They're actually pretty quick (like I have to win four more betting games), they're just things I don't feel like doing. But since I'm like 99.5% done I figure I might as well just do the last couple tasks.
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They're actually pretty quick (like I have to win four more betting games), they're just things I don't feel like doing. But since I'm like 99.5% done I figure I might as well just do the last couple tasks.
But yeah, if old-time America gives you a chubby it's pretty cool seeing how they handled it, and the info database has shittons of stuff to read about.
Oh, I also forgot to mention how the bonus costumes don't display correctly. Whee.
Corpse party PSP
Finally got the good ending on this. A great game, but having to replay the last chapter 3 times has kind of soured me on it a little bit. I'm still trying to decide if I want to play the extra chapters or just move on to a new game.
45. Bug Princess (iOS)
May have counted this before, but I'm counting it again because I was able to 1cc Maniac mode on Hard last night and completely crushed my old score of 16 million that Detour had me slightly beat on, new score 26,620,291, which was good enough for 1,963rd of 20,267 ranked on the leaderboards, or top 5%. Only lost one life and it was silly and avoidable and would have added another 3 million to the score, but I'll take it.
46. Ghost Trick (iOS) 21/21 GameCenter achievements lol
Huge thanks to Yoshi for pointing me in the direction of this wonderful gem. I loved just about everything about this game, from the interesting plot to the characters (MISSLE IS THE FUCKING BEST!!!!!!!!) to the wonderful animation and art style, it just oozed charm and made me laugh at the right times and stress at others about what to do. Great little trial and error with some of the more complicated puzzles, others were very straightforward and had people chiming in to tell you what to do but only when it was really obvious. The music too was delightful. And with all the episodes the whole game was $10, and it lasted quite a while. There's no in game clock to say how long you've played, but I started it in late July and played on and off until just now when I finished, I'd guess it took about 15 hours or so? Pretty darn good for an iOS game iMO. The only real complaint I have is the HORRIBLE save system. I don't know if it's different on the DS, but saving in this game does not guarentee you'll start where you left off. I played at least 10 different 15-20 minute sections about 3-4 times because the game wouldn't remember that I had saved it and put it down for the night, despite waiting for the game to prompt me to save instead of doing it manually. But everything else was a joy. I'd say a solid 9.5/10. Great game!
47. Dishonored (360) 30/50 for 480/1000
Probably the fastest I've beat a full retail game all year, went for a mix of stealth and badassery and ended with the High Chaos ending. The game itself was a LOT of fun, I really enjoyed the multiple ways to do things and the optional objectives were almost always entertaining and made me want to complete them. I liked the designs of the characters, the exaggerated limbs work for me because it's a style I enjoy drawing, and I thought the faces and animations were great. Everything moved very fluently and with grace, from single swiping a guy's head off when he's about to shoot me to just conversing with people. Story was a little meh at points but I started to get into it more as it progressed, I was happy enough to just kill shit in fun ways and blink around like a crazy person. Started doing the non lethal playthrough on the second day in conjunction with the main playthrough, and it's pretty satisfying. I have a few more kill-focused achievements to go back and get but now that the game is complete it will be an absolute cakewalk for those, then it's just finishing up my Clean Hands/Ghost/Shadow/Mostly Flesh and Steel/Poetic Justice playthrough. I love the feeling of completing the first mission after prison without killing anyone or setting off any alarms, which popped like 3 decent cheevos at the same time, cementing that feeling of being a fucking ninja. I'll be interested to see how the end game plays out without killing anyone, hopefully will have that done soon and then it's on to whatever else. Trying real hard not to buy lots of games and keep adding to my backlog.
22) Basket Belle. Part of the latest Indie Royale, and part of the reason I figured I'd spend a few buck on it. It's super-short and the controls are nowhere near as precise as you'd want, but it's lovely anyway. I enjoyed the hell out of it for the short evening's gaming it provided, and would love to see a full-sized game made from its ideas.
James
#12 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Enough time has past since I played the original shortly after its release so it was kind of a new experience. Huge upgrade in graphics and damn, does this game do a lot of things right. I resented the game for a long time just because it got so much praise but it is one of the best Zelda games still to this day.
#53 - Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (Vita) Platinum trophy
Really, really good sequel to 999 that absolutely tops the original. Wish they'd stuck with sprites instead of 3D models but that is probably my only complaint. That and having to wait for the 3rd game that this sets up =[
#54 - Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)
Super charming and a ton of fun, it's like a mix of an exploration adventure game and a platformer with turn-based combat. It's probably the best looking 3DS game yet, and the 3D effect works so well with the art style. A++ would recommend to a friend.
Starfox 64 FUCK YEAH!
Now, I've beaten this before, but let me give some background. Back when it was newish, this was my favorite N64 game by a mile, and I played it constantly. I thought I was pretty good.
I let one of my buds borrow the N64 and the few games I had. He kept it for a week or so, had his fill, and gave it back. I check his scores in the ranking, and he has utterly and completely crushed my best scores.
I kept playing, but he had the top 6 scores, and I consistently got number 7. I kept improving, but WTF did he do? Even earlier this week, I'm better and I beat my top score but wasn't close to his number 6.
I pop it in today and take the hard path. I'm not hitting every single thing, so there's certainly room for improvement, but I do pretty well and stay on the hard path. I get to Andross and beat him.
After the credits I input my name, and I have crushed all but his top score! WOO HOO!
Then I look to see how much ahead his top score is.
One measley point.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccckkkkkkkk.
I did enough to wear the shades. That was all I really wanted.
He did that shit with Super Punch Out when it was new too. One friend bought it, lent it to me. I crushed his times. I then lent it to the third friend and he had like 10 second knockouts long before gamefaqs existed to tell you how to do it.
