Games Beaten 2015

[J T]

6. Off-Peak (PC)
JT, I think you would find it very interesting.

Sweet! It sounds pretty cool. I'm downloading it now.

[Ack]

Used it on all levels I could, it doesn't help.

You just gotta get faster then I guess. Is it the first or the second floor that is giving you more trouble?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Super Mario 3D World Wii U

I really enjoyed the game, and I can't disagree with anything in your review.

Did you try playing it with your son, however? I played a few of the early levels with my daughter, and she literally squealed with delight. (It was also the first game she wanted to play by herself, and I was shocked at how far she could make it in some of the levels unassisted.) Accordingly - and while the game certainly feels familiar to seasoned players like you and me - playing with my daughter allowed me to appreciate how much the game appeals to new players.

[Exhuminator]

1. Devil's Attorney (Android) (strategy) (good game)
2. Resident Evil 5 (360) (cover shooter) (good game)
3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (360) (kart racer) (good game)
4. Dragon Quest VIII (PS2) (JRPG) (amazing game)
5. Gears of War (360) (cover shooter) (decent game)
6. Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) (cover shooter/platformer) (decent game)
7. Orcs & Elves (DS) (turn based dugeon crawler) (good game)
8. From The Abyss (DS) (action-RPG) (decent game)
9. Army of Two (360) (cover shooter) (decent game)
10. Psychic World (Master System) (platformer) (subpar game)
11. Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii) (adventure/simulation) (amazing game)
12. Journey to Silius (NES) (platformer) (decent game)
13. Sword Master (NES) (platformer) (subpar game)
14. Project: Snowblind (PC) (FPS) (good game)
15. Yakyuuken Part II - Gal's Dungeon (Famicom) (maze puzzle) (decent game)

This game consists of the player being a detective in search of someone's lost granddaughter. The detective as such makes his way through a series of mazes put in place by an evil bad guy. The mazes connect to each other via a series of locked doors. The player finds the keys to these doors by seeking out a scantily clad woman hiding in each maze. Once found the player must beat her at rock, paper, scissors while she lies in front of him in risque poses. (There are different women in each maze.) If the player is successful they are rewarded with the key to the next maze, putting them closer to rescuing the granddaughter. Every so often the player is shown a fully nude image of a woman whom they beat at rock, paper, scissors. Well the gameplay may be entirely sexist but there's nice music and funny dialogue within, and even a twist ending. (Note this game is available in English via a fan translation.)

[dsheinem]

Super Mario 3D World Wii U

I really enjoyed the game, and I can't disagree with anything in your review.

Did you try playing it with your son, however? I played a few of the early levels with my daughter, and she literally squealed with delight. (It was also the first game she wanted to play by herself, and I was shocked at how far she could make it in some of the levels unassisted.) Accordingly - and while the game certainly feels familiar to seasoned players like you and me - playing with my daughter allowed me to appreciate how much the game appeals to new players.

I played the whole thing while my son watched and helped me spot things, but he "bought" it for me for my birthday and wanted me to play before he did. He's playing it now and can take down some levels like a champ.

[prfsnl_gmr]

He's playing it now and can take down some levels like a champ.

Nice. My daughter: (1) always chooses Princess Peach (and, in doing so, demonstrates why it is important for Nintendo to include playable female characters in its games); (2) moves slowly; (3) turns at 90 degree angles; but (4) was able to make it to the first castle unassisted(!). She needed some help with that one, but she was also able to take down a few levels in the second world without my help. (In my book, that's not too shabby for a six-year-old girl who has never played a video game before.)

Currently, we are playing Child of Light on the WiiU, and the co-op in that is a lot of fun for her. The game is certainly above her level, but she loves the characters and the aestetics. Plus, she is actually quite helpful in efficiently disposing of the game's enemies. Accordingly, if you are looking for a short, fun RPG to play with your son, I highly recommend Child of Light. (With your appetite for games, however, I suspect you may have already played through it. )

[dsheinem]

He's playing it now and can take down some levels like a champ.

Nice. My daughter: (1) always chooses Princess Peach (and, in doing so, demonstrates why it is important for Nintendo to include playable female characters in its games); (2) moves slowly; (3) turns at 90 degree angles; but (4) was able to make it to the first castle unassisted(!). She needed some help with that one, but she was also able to take down a few levels in the second world without my help. (In my book, that's not too shabby for a six-year-old girl who has never played a video game before.)

Currently, we are playing Child of Light on the WiiU, and the co-op in that is a lot of fun for her. The game is certainly above her level, but she loves the characters and the aestetics. Plus, she is actually quite helpful in efficiently disposing of the game's enemies. Accordingly, if you are looking for a short, fun RPG to play with your son, I highly recommend Child of Light. (With your appetite for games, however, I suspect you may have already played through it. )

I started and then "discarded" CoL when it released, but maybe I'll give kindergardener co-op mode a go.

[prfsnl_gmr]

kindergardener co-op

I have found that this "mode" adds quite a bit of challenge. Assuming your son is good at following directions, the "co-op" mode actually makes Child of Light a bit easier.

[nullPointer]

The list so far ...

