Games Beaten In 2018!

[Skippy B. Coyote]

You're smoking crack.

Now that's not a very nice thing to say. I just don't really see the appeal of Star Fox 64 when there are other games in the franchise (Adventures and Assault in particular) that offer more diverse gameplay than just monotonous on-rails shooting, have actual stories that aren't cliche daddy issues garbage, and have voice acting that doesn't sound like the work of extras from The House of the Dead 2.

[Austin]

Now that's not a very nice thing to say. I just don't really see the appeal of Star Fox 64 when there are other games in the franchise (Adventures and Assault in particular) that offer more diverse gameplay than just monotonous on-rails shooting, have actual stories that aren't cliche daddy issues garbage, and have voice acting that doesn't sound like the work of extras from The House of the Dead 2.

I think regardless of your preference of gameplay, you should at least be able to respect the roots of the series. After all, it wasn't born in adventure gameplay, but instead on tight, well crafted, arcade-style design.

 

As far as 64 itself, I don't really understand the "monotonous" complaint. Just because you shoot and you are constantly pushed forward, doesn't make the gameplay inherently "repetitive". To that, if you want true repetition, go try Microcosm, Novastorm or Iridion 3D for an educated comparison. The levels have tons of variety within them, and stages often feature many secrets and alternate routes, among other things. I'm not sure if you bothered to play it a second time, but if not, then I think you're missing part of the point of this type of game: It's meant to be played repeatedly. Find the alternate routes, get better as a player, improve your rankings and score, etc.

 

Also, regarding the voices--they have always been a point of contention, even for the biggest fans. That said, based on your review, you clearly haven't played House of the Dead 2 in a while.

[Austin]

I think regardless of your preference of gameplay, you should at least be able to respect the roots of the series. After all, it wasn't born in adventure gameplay, but instead on tight, well crafted, arcade-style design.

 

As far as 64 itself, I don't really understand the "monotonous" complaint. Just because you shoot and you are constantly pushed forward, doesn't make the gameplay inherently "repetitive". To that, if you want true repetition, go try Microcosm, Novastorm or Iridion 3D for an educated comparison. The levels have tons of variety within them, and stages often feature many secrets and alternate routes, among other things. I'm not sure if you bothered to play it a second time, but if not, then I think you're missing part of the point of this type of game: It's meant to be played repeatedly. Find the alternate routes, get better as a player, improve your rankings and score, etc.

 

Also, regarding the voices--they have always been a point of contention, even for the biggest fans. That said, based on your review, you clearly haven't played House of the Dead 2 in a while.

You know what, just ignore me. I'm a cranky (getting semi-old) man that needs to tell himself to stop giving a crap about other peoples' opinions.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

You know what, just ignore me. I'm a cranky (getting semi-old) man that needs to tell himself to stop giving a crap about other peoples' opinions.

 

It's alright, you're totally entitled to your opinions and I know I was really harsh on Star Fox 64 in my mini-review. I think when it really comes down to it the biggest problem with the Star Fox series isn't anything wrong with the games themselves, but fan expectations for what a Star Fox game should be. Nintendo has tried so many different things with the series at this point that no matter what they do with it going forward they're going to disappoint a portion of their fans. The majority of Star Fox's fan base are people who grew up with the original Star Fox and Star Fox 64 and they're going to be unhappy with a Star Fox game being anything other than an arcade style on-rails shooter, but then there's people like me who first discovered Star Fox during the GameCube generation and as a result want Star Fox games to be 12 hour+ long story driven affairs with lots of running around on foot.

 

With my only previous experience with the Star Fox series being Adventures, Assault, and Command I went into Star Fox 64 with false expectations for it. All the previous Star Fox games I had played had some big expansive story to them and a wide variety of different gameplay mechanics, so when I first played Star Fox 64 last week my initial impression was "Oh… is this it? Where's the story? Where's the running around on foot levels? Why is it only 2 hours long?" But the thing is that for the people who grew up with the original Star Fox and Star Fox 64 it's a series that isn't supposed to be story focused and it's not supposed to have on foot levels or take a dozen hours to complete. For those fans Star Fox games are supposed to be a straight up arcade action games and all that other stuff that I like so much about the later Star Fox games doesn't belong.