(RE)47. Dishonored 820/1000
Both are great, but I had an even more fun time playing through this as a no kill ninja than slicing people up. I think. Either way the differences in the world are actually very noticeable, which is nice! I like the low chaos ending much better, and the differences in the levels, objectives and whatnot was refreshing to see. I didn't even bother to retrieve my gear from the Flooded District since I wasn't going to be shooting anyone. Maybe choked out 30 people the whole playthrough, it was more exhilarating to blink around them and their patterns. Made for some very tense moments that got my blood pumping and I was very into it. I thought the stealth in this game was handled admirably, even without other powers (I've still not tried the rat swarm or shadow kill or possessing people, but I missed being able to possess rats for the little shortcuts, and not having bend time made me have to rethink a few approaches). Also knowing the levels (mostly) and where to expect enemies (again, changes a little on low chaos) expedited the playthrough, took me about half the time if not less. Just have a few more achievements to clean up related to killing things in various ways, but the handy dandy mission select will make that no problem. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this game, great stuff.
48. Madden 12 (360) 920/1000
I've just about had my fill. I have 2 achievements left, one for a ridiculous 100 yard out of the endzone interception return for a touchdown (apparently jumping out of the endzone and landing on the 1 yard line before running it back DOESN'T FUCKING COUNT) and another for building a super fantasy team. That one requires either buying in game cards with real money (lololol), or playing a shit ton more games to get points to buy the cards, so maybe the occasional one or two I play add up enough to buy them. Maybe by the time Madden 14 is out.
Professor Layton and the Curious Village- I've been meaning to play this for a while and i hate-loved it. i hate the puzzles and trick questions, I hate poking the screen to progress, I hate the math problems where I gave up and just started entering numbers that I knew were close, but holy crap do I love Hershel Layton and that village full of charm. The actual answer to the mystery was stupid, but the creators pulled all the right strings. I-I wasn't crying, i just saw another hidden puzzle...
The math problems never involve for reals math. If you're pulling out paper and trying to do calculations you missed the trick.
Also:
Attachment 67648
I kinda want the Layton game even though I am sure the puzzles are for babies.
DNG and I beat Halo 4 co-op the other day. The game looks amazing, but for the most part the new enemies are not fun to kill, the alien weapons are not fun to use and the grenades suck ESPECIALLY the alien ones--I have no idea how they managed to playtest this game for an obscene amount of time and not come to the conclusion that those pieces of garbage are the most ineffective weapons of all time.
I wish there was more outdoor stuff as it seems impossible to have excellent indoor/non-organic level design in a Halo game. I didn't think Bungie knew how to make good levels of this type, and since the formula for this game seems to be 'we can't deviate from the originals for fear of fanbase wrath', the indoor levels have retained the same level of mediocrity. But they are slightly better (but also more of them).
The first two campaigns of Spartan Ops, particularly when fighting the Covenant, are better than the main game IMO.
Maybe I "missed the trick," but I'm pretty sure I had to do some basic algebra on several occasions throughout the franchise.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mzo
Yeah, there are a few, and there are some math problems where you have to use trial and error. Like it gives you a set of numbers and tells you that they have to multiply to get the same number in every direction, or you had to subtract two unknown numbers made of 123456789 to get 33333. The hint coins were really useful for those. You'll have like 80 at the end of the game, so you don't have to worry about using them up.
The worst ones were the trick questions with math, where there was seemingly some missing variable but it was really right in front of your face.
There was only one puzzle that i really fucking hated: THE FUCKING SLIDING TILE PUZZLE. Those should never be in any game. There was only one that i was aware of, though, and it wasn't necessary to complete the game. I liked the "move the car" or "move the ball" through the blocks puzzles.
Oh, also kind of spoiler: The antagonist was really stupid. He wasn't even necessary with everything else going on, it seemed like his only motivation was to annoy Layton. I think they said he wanted the golden egg too, but he never expressed any interest in anything besides being an asshole
All the trick questions. Every single one of them. It was like they were trying to ruin the game on purpose so they filled it with garbage.
Thankfully, they made sure to first fill it up with a big batch of charming.
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...3&d=1353206331
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...5&d=1353206331Quote:
Originally Posted by Finch
I refused to use any hint coins until the third game I think. But even then only very sparingly, and usually for the slide puzzles (where they can be pretty helpful). Once I've used a hint coin I feel like I've already failed. I also reset the DS if I make a mistake. I'm terrified I won't have enough picarats at the end to unlock everything otherwise.Quote:
Originally Posted by Finch
I have no idea what some of you are on about with the "trick" questions. I'm sure it happened here and there, but I have no specific memories of being bothered by those in any of the five games. The slide puzzles are the major drag, but even those I kinda learned to like. The simpler ones anyway. I think I did all of them in ...Curious Village, but they get completely ridic at the end of the next three games, and I cheated with abandon.
34. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
http://users.zoominternet.net/~tain/...ast_reward.png
Big ol game. Ludicrous in all the ways I was in the mood for. Pretty good puzzles, though it's lame that some puzzles are reused. And I agree with Mzo that the game would look better if it weren't done with models. They work alright for the most part, but you'll get some ugly angles from time to time, and on the rare occasions you do see hand-drawn characters, it's hard to not be distracted by how much you want the rest of the game to look like that. These are pretty minor issues, though. Very easy game to recommend. Looking forward to the next one.
87. Resident Evil 6
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Beaten on Normal. It's saving grace is how hilariously bad the lines are, making a friend and I laugh throughout our playthroughs of all four campaigns. Some additions like body tripping is, I get it, to add a feel of tension, but it's not welcome at all once you realize there was enough tension in 5 without it. Some wacky things like needing two people to kick down a door anyone in real life can open, yet some giant doors can be opened by one person, although nearly every door requires two people. Coup de grace stuff is neat. The CoD Chris and Piers chapters are a hot mess. Pretty huge mega backflip several steps of 5, which was already not as good as 4, with co-op.
