Games Beaten 2020
- prfsnl_gmr
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 12202
- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:26 pm
- Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Re: Games Beaten 2020
1. Her Story (iOS)
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
Bust-a-Move 2 Is pretty much the quintessential Bust-a-Move experience (which is why I played through it). It has a puzzle mode, where you must eliminate all the bubbles in a frame before they descend to the floor, and it has a vs. mode, where you must eliminate bubbles until the bubbles reach the floor on either your side of the screen or your opponent’s side of the screen. Being an arcade game, it has a parabolic difficulty curve. The first few levels are fun and easily beaten, but the difficulty shoots through the roof about halfway through each mode. The game can be beaten, though, with a little practice, and I was pretty OK at Bust-a-Move back in the ‘90s...Finally, the game stars Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble, and the character animations are as darling as the soundtrack is ridiculous. Recommended.
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
Bust-a-Move 2 Is pretty much the quintessential Bust-a-Move experience (which is why I played through it). It has a puzzle mode, where you must eliminate all the bubbles in a frame before they descend to the floor, and it has a vs. mode, where you must eliminate bubbles until the bubbles reach the floor on either your side of the screen or your opponent’s side of the screen. Being an arcade game, it has a parabolic difficulty curve. The first few levels are fun and easily beaten, but the difficulty shoots through the roof about halfway through each mode. The game can be beaten, though, with a little practice, and I was pretty OK at Bust-a-Move back in the ‘90s...Finally, the game stars Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble, and the character animations are as darling as the soundtrack is ridiculous. Recommended.
- Markies
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 1415
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:29 pm
- Location: St. Louis, Missouri
- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2020
Markies' Games Beat List Of 2020!
*Denotes Replay For Completion*
1. Pikmin 2 (GCN)
2. Banjo-Tooie (N64)
3. Contra: Hard Corps (GEN)
4. Super Baseball Simulator 1,000 (SNES)
5. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers 2 (NES)
6. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection (PS2)
I beat Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection on the Sony Playstation 2 this evening!
Every two weeks, my friend and I go up to a Pinball Arcade about an hour away. We have been going there for several years as he loves Pinball. He owns several machines and loves to work on them. I don't think I will ever own one, but I love to play on them along with the different arcade machines. We really started getting back into them when we discovered the Pinball Hall of Fame video game series. He owns every single one of them and that used to be a go to staple for us. That used to be our game that we would play as the final game of the night. Well, I wanted the game for myself and they are incredibly cheap, so I bought the first one many, many years ago. Finally, thanks to the Random Fortune Cookie, I was finally able to play through it.
The game has been released on multiple platforms with the Gottlieb Collection and the Williams Collection. Unfortunately, I would say the re-release on the Wii is probably the best version of the Gottlieb Collection. It was incredibly hard to go back to the original after the Wii version being our norm for so many years. The Wii version has more tables and the flippers have more power to them. It's incredibly hard to unlock anything in the PS2 version when your shots can't even reach the entire table.
With that in mind, it was still fun to be able to play the games for myself. Every one is incredibly playable and the flipper issue wasn't too bad once you got used to it. The game is rather short with only 7 tables, so the excitement wears off rather quickly. However, I was able to do surprisingly well on some of the tables. The two that I did everything were the two tables I hated the most in the collection, so it just shows that anything can happen when you come up to a Pinball table.
Overall, I would say the Wii versions of Gottlieb and Williams Collection are the ones to get. They both play fantastic as the Wii-mote and Nunchuck are perfect for mimicking flippers. However, if you have to go back and play the original release, prepare for a slower and more methodical game of Pinball. Though, to be honest, these are probably the best Pinball games ever released and to be able to play actual tables that feel like the real thing, it is nothing sort of impressive. If you have any love for Pinball whatsoever, these Hall of Fame collections are a must own!
*Denotes Replay For Completion*
1. Pikmin 2 (GCN)
2. Banjo-Tooie (N64)
3. Contra: Hard Corps (GEN)
4. Super Baseball Simulator 1,000 (SNES)
5. Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers 2 (NES)
6. Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection (PS2)
I beat Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection on the Sony Playstation 2 this evening!
Every two weeks, my friend and I go up to a Pinball Arcade about an hour away. We have been going there for several years as he loves Pinball. He owns several machines and loves to work on them. I don't think I will ever own one, but I love to play on them along with the different arcade machines. We really started getting back into them when we discovered the Pinball Hall of Fame video game series. He owns every single one of them and that used to be a go to staple for us. That used to be our game that we would play as the final game of the night. Well, I wanted the game for myself and they are incredibly cheap, so I bought the first one many, many years ago. Finally, thanks to the Random Fortune Cookie, I was finally able to play through it.
The game has been released on multiple platforms with the Gottlieb Collection and the Williams Collection. Unfortunately, I would say the re-release on the Wii is probably the best version of the Gottlieb Collection. It was incredibly hard to go back to the original after the Wii version being our norm for so many years. The Wii version has more tables and the flippers have more power to them. It's incredibly hard to unlock anything in the PS2 version when your shots can't even reach the entire table.
With that in mind, it was still fun to be able to play the games for myself. Every one is incredibly playable and the flipper issue wasn't too bad once you got used to it. The game is rather short with only 7 tables, so the excitement wears off rather quickly. However, I was able to do surprisingly well on some of the tables. The two that I did everything were the two tables I hated the most in the collection, so it just shows that anything can happen when you come up to a Pinball table.