1. BioShock 2 [PC/Steam]
2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES/bsnes v084]
3. Richard and Alice [PC/Steam]
4. Rygar [NES/Nestopia v1.40]
5. Mega Man [NES/Nestopia v1.40]
6. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood [PC/Steam]
7. River City Ransom EX [GBA/VBA-M v1229]
8. Super Mario All-Stars: Super Mario Bros. [SNES/bsnes v084]

9. Super Mario All-Stars: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels [SNES/bsnes v084]
10. King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (AGD Interactive) [PC]

Super Mario All-Stars: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is a Super Mario fever dream hallucinated through a fog of several consecutive bad acid trips and moments of religious epiphany. The gaming world tends to think of Shigeru Miyamoto as that super fun uncle from your childhood who was always cracking jokes and teaching you magic tricks. This conveniently overlooks that one time the uncle in question got completely shitfaced and told you he was going to teach you how to wrestle since you looked, "scrawnier than a six year old girl". After slamming you to the floor for the fifth time, and clumsily dislocating your shoulder, he told you to "get up and stop acting like a pussy; you're an embarrassment to your family". So yeah, that experience pretty much encapsulates this game. On the one hand it is a trial by fire intended to forge and galvanize you into a better (SMB) player. On the other hand, it leaves you feeling battered, frustrated and powerless to effectively fight back at times, even after the difficulty has been dialed back for the purposes of Super Mario All-Stars. The game goes out of its way to alternately challenge, harass and/or troll the player. I was reminded of this phenomenon at one point in World 8 when I stumbled on a warp zone that takes you to World 5 … and I wasn't even looking for a warp zone! (I usually try to avoid warp zones in SMB games). At other points in the game you'll find that the flagpole jump is one of the more difficult jumps in the level, meaning that they put the goal within sight only to yank the football away from you at the last moment (AAUGH!).

The game is a very challenging platformer to put it mildly. But even after all of that, it's still a quality Mario game through and through. It never gets so frustrating that you feel like giving up on the game altogether (although it certainly encourages you to take an occasional break). Furthermore the All-Stars version graciously grants you some accords that help to make the game more manageable. Among other things the game allows you to save your progress at the end of every level (rather than at the end of every World as in the SMB1 All-Stars version). Starting each game with five lives, rather than three, also further aides in the management of difficulty. However, even with these concessions in place, it will likely be good old fashioned pattern memorization (and a dash of luck) that sees you through. Your gains will occasionally be made in inches, but with perseverance you'll eventually arrive to rescue the eminently kidnapable Princess Peach.

SMB: The Lost Levels is a challenging slog through old school Mario mechanics, but it's an adventure not to be missed for diehard Mario fans, and a great thrill ride for all fans of the platformer genre.

King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (AGD Interactive)

King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown represents one of my earliest exposures to PC gaming proper. Although I had my trusty NES console growing up (and much later an SNES that I saved up enough money to purchase myself), I never had my own computer until I entered college. So any exposure I had to PC gaming as a young person came in the form or stolen glimpses at friends' houses coupled with occasional chances at actual play time. As a result, many of these early adventure games like this one still have this mystical quality of 'otherness' for me, as if I'm still an outsider looking in at these incredible yet inaccessible worlds.

So it's with a very odd sense of nostalgia that I'm finally embarking into the King's Quest series, although I suppose it is somewhat interesting in a meta-textual sense that I've opted to play the AGD Interactive fan remake rather than the actual version of Kings Quest I remember seeing as a kid. Meta textual mumbo jumbo aside, I had almost forgotten about this fan effort, and I'm extremely glad I had the spark of memory because this is a beautiful and lovingly rendered tribute to the original.

As far as graphical adventure games go, this is of course one of the progenitors; so while it's clear that they were still figuring out (one might say defining) the way a graphical adventure should work, it's remarkably held up quite well. There are certainly some puzzles that are non sequiturs (the Rumpelstiltskin thing is a bit of a stretch even with the visual clues in place), but most of them can be sussed out with a bit of exploration of surroundings. In terms of gameplay, the interface is fine for what it is, although if gaming forum posts are to be believed, the notorious condor grab is actually a bit harder in the AGDI version of the game.

One rather amazing update in the AGD Interactive version of KQI is that there is full audio voice work for all narration and character dialog. This is one of those features that was really quite amazing at first, but I'm afraid the novelty wore off rather quickly. Despite the fact that AGDI enlisted the vocal talents of Josh Mandel who voiced King Graham in the official release of King's Quest V and VI, I'm afraid most of the voice work here chews up the scenery in glorious fashion … but oh that lush, beautiful scenery. No problem I think to myself, I'll just turn the VO off … and that's where I hit a roadblock. You can turn the VO audio down, but you can't turn it completely off. It's not game ruining, but at a certain point I definitely would have preferred to simply read everything, rather than listen to yet another line of flat lifeless delivery. Still … the graphical overhaul that AGD Interactive has created here is really something marvelous, and IMO it far outweighs any qualms I might have with the voice acting.

I look forward to journeying onward into the world of King's Quest, and I'll definitely be continuing on with the AGD Interactive releases of KQ II and III. I highly recommend these releases for adventure gamers, as well as for those like me who are just starting the King's Quest series.

[wclem]

1. Resident Evil 4 (PS3) Digital
2. Resident Evil 6 (PS3) Disc Version
3. Dying Light (PS4) Disc Version
4. Red Dead Redemption (PS3) Disc Version (Replay)
5. Batman Arkham City (PS3) Disc Version
6. The Order (PS4) Disc Version
7. Valiant Hearts (PS4) Digital Version


My thought on Valiant Hearts is as follows:

What a fucked up ending, good but fucked up.

Go play it..... free right now for plus members on PS4.