88. Ragnarok Odyssey
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No real timer on this game as far as I know, but some 80 hours later, I beat this. Holy hell, repetitive. Though still mindlessly bashing things was neat. Real lack of content in terms of location variety and loot. Didn't like the card system and found it underwhelming. No XP, only leveling based on # of quests completed (moving on to the next chapter boosts your stats). Aside that, you could find the best sword in the game and just plow through monsters with it no problem. Think I mostly buy these things just to make Xseed stay afloat/become mildly curious of anything plausibly okay on Vita/PSP/lukewarmSonyhandhelds. Overall, okay, but hard to recommend.
89. Dead Space 2
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Re-played for kicks and to show a friend who likes horror games but gets too nervous playing them, which is cool. Beat it in one sitting. A maxed out Force Gun with secondary stasis fire, is a good Force Gun. Love this series waaaay waaaay waaay outta there.
35.) Ragnarok Odyssey (Vita)
Finished this over the weekend. The last couple chapters are pretty tough, especially if you're attempting them without a full party. Thankfully, there's a surprisingly healthy and helpful community online. It could use some more enemy and stage variety, but what's there is a lot of fun. Quite a bit of post-game content, including an entirely new area and several rare and unique mats/weapons you don't see in the main quest. Cool. I don't think this is going to see much play after Persona 4 drops tomorrow, but I'm totally game for co-op if you guys catch me online.
36.) Need for Speed: Most Wanted (Vita)
The graphics took a hit from the console versions, but the city is there in its entirety with no loading and all gameplay features are accounted for. Unfortunately, a lot of those features are pretty questionable. Multiplayer is just a terrible mess of "play bumper cars for two minutes, do a short mission that may or may not include actual racing, repeat" that quickly irritated me. The rubber band AI is about as bad as I've ever seen in a racing game, having to watch for cops between races is lame and the dubstep-heavy soundtrack is just atrocious. Modern and stylish as hell, but I'm still not sold on open world racers. I'll stick with Forza 4 and PGR4.
37.) Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock (Vita)
I bought this because I'm a hopeless fanboy. As expected, it's not especially good. What sucks though is that it probably could have been, since it's functional as a puzzle platformer and is written quite well. There's tons of nods to diehard fans and references to episodes throughout the entire run of the show. Unfortunately, there are two different characters that have to interact to get through a level, and the AI for the character not in use is almost always fucked. They'll get stuck, run in the wrong direction, aggro enemies and just generally do everything they can to get you killed. Very frustrating. Still, for only ten bucks it could be a lot worse, and there's full trophy support.
38.) Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time (PSP)
This series changed a bit since I played it last. It's now less a spiritual successor to Langrisser and more a full-fledged proper JRPG. The presentation is pretty lacking (it wouldn't look out of place on the PSX), but there's a lot to keep you busy. Town building, monster raising ("familiars" here) and dating sim elements are all present.
39.) Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 (360)
I somehow managed to log over 30 hours playing this and enjoyed every minute of it despite it being...you know...Dynasty Warriors. On to Ken's Rage!
49. Karateka (XBLA) 210/400
Actually beat it 4 times already, game takes about a half hour. It's an extremely straightforward game, all you do is block and attack each enemy as you walk up to them. Blocking is done in rhythm to a slight audio cue before the hits that will tell you how many times they're going to attack and thus how many times you have to block before counterattacking. That's it, that's the whole game. You run to the right while climbing a mountain, fighting dudes with increasingly mis-timed patterns (but almost always in 2 to 5 hits), building up Chi for special attacks by blocking and attacking well. Chi will interrupt whatever pattern the enemy is throwing at you and give you a chance to take off a big chunk of damage. If you die with one character, he's knocked off the mountain as another guy is climbing up to take your place. Everybody is trying to save the princess, and she's most happy if you can make it to her with the first character (her True Love), and is more ho hum if you end up with the final of the 3 characters (some Brute guy). The timing seems a little off at times, and there are a few enemies who's attacks do not coincide with any audio cues which makes it tough (and fuck the 80 point achievement for making it to the final boss without taking a single hit). Art style is like a kind of blocky Disney look, nice warm colors and very easy on the eyes with decent animation. No dialogue, just a few grunts, I still like playing it with headphones because it's easier to hear the cues. This was one of those random on a whim purchases because I only needed 400 more points (it costs 800) and I was too scared that I wouldn't like Puzzle Fighter HD. Although that game is only 400 points right now, so I'm thinking about it.
Saints Row 2 (360)
A buggy mess, prone to freeze-ups and homies getting stuck in place. I remember enjoying the first Saints Row immensely. This one was okay--the game is very sandboxy and an overall good time when the gremlins don't take hold, and the radio humor is a little less douche-chilly than before. But I didn't love it.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS)
According to the game clock, I spent about 55 hours on this. It easily felt like twice that. Good, solid strategy that is occasionally hampered by "defend retarded NPCs for 7 turns" missions. I liked it enough to try the sequel, but I need a break. This was also my first SMT title ever, so grains of salt and stuff.
The only glaring negative was that voice acting. Holy fuck. Midori was the worst. I wanted an ending in which she is gang-raped and murdered. It doesn't exist, and that's too bad. Midori is Maru from Blue Dragon and Lymle from Star Ocean: The Last Hope, mixed together and quadrupled. No fate is terrible enough for Midori.
Cthulhu Saves the World (iOS)
Funny old-schoolish RPG with a battle system that isn't dull. Play it with the developer commentary on. Characters break the fourth wall all over the place, so it only adds to the experience. It's really good and worth a couple of your dollars.
360
Mass Effect 2
Alan Wake
Alan Wake's American Nightmare
Saints Row 2
PS3
Journey
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Yakuza: Dead Souls
WII
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Deadly Creatures
Xenoblade Chronicles
Wario Land: Shake It!