Overall, I would say the Wii versions of Gottlieb and Williams Collection are the ones to get. They both play fantastic as the Wii-mote and Nunchuck are perfect for mimicking flippers. However, if you have to go back and play the original release, prepare for a slower and more methodical game of Pinball. Though, to be honest, these are probably the best Pinball games ever released and to be able to play actual tables that feel like the real thing, it is nothing sort of impressive. If you have any love for Pinball whatsoever, these Hall of Fame collections are a must own!
Re: Games Beaten 2020
Managed to finish something not FFXI-related, as I do occasionally. Maybe I'll manage more this year.
Anyway, started this last year, and wanted to finish it before starting a different game on the Xbox.
Code Vein
Code Vein is easily billed as “Anime Souls”, and certainly lives up to that, for better or worse. While certainly not just a skinned version of Dark Souls, it felt to me like the team was free to copy or use assets from those other Bandai Namco published titles. Rather than use Fromsoft’s engine though, Code Vein is Unreal 4 based, so it has different quirks. Still, the feel of it all skews closer to the Dark Souls games than other Souls-likes out there. With Fromsoft moving on from that template, it’s hard not to feel like Bandai Namco might be hoping for this game (maybe series?) to pick up where they left off, given how well it sold.
To start off with, things I wasn’t as keen on -
While I could contrast how Code Vein approaches its narrative versus how Fromsoft’s games did, to be fair, it’s just a different approach. Having a more straightforward narrative can be great! Code Vein’s is just...not. It’d be one thing if it were just tropey schlock. It’s an anime style game, so that’ll be the case more often than not. Where Code Vein really started to grate on me though, is how much it tries to just keep shoveling that at the player and slowing things down. Quite a lot of story is told via “recovered” memories that are presented as static scenes that you walk between. Walk to this point, listen to voiceover, path to the next point opens up, walk that way, etc. Areas are all using the same monochromatic textures and sad music, revealing yet another tragic backstory/etc.
But you have to do it. Not just to get the better endings or whatever, but to open up new traits/abilities to learn. Skippable? Sort of. You can skip the cutscene once you’re in it, but that won’t save you from the loading screens, which get annoying if you have a bunch of memory shards to convert or something.
Lessons like “show, don’t tell”, or “less is more” were likely taught on days that the writers skipped school. Presumably to draw boobs.
Mechanically, I felt like the game tended to lean towards being cheap. Bosses having absolutely brutal moves with little in the way of wind-up or tells is common, and it felt to me like the game was a lot less forgiving about iframing through stuff than other games in the genre. Could just be me ultimately not needing to learn the fights as well, but it just didn’t seem to be as tuned as Fromesoft’s efforts here.
I also didn’t feel like the actual levels tended to be very interesting. They did do the standard looping back around interconnected stuff decently well, but just aren’t memorable. While part of the plot, basically everything is ruined cityscape, just possibly covered in ice/fire/desert/etc. Unless it’s a massive cathedral lookin’ thing.
Makes for some expansive-yet-forgettable labyrinths to work through.
Where Code Vein excels is in customization. It starts out with a robust character creator, where you can craft both the physical look for your character, and the majority of their clothes - the only “armor” that you swap out is basically a coat. This also remains available to you for the entirety of the game, so you can continue to craft your look or incorporate new clothes as they appear (it seemed like seasonal or tie-in clothes would be added from time to time).
This level of customization extends to combat mechanics and builds as well. One of the ways the player character is “special” is that they can learn more than one job class (Blood Code), which are found/rewarded as you progress through the game (around 40). Each of those has traits and abilities to unlock and master (well over 150 in all). There are pros and cons of them, and some limits to what can be set up, but they’re things you can just swap around at will.
It’s probably one of, if not the, most flexible job systems in a game like this. A build in a Dark Souls game is more of an investment, and respeccing is somewhat limited in a playthrough. Code Vein lets you change it all up on a whim, even on the fly. I think it’s a general improvement on the Souls games, since you don’t end up “stuck” with an unsuitable build.
Code Vein is also designed around having an NPC follower for basically the entire game. One that, on top of actually helping do real damage/support/tank, can revive you with one of their healing items. You can opt to not bring one and make things harder, but personally I think the designers allow themselves to get away with cheapness by having it.
Additionally, the game is very much designed around using those various abilities tied to Blood Codes. Similar in a way to the magic systems in previous games, only, Code Vein has you refill the charges needed for them via combat, with “backstabs” refilling the gauge entirely. Heavily utilizing them seemed to be another thing that helped balance things out.
There are still points that the game can be pretty tough, but being able to retool your build for a fight, and then have help/free revivals/technically infinite buffs/etc does serve to make a lot of it a bit easier going.
Ultimately, it’s a solid B-tier Soulslike that’s easy to recommend for folks looking for more Dark Souls...and just as readily ignored if that’s not your thing. The aesthetics are decently done, but the story itself isn't worth enduring mechanics you don't like.
Anyway, started this last year, and wanted to finish it before starting a different game on the Xbox.
Code Vein
Code Vein is easily billed as “Anime Souls”, and certainly lives up to that, for better or worse. While certainly not just a skinned version of Dark Souls, it felt to me like the team was free to copy or use assets from those other Bandai Namco published titles. Rather than use Fromsoft’s engine though, Code Vein is Unreal 4 based, so it has different quirks. Still, the feel of it all skews closer to the Dark Souls games than other Souls-likes out there. With Fromsoft moving on from that template, it’s hard not to feel like Bandai Namco might be hoping for this game (maybe series?) to pick up where they left off, given how well it sold.
