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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by BoneSnapDeez Wed May 29, 2019 8:04 am

prfsnl_gmr wrote:Atlantis is great. One of the Crown Jewels in the 2600 library. What criteria did you use to “beat” it?


I generally consult the YouTube Atari chroniclers to get a sense of what a "good" playthrough constitutes. Most specifically, World of Longplays.

Have you played Cosmic Ark? That one actually features a distinct number of a planets and aliens. I'm not very good at it though.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by prfsnl_gmr Wed May 29, 2019 9:27 am

I haven’t, actually. I own a copy, but I didn’t realize it is Atlantis’ sequel. I’ll have to give it a shot!
Flake
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by Flake Wed May 29, 2019 9:53 am

January Games:
Megaman (Switch)
Megaman 2 (Switch)
Megaman 3 (Switch)
Megaman 4 (Switch)
Megaman 5 (Switch)
Megaman 6 (Switch)
Megaman 7 (Switch)
Megaman 8 (Switch)
Megaman 9 (Switch)
Megaman 10 (Switch)
Kirby's Dreamland (Wii)
Time Spinner (PS4)

February Games:

Megaman Legends (PSTV)
The Misadventures of Tron Bonne (PSTV)
Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

March Games:

Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)
Mario Galaxy (Wii)

April

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS4)

May

Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (Switch)
Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (Switch)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4)
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (Switch)
Castlevania (Switch)
Dragonball Xenoverse 2 (Switch)
Sonic Forces (Switch)

What to say about Sonic Forces? Actually, I'm not sure! It's not horrible as the Internet says it is but it's definitely not the grand return to Sonic Generations or Sonic Colors that the developers were clearly hoping for.

There is a LOT to like. The story is unexpectedly engaging and starts on a shockingly dark note. There is some world building, a clear sense of the cast beyond the blue blur himself having agency and purpose (even if they aren't playable), and the music is not bad. Also - any time New Sonic and Old Sonic team up, it makes me happy. Also the levels are short, tidy affairs - perfect for speed running or revisiting to get red stars.

Where the game makes an unforced error, in my opinion, is in the Player Created Character. I don't really like the gameplay of the character and the game does a horrible job of sign posting when/where/how to really leverage the Wispon abilities. Narrative wise, the player created character becomes a complete Mary-Sue. In a story where Sonic is down and out and truly needs an ally to support him, I don't feel like a blank slate create-a-character either fills that role or properly allows me to project myself into that position. This game would have been so much better if it was instead a Sonic and Knuckles esque sequel - given Knuckles' role in the story, I was way more interested in seeing how Sonic might interact with the Red Guy instead.

All in all, Sonic Generations will continue to be my favorite 3D sonic game - but I had a lot of fun, enjoyed some neat songs, and will be happy to revisit this game at some point.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by dsheinem Wed May 29, 2019 10:09 pm

Games Beaten 2019

Kentucky Route Zero Act 1 - PC
All Our Asias - PC
Shape of the World - Switch
Hidden Folks - PC
Hyrule Warriors - Wii U
Onrush - PS4
Assassin's Creed Origins - X1
Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown -360
Metro Exodus - PS4
Split/Second - 360
Far Cry: New Dawn - PS4
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon - X1
Marvel vs Capcom Infinite - PS4
Rage - PC
Red Faction: Armageddon - 360 *new*
Momonga Pinball Adventure - Switch *new*

Total: 16


Previously: 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010


Armageddon is the follow up to Red Faction Guerilla, which was one of my favorite games of last generation. RFA ditches the open-world design that defined its predecessor for a corridor-based bug-shooter, and the results aren’t great. The game is fun for what it is, and certainly well made and competent...but the “fun” factor that pervaded Guerilla is almost entirely absent (as are most if the things that made that game so fun). A strange entry in an otherwise excellent series.

