Games Beaten In 2015!

[Skippy B. Coyote]

41. Kirby's Adventure (NES)

 

Over a week since I beat a game? I've been slacking off! I don't play a lot of NES games, but Kirby's Adventure is one of my favorites. It's definitely one of the more challenging Kirby games, but still pretty darn easy by NES standards and very relaxing to play. I had a lot of fun doing this one, and I felt really satisfied with the way the story progressed and the final outcome of the game at the end. This is one that I'm pretty sure I'll be playing through again later this year, since it's just such a wonderful game to relax and de-stress with.

[+wongojack]

I finished Mega Man II. I'd never made it through a Mega Man game, and I decided it was time to take this one on during a trip over the Labor Day weekend. I thought it was pretty great. I'd heard very little about the details of the game, but I got some advice somewhere to start with MetalMan - so I did. Playing on my GP2x Wiz, I did use savestates in a few places just to avoid repeating some jumpy/platformy stuff and that also helped me prevent grinding by farming energy tanks after a continue. Great music!

[Cybergoth]

I just finished playing throught Capcom Vs. SNK 2 EO (NGC) with all 40+ characters. I also beat and unlocked 'Shin Akuma' and 'Ultimate Rugal' along the way

 

Capcom games beaten in 2015: Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Dino Crisis 2, Spawn, RE: Code Veronica, Mega Man 7, Mega Man X3, Demon's Crest, Street Fighter EX3, Mega Man Legends 2, Marvel Vs. SNK Pro, Breath Of Fire IV, Tech Romancer, Mega Man & Bass, Strider 2 & Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO

[+thegoldenband]

33. Heatseeker (Online)

 

A browser-based remake of a type-in game for C64, adapted by an AtariAge member who's currently blogging through Compute's Gazette. You can find it here.

 

It's silly to give a grade to a minigame, but I can say that it was totally addictive during the short amount of time I spent with it, and getting a perfect score was quite satisfying.

 

34. Family Tennis (Famicom)

 

The best 8-bit tennis game I've ever played, hands down. Naturally, it was also the only Famicom tennis game they didn't bother localizing for the NES. But, keep an eye on ROMHacking.net for news on that...

 

Anyway, it's got everything you can realistically expect from a game of this vintage. The serving game is consistent but requires timing and accuracy, the ground game controls perfectly and allows for both power and variety, and volleys are crisp and well-hit. The players are all real pros hidden under pseudonyms (some very obvious), and they actually play like their real-life counterparts: Navratilova is brilliant at the net (and left-handed), Lendl excels when using the combination of a wide serve + forehand to the open court, and so forth.

 

The game's challenge level could be higher, but it's still appropriate. You have to play six tournaments, four three-set matches in each, and you get a password after each tournament. If you want a tougher road to the top, just pick a less powerful character; I use Lendl, but I imagine beating the game with Sabatini or Mecir would be quite a task.

 

Bottom line, I really can't find anything meaningful to fault about Family Tennis. Heck, most 16-bit tennis games fall far short of the standard this game sets. A+.

 

35. Bokosuka Wars (Famicom)

 

About twelve years ago I played through this with the aid of savestates, but I finally got a proper, savestate-free victory today (over the first loop, at least -- I'm not interested in bothering with the second one, which is basically identical but adds irritating traps that are more annoying than dangerous).

 

Bokosuka Wars has been called one of the worst and most inscrutable games on the Famicom, but that's simply not true: it's a simple and relatively straightforward wargame that can be quite addictive if you're open to its primitive charms. Unfortunately the challenge derives largely from the operations of the game's RNG, and that gets frustrating pretty quickly. You can play carefully, do everything right and still end up with "WOW! YOU LOSE!", or proceed in a completely half-assed way and get quite far.

 

Still, I enjoyed taking another run through this game -- this time, legit. And the looping music has lyrics printed in the manual, how cool is that? B-.

[Christophero Sly]

Dragon Age: Inquisition (PS3)

 

Dragon Age: Inquisition isn't an "RPG". It's one of these new breed of shallow, open-world, MMO-style, chore-list games that seemingly every "AAA" title has, unfortunately, become these days.

 

Repetitive busywork quests are the order of the day here, or, more precisely, the fortnight, as it would easily take that long to exhaust the nearly endless stock of them that this game supplies. The game provides several large maps to explore, but 90% of the content in the game (closing rifts, finding shards, establishing camps, collecting materials, etc.) is identical map-to-map.

 

The game's plot was stolen from a Saturday morning cartoon, and the story-related missions that support it are few, brief^*, and poorly-designed, in particular, the final mission of the game, which has since become the embodiment of the term "rush job" for me.

 

Combat ends up being as simplistic and repetitive as that found in any pure "hack-and-slash". The AI that governs the NPC's in your party is among the worst I've ever worked with. It is so bad that it renders meaningless any strategic or tactical consideration you might be inclined to give to any particular encounter. The game includes an option to switch to a "tactical camera", which provides an overhead view of the battlefield and allows you to issue individual commands to your party members, but it's so tedious and unwieldy that it's not worth using with any regularity. Moreover, most bosses in the game are immune to the status effects that facilitate the cross-class combos that you're probably trying to set up by issuing individual commands anyway, so in addition to being unwieldy, the tactical camera is mostly pointless too. In addition, the skills system is broken. Even after several patches to the game, half of the skills don't work as they're supposed to. Some don't work at all.