To start off with, things I wasn’t as keen on -
While I could contrast how Code Vein approaches its narrative versus how Fromsoft’s games did, to be fair, it’s just a different approach. Having a more straightforward narrative can be great! Code Vein’s is just...not. It’d be one thing if it were just tropey schlock. It’s an anime style game, so that’ll be the case more often than not. Where Code Vein really started to grate on me though, is how much it tries to just keep shoveling that at the player and slowing things down. Quite a lot of story is told via “recovered” memories that are presented as static scenes that you walk between. Walk to this point, listen to voiceover, path to the next point opens up, walk that way, etc. Areas are all using the same monochromatic textures and sad music, revealing yet another tragic backstory/etc.
But you have to do it. Not just to get the better endings or whatever, but to open up new traits/abilities to learn. Skippable? Sort of. You can skip the cutscene once you’re in it, but that won’t save you from the loading screens, which get annoying if you have a bunch of memory shards to convert or something.
Lessons like “show, don’t tell”, or “less is more” were likely taught on days that the writers skipped school. Presumably to draw boobs.
Mechanically, I felt like the game tended to lean towards being cheap. Bosses having absolutely brutal moves with little in the way of wind-up or tells is common, and it felt to me like the game was a lot less forgiving about iframing through stuff than other games in the genre. Could just be me ultimately not needing to learn the fights as well, but it just didn’t seem to be as tuned as Fromesoft’s efforts here.
I also didn’t feel like the actual levels tended to be very interesting. They did do the standard looping back around interconnected stuff decently well, but just aren’t memorable. While part of the plot, basically everything is ruined cityscape, just possibly covered in ice/fire/desert/etc. Unless it’s a massive cathedral lookin’ thing.
Makes for some expansive-yet-forgettable labyrinths to work through.
Where Code Vein excels is in customization. It starts out with a robust character creator, where you can craft both the physical look for your character, and the majority of their clothes - the only “armor” that you swap out is basically a coat. This also remains available to you for the entirety of the game, so you can continue to craft your look or incorporate new clothes as they appear (it seemed like seasonal or tie-in clothes would be added from time to time).
This level of customization extends to combat mechanics and builds as well. One of the ways the player character is “special” is that they can learn more than one job class (Blood Code), which are found/rewarded as you progress through the game (around 40). Each of those has traits and abilities to unlock and master (well over 150 in all). There are pros and cons of them, and some limits to what can be set up, but they’re things you can just swap around at will.
It’s probably one of, if not the, most flexible job systems in a game like this. A build in a Dark Souls game is more of an investment, and respeccing is somewhat limited in a playthrough. Code Vein lets you change it all up on a whim, even on the fly. I think it’s a general improvement on the Souls games, since you don’t end up “stuck” with an unsuitable build.
Code Vein is also designed around having an NPC follower for basically the entire game. One that, on top of actually helping do real damage/support/tank, can revive you with one of their healing items. You can opt to not bring one and make things harder, but personally I think the designers allow themselves to get away with cheapness by having it.
Additionally, the game is very much designed around using those various abilities tied to Blood Codes. Similar in a way to the magic systems in previous games, only, Code Vein has you refill the charges needed for them via combat, with “backstabs” refilling the gauge entirely. Heavily utilizing them seemed to be another thing that helped balance things out.
There are still points that the game can be pretty tough, but being able to retool your build for a fight, and then have help/free revivals/technically infinite buffs/etc does serve to make a lot of it a bit easier going.
Ultimately, it’s a solid B-tier Soulslike that’s easy to recommend for folks looking for more Dark Souls...and just as readily ignored if that’s not your thing. The aesthetics are decently done, but the story itself isn't worth enduring mechanics you don't like.
- prfsnl_gmr
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 12202
- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:26 pm
- Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Re: Games Beaten 2020
1. Her Story (iOS)
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
Transformers Cybertron Adventures Is a rail shooter for the Wii based on the Transformers franchise (that my eight-year-old son currently adores). You play as both Autobots and Decepticons, allowing you to experience the game’s story from two perspectives, and the gameplay alternates between short driving segments (which play like Chase HQ), short flying segments (which play like Star Fox), and short cover shooting segments (which play like Time Crisis). The game got terrible reviews on release, receiving harsh criticism for its bland graphics, short length, and repetitive, uninspired gameplay. All of those criticisms are valid. (All of the robots play exactly the same. You’d think Megatron would have a more powerful cannon than, say, Bumblebee, but you’d be wrong...) That said, the game has a very child-friendly co-op mode, and my son and I had a really good time playing through it. Accordingly, while I can’t really recommend the game to most people, I can say that it’s a good, short, child-friendly rail-shooting experience that will appeal to people looking for something to play with a less experienced gamer.