3DS
Pushmo
Mutant Mudds
Resident Evil: Revelations
Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword
Mighty Switch Force
Mario Kart 7
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked
DS
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
Again
The Legendary Starfy
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Chrono Trigger
iOS
Alphadia
Hector: Badge of Carnage
9mm
Eternal Legacy
Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror
Bar Oasis
Grinsia
Infinity Blade II
Cthulhu Saves the World
PSV
Touch My Katamari
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
PSP
Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection
Me & My Katamari
GBA
WarioWare, Inc: Mega Microgames!
GB/GBC
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Kirby's Dream Land
GG
Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble
GEN
Phantasy Star II
Shining Force II
PC
Dear Esther
Resonance
It exists in my heart.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew
35. Halo 4
http://users.zoominternet.net/~tain/100s/halo_4.png
No big surprises in the campaign. Most of the battles involving the Covenant are fun, and the more open sections with vehicles are as stunning as ever (especially the battle inside and between and around two huge moving vehicles), but man do the Prometheans suck to fight against. And they're bland looking. And you fight them in bland-looking areas where you're forced to use their bland and sometimes shitty weapons. And 90% of the time you'll just be shooting at these overused knight dudes. Not good. There's no cool final battle, same as ever. You'd think that if you made two sets of enemies and weapons, you'd want some battles where they all get mixed together, but that barely happens in this game.
Thankfully, though, the vs multiplayer is the most fun I've had with the franchise! And I'll be playing Spartan Ops sooner or later.
I beat Super Stardust Vita on normal and beat AgentX's score into dust
Really? I tried it out and couldn't taste the Haloiness at all. No floaty jumps, no forgiving shields, reliance on abilities and perks. Maybe this is what you like about it, though?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tain
My memories of all other Halo games aren't the clearest (Halo 2 was the last time I stuck to Halo multiplayer for a decent amount of time), but I didn't notice big differences in the jumping or shields. The perks are kinda lame but I like the abilities so far.
#21.
What a neat little game! It had a real Ys feel to it, and my only complaint is that there weren't enough music tracks. What's there is great, but I would have like a bit more variety. Other than that, this game is excellent.
(RE)42. Borderlands 2: Campaign of Carnage DLC 1250/1250
I enjoyed this one much more than Pirate's Booty, Mr. Torgue was incredible throughout and Tiny Tina returned for some more laughs and the bosses were sweet lookin' and fun to fight, the only chore was farming the Moxxi photos but even that didn't take long. Some really nice loot to be had as well, I didn't think I would find anything to replace what I was rockin' but sure enough there was some good shit near the end. Hopefully the next one raises the level cap.
#22.
Attachment 67706
Another excellent NES action/RPG. Falcom goodness shines through here. It's a bit cryptic in some places, but overall this is a great game. I'm glad I finally got around to finishing this one.
#23.
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...7&d=1353634471
A SNES classic! Seriously, this game does not age. It's just as awesome now as it was back the day.
#24.
Attachment 67708
A great port of a neat little action title. Beautifully detailed and colorful graphics and varied environments combine with cool level design to make a game that more people need to try out.
Loved Faxanadu.
I still can't beat Contra 3 on anything but easy.
Faxanadu is on my bucket list. If it were in the 3DS eShop I would be more likely to get to it. But Nintendo.
#25.
Holy hell is this game cryptic. Most of my time was spent wandering around, wondering what the hell to do. There are doors everywhere, none of which you actually need to enter, and dying sends you back to the beginning of the stage with only 1/3 of your energy filled. Merciless, old school bastard of a game, and I beat it.
Fuck you, Rygar. :)
Classic game. One of my favorites.
14. Halo Reach - decided to get this out of my backlog and play through it before I jump into Halo 4. Solid game but nothing that really stood out to me.
Finished Bravely Default: Flying Fairy at around 80 hours. Steins;Gate guy wrote a good scenario and the characters are loveabbblleee..........except one. o_o
Game starts out as a quaint love letter to and example of the classic JRPG. The scope was obviously limited, but the game acts unaware. Towns really have nowhere to go but they look big and beautiful. The music is pretty good (wish it was better) but the same tracks are used over and over. But then about 30 or 40 hours in the game suddenly grows HUGE, swinging cojones and you can't believe such a cute, nice little guy just hit you in the face with a brick. Saying more would be mega spoiler territory. Very irritating, but in a kind of interesting way.
Flawed but memorable little game, probably one of the best efforts from Square Enix in recent times.
Can the American 3DS play European titles, or is there region-locking between the two? Wondering since Bravely Default (and Project X Zone) is supposed confirmed for Europe but not the US.
I dunno, but I'd be surprised if it didn't get released in the US as well.
edit: Although, it will be interesting to see how it's localized. The game has a 15 plus rating in Japan, in spite of being adorable looking.
There is a region lock. Nintendo sucks.Quote:
Originally Posted by MechDeus
Damn. If it was a DS title the fan translation would probably already be underway. It'll be nice once the 3DS gets hacked open.
#26.
I stopped playing around 2/3 of the way through about a month ago, since I got sidetracked with many other games. Since I'm on a NES tear this weekend, I decided to finally finish it up. The last boss is a disappointment, but the game overall is great. I really wish we'd get another 2D sequel, for 3DS or download.
#10: Shadow of the Colossus HD
I didn't love it. I wanted to like it, and at times it succeeded at what it was trying to do, but overall I found it to be bland and frustrating. And LOL at the horse showing up at the end. Moving on.