 

So it really is a problem of fan expectations. I don't think Star Fox 64 is a bad game, I just had the wrong expectations for it. I'm guessing anyone who went into Star Fox Adventures or Star Fox Assault expecting something like Star Fox 64 probably wouldn't have been very happy with those games either. I will give Star Fox 64 another play through this week though and explore some of the alternate routes, especially since I know there's a second final boss battle and extra ending if you approach Venom from a different planet than the main route. It may not be quite what I was hoping for in a Star Fox game, but who knows, maybe if I give it a chance I'll be able to appreciate it for what it is rather than what I had hoped it would be.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Jin

[Skippy B. Coyote]

37 (2). Star Fox 64 3D (Nintendo 3DS)

 

"Can't let you review that, Star Fox!"

 

Since I was so harsh on Star Fox 64 the first time around I said I'd go back and play it again to really give the game a fair shake, and that's just what I spent most of today doing. First I played through the game again twice on N64 difficulty, this time taking the routes to all the planets on the right side (the easy path) and the middle ones that I missed on my initial play through. After that I spent an hour or so durdling around trying to figure out what to do to get to the planets on the left side (the hard path) but had no luck figuring it out on my own so I went and got a little help from IGN.

 

With the knowledge of how to access the hard path in hand I gave it a go, and it certainly lived up to it's name. I was able to clear today's play throughs of the easy and normal paths on one credit without ever dying, but ended up getting stuck on the hard path's Zoness level boss and burning through all my lives there. After that defeat I decided to start a new game on 3DS difficulty to see if I'd have any better luck, and I quickly cleared the hard path on one credit as well with the difficulty dialed down.

 

So what did I think of Star Fox 64 3D after today's additional 3 play throughs? In short, I enjoyed and appreciated it a heck of a lot more. I've never been particularly fond of "behind the ship" perspective shooters ever since I got Iridion 3D back when the Game Boy Advance SP first came out, mostly because I have a hard time gauging distance in these kind of games and constantly run into things, but Star Fox 64 3D was definitely the best game of this style that I've ever played. The stereoscopic 3D on the New 3DS XL really helped to judge the distance between my ship and enemies / objects in the environment, which made the game a lot more fun to play than any other "behind the ship" perspective shooter that I've tried. There's not a whole lot of games on the 3DS where playing the game in 3D actually offers practical benefits to the gameplay, but Star Fox 64 3D is definitely one of them. The 3D graphics looked just fantastic too, with the rolling waves of water on the Zoness level being a particularly standout effect that I didn't know was even possible to pull off on the 3DS.

 

I also appreciated the story and characters quite a bit more on my additional play throughs. For a game of this age and style the developers did do a nice job putting together an appropriately fitting little story for it, and giving all the characters involved their own unique personalities and quirks. The true ending that you get after completing the hard path was a really satisfying conclusion to the story too. I also have to admit that the voice acting wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered it being the first time around, and definitely nowhere near The House of the Dead 2 or the original Resident Evil levels of awfulness. It was actually kind of charming in an odd sort of way.

 

At this point I do still prefer the Zelda-like gameplay of Star Fox Adventures and the variety of mission styles in the story driven Star Fox Assault (though I accept that I'm probably one of the few people who love the on-foot missions in that game), but Star Fox 64 3D was a darn good game for it's genere. By far the best I've ever played when it comes to "behind the ship" perspective shooters, and it certainly gives me a greater appreciation for Star Fox's roots. It's a game I'm happy to have in my 3DS library and will definitely play again many more times, because short little score attack games like this are perfect for playing for a few minutes here and there on a handheld system.

 

Now, if only Nintendo would bring the original Star Fox to the 3DS Virtual Console then I could finally experience that one too!

Edited May 2, 2018 by Jin

[empsolo]

Since I never played it as a kid, tonight I finally beat Super Castlevania IV. I really enjoyed it. It was a nice, well balanced, introduction into the Castlevania series without it being too much of a hardcore slogfest. It's a lot like the Famicom version of Ninja Gaiden III in a lot of ways. Though, I did have some difficulty near the end. However, the fact that Konami included a really liberal password system allowed me to comeback to the game and to those later stages after some rest. It's too bad that we never got a Castlevania game that was a worthy successor to Super Castlevania outside of Bloodlines on the Genesis.