Momonga is like an easier version of something like Sonic Spinball, though it fails to approach that game’s greatness. Not a bad way to kill a couple of hours, but this isn’t a great example of the evolution of the pinball genre.
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by pook99 Thu May 30, 2019 10:36 am

1. Kung fu z (android)
2. Celeste
3. Dead Dungeon
4. Defender Faith
5. The Messenger
6. Eroico
7. Awesome Pea
8. Vosaria: lair of the forgotten
9. Vintage Hero
10. God of War (ps4)
11. Legendary Wings (nes)
12. Tiny Toobs Busters hidden treasure (genesis)
13. Johnny Rocket
14. Spider-man (ps4)
15. Ori and the blind forest
16. Rude bear resurrection
17. Shining Force (genesis)
18. Mega Man 5 (game boy)
19. Panzer Dragoon (saturn)
20. Shadow of the Tomb raider
21. The Painters apprentice
22. Tower 57
23. Dragons Lair (switch)
24. City of Heroes (openbor)
25. Callys Cave 4
26. Double Dragon (nes)
27. Duck Souls
28. Jumping joe and friends (switch)
29. Zombie Panic in Wonderland dx (switch)
30. Jackie Chans action kung fu (nes)
31. Strider X (openbor)
32. Daggerhood (switch)
33. Donkey Kong Country 2 (snes)
34. VOID
35. Ravva and the cyclops curse
36. Devil May Cry 5
37. Outrunner 3
38. Way of the passive fist
39. New Super mario bros deluxe(switch)
40. Mechstermination Force (switch)
41. Pewdipie: legend of the brofist
42. Robonauts (switch)
43. Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 (3ds)
44. Ikao: lost souls
45. Contra: spirit of war
46. Katana Zero
47. Pixel Devil and the broken cartridge
48. Fate of Nimi (android)
49. Mega Man Powered up (psp)
50. Riddled Corpses EX
51. Mike Tysons Punch Out (nes)
52. Mercenaries Saga: will of the while lions (switch)
53. Martial Masters: new Legend (openbor)
54. Battle Princess Madeline (switch)
55. Contra (nes)
56. Super Punch out (snes)
57. Mega Man 2 (nes)
58. Overdriven: reloaded (switch)
59. Mega Man 3(nes)
60. Bloodstained: curse of the moon
61. Slime adventure
62. Aggelos (switch)
63. Castlevania (nes)
64. New Super luigi dx /(switch)
65. Super Double Dragon (snes)
66. Super Castlevania 4 (snes)
67. Battletoads (nes)
68. Battletoads and double dragon (nes)
69. Necrolance
70. Oniken
71. Final Fight (snes)


68. Battletoads and double dragon (nes)
69. Necrolance
70. Oniken
71. Final Fight (snes)

70. Oniken

Oniken is a 2-d action platformer that would have felt right at home on the nes, both in terms of game design and graphics.

There is an evil corporation that is trying to take over the world, with their huge machines, they are ravaging the world, the resistance is defeated, and then along comes a lone mercenary, by the name of zaku, to single handedly defeat an entire army using only his sword and a limited number of grenades. The story is fairly generic 8-bit fair but I enjoyed it for what it was, a nice throwback to the kind of campy stories you would typically find in the 80's. There are cutscenes in the beginning and end of every level that have a very nice ninja gaiden vibe to them.

The game takes place across 6 stages, your characters move set is as basic as you would expect, one button jumps, one button slashes your sword, and if you press up + attack you could throw a grenade if you have any in your inventory. The gameplay itself is very tight, controls are very responsive and your sword has a very nice range to it. You could also slash away some bullets and just about every enemy has its own unique death animation. Combat in this game is very satisfying, and it never gets old watching your enemies heads fall off or seeing their bodies torn in half by your sword.