36. Hotline Miami
http://users.zoominternet.net/~tain/...line_miami.png
Man, what a hideous game. I mean, I understand the look it's going for, but can you get much uglier than these human sprites and these close-ups? The soundtrack is legit excellent, thankfully. I mostly really like the idea of the game, with the speed and the constant item use and the one hit kills and the setting and the bloodbaths and everything, but the gross visuals and the super-casual save-state retry structure take it down a few notches.
1. The Walking Dead - This is easily my choice for game of the year. This may just have the best storytelling that I've ever seen in a video game. The story was never afraid to force you to make tough choices, most of which left you feeling uncomfortable at best. Yeah it's just a point and click adventure but the story is fantastic and the voice acting is second to none. This game constantly delivered.
#27.
Finally, FINALLY, this one is done. After playing it off and on for almost 3 decades, I actually sat down and began again from scratch a few months ago. I got as far as Ridley's hideout but got frustrated and quit. After beating other games that have whipped my ass for so long, I dug out my password and started up again. Mother Brain was a fucking BITCH, especially those damn red rings that keep knocking you into the lava. I actually almost died on the final escape too, since I was so worked up from finally killing MB, until I calmed down and just went through it. They give you plenty of time to escape.
Fuck getting the armor-free ending or whatever. This game is too emotionally draining to go through again, lol.
Congrats, Melf. I've tried a few times, I can't get anywhere in that game. Maybe someday.
Wow. I need to get on this it sounds like. I bought it during the Steam summer sale and still haven't started it. :sweat:Quote:
Originally Posted by Glass Joe
Balloon Kid- Short but excellent game for Game Boy. I've been trying to beat it for a while now and finally got to the end. There are only 8 stages, but they switch things up between every one, so they all play pretty differently. A lot of them have you abandoning your balloons to run around on the ground. It gets pretty difficult after the first couple of stages!
You won't be sorry. Powerful and emotional aren't things you can ever really say about storytelling in video games, this game is both. On top of that TellTale didn't puss out with the ending. I beat this Friday morning and I still can't stop thinking about it. Every episode is heavier and more gut wrenching than the last.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoshi
Dirt Showdown
I'd say this is worth a rental or a sub $20 buy at most. It's a different spin on the Dirt franchise that focuses more on the X Games style of Rally racing. There's about 5 locations for tracks ranging from Tokyo to California. The campaign is broken up into a bunch of different race types: Demolition Derby, Figure 8 races that combine racing and demolition derby, straight races with 8 cars on track, Smash races where you follow a certain path smashing through different colored blocks as fast as you can, trick events where you do donuts, jumps, slides and block smashing for top points and a head to head trick race.
While there's a lot of variety, nothing really stands out as exceptional. The game looks good, but the damage models aren't that impressive so that takes away from the carnage draw to demolition derby. The cars all control differently (around 40 I think), but it always feels like you are just pivoting it left and right and gliding, there's no real sense of grip or weight. It's really easy to get hung up on things (for some reason they put diagonal barriers in to make the road even narrower and it's infuriating to hit one and then get it stuck under you, completely screwing you over). Plenty of rubber band AI and last second spin outs that make you want to hurl your controller. You need an online pass so I never tried multiplayer. Split screen is supported though.
It's an average racing game that at its best never comes close to the intensity and speed of NFS: Most Wanted. I bitch about a lot in MW, but it's way better.
I just finished The Walking Dead too. Lives up to the comic in every way and makes the TV show look like a complete joke. Can't wait for the next season. The episodic format worked beautifully with the game.
37. New Super Mario Bros U
http://users.zoominternet.net/~tain/...rio_bros_u.png
No real surprises here. It's a good Mario game with just enough New Stuff. Clean, cute visuals, a pretty decent difficulty curve, typical Mario bosses. The baby Yoshi (plural?) seem underused. There's still a good amount of stuff for me to do. This game was probably fresher for me than it was for some others, since I skipped out on the 3DS game and I played the Wii game entirely in co-op, but I'd like to see a serious aesthetic changeup for the next one.
Pretty much the same, beat it last night.
Backgrounds in so beautiful though. Still need to get the star coins and do star road, but this is the first Mario I've played all of since Super Mario 64 I believe.
(RE)(re)47. Dishonored 990/1000
Had 5 achievements to finish so I started again from scratch last night, knowing where to go and what I had to do (get all paintings, do all Granny Rags and Slackjaw missions, collect all blueprints and deactivate 5 systems on the final level) made it go by very quick, about 6 hours from start to finish. Very high chaos, I was killing dudes left and right just so I didn't have to deal with them, first time making good use of Shadow Kill. Granny's 10 point cheevo glitched out and didn't pop so I redid that section 4 times just to make sure, getting Slackjaw's the first time I tried but still nothing from helping Granny. The necessary objectives were all completed from the first mission on, so I'm fairly upset that this still reads as incomplete, considering both the one for Granny and the one for Slackjaw require the same things and obviously the Slackjaw achievement popped no problem. Whatever, game, whatever! You done!
Darksiders II (Xbox 360)
I actually finished this a little while ago. I just loved it. I'm a huge fan of the first game and this game met pretty much all my expectations for a sequel. Like, the first game, I love the way the world was crafted and how diverse each area was. This time, the environments were even more detailed, bigger, and more expansive. I liked it to much that I tried to avoid using fast-travel just so I can check everything out. There are a lot more dungeons this time around, too.
Other welcomed additions were looting and being able to customize Death's appearance with the various items and equipment you pick up throughout the game. The combat has been improved with more moves and more weapons. Some of the fights the game throws at you are nuts. Although the boss fights aren't as Zelda-esque like in the first game, they're still enjoyable and well-done. It was awesome to fight Samael, as you didn't get to do that in the first game. Also, the Archon is one of the coolest-designed characters I've seen.