2. Elminage Original (3DS)
3. Legend of Grimrock (iOS)
4. Silent Bomber (PS1)
5. Crash Bandicoot (PS1)
6. Bust-a-Move 2 Arcade Edition (PS1)
7. Transformers Cybertron Adventures (Wii)
Transformers Cybertron Adventures Is a rail shooter for the Wii based on the Transformers franchise (that my eight-year-old son currently adores). You play as both Autobots and Decepticons, allowing you to experience the game’s story from two perspectives, and the gameplay alternates between short driving segments (which play like Chase HQ), short flying segments (which play like Star Fox), and short cover shooting segments (which play like Time Crisis). The game got terrible reviews on release, receiving harsh criticism for its bland graphics, short length, and repetitive, uninspired gameplay. All of those criticisms are valid. (All of the robots play exactly the same. You’d think Megatron would have a more powerful cannon than, say, Bumblebee, but you’d be wrong...) That said, the game has a very child-friendly co-op mode, and my son and I had a really good time playing through it. Accordingly, while I can’t really recommend the game to most people, I can say that it’s a good, short, child-friendly rail-shooting experience that will appeal to people looking for something to play with a less experienced gamer.
- BoneSnapDeez
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 20118
- Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 1:08 pm
- Location: Maine
Re: Games Beaten 2020
1. ACA NeoGeo: Cyber-Lip (Switch eShop)
2. Pengo (Atari 2600)
3. Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii)
4. Knights of Xentar (PC)
5. Hoshi o Sagashite... (Mark III)
6. Dead Zone (Famicom Disk System)
7. Samurai Sword (Famicom Disk System)
8. High School! Kimengumi (Mark III)
9. Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (NES)
10. Sindbad Mystery (SG-1000)
11. Steins;Gate (Vita)
12. Champion Boxing (SG-1000)
13. Squidlit (Switch eShop)
Steins;Gate
Champion Boxing
Squidlit
2. Pengo (Atari 2600)
3. Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii)
4. Knights of Xentar (PC)
5. Hoshi o Sagashite... (Mark III)
6. Dead Zone (Famicom Disk System)
7. Samurai Sword (Famicom Disk System)
8. High School! Kimengumi (Mark III)
9. Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (NES)
10. Sindbad Mystery (SG-1000)
11. Steins;Gate (Vita)
12. Champion Boxing (SG-1000)
13. Squidlit (Switch eShop)
Steins;Gate
Champion Boxing
Squidlit
- PartridgeSenpai
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 2991
- Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 9:27 am
- Location: Northern Japan
Re: Games Beaten 2020
Partridge Senpai's 2020 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019
* indicates a repeat
1. Invisigun Reloaded (Switch)
2. Human: Fall Flat (Switch)
3. Shantae: The Pirate's Curse (3DS)
4. Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (PC)
5. Splatterhouse (PS3) *
6. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
7. Tokyo Jungle (PS3)
8. Pictobits (DSiWare)
9. Puzzle Quest: The Legend Reborn (Switch)
10. WarioWare Gold (3DS)
11. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii)
12. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (Xbone)
13. Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in North Point (Xbone)
Technically a part of the Definitive Edition, but it was originally sold as an additional bit of DLC, so I'm reviewing it as such (as we usually do here). It's fairly short, but it's a fun, campy bit of spooky fun that took me about 4-ish hours to do all the content in.
Nightmare in North Point is a side story that seems to sorta take place either near the end or after the end of the main game's story, but that has little to no bearing on the actual plot of either. Wei Shen is on a date with Not Ping on the night of the Festival of Hungry Ghosts (basically the dead who were never buried, so who are doomed to wander hell forever with a never-ending hunger). Not Ping is captured by a mysterious ghostly assailant who Wei is totally incapable of hurting, and it's slowly revealed that not only have all of the citizen of North Point been replaced with ghastly possessed corpses, but Jiang Shi (hopping vampire/zombies) and Yaoguai (demonseses) have also come to wreak havoc! With the help of Old Salty Crab and your until-recently-dead friend Vincent, Wei sets out to save his girl and his city from a vengeful ghost!
The story is, much like the Zodiac Tournament small DLC in the main game, a very campy fare that is somewhat of an homage to Hong Kong movies of old, just this time horror films instead of action films. The paper talismans you stick on the Jiang Shi to kill them read "巧克力煙肉", which means "chocolate bacon", and the ending to it all is a Thriller reference. Not Ping and especially Old Salty Crab were already some of the most fun side characters in the main game, and the dead enemies of Wei who get revived for it are also a fun little throwback. It doesn't take itself seriously at all, which fits its fairly short run time quite well.
Mechanically, the main differences are fairly slim. The DLC only takes place in North Point, the starting area of the game (which is also the best designed, so no problem there, personally), it's always night time, there are no civilians or police, and you can't even earn money, really. The possessed civilians will randomly attack you as you walk/drive around, and Jiang Shi are very tough compared to normal baddies, and given that the main game only has like 3 (technically more like 4) enemy types, it's pretty cool this DLC has two completely new ones. Jiang Shi can grab you for a really horrible melee attack that'll drain your health like no one's business, so you need to quickly press the counter button once they get you if you don't wanna say goodbye to a quarter or even half of your health. Yaoguai start out a lot scarier than they end up being, as they can teleport around you to get out of the way of your attacks. The missions themselves aren't that different from anything in the main game, and the most significant new bit of content are the new enemy types, if I were to really boil it down.
Verdict: Recommended. If you have the Definitive Edition of Sleeping Dogs like I do, then this is a no-brainer to check out if you enjoyed the main game. It's more Sleeping Dogs, as fun as it always was, with that same silly sense of humor to it. If you were picking up the DLC by itself, the base price of $7 is pretty fair, I'd say, at least compared to the base game's normal $60 price. I was thinking it'd be like $15 or at least $10, but it's nice to see a DLC pack that has no delusions about how much content it actually has and is priced accordingly.
