The "I Just Finished!" Thread

[Malc74]

Finished Hotel Dusk on the DS a couple of days ago. Man, what a terrible game - I'd love to take every reviewer who gave it 7's and up outside and beat them repeatedly with a Raymond Chandler novel.

Was it boring or frustrating?

 

Or was it frustratingly boring?

 

My girlfriend seems to like that game, although I think she is stuck on the 3rd case.

 

Hmm, summing up its flaws without boring you to tears might be a problem, but I'll give it a go.

 

There's very little actual gameplay at all. You mostly wander around the hotel aimlessly, waiting for something to happen, which usually takes the form of bumping into someone and having a conversation, searching a particular room for a particular item or waiting for your character to say "I need to go here and do this now".

 

Conversations are ridiculously long and many are almost completely non-interactive. Some of those that are interactive are laced with pitfalls - choose the wrong sentence to speak and it's game over. But not straight away, that would be stupid - no, if you choose the wrong option you're forced to sit through the rest of the conversation before the character you're speaking to arbrarily dismisses you and brings up the Game Over screen.

 

The precious few items that are lying around can't be picked up until you actually need them. This causes the stupid situation of going to a location, finding a puzzle that you need an item for, going all the way back to where the item is and picking it up and then going back to the puzzle to solve it.

 

The puzzles are insultingly easy - you're given very heavy handed hints on how to solve everything. Meanwhile the "interactive" stuff that uses the touch screen is just idiotic - who really wants to straighten out a paperclip or file some graphite from a pencil using their stylus?

 

Sudden Game Overs aren't just limited to conversations - they pop up in several other places as well and there's very little way of avoiding them first time around. You just have to throw your DS at the wall, reload and try again.

 

I dunno - objectively speaking, it's a horrible game (actually, it's not really a game at all, it's a slightly interactive gumshoe novel) - but I can't deny that it's at least a tiny bit likeable. It seems to have been put together by a bunch of people who ultimately mean well, but can't design a game for toffee. It definitely gets worse the longer you play it, but the story tries its best to keep you coming back, if only to find out what happens in the end.

[Scumdogg]

My wife and i picked up Lego Star Wars II for the 360 ($13, woo!) on Sunday, and we finished the story mode tonight. We're at about 72% completion right now, going for 100%. The shoddy camera and the myriad of problems related to that has made some of the levels a chore to play 2-player, but the fun definitely outweighed that issue. We'll probably have to take turns playing through levels solo to get all the "undefeated" achievements though. In the heat of battle, it's just way too easy to kick your partner's ass inadvertently.

[moycon]

take turns playing through levels solo to get all the "undefeated" achievements though.

 

Good luck on that. The flying missions are a bitch. Not impossible mind you, I know people who have gotten them, but it's not somthing I'll ever accomplish

 

The walk through missions are easy for the most part. Just play with a ghost...as long as you don't fall off a ledge, or die while in a gun turrent, you're good since bullets pass through you!!

 

Super fun game, if you're enjoying it, once you finish you should check out Bionacles.

 

Right now I'm working through Phantasy Star Universe on the 360.

The game is underwelming to say the least,

[Scumdogg]

Good luck on that. The flying missions are a bitch. Not impossible mind you, I know people who have gotten them, but it's not somthing I'll ever accomplish

 

The walk through missions are easy for the most part. Just play with a ghost...as long as you don't fall off a ledge, or die while in a gun turrent, you're good since bullets pass through you!!

 

 

I've already done two of the flying levels undefeated...the Death Star run at the end of Chapter IV, and the "Falcon Flight" asteroid field level in Chapter V. The Hoth battle is going to be a bitch though. If i make it to being one achievement shy of perfect, it'll be because of that level.

 

That's cool about the ghosts...i wondered why they were so expensive to unlock. I've already done several levels without them, maybe i should stop that.

[moycon]

I've already done two of the flying levels undefeated...the Death Star run at the end of Chapter IV, and the "Falcon Flight" asteroid field level in Chapter V. The Hoth battle is going to be a bitch though. If i make it to being one achievement shy of perfect, it'll be because of that level.

 

Any tips for the flying levels? I wouldn't mind snagging at least a couple of them. Lord knows I tried with no luck.