Onikens difficulty is taken right out of the nes playbook. You are given 3 lives to complete a stage, each stage has multiple checkpoints and if you die you resume from that checkpoint, lose all your lives and it is back to the start of the stage. You do have unlimited continues and you also can resume from the last stage you were on at any given time. You are also given a pretty hefty life meter so there is definitely room for error. The levels are designed for you not to beat them the first time you playthrough for the most part. The game itself is challenging, sometimes for the right reasons, and sometimes for the wrong reasons. At its best you are navigating a series of tricky jumps with a bunch of obstacles and enemies around and you feel like a total badass while doing it. At its worst you go to jump over a pit and an enemy, that you would have no way of knowing was there, jumps from the bottom and knocks you into the pit, instantly killing you and forcing you to remember for the next time. Oniken is definitely a game you feel yourself getting better at though, and as you learn the enemies and obstacles around you, seemingly impossible sections magically become easier.

In addition to some solid platforming and combat, every stage ends in a pretty bad ass boss fight. These bosses range from a human to giant screen filling machines. All of the bosses are very well done and it is really fun to learn their attack patterns. In addition to the boss fights there are also some sections where you are on a speed bike and have to navigate jumps and fight enemies. These sections are a lot of fun and do a nice job of adding in some gameplay variety.

Overall, Oniken is a great game. Fans of 8-bit platformers, especially ninja gaiden, should definitely check this game out. It is on the short side but it is a very satisfying game and well worth a playthrough.
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Ack
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by Ack Thu May 30, 2019 12:11 pm

1. Dusk (PC)(FPS)
2. Project: Snowblind (PC)(FPS)
3. Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition (PC)(FPS)
4. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)
5. Wolfenstein 3D: Ultimate Challenge (PC)(FPS)
6. Destiny 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
7. Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (PC)(FPS/RPG)
8. Destiny 2: Warmind (PC)(FPS/RPG)

9. Destiny 2: Forsaken (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Star Wars: Rebel Assault (PC)(Rail Shooter)

11. Castle Werewolf (PC)(FPS)
12. Project Warlock (PC)(FPS)
13. Castle Crashers (PC)(Hack and Slash)
14. This Strange Realm of Mine (PC)(FPS)
15. BioShock Remastered (PC)(FPS)
16. BioShock 2 (PC)(FPS)
17. BioShock 2: Minerva's Den (PC)(FPS)

18. Blood (PC)(FPS)
19. Blood: Cryptic Passage (PC)(FPS)
20. Blood: Post Mortem (PC)(FPS)

21. Shadow Warrior (PC)(FPS)
22. Shadow Warrior: Twin Dragon (PC)(FPS)
23. Shadow Warrior: Wanton Destruction (PC)(FPS)

24. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (PC)(FPS)
25. F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn (PC)(FPS)


Having played through the original release of F.E.A.R. back when it came out, I was always curious to see how the later entries into the series held up and whether they ramped up the horror or changed up the shooting components in any way. Instead, I found more of the same, with perhaps less horror in the mix.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

The base sequel now has you playing as an elite soldier named Becket who has been chosen for a special squad based on his incredible baseline talents as a psychic, though it's not something he necessarily shows off. It's more given as the reason why you can kill so many folks and keep on going. Becket's squad is sent in to extract an Armacham executive in the wake of the first game's ending, but with a nuke going off in the middle of a city, things quickly go to shit. Soon, Becket finds himself battling both Armacham security teams as well as the replica soldiers of the first game, combined with the odd mutant or ghost soldier from Alma as he tries to commit to a plan to destroy the psychic superwoman. To add to it, the members of Becket's squad were chosen largely for psychic potential, and Alma goes after their minds too. Things don't work quite the way you want, and instead the game ends with an awkward final battle in which you have to take down your fellow soldier in a weird psychic alternate world while Alma basically rapes your body in a chair. Yeah, that's...something special.