[AtticGamer]

This year I beat some more Sonic games:

Sonic 2 (Master System) - Good game and infinitely more playable than the Game Gear version because of less screen crunch.

Sonic 3D (Mega Drive) - Great soundtrack, special stages are somewhat annoying and dizzying.
Sonic 3D (Saturn) - Soundtrack not as memorable as the MD version, but the look and the special stages are on a whole other level.

 

I've recently re-finished Alien Trilogy, Sonic 1 &2 (Jam) on the Saturn and Super Metroid on the SNES Classic Mini. Working on some other games on a variety of systems.

[doomwaves]

Not very many this year so far, but that's ok. Occupying my time with other things. But I still get a few in here and there.

 

Painkiller/Painkiller Battle out of Hell - Steam

 

Great, classic fast paced FPS.

 

NAM - Steam

 

Basically Duke 3D, set in Vietnam war. Hard as balls, but short.

 

Raiden III - Steam

 

Replay for me. Beat it the first time on PS2, but it was cheap during a steam sale so I grabbed it again.

 

Dig Dug Arrangement - Xbox 360 (Namco Museum Virtual Arcade)

 

I hadn't really intended on beating it, but there was unlimited continues, and it was very fun. Didn't take long.

[RedGamer]

I havnt been here for a while so I'm posting a few games. First, I beat Rugrats on ps1. This was very easy but a lot of fun. The Pickles house is the hub world and items hidden around the house will take you to different levels. They are all based off episodes from the show and have dialogue from the show too. At the end of the game you can destroy a town as Reptar and it's amazing lol.

Next I beat Legend of Kage on NES. Another easy game you can beat in 15 minutes. It's pretty fun but it gets boring quick. Loop through the game 3 times and you beat It!

Then the other night my fiance went to sleep and I stayed up with some booze and Vectorman lol. I have always played through the first few levels, but never gave it the "serious effort" as I call it lol. Well I played through til the end and beat It! I was a little disappointed to be honest. The levels have no variety in them other then two mini levels, and the last boss was so easy I only died once. I still recommend this game. It's a lot of fun.

Last, but not least is Eternal Darkness on GameCube. This game is really good, but there are so many annoying things it almost ruins it. The story is great, the graphics are fine, the controls are smooth, but I have some pet peeves. First of all, your sanity doesn't do much other then annoy you and waste time. There are several points in the game where it is very unclear what to do and I wind up trying a million spells and searching every corner of every room. At one point there's an empty fuse box... and you have to put a penny in it... why would I think of that? Also creating spells is tedious, and again wastes time. I didn't understand at first, but once I figured it out I realised how pointless it was. Anyway, if you can get past creating spells, casting spells, and searching high and low then this game gets really fun. Most of the puzzles do make sense and the game flows nicely during this time l. My fiance really enjoyed this game too. Get it!

[AtticGamer]

Very nice, congratulations. I lost interest in Eternal Darkness unfortunately, I just don't see what people like about it so much compared to stuff like Silent Hill 2 or REmake. Maybe it's for people who really dig H.P. Lovecraft.

 

Today I beat Axelay on hard, and subsequently on very hard, for the first time in my life:

 

"See you again at Axelay 2."

Edited May 6, 2018 by AtticGamer

[Cybergoth]

At one point there's an empty fuse box... and you have to put a penny in it... why would I think of that?

 

Basic knowledge of electric circuits?

[+thegoldenband]

24. HardBall III (SNES)

 

Again, not going to rank this since, as with all the HardBall games I've been playing, my goal was simply to reach the end as quickly as possible. In this case that meant simming everything up to a 3-3 tie in the World Championships, and then playing the deciding game, which I won easily. I guess that's one perk to having a password save -- the Genesis games have batteries, but only let you sim a week at a time, which would be unwieldy here. n/a

 

25. Beyblade: Let It Rip! (PlayStation)

 

This hilariously pathetic offering is basically sumo or Virtua Fighter with spinning tops, and has a whole elaborate RPG mode, with all kinds of levels to gain and items to buy. Problem is, if you simply buy a certain key item, you'll breeze through the whole thing and win the only thing there is to win, a single tournament.