[Scumdogg]

I've already done two of the flying levels undefeated...the Death Star run at the end of Chapter IV, and the "Falcon Flight" asteroid field level in Chapter V. The Hoth battle is going to be a bitch though. If i make it to being one achievement shy of perfect, it'll be because of that level.

 

Any tips for the flying levels? I wouldn't mind snagging at least a couple of them. Lord knows I tried with no luck.

 

 

Basically just keep moving...if you slow down, the TIE fighters will pretty much auto-target and destroy you. It also helps if you're really good at snagging any hearts dropped from explosions on the first pass. Just circle around in a relatively "safe" area killing tie fighters and blowing up floor panels/asteroids until you have 4 hearts before moving on to any new task or area.

[moycon]

Just finished the single player game in Phantasy Star Universe and as such netted 100% gamerpoints.

 

This game would have impressed the hell out of me, had it been released on the Dreamcast. Honestly the graphics pretty much look like a Dreamcast game to me. The story was pretty standard...some of the character choices were pretty bizarre tho. Maybe just too kooky and cutesy for me. I've been spoiled by Oblivion I guess.

I've heard the online multiplayer is the meat of the game...however the 20 hours or so it took to complete the single player game was enough for me I think.

[Tempest]

Just finished the single player game in Phantasy Star Universe and as such netted 100% gamerpoints.

 

This game would have impressed the hell out of me, had it been released on the Dreamcast. Honestly the graphics pretty much look like a Dreamcast game to me. The story was pretty standard...some of the character choices were pretty bizarre tho. Maybe just too kooky and cutesy for me. I've been spoiled by Oblivion I guess.

I've heard the online multiplayer is the meat of the game...however the 20 hours or so it took to complete the single player game was enough for me I think.

 

I was thinking about getting this as I've seen it for $29 now. What would you say the gameplay is like? Is it a PSO type game or something different?

 

Tempest

[Tempest]

I just finished Dirge of Cerberus on the PS2. It was an alright game, basically take some FF VII characters and stick them in a average FPS. Keeping in true FF VII tradition, the story didn't make much sense but it wasn't bad. It kept me busy for a week or two (the main story is about 20 hours), but I didn't like it enough to do all the tedius extra missions that allow you to unlock sounds and art clips. It was worth the $20 I paid for it, but nothing more. If you're a FF VII fan it's worth picking up, otherwise I'd steer clear of it.

 

I'm not 80% of the way through Lego Star Wars on the PS2. The game is alot more fun than I thought it would be, but the difficulty is really uneven. The standard missions are easy (as they should be since it's sort of a kids game), but the vehicle based missions are really hard! It took me 5 tries to beat the pod race level. I don't think there's any way a child would have beaten it.

 

Now I need to decide if I want to go back and get all the studs to open up the secret level at the end of the game. Right now I'm leaning more towards no, unless someone here tells me it's really cool.

 

Tempest

[AtticGamer]

Alien 3 (Snes) on hard.

It's actually easier than the other versions.

[SomeGuyWithDSL]

I was thinking about getting this as I've seen it for $29 now. What would you say the gameplay is like? Is it a PSO type game or something different?

 

Tempest

 

FYI, Phantasy Star 360 is in bins by the register at my local Best Buy for $4.99 at the moment. I have no desire to get hooked into the online portion of the game, but did just pick it up yesterday for the single player ... impossible to pass it up at five bucks.

[Lord Thag]

I just beat Tenchu Z. Ignore those idiotic Gamespot reviews (which rated it lower than 'Sneak King'). Those guys are a bunch of tools. The game is loads of fun.

[moycon]

I've gotten 970/1000 on History Channel : Civil War. The only achievement I had left was complete the game on the HARD setting. I may wind up going back and trying for it eventually, but it's damn hard that's for sure. The game itself wasn't bad at all. If you're interested in the Civil War, you will probably get a kick out of the game. It is pretty short though and no extra's like Online play. Good game to rent.

[moycon]

Finished Bionicle Heroes. 100% achievements.

Not much to brag about. It wasn't terribly hard. Gameplay was similar to Lego Star Wars except with an over the shoulder 3rd person perspective. Of the two Star Wars is the definate winner.