What's the actual gameplay like? Well, many of the weapons of the first game return, along with a couple of new types and some varieties of grenades. You can carry four weapons at a time, so I tended to walk around with an SMG or rifle, some kind of distance specializer (shotguns or sniper rifles, depending upon the level), a heavier rifle for taking on the bigger armored targets up close, and then some kind of full on heavy weapon. It didn't always work out as some weapons can be found only sparingly, but you typically will have something available, even if it's not ideal. As for the enemies, they come in a few flavors of human opponents that use cover, try to flank, and use grenades to flush you out...poorly. Half the time, they seem to take themselves out more than anything. The slow motion ability of the first game also returns, so outside of armor, your enemies don't really have much chance. That said, they do seem to have a lot of armor.

Every now and again, the game gives you the opportunity to jump in a giant mech with regenerating health and ammo. Those segments are fun, since you're now getting to mow down everything with two miniguns and missile launchers. Unfortunately, they're few and far between, and they're short. You maybe walk around the block or go up through a parking deck, and that's it. I wish there was more to this.

The horror element has also been greatly toned down. Occasionally, you'll face ghost enemies or crawling mutant men, but that's it. There's no sudden flashes of Alma watching you like in the first, and the supernatural enemies tend to either go down too quickly or are frustrating bullet sponges that I basically ran up to and emptied all of my magazines into so I could put them down. The more horror-oriented moments mainly rely on corpses being pulled away and blood getting everywhere, but that's par for the course with a lot of what I play, so it wasn't a big deal.

As for the actual levels, it's basically endless corridors and repeating rooms in orientations that feel mazelike and don't make much sense. The school level has multiple rooms marked finance, while the hospital continues on and on and on. Add in the labs which don't really stand out from each other, and it all just feels bland. Admittedly, this is a problem in the first game too, so things didn't change much.

There are a few features I like, such as the ability to go back and replay old levels once you beat them. They also track how many pieces of intel you found, so you can review if you missed something. In a game ruled by a checkpoint saving system, it's nice to have something that mitigates it at least slightly. You can only have one save active at a time though, so don't go back until you're done with the game.

F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn

This is the "expansion" for F.E.A.R. 2, and it is short. I beat it in about an hour. That said, it offers some slight changes that I appreciated. For one thing, you're now playing a replica soldier, so your HUD is entirely different. You also don't get things like the slow motion ability until specific events happen. Second, because it is so short, the levels come together in a way that feels right, like it's one continuous environment that you can easily string together. A particular favorite moment of mine involves you fighting your way through other enemies to then jump into a collapsing building and slide down to the bottom so you can escape. Hell yeah.

Of course, once your abilities are restored, you're basically back to the same old game with a new HUD, but there are more horror elements with Alma than in the base game. In one scene, I opened a door to find her child version standing there, and she then threw a car at me. Very nice. Another element is that she now occasionally sends ghosts after you which can only be seen when you activate your slow motion ability.

Beyond that, there really isn't much to say. You could play through the whole thing twice and earn every "Award," the PC port's equivalent of achievements, in a couple of hours. I certainly hope nobody was forced to pay full price for this.

Well, that's F.E.A.R. 2. I'm glad it's done, and I see no reason to ever revisit.
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by Markies Thu May 30, 2019 9:59 pm

Markies' Games Beat List Of 2019!
*Denotes Replay For Completion*

1. Power Stone 2 (SDC)
2. Radiata Stories (PS2)
3. Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball (NES)
***4. Saiyuki: Journey West (PS1)***
5. Shining In The Darkness (GEN)
***6. Metropolis Street Racer (SDC)***
7. Half-Life 2 (XBOX)
8. Soul Blazer (SNES)
9. Mario Party (N64)
10. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GCN)
11. Street Fighter Collection (PS1)
12. Pokemon Stadium 2 (N64)

13. Burnout (PS2)

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I beat Burnout on the Sony Playstation 2 this evening!