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019
* indicates a repeat
1. Invisigun Reloaded (Switch)
2. Human: Fall Flat (Switch)
3. Shantae: The Pirate's Curse (3DS)
4. Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (PC)
5. Splatterhouse (PS3) *
6. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
7. Tokyo Jungle (PS3)
8. Pictobits (DSiWare)
9. Puzzle Quest: The Legend Reborn (Switch)
10. WarioWare Gold (3DS)
11. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii)
12. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (Xbone)
13. Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in North Point (Xbone)
Technically a part of the Definitive Edition, but it was originally sold as an additional bit of DLC, so I'm reviewing it as such (as we usually do here). It's fairly short, but it's a fun, campy bit of spooky fun that took me about 4-ish hours to do all the content in.
Nightmare in North Point is a side story that seems to sorta take place either near the end or after the end of the main game's story, but that has little to no bearing on the actual plot of either. Wei Shen is on a date with Not Ping on the night of the Festival of Hungry Ghosts (basically the dead who were never buried, so who are doomed to wander hell forever with a never-ending hunger). Not Ping is captured by a mysterious ghostly assailant who Wei is totally incapable of hurting, and it's slowly revealed that not only have all of the citizen of North Point been replaced with ghastly possessed corpses, but Jiang Shi (hopping vampire/zombies) and Yaoguai (demonseses) have also come to wreak havoc! With the help of Old Salty Crab and your until-recently-dead friend Vincent, Wei sets out to save his girl and his city from a vengeful ghost!
The story is, much like the Zodiac Tournament small DLC in the main game, a very campy fare that is somewhat of an homage to Hong Kong movies of old, just this time horror films instead of action films. The paper talismans you stick on the Jiang Shi to kill them read "巧克力煙肉", which means "chocolate bacon", and the ending to it all is a Thriller reference. Not Ping and especially Old Salty Crab were already some of the most fun side characters in the main game, and the dead enemies of Wei who get revived for it are also a fun little throwback. It doesn't take itself seriously at all, which fits its fairly short run time quite well.
Mechanically, the main differences are fairly slim. The DLC only takes place in North Point, the starting area of the game (which is also the best designed, so no problem there, personally), it's always night time, there are no civilians or police, and you can't even earn money, really. The possessed civilians will randomly attack you as you walk/drive around, and Jiang Shi are very tough compared to normal baddies, and given that the main game only has like 3 (technically more like 4) enemy types, it's pretty cool this DLC has two completely new ones. Jiang Shi can grab you for a really horrible melee attack that'll drain your health like no one's business, so you need to quickly press the counter button once they get you if you don't wanna say goodbye to a quarter or even half of your health. Yaoguai start out a lot scarier than they end up being, as they can teleport around you to get out of the way of your attacks. The missions themselves aren't that different from anything in the main game, and the most significant new bit of content are the new enemy types, if I were to really boil it down.
Verdict: Recommended. If you have the Definitive Edition of Sleeping Dogs like I do, then this is a no-brainer to check out if you enjoyed the main game. It's more Sleeping Dogs, as fun as it always was, with that same silly sense of humor to it. If you were picking up the DLC by itself, the base price of $7 is pretty fair, I'd say, at least compared to the base game's normal $60 price. I was thinking it'd be like $15 or at least $10, but it's nice to see a DLC pack that has no delusions about how much content it actually has and is priced accordingly.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
- PartridgeSenpai
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 2991
- Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 9:27 am
- Location: Northern Japan
Re: Games Beaten 2020
Partridge Senpai's 2020 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019
* indicates a repeat
1. Invisigun Reloaded (Switch)
2. Human: Fall Flat (Switch)
3. Shantae: The Pirate's Curse (3DS)
4. Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (PC)
5. Splatterhouse (PS3) *
6. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
7. Tokyo Jungle (PS3)
8. Pictobits (DSiWare)
9. Puzzle Quest: The Legend Reborn (Switch)
10. WarioWare Gold (3DS)
11. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii)
12. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (Xbone)
13. Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in North Point (Xbone)
14. Sleeping Dogs: Year of the Snake (Xbone)
The final bit of expansion DLC for Sleeping Dogs that I also accessed via the Definitive Edition extras. Similar to Nightmare in North Point, it's a little extra content that isn't really connected to the overall plot super importantly. It's just a little more Sleeping Dogs for you if you hadn't quite had your fill yet~. It took me around 4 or 5 hours to do everything in it.
Year of the Snake actually does canonically take place after the main story. Wei Shen is on thin ice with his superiors after the giant fiasco that took place in the main game, and now he's a beat cop patrolling the streets. That is, until he accidentally uncovers a cult's plans to blow up Hong Kong in an effort to usher in a doomsday prophecy. Officer Wei is once again called into action to help save Hong Kong~. The story is once again nothing special, and it's a little more tame than even Nightmare in North Point was, and that was pretty tame and bare bones.
In both mechanics and story, it feels like the Cop Job side-content from the main game but spread out into 4-5 hours. The missions themselves are actually more numerous and varied than the ones in Nightmare, but they don't feel like anything you haven't done before, for the most part. The most interesting thing about it is that you're always a cop now, no undercover stuff. That being the case, you now have special cop stuff like the ability to arrest people or tazer them (basically special melee combat options). It gives the way you play the game a neat new framing, but nothing as interesting or silly as Nightmare was. I know that the canceled sequel for Sleeping Dogs was going to have Wei as a cop working with a criminal, so perhaps this was originally intended as a setup for that idea of a more cop-stuff-focused mission structure.
