulty was MUCH better paced and increased on a reasonable curve instead of looking like a damn mountain range. There weren't any super bullshit tank levels (the couple tank sequences were pretty well done), and there weren't any spots with health raining from the sky juxtaposed against other spots of absolute health droughts. Speaking of difficulty, I found Breakthrough to be an excellent expansion in that - in my opinion, at least - it provided a slightly increased difficulty vs the base Allied Assault campaign. Not brutal or anything, but it definitely gave the feeling of "You've finished Allied Assault? Alright, try this." It was a challenging campaign in parts, and I couldn't always just Leeroy Jenkins shit as I like to do.

That all isn't to say that Breakthrough is without its flaws, however. Like Spearhead, it took more finagling to get working properly on a Windows 10 PC than the base game did, and I still noticed slightly more glitches than in the base game. It wasn't severe or anything, and it still seemed improved over Spearhead, but I did have a couple of Nazis walk straight through a stone wall and into the house in which I was taking cover. Another time I saw an ally holding his gun backwards and firing into his chest while hitting the enemy. None of these glitches really broke the game or hindered my experience, but they were a bit jarring at times.

While I still think the core game reigns supreme, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Breakthrough is everything that an expansion pack should be. It adds a new campaign that is both well made and balanced with few bugs and a fair, reasonable difficulty curve. It expands on the war, telling part of the story of a front that was not only just briefly mentioned in the core game but is also largely ignored by WWII media in general. Given how quickly and relatively easily the Italians were defeated, we rarely pay any attention to that theater of the war, but the men who fought and died against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps and Mussolini's forces deserve recognition as well, and it's nice to see an expansion dedicated to those two parts of the conflict. Clearly EA learned something from Spearhead because Breakthrough is a markedly superior effort in pretty much every way.

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