I remember being introduced to Burnout 3 by my cousin and being absolutely blown away by the game. I have always been a big fan of racing games, but I don't think I have ever played a game that had that much speed and destruction in it. Eventually, I bought my own copy and I played the hell out of it. In fact, my friend and I used to play it many nights together. So much so, that we had to stop early enough because driving home was getting too difficult after playing for so long. As it always does, my curiosity grew in wanting to discover the series so after a long time searching and finding it in the most out of the way store possible, I finally tracked down a copy and was able to play it for the first time.

Burnout is a very original game in that it doesn't feel like any other game out there. It doesn't have the frenetic pace of Burnout III. It doesn't have the actual realism of Gran Turismo nor does it have the arcade feel of OutRun. Burnout seems to tow the line between all of them, almost feeling like a simplified version of the Need for Speed series. The driving feels like it is grounded in reality as you weave out of traffic going 135 MPH. But, you aren't crashing into huge explosions or flying hundreds of feet into the air. You do crash, a ton, but it feels like a realistic crash. The tracks and the cars are very simplified as you only have a small amount of either and the Championship Cups are only a total of 6 to beat the game. So, there is not much to the game, but what is there is still rather fun. It's not the most exciting or unique game in the world, but it is still fun nevertheless.

The only slight negative I would have in the game is that the races are incredibly long. The final race took over 20 minutes with most laps averaging somewhere around 3 or 4 minutes throughout the entire game. You don't repeat courses too much and the AI is incredibly fair as they will crash just as much as you do, but fatigue for the races eventually sets in.

Overall, it was interesting to go back and see the roots of the Burnout series. I can see how they eventually turned the volume up to 11 and just went all out with the craziness. But, from the beginning, the game had some good roots and could be built upon such a good foundation. It's a solid, if a little boring and mediocre, racing game that would appeal to racing game fans.
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by ElkinFencer10 Fri May 31, 2019 8:13 am

Games Beaten in 2019 So Far - 28
* denotes a replay

January (12 Games Beaten)
1. Army Men 3D - PlayStation - January 1*
2. Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished - NES - January 4
3. Mega Man - NES - January 6
4. Mega Man 2 - NES - January 6
5. Mega Man 3 - NES - January 6
6. Mega Man 4 - NES - January 7
7. Dr. Discord's Conquest - NES - January 7
8. Mega Man 5 - NES - January 26
9. Just Cause 3 - PlayStation 4 - January 26
10. Mega Man 6 - NES - January 27
11. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight - Vita - January 27
12. Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space - PlayStation 2 - January 27


February (2 Games Beaten)
13. Earth Defense Force 5 - PlayStation 4 - February 2
14. Fallout 76 - PlayStation 4 - February 3


March (4 Games Beaten)
15. Octopath Traveler - Switch - March 2
16. Resident Evil 0 - PlayStation 4 - March 9
17. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered - PlayStation 4 - March 10
18. Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade - Game Boy Advance - March 30


April (3 Games Beaten)
19. Moemon - Game Boy Advance - April 5
20. Yoshi's Crafted World - Switch - April 10
21. Wargroove - Switch - April 26


May (7 Games Beaten)
22. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - Switch - May 5
23. Battlefield V - PlayStation 4 - May 9
24. Timespinner - PlayStation 4 - May 12
25. Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain - PlayStation 4 - May 17
26. Shenmue - PlayStation 4 - May 19
27. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht - PlayStation 2 - May 26
28. Team Sonic Racing - Switch - May 29


28. Team Sonic Racing - Switch - May 29

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Team Sonic Racing is Sumo's third attempt at making a Sonic kart racer following Sonic and All-Stars Racing and the incredible follow-up, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. Releasing a kart racer on PlayStation and Xbox is an obvious choice, but not many developers have the skills to take on Mario Kart on its home turf, and while I wouldn't say that Sumo was able to beat them, they definitely put up a good fight. Like Transformed before it, Team Sonic Racing manages to deliver a kart racer that is obviously inferior to Mario Kart but is, nonetheless, a fun and competent kart racer.

