Games Completed 2014

[Dante Fireseed]

January 12: Metal Gear Rising Revengeance (Normal) (PS3)
January 15: Gunpoint (PC)
January 18: Metal Gear Rising Revengeance (Hard) (PS3)
January 25: Guacamelee (PS3)

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Call of Duty:MW2(Veteran difficulty) - PS3.
(Jan) The Wolf Among Us:Episode One - PSN.
(Jan) Call of Duty:MW3(Veteran difficulty) - PS3.
(Jan) The Saboteur - PS3.
(Jan) Transformers:Fall of Cybertron - PSN
(Jan) Thunder Wolves - PSN.

[Combine Hunter]

Jan 26: Super Mario World (Wii U)

And now onto the second half of Yoshi's Island.

[Roy42]

01/01 - Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
01/01 - Super Monkey Ball (Easy Levels)
01/01 - Super Monkey Ball (Advanced Levels)
02/01 - TRAUMA
03/01 - Machinarium
06/01 - Uplink
17/01 - Lyne
21/01 - Botanicula
23/01 - Cave Story+
28/01 - Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit

Hell Yeah went on for far too long; or, rather, it had more content than it knew what to do with. 100 is a nice, round number, but that's too many unique monsters, especially when there's only about 20 different QTEs to kill them, most of them don't ever get any harder, and some are just needlessly obtuse and you get severely punished for failing them. Then there's the fact that you'll never need most of the weapons, especially once you get the grenades that literally kill everything and even destroyed each phase of the final boss in a single hit, and how it presents itself as something of a Metroid-style game, yet is completely linear; and how a big deal is made about your spike wheel jetpack being a super destructive force, yet after the first ten minutes of the game, just about every enemy you encounter hurts you if you touch it and so you have to shoot it from afar with shooting mechanics that are really frustratingly limited.

The concept is amazing and quite neatly encapsulates why I love videogames so much, the art and animation is nice and clean and smooth, and the soundtrack is great, with exactly one exception, that anyone who has played the game will know what it is immediately; it just tries to do too much with not enough.

And I played Shelter again just an hour ago. Still fantastic, still one of the best games of last year.

[dezm0nd]

Spoiler: show

Jan 1: God of War Ascension - £6.30.
Jan 3: Uncharted Golden Abyss - £0.00*
Jan 7: The Room & Epilogue - £1.49
Jan 7: Bioshock Infinite: BaS Ep1. - £0.00**
Jan 8: To The Moon - 0.63p from Humble Bundle X
Jan 9: Alan Wake American Nightmare - £0.00**
Jan 11: Influx - Free**
Jan 15: Broken Age Act 1 - £0.00**
Jan 15: Nidhogg - £8
Jan 16: Estranged: Act 1 - Free
Jan 19: Max Payne 3 (Hard) - £0.00**
Jan 21: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Jan 22: Parappa the Rapper 2 - £0.00**
Jan 23: OlliOlli (Amateur levels) - £5.38
Jan 28: Super Mario 64 (70 stars) - £0.00

* - PS Plus "Free"
** - Already paid for before 2014.

All prices listed are monies spent in 2014.

Super Mario 64! For the up and coming Cane & Rinse show. Will go back for the remaining 50 later!

[NokkonWud]

That didn't take you long.

[dezm0nd]

I'd say with the knowledge I had for 100%'ing the first 9 worlds and a bit, it took 5-6 hours? It's hard to say when you're lost in a Mario game and the console doesn't have a tracker.

[Indiana747]

(Jan) Call of Duty:MW2(Veteran difficulty) - PS3.
(Jan) The Wolf Among Us:Episode One - PSN.
(Jan) Call of Duty:MW3(Veteran difficulty) - PS3.
(Jan) The Saboteur - PS3.
(Jan) Transformers:Fall of Cybertron - PSN
(Jan) Thunder Wolves - PSN.
(Jan) God of War:Ascension - PS3.

[AndyKurosaki]

Skylanders Swap Force-PS4
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2-PS3
The Wolf Among Us: Episode 1-PS3
Castle Crashers-360
Injustice: Gods Among Us-PS4

[Roy42]

01/01 - Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
01/01 - Super Monkey Ball (Easy Levels)
01/01 - Super Monkey Ball (Advanced Levels)
02/01 - TRAUMA
03/01 - Machinarium
06/01 - Uplink
17/01 - Lyne
21/01 - Botanicula
23/01 - Cave Story+
28/01 - Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
31/01 - Gunpoint

I can't really think of anything that was wrong with Gunpoint. At all. Maybe the fact that it seems purposefully impossible to get certain badges on certain missions. But there really didn't seem to be anything wrong with this game that let me punch a guy in the face over 400 times after he was dead.