 

Add to that the mushmouthed announcer, total lack of variety, bizarro controls and brain-dead AI, and you've got one whopper of a turkey. At least it's amusing and not unpleasant to play, and when I said to myself "I feel like beating a crappy PlayStation shovelware game" I got just what the doctor ordered. Still, I'm glad I paid under two bucks for it. F.

 

26. Netto de Tennis! (Dreamcast)

 

Did I...did I beat this game? Not 100% sure since I don't really understand Japanese, but if the Internet is right this game was intended mainly for online play and offers nothing but a single match at a time -- no career mode or anything. So I won the one match, and I guess that's that. At least it plays OK, but the AI seemed very weak. n/a

 

27. HardBall '95 (Genesis)

 

The last 16-bit entry in the series. Looks and plays better, maybe, but after hitting something like nine home runs in the last game, I wonder if something went wrong under the hood when they updated the engine. Also save-scumming revealed that the CPU would almost always hit a homer in a certain at-bat, suggesting that the game's outcomes are more scripted than they ought to be. n/a

[Austin]

41. Super Mario World (SNES) - Not much to say here. Great game, holds up extremely well. First (mostly) full playthrough I have done in a couple of years now. Always a good time when I go back and revisit it--easily my favorite of the Mario 3/Mario World/New Super Mario Bros. style of games.

42. Eternal Ring (PS2) - It's probably been over twelve years since I last finished this one, quite possibly longer. I sat down with it on stream and spent a day plugging away at it (with several breaks). In that time I managed to see my way to the end once more. I forgot how linear this one is--very few points in the game give you actual choice on where to go or what to do, and the parts that do often lead to dead ends. Still, it was enjoyable enough for what it is, being an early PS2 title and all. As a game from that era it's not really doing anything special from a visual perspective, but it at least plays decently enough and it runs at 60fps about 95% of the time, so it wasn't unpleasant to play. Much of the voice acting and the cut scene animations are extremely stilted (and inconsistent), but I was able to let that slide as I did enjoy my time exploring the game's various locations and dungeons. For those that haven't played this, Eternal Ring is a From Software game in a similar style as the King's Field series. If you're a fan of the King's Field style, I think it's worth playing, especially if you take it more as a "King's Field lite". I'd imagine a second playthrough will go much quicker, and I might do just that later this week.

[RedGamer]

Basic knowledge of electric circuits?

Because all fuse boxes are full of pennies right? Lol

[Silverfleet]

I haven't had a lot of time for gaming this year, but one of the things I've wanted to do for a while was to burn some Sega CD games to play them on the actual console rather than emulation. I had a couple hours yesterday, so I cooked up a bunch of games. And surprisingly, I played all the way through a couple of them!

 

Lords of Thunder (Sega CD)

 

I've heard this was a good one. Yup, it is! Sorta reminded me of if one of the Castlevania games was a shooter, with some elements from UN Squadron/Area 88 thrown in (power up orbs, health bar, the shop, etc). I played it on Normal difficulty and had no problem breezing through the game without dying. The real standout here is the soundtrack. Holy crap it ruled!!! It's so good I'd listen to it outside of the game. Total early 90's riff-tastic shredfest!

 

Road Avenger (Sega CD)

 

Another one I've read/heard about for years. It's a FMV game like Dragon's Lair; basically one huge Quick Time Event while watching a video. And that video... it's one of the most ridiculous, over-the-top action sequences I've ever seen. It stars the car that's seen hanging out in the garage in the very beginning of Double Dragon, and you basically are going out to avenge the death of a loved one... ON THE ROAD! And in office buildings, museums, caves, sewers, on a farm, and more. None of it makes any damn sense, and it's beautiful. I had to just keep playing until the end to see all the insane action.

 

Also, the opening theme is amazing. Game Sack did a "rough translation" that you have to see and hear. The whole soundtrack is 80's style Cheese Metal, and it's great.

 

https://youtu.be/vrULSod-JO8

Edited May 7, 2018 by Silverfleet

[Austin]

43. Streets of Rage 2 (Sega Genesis) - First playthrough I've done in a couple of years, normal difficulty. Ended up discovering a couple of new strategies for myself that made certain enemies and bosses easier. Great visuals, music and gameplay, lots happening on screen at all times as well. Definitely an all-time classic in the genre.

44. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist (Sega Genesis) - Normal mode playthrough. Fun romp, a bit of a "Turtles in Time Lite". Some of the bosses are absurdly easy, but the last couple posed at least a bit of a challenge. I really love the music renditions in this version, the kicks and snares just sound so big by Genesis standards. Good stuff.

[digdugnate]

Streets of Rage 2

Streets of Rage 3 (XBox One backward compatible)

 

Diablo 3 (Necro playthrough)

[HoshiChiri]

​10. Puzzle Star Sweep (PS1)

 

​Just some budget puzzle game I bought years ago- and BOY is the 'budget' part obvious! For all intents, it's not that bad- the art is fine, the music isn't grating, so it's not unpleasant to play... it's just so very, very blah. The mechanic itself isn't great- imagine something kind of like puzzle fighter, but every block has a crush jem on the end. I found a few stages frustrating, as in the time it took for the blocks to move up enough to try and get some combos in, you wouldn't have time to get them off before the stack hits the top and you lose the round. Despite that, it really doesn't take all that long to bust through story mode. Well, if you can call it that- it plays out like a series of unrelated, poorly translated vignettes. I can't imagine I paid much for this, I hope- it's worth a couple bucks at best.

[RedGamer]

I beat ssx tricky on GameCube. Got all gold medals and did all tricks in the trick book. This game is really easy.

[HoshiChiri]

11. Parappa the Rapper (PS1)

 

I've been playing some other PS1 stuff, & was starting to get rather frustrated (same problem I have with most older games- replaying previously beaten areas becase I died in the wrong spot). So, I went back to something nice and familiar- Parappa was my very first PS1 game. I remember my mom watching me play it & being mad at how much this 'baby game' cost- but I loved it & I played the crap out of it. Plus, I have Um Jammer Lammy coming in the mail this week, so it's kind of getting into the mindset again.

Edited May 20, 2018 by HoshiChiri

[Silverfleet]

Yesterday, I was perusing my game collection, looking for something to play. I came across Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil for the Xbox, and completely forgot that it has Ultimate Doom and Doom II on there! So, I played through the 1st episode of Ultimate Doom. Yeah, I'm counting it.

 

Ultimate Doom (Knee Deep in the Dead), Xbox:

 

I haven't played through the 1st episode of Doom in years! Last time I did, it was on a 486-based PC, and it was a shareware version. Playing on the Xbox with my Logitech wireless controller was sublime, and made the game a lot easier. I plan on playing through all of the episodes soon.

[Austin]

45. Adventure Island (NES) - Finished this one for the first time last year, this was my first playthrough of this year. A little rusty but still managed to get through it in just a few continues. I did intentionally go through the last few levels without a weapon, didn't have much trouble doing so, so even though I had to continue earlier on I don't feel too bad about the overall playthrough. What a great game--it's still a blast to play despite how archaic it looks compared to later NES games.

46. Adventure Island III (NES) - I played through this immediately after a failed attempt on Adventure Island II, and I've got to say, this is a nicer game overall than that one. More consistent visuals, tighter stage progression, unique boss levels, better difficulty curve, new power-ups and bonus stages, etc. I still prefer the original game, but between Parts 2 and 3, the third game is the better of the two.

[AtticGamer]

Just beat Metroid II: Return of Samus. 4:21, not bad for the first time, will try for the best ending (<3h) next. That queen boss fight is very, very hard.

[HoshiChiri]

12. Um Jammer Lammy (PS1)

 

The songs in this one, while not better than the original, were better than the old reviews led me to believe (except Teriyaki Yoko- total crap there.) Also enjoyed Lammy as a character- I didn't realize she was so soft-spoken. Although I should have, of course the lamb is sheepish! I was also surprised at how much harder these songs were than in the original- once you're past stage 1, it pretty much goes straight into it with no curve. Overall, it's great for fans but not newcomers.

[RedGamer]

Recently beat Among the Sleep. I've been wanting to play this game for a long time and... well it's extremely disappointing. The game is maybe an hour long, it's glitchy, and it's way too easy. You pretty much can't die unless you're extremely careless. The game looks really cool but that's about it. Avoid this game.