 

The dialog system is, flat-out, the worst I have ever experienced in gaming. I never had any confidence in what was going to come out of my character's mouth in response to the dialog choices I selected.

 

The cinematics are terrible. I'm not sure I've ever seen cutscenes more clumsily choreographed and more crudely animated than those in this game. It's like the motion capture work was done on broken marionettes. Every movement is ridiculously awkward and stilted, and my character seemed to take great delight in making goofy facial expressions during nearly every scene.

 

On the technical side, the game's performance on the PS3 is pitiful. The framerate chugs, textures and scenery elements are constantly "popping in", and the load and save times are the worst I've ever experienced. However, on the plus side, I didn't notice any frame tearing, and for that, I'm grateful.

 

It's remarkable that despite all of these things I was able to salvage a passable experience from the game almost solely out of the opportunities it offered for exploration and sightseeing. Still, I don't understand how, except in this one obvious area, the game turned out to be even worse than Dragon Age II.

 

That this game received GOTY accolades from several outlets is astonishing to me.

 

5/10

 

^*Well, except for that one insanely tedious story mission that takes place about halfway through the game, the purpose of which seems to have been to test the limits of my mental endurance by subjecting me to a procession of ever more ludicrously awful attempts by English-speaking voice actors to affect a French accent. Indeed, I can scarcely conceive of a more arduous test of one's mental stamina than that regimen proved to be.

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

I beat the Lost Caves of Kroz on Intellivision in rogue mode again the other day.. assassin mode is next.

I just love this game, one of the best homebrews I've ever played!

[+wongojack]

Skyrim! Does anyone ever truly finish Skyrim? I finally finished the main story anyway. What a great game. I have to say though that besides how it looks and sounds, I preferred Oblivion. I liked the Oblivion crisis story better, I preferred playing in Cyrodil, I liked the customization of the Arcane univ, I liked using the "wheel" to change equipment, and I liked having a dedicated button for magic. Didn't miss repairing armor though.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

42. Adventure (Atari 2600)

 

Adventure is a game that I never really got into very much until I watched my wife play it a few times and saw how much fun she was having, but once I tried it I was hooked. The first and second game modes are fun, but where this game really shines is in the third game mode that randomizes the location of every item in the game. Changing up the location of all of the items every game gives Adventure nearly limitless replay value on the third game mode, and it's a game I always go back and play through at least a few times every year.

 

Right now our household is without a working Atari 2600 system, so I've been relying on the Atari Flashback 2 plug and play system to get my 2600 fixes. Luckily Adventure is one of the games included on it, and what a great game it is.

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

The Lost Caves of Kroz - Intellivision
Assassin Mode: 6959, about 4 hours start to finish give or take..

Edited September 20, 2015 by SiLic0ne t0aD85

[+thegoldenband]

36. Family Feud (SNES)

When evaluating a game like this, I guess the main question is "Did it effectively bring the Family Feud experience to the home console player?" And I guess the answer is yes, it basically did -- though there's a fair amount of question repetition and, occasionally, correct answers that fail to register. C+.

37. Andre Agassi Tennis (Genesis)

Played and beat this again, this time without losing a match (or a set). It's still probably the worst tennis game I've ever seen or played, though at least it's playable in a sort of ass-backwards way and offers a certain challenge (unlike the brain-dead IMG game). F.

38. Final Fight (Arcade)

My wife and I credit-fed our way through this at an arcade. It's an OK brawler that rapidly descends into cheapo quarter-eating territory, but unlike the SNES port (which I loathe), I didn't find myself hating the game as I played through it. C+.

[Cybergoth]

Here' a minor update on my Capcom run, where I have to report a game I have *not* beaten: Heavy Metal Geomatrix. Point in case is, my Dreamcast just died and I won't buy a replacement console now for just one single game

[zylon]

GBC- Dragon Warrior III

[Christophero Sly]

Condemened: Criminal Origins (360)

 

Some interesting ideas in this one, but the overall experience is significantly undermined by stiff, sluggish gameplay, arbitrarily restrictive maze-like level design, and a nonsensical plot. (6/10)

 

Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis)

 

Widely considered to be the gold standard of console beat-em-ups. While I mostly agree with that assessment, I find the gameplay repetitious, the generic street-brawler aesthetics unappealing, and the boss fights dull. Though I suppose those first two gripes have more to do with the conventions of the genre than anything this game does distinctively. (7/10)

[Christophero Sly]

my Dreamcast just died...

That sucks.

[doomwaves]

Been away from AtariAge for a while.. Glad to be back! Wish I could say I beat a lot of games in my absence, but alas, only 2. And they were both games I have beaten before..