There are some things that I wasn't big on, though. The pace of the game is a little relentless at times, with one dungeon coming right after another and no real down time in between. Instead of making you want to keep going, it wears you down and makes you want to step away from it for a bit. The first game had better pacing. Because of the looting gameplay, you spend a lot of time in the menu/inventory screens. That's fine if the menu screens were fast and fluid. They felt kind of clunky here. The first game had different types of treasure chests for different types of items, depending on the importance of the item. This game kept those same treasure chest designs but doesn't really distinguish between them in terms of the items you get. You can open up a chest you think has rare or important items, but get throwaway stuff. Lastly, although the dungeons are diverse in aesthetics, some of them felt the same, which wasn't the case with the first game.
It's hard to say whether I would take this game over the first one. I felt the first game was a tighter and more polished package, with more diverse gameplay as the game progresses. This one, however, is more expansive but also more consistent throughout. All in all, though, I enjoyed it thoroughly and wish I had more time to play through it again.
#13 - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Came in around 40 hours which I think is longer then Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. I really enjoyed the game at first but then as certain aspects started kicking in(as seen in the Skyward Sword thread) I started finding the game a bit annoying and frustrating. Subtract 10 hours of nonsense and the game is much better.
Finished Super Mario 3D Land. It was quite fun.
Yeah it was.
Adventure Time - Pretty good! Nothing amazing, but it's pretty funny and doesn't overstay it's welcome. Coulda been so much more though :/. Got 99% of the stuff in it, doubt I"ll go back for the last 1% though.
Liberation Maiden 3DS- Fun, but way too short.
Epic Mickey 3DS- Fun, but way too short.
Adventure Time 3DS- Fun, but way too short.
Max Payne 3. Finally got around to finishing this thanks to a $15 sale. Got hosed out of the achievement for completing it. Bastards. I liked the game. I hope they have the gunplay/physics of this game in GTA5.
Spelunky - 360, completed
What a great game, with perfect controls. Definitely not for everyone, but I think one of the most satisfying things about the game is looking back and seeing how much your skills have progressed from when you first start.
40.) Zone of the Enders (360)
God damn that new intro cinematic when you boot the game is awesome.
Finished this off in about 4 hours. I was surprised at how much of this (passcode and weapon locations) I remembered after all this time, so it wasn't quite the chore it was the first time around. Obviously it's a little on the primitive side after nearly 13 years, but the frame rate is a solid 60fps and it's still pretty fun. Now I can move on to the real reason I bought the collection. Played half an hour or so of the 2nd Runner and it's just gorgeous in HD.
#13 - Super Mario 3D Land - fun game
#14 - Halo CEA - I've never beaten CE before. This game still holds up really well. There are only a few annoying old-school design issues (mostly the hallways) and the combat is dynamic and sharp. I liked it more than Reach.
50. Zone of The Enders (360) 280/1000
Forgot just how short this game can be, but it's entertaining throughout and plays so smooth. Agreed with No One about the opening, I let it roll when I first turned it on and was so pumped by the end of it that I almost beat it in one sitting. Started it up again right after finishing to try for the A rank survivor missions and overall A rank, but I may just go right to the second game before I finish that. Can't wait to try it! Also, this one is my 50th completed game this year, which was (one of 2) gaming goals I'd wanted to reach this year. Yeah!
51. Braid (XBLA) 185/200
I never had beat this years ago, I had trouble with like 6 or 7 puzzle pieces near the end that I just couldn't seem to figure out how to get. Turns out when I'm thinking and acting with a little more clarity it wasn't too bad. So I was able to see the attic and finish it off which was really nice, I did really like this game it just frustrated me back then. Only achievement left if for beating the game's Speed Run time. Considering it took me 3+ years to beat the game once, I'll hold off on that one.
52. Harms Way (XBLA) 200/200
Had completely forgotten about this game, then stumbled upon it when looking through my library for things to finish up. It was the 3rd Doritos game that I can recall (Dash of Destruction, Crash Course and this), and they were all pretty short but at the same time they were fun little diversions. I liked the idea of being able to teleport to different turrets around the level to help out by shooting other racers and opening shortcuts for your driver, and the driving itself was pretty decent too. Not bad at all for a free game.
53. Trouble Witches Neo (XBLA) 169/200
Picked this one up at NGE's behest last year and just kind of forgot about it, going in to it a few nights ago I had 1 achievement for 5 points that I had won in July. It's not a bad shooter, it's actually pretty fun despite being so cutesy, the magic sphere slowing down bullets is a nice idea and I like the card system replacing bombs as well. Got the cheevo for beating it without continuing, then beat it without continuing without using magic as well. That was a little tougher. Cleaning this one up 100% is totally doable and will happen, just not this year I don't think.
16. Hitman: Absolution (PC, Hard)
Looked at objectively on its own merits, this game is underrated. Looked at from a purist fan of the series, I can understand how it could be disappointing. The focus on many -- but not all -- of the levels is to escape. There are no targets at all on these levels. There are also levels that are pure Hitman with more freedom and one or more targets. Finally, there are some levels that are a mix of these. The third kind features well guarded areas and not public places like many of the other games' settings, but there is still a target to take down. I enjoyed the latter two types much more than the escape levels, but the story does justify their existence to me. I really liked the soundtrack, and the Glacier 2 engine is impressive. I'm running a two generation old GPU, and I was still able to run the game on high quality with a nice framerate, so it appears to be very well optimized. I'm going to return for the Contracts multiplayer mode and to try more of the challenges during the campaign, but just looked at as a standalone single player experience, I would recommend this one.