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Just as the transforming karts and tracks were the main gimmick in Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, the three-person racing team mechanic is the main gimmick in Team Sonic Racing. Races consist of 12 racers broken into four teams of three. The main gameplay is like a standard individual race, but each place is assigned a certain amount of points. These points are tallied at the end of the race, and whatever team has the most points wins. You could, theoretically, win the race in the first place, but if your teammates finished 11th and 12th, respectively, your team would still lose. There are more subtle team aspects, too; the teammate in the highest position gets a glowing trail behind them that can give teammates a brief speed boost. You can also give held items that you don't need to teammates. Actions like these will fill your "Ultimate Team" gauge, and when it's full, you can activate your "Ultimate Team" power. This gives you and your two teammates a temporary speed boost and invulnerability. It's basically Star Power from Mario Kart.

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As I said, while Team Sonic Racing is a lot of fun, it's far inferior to its main rival on the Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The main reasons for this, in my opinion, are the relatively limited track selection in comparison to Mario Kart 8, the relatively uninteresting tracks in comparison to Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, and the fact that the controls and mechanics just, overall, don't feel as polished as Mario Kart 8. Granted, the game retails for $20 less than Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so it's fair with that in mind, but it's definitely a step down from Mario's latest kart outing. The exclusion of non-Sonic Sega characters was also a let-down for me as I really enjoyed getting to race as Ulala and BD Joe, but at least they include the vast majority of the Sonic series's characters.

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In terms of the game's visuals, it's a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, Team Sonic Racing on Switch looks MUCH better than Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed looked on Wii U. On the other hand, it doesn't look as good as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch. It also doesn't perform nearly well; Mario Kart 8 Deluxe keeps a rock solid 60 FPS whereas Team Sonic Racing keeps an average 30 FPS with the occasional dip into mid-20s. Those frame rate dips aren't bad enough to ruin the gameplay, but it is noticeable, and given that the target is half of what Mario Kart 8 Deluxe delivers, the end result is a product that feels markedly less polished and less skillfully developed than Nintendo's recent kart racing masterpiece.

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The online play is...rough. I've heard that patches are in the works, but as it was at launch, it was a major challenge to get put into the same lobby as friends, it was nearly impossible to end up on the same team as friends if you did manage to get in the same lobby, and connection failures and disconnections were extremely common. The connection issues definitely seem to be decreasing in frequency, at least from my experience, but Sega definitely dropped the ball on the online play at launch, at least on Switch.

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Team Sonic Racing is a fun and competent kart racer, and if you're playing on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, I'd recommend it would hesitation. On Switch, however, I don't really see much reason to buy Team Sonic Racing over Mario Kart 8. I mean, I bought both, and I can say pretty confidently that I'll almost never play Team Sonic Racing after this because Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a thing that exists. On PC...I mean, it'a PC. Either play one of the ten billion racers for PC or use Dolphin to emulate Mario Kart Double Dash on Gamecube. And that's really the biggest downfall of Team Sonic Racing; it's a really fun game, but it's just not as good as the competition. As a result, there's just not much reason to play Team Sonic Racing over the other choices despite the legitimately high quality of this game. Nonetheless, however, judged on its own merits and not in comparison to other games of the genre, Sumo once again created an excellent kart racer that would make for a great multiplayer experience.
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pook99
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by pook99 Fri May 31, 2019 11:22 pm

72. Castlevania 3
73. Streets of Rage 2

73. Streets of Rage 2: Nothing to say here except this is possibly the greatest beat em up of all time, its likely that everyone here has played it, if you havent do so immediately. It is about as close to perfect as a 90's era beat em up could get.

72. Castlevania 3:

CV 3 is kind of a weird game, on a cognitive level I understand it is my 2nd favorite CV game, but for some reason I am always a little hesitant to play it. It appears on so many "hardest games of all times" list that I almost feel psyched out before I play it. Its weird because I have beaten the game a million times in my life but I think all the youtube I watch has warped my mind and instilled a bizzare irrational fear of the game in me when I'm not playing it.