 

19. (Replay) Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds - 3DS

 

For some reason I got the bug, and decided to play this one again. It started out as just playing around, then grew into a full fledged play-through. Really considered a "Hero-mode" run directly after as well, but I refrained.

 

20. (Replay) Halo 4 - Xbox One (Master Chief Collection)

 

In preparation for Halo 5, releasing in October, I decided to replay the most recent entry in the series! What a trip it was.. I played the vast majority of this game coop the first time through. This time I was able to take my time and soak up the story, and all the FEELS. Excellent game. My favorite in the series for sure.

[Christophero Sly]

Shadow Complex (360)

 

Great game, though it would have benefited from greater enemy variety, more/better music, and a stronger story. Surprised it never got a sequel. (8/10)

[Iwantgames:)]

Just beat Puyo Puyo Tsu on Wonderswan on Easy now on to Normal

[Iwantgames:)]

Just beat Puyo Puyo Tsu on Wonderswan on Normal now on to Hard

[Christophero Sly]

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (360)

 

An extremely linear affair, essentially “on rails”, to a degree that this game probably would have been better off as a light gun game. Aside from a couple of mediocre “quick-draw” showdowns and the gathering of a few collectables, the majority of the gameplay is entirely one-dimensional, amounting to little more than a series of point-and-shoot, pop-a-mole shooting galleries. It quickly becomes repetitive, and not long after, descends into tedium. The narrative is gimmicky, but I suppose it serves its purpose as something of a morality play well enough. Although the affected Texas drawl employed by the narrator grated on my nerves.

 

I assume the idea here was to play this game as an arcade-style shooter, where you would attempt to rack up as high a score as possible and try to place on the online leaderboards. I can see how playing it in that way might shift my expectations, but I don’t play games online, so that element of the game is lost on me. I can only judge this game at face value, and in that respect, it doesn’t offer a whole lot. (5/10)

Edited October 5, 2015 by Christophero Sly

[Iwantgames:)]

After just over 8hrs I managed to complete Engacho! On Wonderswan

 

Edited October 9, 2015 by Iwantgames:)

[Christophero Sly]

Condmened 2: Bloodshot

 

A substantial improvement on its predecessor. The combat is deeper, the forensic elements have been enhanced and refined, and the level designs feel less restrictive. The first 3/4s of the game was an 8/10 experience for me. Unfortunately, the game completely loses its focus over its final levels. The sudden tonal shift is jarring as the game attempts to accommodate a couple of grandiose set-piece levels that feel like they belong in a completely different game, while the story turns from servicably vague to blatantly stupid.

 

There are flickers of genuine greatness in the game, but the finals levels critically undermine the entire experience. (7/10)

[zylon]

GBC- Dragon Warrior III- Bonus Skyworld beaten.

[Iwantgames:)]

Just finished Kaze No Klonoa: Moonlight Museum on wonderswan

[Skippy B. Coyote]

43. Super Mario Land (Game Boy)

 

This is another one of those games that I like to go back and play through a few times a year, when I've got 30 minutes or so to kill and I'm not sure exactly what to play. The platforming action is great, I love the horizontal scrolling shoot 'em up stages too, and the

is just wonderful.

 

 

44. Mechanized Attack (NES)

 

When most people think of NES light gun games they think of Duck Hunt and maybe Hogan's Alley, which is a darn shame because SNK's Mechanized Attack really deserves just as much recognition in my opinion. The graphics are great for the time, the action is fast and intense, there's a huge variety of power-ups to collect, and the branching paths you get to choose from between stages allow for a whole lot of replay value. Did I mention there's also some seriously awesome boss fights at the end of around half the levels? This game will give your trigger finger some serious exercise, but the difficulty curve is very reasonable and it's just an all around fun and polished light gun game with a distinctly SNK style. I had to use one continue to beat it, but I think with a little practice I should be able to do a 1CC play through before too long.

Edited October 16, 2015 by Jin

[Skippy B. Coyote]

I don't generally like double posting, but I've got another game to add to my Games Beaten In 2015 list and this is one that I'm particularly excited about!

 

 

45. Freedom Force (NES)

 

For the longest time, and I by that I mean the better part of two decades, Hogan's Alley (Game B in particular) was always my favorite NES light gun game. That remained true up until last month, when I stumbled on a copy of Freedom Force for the NES and decided to give it a try. In short: This game is awesome! It's got great graphics (for the NES), killer music, a good variety of power-ups and weapon upgrades, mini-games between stages, plenty of hidden secrets to find, and a smooth difficulty curve that ramps up to a "Zapper masters only" level by the final stage. It also happens to be the only NES game I can think of to actually have blood in it when you shoot an enemy. Freedom Force took me a good month or so practice a few times a week to beat, but I'm sure it's a game that I'll come back to play again and again. Once you beat the game—after you're awarded with a neat ending cutscene and some well earned congratulations—the game loops back to the beginning on a higher difficulty level and with the graphics changed up a bit to make it look like a different time of day, so there's definitely some good replay value here that I'll be looking forward to enjoying.