Games Beaten 2016

[Ack]

1. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)

I'm still playing Payday 2 heavily right now, so as a result this is only the first game I have beaten this year. Still, it's practically an annual tradition of mine to run through Metal Slug in January at least once. I expect we'll be talking about this more in a few months. Also, I'm rusty as hell. Took 9 credits.

[ExedExes]

So, I've wanted to finish Battle of Olympus for years. And now I finally have. It's good, but it's not really anywhere near as good as Zelda II. For my money, of the Zelda II-styled triumvirate of it, Battle of Olympus, and Faxanadu, it's probably close to Faxanadu, but I think I prefer it as well. Although it's been years since I actually finished Faxanadu, so it could just be nostalgia talking.

Anyway, it's clear that BoO was heavily inspired by Zelda II, right down to the physics. And taking from that DNA makes it a pretty solid game, even if the maps get a bit confusing, and some of the dungeons (hello, Crete) are ridiculously complicated. It's pretty obtuse overall, and as someone else mentioned before, it's prone to huge difficulty spikes and also has several spots where you have to grind for money.

I'm glad I played it, but it will still be Zelda II that's first on the docket when I replay these games.

Oh, right, there is a great interview/article that Jeremy Parish did on the game, I highly recommend it.

You'll be seeing me and Battle of Olympus on this thread real soon. Got the Divine Sword the other night. I think a lot of our opinions are going to overlap. I also recommend the article.

[noiseredux]

1. The Match Of The Millennium (NGPC)

I've been playing this every night for most of the week, aiming for a 1CC. Finally, tonight, I did it. Every time I played I would switch up my characters. And that's what I love about this game - it is overloaded with a roster that I love using. My winning team was Terry, Chun-Li and Athena. But I played a lot with Morrigan, Mai and others. MOTM is in my opinion one of the finest portable fighting games ever made. Possibly the best. Probably the best.

[ExedExes]

1. *NEW* Flag to Flag - Dreamcast (January 12)

I thought Battle of Olympus would honestly be first on my list this year, NOPE! I didn't realize how close I was to finishing this one.

Flag to Flag was a Dreamcast racing game that was a launch title in North America, with a license from Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). It follows the 1998 CART season and also has all the CART drivers from that year.

I first played this on the demo disc that came with my Dreamcast and I was impressed by the graphics and overall presentation.

The best part about this game that set it apart from other racing games at the time was the control you had over the overall experience. You can make it as arcade or as simulation as you want. You were able to change the laps of each race (full length or a certain percentage), change the damage (realistic or not) even turn on or off cautions. You could also race with the real weather conditions that each race had that very day in 1998.

It was developed by ZOOM Inc, notable for Lagoon, Phalanx, and the Mister Mosquito series.

[Xeogred]

1. Sly 2 Band of Thieves HD (PS3)
2. Black (Xbox)

SHOOT THE CORE

Black lived up to the hype I've heard about it over all these years. I probably would have been all over this game had I played it back in the day. I think it came out late in the Xbox's life.

The downside to 6th gen era FPS's can sometimes be the bullet sponge enemies. Luckily Black dodges this and the combat was extremely satisfying and visceral. It reminded me a lot of Killzone, but perhaps better, with a dose of FEAR in there to an extent. The graphics and sound design were really top notch. You can only hold two guns like a lot of FPS's thesedays, but just about all of them were insanely powerful and you were always loaded with ammo.

I loved how simple the game was. With the exception of one cliche, night time forest stealthy encouraged level, I loved them all, and they were pretty straight forward but the level design and atmosphere was great. It's hilarious you don't even have a button for interacting with things, to open up occasional doors that led to secrets or other paths, you blast them with a damn shotgun. That's your dose of interaction. Beyond that, shoot everything. It's not quite like Serious Sam or arcadey arena shooters like that, but the emphasis is purely on the action, with excellent combat and pacing.

[ElkinFencer10]

I just finished reading through Harvest December on my 3DS. God awful translation (seriously, I think a high school intern translated it), but the story is cute and pretty engrossing if you can get past the numerous typos and translation errors.

[BoneSnapDeez]

"finished reading through"

lol

I'm gonna download that when I have a chance.

[Sarge]

1. The Match Of The Millennium (NGPC)

I've been playing this every night for most of the week, aiming for a 1CC. Finally, tonight, I did it. Every time I played I would switch up my characters. And that's what I love about this game - it is overloaded with a roster that I love using. My winning team was Terry, Chun-Li and Athena. But I played a lot with Morrigan, Mai and others. MOTM is in my opinion one of the finest portable fighting games ever made. Possibly the best. Probably the best.

Yep, it's a good one. I played the mess out of this one when I first got my NGPC. It's surprising how well they managed to get the controls to work given only two face buttons. I always tended to use Ken and Iori, and a random third.

[noiseredux]

Yep, it's a good one. I played the mess out of this one when I first got my NGPC. It's surprising how well they managed to get the controls to work given only two face buttons. I always tended to use Ken and Iori, and a random third.

when I first got a NGPC back in 2011, the two-button thing threw me off. I didn't really like the punches and kicks being pressure sensitive. But now it's second nature. It's really brilliant the way that SNK handled the shortcomings of the hardware.

[Fragems]

So absorbed with Fallout 4 that I probably won't be contributing to this list for a while . Got 60 hours in so far and I probably haven't touched more then 1/3rd of the content.