[Combine Hunter]

Jan 26: Super Mario World (Wii U)

Jan 29: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (emu)

Glad I got to complete this awesome game, even though I wasn't able to talk about it on the podcast...fuck viruses

[Roy42]

01/01 - Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
01/01 - Super Monkey Ball (Easy Levels)
01/01 - Super Monkey Ball (Advanced Levels)
02/01 - TRAUMA
03/01 - Machinarium
06/01 - Uplink
17/01 - Lyne
21/01 - Botanicula
23/01 - Cave Story+
28/01 - Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
31/01 - Gunpoint
01/02 - Blocks That Matter

I played the first couple of levels in Blocks That Matter when I first bought it, and it seemed okay, but it just didn't really feel like it had proper substance. After playing the rest of the game, I still don't know if it does. I seem to have the same problem with it that I do with The Bridge and Closure (and Lyne, I guess, though at least I finished that one), where the mechanics are solid and it looks fine, but there's just too many puzzles that don't do enough new things with its mechanics. By the end of it I feel utterly burnt out on the whole thing because it felt like the same thing, over and over and over again.

[James]

Jan 26: Super Mario World (Wii U)

Jan 29: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (emu)

Glad I got to complete this awesome game, even though I wasn't able to talk about it on the podcast...fuck viruses

Hope you're feeling better. It'll be a shame not to hear your thoughts on SMW/2, but it's great that you enjoyed them. I've played SMW, but not 2. Would you recommend it?

Just completed Demons Souls. I think I'll refine my comments and thoughts for podcast 119!

Congratulations! Definitely do that and we'll hear what you thought then. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it.

[James]

Spoiler: show

04/01 - The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
09/01 - Bleed (PC)
13/01 - Deathsmiles (Xbox 360)
13/01 - DoDonPachi Resurrection (Xbox 360)
13/01 - Akai Katana (Xbox 360)

17/01 - Luigi's Mansion 2 (3DS)
22/01 - Espgaluda II (Android)
28/01 - Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night (Xbox 360)
01/02 - Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign (Android)

Another catch-up post I'm afraid. Been remiss in getting onto the forums lately, but I will now correct that oversight by saying...

Luigi's Mansion 2 was good. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't any more enjoyable than Grabbed By The Ghoulies for me, and probably less memorable (though time will tell on that one).

Espgaluda II is crazy, and great fun on Android. Sadly, though it used to work on my Nexus 7 it no longer does, so I had to play on my phone. Not ideal, but it's still fantastic.

My first time experiencing a Castlevania and I wasn't disappointed. I made the mistake of redoing a personal list of favourite games the week before I played Symphony Of The Night... needless to say that now needs rewriting!

Marvel Puzzle Quest is great. Yes, it's Bejeweled. Yes, it's free-to-play. No, you won't have to pay a penny to enjoy it, and it is worth your time and attention. Excellent match 3 gaming, with enough tactical depth in terms of special abilities and character selection to keep me hooked throughout the Prologue section that comprises the formal single player content. Beyond that there are Events which roll-over every few days, but I'm calling it complete on the core mission set. For commutes, toilet and lunch breaks this is highly recommended.

Games completed = 9
Total completions = 10

[Combine Hunter]

Jan 26: Super Mario World (Wii U)

Hope you're feeling better. It'll be a shame not to hear your thoughts on SMW/2, but it's great that you enjoyed them. I've played SMW, but not 2. Would you recommend it?

I actually prefer Yoshi's Island to Super Mario World. Not by much though, they're both great. Yoshi's Island is a very different game than Super Mario World, or any classic Mario game for that matter. Of all the nintendo games I can think of, I think Yoshi's island actually shares more in common with Kirby's Epic Yarn than anything else. Yoshi's Island is considerably more difficult than Epic Yarn, but there are quite a few mechanical similarities like the transformations, using enemies as projectiles and a greater focus on collecting items. You'd like it James, play it, it's great.