As soon as I turn it on I am immediately reminded why I love the game so much. The graphics are top notch, the game is much faster and smoother than the first, and the soundtrack is most likely the best soundtrack of any game in the NES library.

This game has so much going for it. Multiple branching paths, multiple characters, and some of the best designed and challenging levels around. I decided to get grant for my playthrough this time, which I have not done in years. I usually skip his level and go straight for alucard so I can bat spam random hard parts, but I wanted to try something different and I'm glad I did. Grant was a lot of fun to play as, being able to control his jump and cling to walls adds a nice dynamic to the game and it really is pretty stunning how good konami did in balancing the 3 different characters. All 3 of them are good in their own way, grant makes navigation much easier but sucks in combat, sylpha wont help you platform your way around but she rips bosses apart, and alucard offers a nice way to cheese some parts alongside a long range(albeit weak) attack.

There is just so much to love about this game, most notably the challenge. This is not an easy game, it gets tough pretty early on and stays tough to the end, but it never feels cheap. The difficulty follows a nice curve and beating each level is incredibly satisfying. The bosses here are a mixed bag and probably the only negative I have about the game. On one hand there are some great bosses here, the death fight is amazing, the dragons that breath fire are cool, and I love the final fight vs. dracula, but my goodness how many times do I have to fight that idiotic cyclops? If you haven't played the game there is a cyclops, you fight him 3 times, the first time is a one on one fight, the second time you fight mummies then him, the 3rd time you fight mummies, then him, then a red demon. The fight is mind numbingly easy and just does not need to be repeated as many times as it is.

If you haven't played this game, it is obviously a must play, but I would be shocked if there was a single person on a forum like this who has not played it.

Having said that, I played this game, bloodstained curse of the moon, castlevania 1 and 4, all in relatively close proximity to one another. I knew I loved bloodstained but was curious how it would hold up if played back to back with the game that inspired it. As good as bloodstained is it just does not compare to this game, although it definitely does an amazing job of giving us a spiritual sequel, I think the soundtrack + intense challenge makes CV 3 a more satisfying experience for me.

Amazingly, for the first time in my life, I also am questioning if castlevania 4 is actually my favorite CV game. After playing them back to back, it is too hard for me to tell. I LOVE CV 4, it is the most unique CV game of the linear series and has the coolest set pieces, but it is also one of the easiest ones. I feel like the challenge + branching paths + multiple endings/characters gives CV 3 an edge in a few categories. These 2 have always been my top 2, but I'm not so sure of the order anymore.
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ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2019

by ElkinFencer10 Sat Jun 01, 2019 8:47 am

Games Beaten in 2019 So Far - 29
* denotes a replay

January (12 Games Beaten)
1. Army Men 3D - PlayStation - January 1*
2. Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished - NES - January 4
3. Mega Man - NES - January 6
4. Mega Man 2 - NES - January 6
5. Mega Man 3 - NES - January 6
6. Mega Man 4 - NES - January 7
7. Dr. Discord's Conquest - NES - January 7
8. Mega Man 5 - NES - January 26
9. Just Cause 3 - PlayStation 4 - January 26
10. Mega Man 6 - NES - January 27
11. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight - Vita - January 27
12. Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space - PlayStation 2 - January 27


February (2 Games Beaten)
13. Earth Defense Force 5 - PlayStation 4 - February 2
14. Fallout 76 - PlayStation 4 - February 3


March (4 Games Beaten)
15. Octopath Traveler - Switch - March 2
16. Resident Evil 0 - PlayStation 4 - March 9
17. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered - PlayStation 4 - March 10
18. Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade - Game Boy Advance - March 30


April (3 Games Beaten)
19. Moemon - Game Boy Advance - April 5
20. Yoshi's Crafted World - Switch - April 10
21. Wargroove - Switch - April 26