8/10
2012 Totals:
1 3DS, 1 FC, 2 iOS, 5 PC, 1 PS2, 4 PS3, 1 PSV
2 - 6s, 2 - 7s, 5 - 8s, 5 - 9s, 1-10
Streets of Rage II
This is a game about envy. Every boss behaves generally like the playable characters and is restricted to similar move sets, but with one additional move. And it's a move you want. You'll first covet the ability to block, then to divekick, then to attack an entire horizontal stripe of the field, then to burst out of combos, then, most interestingly, to attack along the z-axis. Every boss is a reminder that you're one tool away from being a powerhouse. Every boss would work as a playable character within the context of the game's levels, and every boss is a character you'd take for a spin through those levels if you could. That's neat. And it makes a lot of sense. Why design a boss the player wouldn't want to use? That's a question that sure didn't occur to the fellas who made Zelda II.
Zelda II
Here is how Zelda II's level design works:
Attachment 67787
If you go right first, you kill the red guy, find the locked door, deduce that you should have gone left first, walk back across two empty rooms, kill the blue guy, get the key, walk back across his empty room and the next, kill the red guy again, unlock the door, and proceed. That's a lot of waste to maintain the illusion of exploration! Stripped of that waste, Zelda II's dungeons would look like this, which is what most side-scrollers look like:
Attachment 67788
But without the illusion of exploration, the player would be left to stare at the game's naked mechanics, and they don't wear "naked" well. Nothing Zelda II's Link can do feels powerful or gratifying; the standard attack feels like trying to return a tennis serve with a rolled up Us! Weekly.
90. PS All Stars Battle Royale
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...PSAllStars.png
Plat. Played it an entire Saturday morning and afternoon and went to see some old friends and play Smash. Barely 12 seconds in replaying Brawl for the first time in four years and it heavily beats this game. It's weird having real-human models next to cartoony ones, or seeing Sweet Tooth or Nathan Drake burst Sackboy. Some pretty fuggo menus, too. Probably could have spent my time better.
91. Sonic Generations
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Got it off Steam. Looks great maxed out on a beast PC. Fun stuff.
ARBM: As wrong as you may be about Zelda 2, kudos on beating it. That last dungeon in particular is fucking brutal.
It wasn't that bad. Death Mountain was more trying.
Zelda II is actually a really nice game, mostly because of the music, the sound defeating an enemy produces, and downward thrust. I'm just grumpy.
#28.
Short and repetitive, but it's the turtles on Game Boy, damn it! I've always liked this one, and it was fun to go through it again since I found it this week for $5.
#29.
Not as good as Turtles in Time on SNES but still competent and highly playable. The ending sucked though.
I like playing Fall of the Foot Clan once in a while. The game is pretty great for what it is.
I wish Hyperstone Heist would just let me play that one level that is a boss rush, that part is awesome. The rest of the game is just me wishing I was playing Turtles in Time instead.
Oh man, I played the shit out of Hyper Stone Heist as a kid. Played that because I didn't have Turtles in Time.
The Last Story- Man, just man. Excellent game. People always hype up Xenoblade, but i think this is my favorite of the two. The story gets soooo stupid, but the characters are some of the best, jrpg or otherwise, and the British voices only make them the best ever. The graphics are really good! Like if you squint you'll forget you're playing on Wii. I said it once before, but if every Wii game had this level of craft, the system wouldn't have been the joke it was.
There are a few things that keep it from being THE BEST GAME EVER: the levels aren't well connected at ALL. There's no sense of cohesiveness whatsoever when you go from a random spot in the city to an underground cavern, and there's no real way to access it otherwise. Besides stuff like going to the castle from the town, it really feels like you're just warping from one place to another.
The battles can get a little confusing, and the tougher ones can get really annoying. There's usually some trick to beating the bosses, but it can get frustrating when you've spent a substantial amount of time only to get a game over. There is a satisfaction to just barely eking out a victory though, and the actual combat is pretty satisfying. It'd be nice if there was more time spent between other characters besides Shulk Elza Zael though.
The narrator is stupid, really awful, and at times it made the game and its story feel cheap. He usually simply regurgitated what you already knew, but sometimes he explained the warp between areas. The game seriously would've been better without.
Overall, so good.
After my comments last night I replayed Hyperstone Heist to refresh my memory. It's really a bit of a mixed bag. The gameplay is fantastic, it is faster and the control is much tighter than TiT, and there seem to be more foot soldiers on screen at any given time with no slowdown. But, the game is short and most of the stages are uninspired. With a little more work, I think this game really could have been great.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rumpy
#11: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Loved it. For me these games are the spiritual successor to the Indiana Jones movies and are fun to play and gorgeous to look at. The audio and voice acting are fantastic as well. This time around I only played through the single player campaign mode and set a goal of finding 80 out of the 100 hidden treasures, which I did.
Now it's on to either Soul Reaver 2 or Resident Evil 0. Maybe I'll flip a coin.
On a sidenote, a couple weeks back Xseed made mention that this was by far their company's best selling game, good to know the Rainfallers stepped up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Finch
Or the dudes banking on this being worth Earthbound cash
It's also received a cheaper re-release sans art book (and price drop for the one with) for those who missed it.
I'm more surprised that they actually produced enough copies for it to be their best selling games, I would have figured it got a ridiculously low print run.
9. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Beat it on Classic Ironman.
A lot of games claim to be tactical in nature. Many go so far as to put "Tactics" in the title. But the only real tactic you need in Final Fantasy Tactics (which I love) is "surround each enemy and pound on them till dead, repeat." XCOM makes you think hard about elevation, flanking, feints, line of sight, all that stuff. Firaxis turned the deep base management of the original into a simplified, RTS-style game of resource allocation. Sid Meier has said that games should be filled with interesting choices, and XCOM is definitely full of them. Every decision you make involves some sort of risk-reward calculation.
And the game is fucking intense when you play without reloads. Better than any "survival horror" game I've played.
The end of the game is a bit abrupt. It doesn't quite have the epic conclusion of the original game. But the mission variety, streamlined battles, and overall intensity more than makes up for it.
Now, back to Persona land and P4G!