[Roy42]

01/01 - Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
01/01 - Super Monkey Ball (Easy Levels)
01/01 - Super Monkey Ball (Advanced Levels)
02/01 - TRAUMA
03/01 - Machinarium
06/01 - Uplink
17/01 - Lyne
21/01 - Botanicula
23/01 - Cave Story+
28/01 - Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
31/01 - Gunpoint
01/02 - Blocks That Matter
02/02 - Broken Age Act 1

Anyone else feel like Broken Age was good, yet not quite "We need $200K to make the game, wait, we changed our mind, we need $3M, wait, even that's not enough anymore, we need to get other investors" good? Sure, it's only the first act (of an unspecified number, wonderful), but it isn't the light-the-world-on-fire return of adventure games that they (or, at least, everybody else on the planet) were pitching it as and hoping it would be.

[InsrtCoins]

Alright, January's over. Here's my check in.

Jan 1: Lego Marvel Super Heroes
Jan 1: SigCorp: Holiday Special
Jan 2: Cookie Clicker
Jan 3: Botanicula
Jan 12: Tearaway
Jan 18: God of War: Ascension
Jan 29: Warrior's Way (3DS StreetPass minigame)

[dezm0nd]

Spoiler: show

Jan 1: God of War Ascension - £6.30.
Jan 3: Uncharted Golden Abyss - £0.00*
Jan 7: The Room & Epilogue - £1.49
Jan 7: Bioshock Infinite: BaS Ep1. - £0.00**
Jan 8: To The Moon - 0.63p from Humble Bundle X
Jan 9: Alan Wake American Nightmare - £0.00**
Jan 11: Influx - Free**
Jan 15: Broken Age Act 1 - £0.00**
Jan 15: Nidhogg - £8
Jan 16: Estranged: Act 1 - Free
Jan 19: Max Payne 3 (Hard) - £0.00**
Jan 21: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Jan 22: Parappa the Rapper 2 - £0.00**
Jan 23: OlliOlli (Amateur levels) - £5.38
Jan 28: Super Mario 64 (70 stars) - £0.00

Total in January: £21.80

Feb 2: Batman: Arkham Origins - £6.88
Feb 3: Super Mario 64 (remaining 50 stars)

* - PS Plus "Free"
** - Already paid for before 2014.

All prices listed are monies spent in 2014.

Finished Batman Arkham Origins! If you liked City, you'll like this! I didn't do any of the side stuff as I burnt myself out getting all of the riddler trophies in City but still, a fine game!

[The Sonic Mole]

Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS)
Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (3DS)
Uncharted 2 (PS3)

Super Aleste (SNES)

A firm favourite when I was younger but I have to say now that it's not a classic Compile title. Basically, it's just too easy, too slow and the weapons are over-powered. I did enjoy the nostalgia factor, mind...

[Ergo Me Smart]

05/01 - Antichamber - £3.74
05/01 - Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (PC) - £3.59

01/02 - Half Life 2 (PC) - Appx 67p
02/02 - Half Life 2: Episode 1 (PC) - Appx 67p

My history with Half Life is a weird one. I started Half Life 2 a couple years back on the 360, and gave up after around an hour as I just couldn't get on with it. I could see elements of a good FPS sticking out, but not enough to keep me going. I then played a little bit of Episode 1 on the 360 as part of an achievement challenge, and didn't make my way into it very far past the sound of the achievement popping.

Last summer, after my previous poor experiences, I decided to play through the original Half-Life games. In the end, it was a slog that I'm not sure I'd suggest anyone new to the series to play, as, in my opinion, those games have not aged well. On the other hand, I don't regret it. It was nice to go back to an era of gaming I was nowhere near on its release, seeing as I was 6 at the time and still playing Barcelona Olympics, Cliffhanger and Sonic on the Mega Drive, if I remember rightly. It also gave me an 'in' to the series, so when I started Half Life 2, I actually knew what the hell was going on.

So, cut to the actual chase, Half Life 2. It may very well be the best playing single player FPS I've ever played. It isn't my favourite, that spot still belongs to Bioshock, but the actual shooting feels leagues ahead. In Half-Life I felt like a hapless hero who'd somehow managed to luck his way to the end. In Half Life 2, I felt like Gordon had spent the time in between watching action films and had become an action hero as a result. Every successful shot felt like it was meant for, and every death felt like I'd screwed up, rather than the game trying to screw me over.

I could ramble on about how I liked the vary of the weapons and how the sign-posting got better without just telling me where to go, but then this would become a stupidly long post. So, I'll just say this: If you even have a passing interest in first person shooters, haven't played Half-Life 2 and have about 20 hours going spare, then Half Life 2 might be worth giving a go.