What Are You Playing? (Winter, 2014-15)

[YellerDog]

It's possible!

The sprite characters are personable, the gameplay feels slightly more involved than navigating a bunch of menus and hitting 'next'. I like that it feels a bit more like chess instead of filling out a survey form.

[MechDeus]

Check out Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, if you've got your hands on a PSP or Vita. I loved it way more than FFT.

[Joust Williams]

I'm playing Counterspy on PS4. This game is pretty fun, I think. I'm not really playing it correctly (I imagine you really want to chain stealth takedowns through the entire level), but I might go back through once I unlock a lot of stuff. It seems really short, probably two hours worth to get to the end.

Longer than I thought, I missed the 3 difficulties. They unlock when you beat the previous. The levels are randomly generated, so it's just more levels, but your stuff carries over (the ability to buy the weapons, not the purchasing themselves) and it's much tougher.

[Vasteel]

Master System stuff! Two things: 1) People who made games for this system were really fond of isohedrons and dodecahedrons. 2)For all its advanced graphics capabilities, I've not seen anything but static backgrounds on any games for it. Do any of the games use parallax or anything?

Space Harrier 3-D: Awesome, I really love this and think the designs are probably the best of any of them. But it would be really hard for me not to, as Space Harrier is one of my all-time favorite games. Even in the 2D mode, it's striking how much this game shits all over Space Harrier II.

Maze Hunter 3D: This is just rad. I figured Space Harrier would be the standout 3D game, but this is THE reason to own the glasses. It's just incredibly cool.

Wonderboy: I've never really liked the arcade game or Adventure Island, but this version is great. The best version by far, making it more playable than what's effectively and endless runner type game. Still not sure I love it, but every time I turn it I play for like an hour or two.

Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap: You can't go wrong with this game, and it was one of my most played TG16 jams. This is the best version but I don't like having to reach the console to get to the inventory screen, though, that sucks.

Miracle Warriors: Very old-school and grindy, and tough as nails. The moving perspective window was probably really cool in its day, but is a pretty hokie gimmick now. The enemy designs are pretty cool. I love that it's pretty much nonlinear for a JRPG and you can attack good NPCs, which is hard to resist early on when you're strapped for cash. It gives the game a more biblical 'seeking redemption in the desert' kind of feel. It feels like a game from before the JRPG genre had completely coalesced into its own, like a mix between DQ and like Ultima 4-5 or something. I'm enjoying it a lot.

Zaxxon 3-D: The 3d is cool for a second, but Zaxxon just isn't very good. I wasted my money on this one and wish I'd gotten R-Type or Rastan instead.

Are the other 3D games like Blade Eagle or Poseiden Wars worth tracking down?

Oh, and also 3D outrun on 3DS of course!

[Joust Williams]

I loved MH3D. I actually really like Zaxxon 3D too though (the base stuff mostly)

[Mzo]

Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap: You can't go wrong with this game, and it was one of my most played TG16 jams. This is the best version but I don't like having to reach the console to get to the inventory screen, though, that sucks.

Plug in a second controller and use that to bring up your inventory =D

[Joust Williams]

I forgot about that. If not having the games the NES did wasn't a big enough kick in the balls, you had to walk up to the console to pause your games.

[Schlep]

Rogue Legacy ... Amazing game.

Yup. Started playing it a couple days ago and I'm thoroughly hooked. I can see where some might get turned off by the grinding, but I love it. Just over level 100 and still deathly afraid of The Darkness. Someday...

Marathoned a few hours of Hotline Miami 2. Absolutely love the story and atmosphere. The gameplay is a lot slower this time, because of all the off screen enemies and concentration on shooting instead of melee weapons. It's still a really good game, but if the first was a 10, this feels more like an 8. Maybe it'll feel like a 9 by the end.

Everyone should download OlliOlli 2 since it's free on PS+. I've only played for about 30 minutes, but it seems very fun. The soundtrack is relaxing and downbeat (at least in the first world), and it's refreshing to play something that isn't an action game or FPS.