1. Dark Souls
2. Shinobi 3DS
3. Mass Effect
4. Mass Effect 2
5. Super Mario 3D Land
6. Kid Icarus: Uprising
7. SMT Devil Survivor Overclocked
8. Persona 3 Portable
9. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
38. Hitman: Absolution
http://users.zoominternet.net/~tain/...absolution.png
This was a weird one. The escape stages really were a chore for me. I think that, overall, I'm not a fan of the cover-based sneaking that you see in this and Deus Ex HR, and the escape stages obviously focus on that. These stages are mostly early in the game, though, and as the game progressed I got more of the natural stealth-turned-shootout combo that suits this particular game better. You'll still get some goofy (in a good way) stages and approaches, and the human shield/tagging stuff is actually pretty fun to mess with. Looks great on a good PC, too. While I do think this game is getting trashed more than it deserves, I'd still put all Hitman games outside of the original (and maybe Silent Assassin depending on my mood) above it.
Bare Knuckle 3
Not as interesting as 2, but a lot more fun. The expanded move sets are excellent. The "OK!" meter allows the special attack to become more than just a panic button, which is nice. Nearly every stage is built around some kind of environmental wrinkle, and while none are especially unique or ambitious, they keep a surprisingly long beat 'em mans from ever approaching monotony.
Final Fight
Solid, but tough to play after acclimating to BK3's breezy movement and robust move sets. Final Fight strategy is thin: efficient play necessitates abuse of the throw - the only crowd control move that doesn't cost life - and a whole lot of knifing guys as they approach the border of the screen. The size and number of on-screen sprites still impress.
I played the XBLA version, which is a mess. Local co-op is hidden away under Custom Match; a second player can't jump into an Arcade game without the first player having to quit. Pop-up notifications pollute the screen with a frequency and intrusiveness reminiscent of browsing porn in 1999, often obscuring the game when using certain display settings. If there is a way to turn them off, I couldn't find it.
Dishonored, again. Had to play through it one more time (4 total) since Granny's achievement had glitched last time, and I was getting real aggravated staring at 990. Pretty sure I could beat this start to finish in 4 hours clean at this point. Bring on Dunwall City Trials (Dec 11th).
Prototype -- Last boss was bullshit and there are way too many powers to unlock, but really fun superpowered game if you ignore most of the side stuff. No other game can match the sense of movement, running up buildings only to glide and dash over the city.
Hotline Miami -- All the bosses were bullshit, and the conclusion to the story was lame. Fun times spoiled by overall jankiness.
Try the second one, it was even more fluid and fun.Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronChance
The bosses weren't terrible but the hospital level was really out of place and brought the game down. I still loved the game and its defintely a top 10 of the year for me. i need another cactus game, stat.Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronChance
Hospital level was so bad I had blocked it out of my mind.
41.) Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (360)
I'm not certain, but I think this game got a serious boost in difficulty compared to the original release (perhaps it's based on the PAL "special edition"). Considering how easy the PS2 version was, it's a welcome change. Small groups of Raptors actually pose a serious threat, and it just gets more challenging from there. Oh, and there's an achievement tied to seeing Ken's skimpy alternate costume, which made me smile.
Such an underappreciated gem.
#12: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 (PC)
I can FINALLY remove this from my pile of shame! I wish that I hadn't waited so long to get around to playing it since it's pretty dated now, but it was still fun and the quality of its textures helped to keep it looking fairly nice considering its age. And obviously the voice acting was tops. I played with the hints turned off and even found that some of the puzzles were relatively challenging. GG :tu:
Need for Speed Most Wanted (Vita)
The top few racers were a joke, by this point I had cars that could do 200+ mph and I just flew past them. Also, the top racer's AI was retarded, it kept crashing into stuff through no intervention of mine.
Beat Crysis 2. This game looks absolutely ridiculous on PC. The guns are also quite fun to use. The lack of enemy variety and mediocre AI hurts it though. On Hard you can pretty much cheese it the whole way. They shouldn't have had the secondary powers IMO.
92. Mirror's Edge (Steam)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...irrorsEdge.png
Playing it on a high end PC = pretty nice. A handful of PhysX moments which is nice, but even on a ridiculous PC, it chugged at some moments. Odd.
93. Adventure Time 3DS
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ureTime3DS.png
Funny like the show, more digestable version of Zelda II. Way too much backtracking.
94. Zanac Neo
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...94ZanacNeo.png
Great, love Compile. 1CC'ed with 15million+ points.
55. Super Meat Boy (XBLA) 140/200
This took me just about 2 years. I was stuck on Omega for most of those two years, getting through the significant portion in the first few months. I must have tried Omega over 500 times, and was utterly defeated by it every time. Finally decided to just do it till I got it, and managed to get the key and get back down that shaft for the first time ever! Sat at the bottom with that long jump over the saw and just thought OH GOD OH GOD DON'T FUCK THIS UP and I made it! Then there was the boss level... luckily that one only took about 50 tries. Felt AWESOME to finally pop The End achievement. Went through the first 7 levels of Cotton Alley and then stopped on 8, that one is going to be tough. I will eventually clear this entire game I hope, but it's going to be a process. Tim's level alone is going to be a source of much more frustration.
Hahaha, good job Pineapple! You've really stepped up at games the past couple of years!
I bet that sounds stupid but I think you're doing great!
Yeah man, you're really killing it this year. Badass. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mzo
Great job, Pineapple!Quote:
Originally Posted by Pineapple
I love the little toy Meat Boy avatar award I received for finishing this game. I don't think I'll ever get rid of it.
Someday I hope to finish the I Wanna Be The Guy levels. Someday.
Yeah I switched over to the little Meat Boy right after unlocking it :) And The Guy levels were the ones I meant, I already unlocked Tim. I tried the Guy levels again after posting that last night. I really, really hate those levels, with every bit of my being.