Verdict: Recommended. For another $7, this also is a pretty good value proposition. It feels the least movie-like out of the 3 stories, but it also has a reasonably more large amount of content to do compared to Nightmare, so it's hard for me to recommend one over the other if only could pick one. It's a fine addition to the Definitive Edition's content, and a well-priced bit of add-on content if you only have the base game.
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019
* indicates a repeat
1. Invisigun Reloaded (Switch)
2. Human: Fall Flat (Switch)
3. Shantae: The Pirate's Curse (3DS)
4. Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (PC)
5. Splatterhouse (PS3) *
6. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
7. Tokyo Jungle (PS3)
8. Pictobits (DSiWare)
9. Puzzle Quest: The Legend Reborn (Switch)
10. WarioWare Gold (3DS)
11. Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii)
12. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (Xbone)
13. Sleeping Dogs: Nightmare in North Point (Xbone)
14. Sleeping Dogs: Year of the Snake (Xbone)
The final bit of expansion DLC for Sleeping Dogs that I also accessed via the Definitive Edition extras. Similar to Nightmare in North Point, it's a little extra content that isn't really connected to the overall plot super importantly. It's just a little more Sleeping Dogs for you if you hadn't quite had your fill yet~. It took me around 4 or 5 hours to do everything in it.
Year of the Snake actually does canonically take place after the main story. Wei Shen is on thin ice with his superiors after the giant fiasco that took place in the main game, and now he's a beat cop patrolling the streets. That is, until he accidentally uncovers a cult's plans to blow up Hong Kong in an effort to usher in a doomsday prophecy. Officer Wei is once again called into action to help save Hong Kong~. The story is once again nothing special, and it's a little more tame than even Nightmare in North Point was, and that was pretty tame and bare bones.
In both mechanics and story, it feels like the Cop Job side-content from the main game but spread out into 4-5 hours. The missions themselves are actually more numerous and varied than the ones in Nightmare, but they don't feel like anything you haven't done before, for the most part. The most interesting thing about it is that you're always a cop now, no undercover stuff. That being the case, you now have special cop stuff like the ability to arrest people or tazer them (basically special melee combat options). It gives the way you play the game a neat new framing, but nothing as interesting or silly as Nightmare was. I know that the canceled sequel for Sleeping Dogs was going to have Wei as a cop working with a criminal, so perhaps this was originally intended as a setup for that idea of a more cop-stuff-focused mission structure.
Verdict: Recommended. For another $7, this also is a pretty good value proposition. It feels the least movie-like out of the 3 stories, but it also has a reasonably more large amount of content to do compared to Nightmare, so it's hard for me to recommend one over the other if only could pick one. It's a fine addition to the Definitive Edition's content, and a well-priced bit of add-on content if you only have the base game.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
Re: Games Beaten 2020
1. Elite Dangerous - PC
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
The Second Encounter is an expansion for Serious Sam that adds another twelve levels of mayhem (which makes it 3/4 the size of the original). Unfortunately, it suffers from FPS expansion syndrome; the story is the standard "hero was waylaid at the end of the previous game to excuse this game existing" and the difficulty is cranked up in a bad way. But on balance, the environmental design is more varied compared to the original. So if you're looking for more Serious Sam it's not a bad way to go.
The plot is that the spaceship Sam was taking at the end of The First Encounter gets hit by the Croteam Truck, or something. Like, they aren't even pretending there's a real reason for it. You crash land back on Earth and need to hop through time portals until you reach the right time when another spaceship can be found. So you run through Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, and Medieval Europe. This means you get to see more interesting things than just fifteen levels of Egypt like the first game. You still have a mixture of huge outside spaces and cramped inside spaces. The level designers ended up tossing in more gimmicks and traps; many of the combat areas will have something to break up the standard "keep circle strafing while hordes spawn".
The game adds in a handful of new weapons, that fill out alternates for every other slot of the original game, plus one new slot. You get a chainsaw as a new melee weapon (which is great for the frog swarms), a chargeable grenade launcher (which is basically rocket launcher number two in terms of the damage profile), a flamethrower (which does immediate damage and damage over time, good for Kleer Skeletons and weak enemies to perma stun them), a sniper rifle (which does a bit more than a rocket launcher, one shotting bulls, and great on the big areas), and a special weapon called the Serious Bomb; you don't get many of these, and they don't have ammo drop in backpacks, but they wipe out every non-boss enemy on the map that's spawned. You'll need these, because some of the arenas are just nasty; too many enemies, not enough ammo, and stretched out too far.
In fact, that was my biggest complaint; most of the arenas have enemy spawns spaced out such that your explosive weapons are only good on the tough enemies that need a lot of damage right away; their aoe is useless and only gets you killed if one gets too close. It's the biggest thing that cuts into the fun; you get healed up right before, then come out nearly dead because there wasn't an option to not take damage through skillful play. You're just going to take a ton of damage because shit is coming at you from every direction with no good way to manage it. And while that's fine now and then, when it becomes the way you do it every time it doesn't feel super great.
Still, the core gameplay is still solid. And it's nice to see more varied environments, both in terms of color palette and architecture. The game also resets your weapons every time you switch time zones, so it can have a more accelerated weapon curve. This keeps you from spending too long at the basic weapon level. It just has those standard FPS expansion pitfalls. If you're used to them then you can push past it.