May (8 Games Beaten)
22. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - Switch - May 5
23. Battlefield V - PlayStation 4 - May 9
24. Timespinner - PlayStation 4 - May 12
25. Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain - PlayStation 4 - May 17
26. Shenmue - PlayStation 4 - May 19
27. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht - PlayStation 2 - May 26
28. Team Sonic Racing - Switch - May 29
29. Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse - PlayStation 2 - May 30


29. Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse - PlayStation 2 - May 30

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Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (which translates to "Beyond Good and Evil") is a direct sequel to the first Xenosaga game, and it picks up pretty much right where the original left off. Because of that, I won't go into the story itself at all in this review but rather focus on how this part of the story is told. It's immediately clear that Monolith took note of the things that were criticized in the previous game because there are some pretty major changes to some of the gameplay elements especially combat.

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The combat in Xenosaga II makes some big changes from the first game. The flow of the combat feels a lot less monotonous first and foremost. Rather than being based on having enemies vulnerable either to energy attacks or physical attacks, Xenosaga II changes combat to focus around vulnerable "break" areas, and each enemy has their own target pattern to exploit. Basically, your attacks are broken up into three "ranges" - C attacks target low areas, B attacks target middle areas, and A attacks target high areas (these generally - but not always - correspond to Triangle, Square, and Circle, respectively). To exploit an enemy's weakness, you have to hit the right areas in the right order. One enemy might take three consecutive B hits to "break" and make vulnerable whereas another's pattern might take CBCB attacks in order to break. It's not groundbreaking or revolutionary, but it definitely requires a bit more strategy and planning than combat in the first game the end result of which is an overall less mundane fight system.

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Unfortunately, I was immediately pulled out of my immersion once I got past the prologue by some rather jarring design choices. KOS-MOS, Shion, and MOMO all went through some fairly major character design changes (especially the latter two), and the voices for Shion and MOMO are radically different. I think MOMO's new voice is legitimately bad, but regardless of good or bad, how big the changes were made for a fairly abrupt shock for me, and I just wasn't feeling it. They did give MOMO a bow for combat in this game, though, so that's pretty dope. I'd still rather have her old voice and give up the bow, but if I have to deal with this terrible new voice, at least I get to shoot things with space arrows. To the game's credit, though, the visuals saw a nice improvement in the transition from the first game to this one. It's not a revolutionary change - it's still PlayStation 2, after all - but the game's visuals overall look more detailed, a bit sharper, and overall more refined.

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Xenosaga II is a good bit shorter than the first game averaging around 20 hours rather than 30 hours, but what's only a little bit shorter are the cut scenes; from what I've been able to gather, the first game had somewhere between eight and nine hours of cut scenes, but despite being around 30% shorter, this game only has about an hour less in cut scenes, clocking in somewhere between seven and eight hours from what I've read. This leads to cut scenes' having a tendency to feel EXTREMELY long and, after a while, EXTREMELY boring. Yeah, there are some cool cut scenes, but good lord, guys, all things in moderation. The story itself feels even more chaotically told than what I saw in the first game. The Gnosis are barely mentioned in this game, and while it does mention U-DO more than the first game did, it only somewhat explains what, exactly, U-DO is. It talks about the URTVs, artificial people created specifically to fight U-DO, but again, it doesn't explain what it is that makes them different from Realians, the other artificially created people. As I told someone on Twitter, I feel like there's probably a really good story waiting to be told here, but it's told so haphazardly that I just end up getting irritated rather than intrigued.

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Xenosaga Episode II is largely considered the black sheep of the trilogy, and I have to agree with that assessment. It had the potential to be an overall improvement - it looks a lot better, and the combat is significantly less mundane - but the questionable design changes and the storytelling that's just all over the place totally killed it for me. It was, mercifully, much shorter than the previous game, but all things considered, I'd say it's about on par with entertainment value. Like the first game, it's definitely not bad, but it definitely didn't do it for me. It's a competent follow-up, but it's not winning any awards for engrossing storytelling or innovative gameplay.
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