The Completion Thread 2007

[Melf]

Beat Lego Star Wars II story mode, so now I'm going back to get all the studs and mini kit pieces I'm missing, as well as the undefeated achievements.

Awesome, awesome game.

[haohmaru]

Finished Samurai Warriors 2: Empires with 1000/1000. Time consuming and nothing new here if you've played any in the series before. "Finished" Catan too, on hard mode, and would love to get 4 TNL'ers together for a match.

[gameoverDude]

I salute you sir! RT 3 can be brutal in the later levels, but it's a great and challenging game. Have you beaten part 2? The second loop there is a killer.

I've beaten part 2 on both the Genesis and the arcade one. I've 1CCed the arcade thanks to the easier boss- here you can just spam Gimdo to death assuming you've saved 30 bullets for him.

On the Genesis RT2, I had gotten to the final stage but I had to continue a few times to get the boss there.

[MechDeus]

The Halo 3 beta made me want to run through the story campaigns of the first games since I haven't done so since each came out, so I busted those out this weekend.

Halo I haven't really changed my mind on, it's a basic FPS with good visual design. I do give them credit for pulling a bunch of stuff from lesser FPS' and not being one themselves, but the best part of the game is the music. A number of tracks made me smile as they sounded similar to the old-school synth tracks you'd find in PC games from the early 90s. The voice acting was a lot worse than I remembered, Cortana in particular sounded like she was just reading the lines and not caring.

Halo 2 is all over the place. The graphics were a huge step up right away - except so many textures looked so terrible. The faces are godawful and everyone has dead eyes, and the weapons blend in so well with the ground that I had a hard time finding weapons during some areas (compared to the basic look of Halo where you can easily see any weapons on the ground). The level ideas and overall theme were really cool (I'm one of those people that didn't mind the Arbiter) but some areas were pathetically lazy. No less than three seperate elevator rides where you stand in one spot while they throw enemy spawns at you. Retarded. I do think that the Arbiter sections should've been a seperate piece you unlock afterwards, as they hurt the cohesive flow that Halo had.

Granted my reservations about both games become downgraded to the progression. I have a weak spot for whenever stories get expanded on, and the upcoming game I think will help solidify the series to me as greater than the sum of its parts. I might even read the books since one of my friends owns them.

[kingoffighters]

You should read the books, they are not half bad (I always expect videogame novels to be horrible, so I was pleasantly surprised). They definitely add to the Halo universe.

[MechDeus]

Yeah, I was told the ones by Nylund were actually decent but to stay away from the second book. Is the graphic novel any good?

[kingoffighters]

I have never read the graphic novel. Didn't even know they existed.

[sleeve]

Yeah, I was told the ones by Nylund were actually decent but to stay away from the second book.

I only read The Fall of Reach, but it was fantastic. Highly recommended if you want to get a well-fleshed out piece of the Halo backstory. I never read the second (The Flood) because it's essentially a novelization of Halo 1. It was also written by a different author.

The graphic novel is really nice. It consists of four stories set in the Halo universe. Excellent art (Simon Bisley and Moebius are two of the bigger names), and the stories themselves aren't half bad either. There's also a section of artwork by various artists inspired by the Halo universe.

Not an essential purchase for a non-Halo fan, but it has some merit on its own.

[Andy]

Yeah, I was told the ones by Nylund were actually decent but to stay away from the second book. Is the graphic novel any good?

That's pretty much it (graphic novel aside --haven't read it myself). The Nylund books are worth a read if you're into the Halo mythos. Light reading, sure, but entertaining none the less.

One drawback, though, is that it'll probably sour you to the way Bungie has advanced the actual games' storyline, because you'll know how much better it could've been.

Compared to how fucking stupid it is now. You had better make up big time for Talking Mother Fucking Venus Fly Trap Guy, Bungie.

[MechDeus]

You fear Seymour.

Turns out my friend's copy of the first book managed to end up in Dallas, so I just grabbed the trilogy and graphic novel off Amazon since they were cheap.