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
The Second Encounter is an expansion for Serious Sam that adds another twelve levels of mayhem (which makes it 3/4 the size of the original). Unfortunately, it suffers from FPS expansion syndrome; the story is the standard "hero was waylaid at the end of the previous game to excuse this game existing" and the difficulty is cranked up in a bad way. But on balance, the environmental design is more varied compared to the original. So if you're looking for more Serious Sam it's not a bad way to go.
The plot is that the spaceship Sam was taking at the end of The First Encounter gets hit by the Croteam Truck, or something. Like, they aren't even pretending there's a real reason for it. You crash land back on Earth and need to hop through time portals until you reach the right time when another spaceship can be found. So you run through Mesoamerica, Mesopotamia, and Medieval Europe. This means you get to see more interesting things than just fifteen levels of Egypt like the first game. You still have a mixture of huge outside spaces and cramped inside spaces. The level designers ended up tossing in more gimmicks and traps; many of the combat areas will have something to break up the standard "keep circle strafing while hordes spawn".
The game adds in a handful of new weapons, that fill out alternates for every other slot of the original game, plus one new slot. You get a chainsaw as a new melee weapon (which is great for the frog swarms), a chargeable grenade launcher (which is basically rocket launcher number two in terms of the damage profile), a flamethrower (which does immediate damage and damage over time, good for Kleer Skeletons and weak enemies to perma stun them), a sniper rifle (which does a bit more than a rocket launcher, one shotting bulls, and great on the big areas), and a special weapon called the Serious Bomb; you don't get many of these, and they don't have ammo drop in backpacks, but they wipe out every non-boss enemy on the map that's spawned. You'll need these, because some of the arenas are just nasty; too many enemies, not enough ammo, and stretched out too far.
In fact, that was my biggest complaint; most of the arenas have enemy spawns spaced out such that your explosive weapons are only good on the tough enemies that need a lot of damage right away; their aoe is useless and only gets you killed if one gets too close. It's the biggest thing that cuts into the fun; you get healed up right before, then come out nearly dead because there wasn't an option to not take damage through skillful play. You're just going to take a ton of damage because shit is coming at you from every direction with no good way to manage it. And while that's fine now and then, when it becomes the way you do it every time it doesn't feel super great.
Still, the core gameplay is still solid. And it's nice to see more varied environments, both in terms of color palette and architecture. The game also resets your weapons every time you switch time zones, so it can have a more accelerated weapon curve. This keeps you from spending too long at the basic weapon level. It just has those standard FPS expansion pitfalls. If you're used to them then you can push past it.
Re: Games Beaten 2020
1. Elite Dangerous - PC
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
9. Descent II - PC
After Descent did well a sequel was inevitable and Descent II delivers. It's the perfect sort of sequel; it iterates on what came before, improves on things that weren't the greatest, and puts in a couple of boss fights that are awful to distract you from the four good boss fights. Wait, maybe that last one wasn't perfect for a sequel.
The story is that the PTMC that hired you in Descent activates a retainer clause to force you to go do more mine 'sploding in their outer colonies outside the solar system, and they equip you with a warp core so you can make the journey. This then sets up the new layout; six groups of four missions each, with a boss fight at the end and each group on a different planet (though the last planet is only three missions, then the fourth mission is on a new body for reasons that make sense in the end cutscene). You can definitely tell that the game was not built with shareware in mind like the first game was (which had a boss at the end of the shareware levels, then a final boss with nothing in between).
Being set on different planets gave the level designers more freedom to do interesting terrain. You have things like waterfalls (both water and lava) which can be flown through if there's an opening behind them as well as general different biomes; a green one with water, an ice one, a deserty one, a lava one, a basic mine like you saw before, and a final more abstract one. The level designers also showed how well they've honed their craft, as each of the levels, while maze like, are still fairly easy to navigate. Flying around is a joy.
The game completely swaps out all the enemies, though a handful are obvious analogs of ones from the first game. The big thing is that enemies have much more advanced AI; many of them will do things like try to keep distance, or fast harass, or run away and go find a bigger guy to help. This culminates in the Thief Bot, which is the worst thing ever created for a video game; fast as hell, runs around the level, steals your shit when your back is turned. The AI around it is a triumph, but that triumph leads to utter frustration, and three levels in I turned it off in my source port (and I recommend you do to; the thing is majorly toned down in the sequel as I understand it). The game also balances the enemies a lot better; no Class 1 Driller shenanigans here. The enemy danger curve is well plotted, and the final enemies that CAN wipe you out when you take a bad corner feel like they earn that status, and taking a death here or there isn't too bad.
The weapons have been expanded such that every primary now has an alternate primary that's basically a better version. So the lasers have super lasers, gatling has gauss (which fires slower but explosive projectiles), spread has helix (more spread), plasma has phoenix (bouncing plasma), and fusion has omega (omg close range death). On the missile side you again see a pattern of upgrades to existing. Concussion is mated with flash (concussion that flashbangs and does work on the AI), homing with guided (you can manually steer, great for scouting, and can be set to regular homing afterwards), smart with mercury (ultra fast and high damage), and titan with earthshaker (even MORE damage and shakes the screen). Unfortunately, the nature of the upgrades means that you really only about two primary weapons; the gauss and whatever your favorite energy one is (helix is probably best, though a case can be made for quad supers).
The boss fights are fleshed out a bit better compared to the original game. The first couple bosses are fairly straightforward, but the next two are only vulnerable to missiles and projectile weapons. The fifth is only vulnerable to energy, and the last boss can only be harmed on a glowing spot on his rear. They still have the cloak and teleport maneuver, which is just as obnoxious as before (as they have perfect reactions). For the most part the bosses are fine, but the fourth boss spams homing flash missiles, which utterly sucks, and the last boss spams earthshaker missiles (which home on you). And since he's only vulnerable on the rear it's a complete pain to deal with. I ended up having to death spam on him; grab a cloak, close range a big missile on the rear to kill myself, cloak drops, regrab the cloak so I reset the timer on cloak. It felt pretty dirty, but there really isn't a better way given his turn speed and teleport shittery.
Aside from a few hiccups Descent II is everything Descent was and more. I highly recommend it for fans of the original.
2. Soldier of Fortune - PC
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Defender of the Empire - PC
4. Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Enemies of the Empire - PC
5. Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power - PC
6. Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - PC
7. Phoenix Point - PC
8. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter - PC
9. Descent II - PC
After Descent did well a sequel was inevitable and Descent II delivers. It's the perfect sort of sequel; it iterates on what came before, improves on things that weren't the greatest, and puts in a couple of boss fights that are awful to distract you from the four good boss fights. Wait, maybe that last one wasn't perfect for a sequel.
The story is that the PTMC that hired you in Descent activates a retainer clause to force you to go do more mine 'sploding in their outer colonies outside the solar system, and they equip you with a warp core so you can make the journey. This then sets up the new layout; six groups of four missions each, with a boss fight at the end and each group on a different planet (though the last planet is only three missions, then the fourth mission is on a new body for reasons that make sense in the end cutscene). You can definitely tell that the game was not built with shareware in mind like the first game was (which had a boss at the end of the shareware levels, then a final boss with nothing in between).
Being set on different planets gave the level designers more freedom to do interesting terrain. You have things like waterfalls (both water and lava) which can be flown through if there's an opening behind them as well as general different biomes; a green one with water, an ice one, a deserty one, a lava one, a basic mine like you saw before, and a final more abstract one. The level designers also showed how well they've honed their craft, as each of the levels, while maze like, are still fairly easy to navigate. Flying around is a joy.
The game completely swaps out all the enemies, though a handful are obvious analogs of ones from the first game. The big thing is that enemies have much more advanced AI; many of them will do things like try to keep distance, or fast harass, or run away and go find a bigger guy to help. This culminates in the Thief Bot, which is the worst thing ever created for a video game; fast as hell, runs around the level, steals your shit when your back is turned. The AI around it is a triumph, but that triumph leads to utter frustration, and three levels in I turned it off in my source port (and I recommend you do to; the thing is majorly toned down in the sequel as I understand it). The game also balances the enemies a lot better; no Class 1 Driller shenanigans here. The enemy danger curve is well plotted, and the final enemies that CAN wipe you out when you take a bad corner feel like they earn that status, and taking a death here or there isn't too bad.
The weapons have been expanded such that every primary now has an alternate primary that's basically a better version. So the lasers have super lasers, gatling has gauss (which fires slower but explosive projectiles), spread has helix (more spread), plasma has phoenix (bouncing plasma), and fusion has omega (omg close range death). On the missile side you again see a pattern of upgrades to existing. Concussion is mated with flash (concussion that flashbangs and does work on the AI), homing with guided (you can manually steer, great for scouting, and can be set to regular homing afterwards), smart with mercury (ultra fast and high damage), and titan with earthshaker (even MORE damage and shakes the screen). Unfortunately, the nature of the upgrades means that you really only about two primary weapons; the gauss and whatever your favorite energy one is (helix is probably best, though a case can be made for quad supers).
The boss fights are fleshed out a bit better compared to the original game. The first couple bosses are fairly straightforward, but the next two are only vulnerable to missiles and projectile weapons. The fifth is only vulnerable to energy, and the last boss can only be harmed on a glowing spot on his rear. They still have the cloak and teleport maneuver, which is just as obnoxious as before (as they have perfect reactions). For the most part the bosses are fine, but the fourth boss spams homing flash missiles, which utterly sucks, and the last boss spams earthshaker missiles (which home on you). And since he's only vulnerable on the rear it's a complete pain to deal with. I ended up having to death spam on him; grab a cloak, close range a big missile on the rear to kill myself, cloak drops, regrab the cloak so I reset the timer on cloak. It felt pretty dirty, but there really isn't a better way given his turn speed and teleport shittery.
Aside from a few hiccups Descent II is everything Descent was and more. I highly recommend it for fans of the original.
Re: Games Beaten 2020
@Partridge: Sleeping Dogs is a lot of fun, I usually hate open world GTA style games but something about this game just hooked me.
@BoneSnap: I enjoyed squidlet as well, pretty fun, easy game to blow through for less than the cost of a value meal
@Prfsnl_gamer: despite the lukewarm review I will probably check out that transformers game since I have been collecting wii light gun shooters lately and didnt know that one existed
@isiola: Nice review of Code Vein, I almost bought it because of the cool visuals but then I read it was a souls like and ran away, I hate that style of game with a burning passion
@BoneSnap: I enjoyed squidlet as well, pretty fun, easy game to blow through for less than the cost of a value meal
@Prfsnl_gamer: despite the lukewarm review I will probably check out that transformers game since I have been collecting wii light gun shooters lately and didnt know that one existed
@isiola: Nice review of Code Vein, I almost bought it because of the cool visuals but then I read it was a souls like and ran away, I hate that style of game with a burning passion