GAME 1
CAPTAIN TOAD TREASURE TRACKER: 1:49 of playtime. Jan.1st
To start things off I played Captain Toad all the way to the end, a fantastic game if a bit easy in the main-game, but boy howdy that Bonus content is damn hard, a recommendation to any Wii U owner.
GAME 2
KINGDOM HEARTS 2 FINAL MIX 41:37 of playtime Jan.14th
After playing this game with a few on and off portions I finally beat it, it still remains my favorite and the best of the Kingdom hearts series, and I can only hope I'll manage to beat Birth by sleep after completing this. Definitely check this game out.
GAME 3
BIT TRIP RUNNER 2 3:16 of playtime Jan.18th
The sequel to the rather popular indie game Bit. Trip. Runner, it fixed a lot of things in the first one, mainly adding check points and easier bosses, through it bills itself as a rhythm runner, It doesn't exactly have variety in its music, Rayman Legends music levels are more akin to it, still a neat game!
GAME 4
CHIBI-ROBO 12:36 of playtime February 22nd.
The underrated gem from the Gamecube era, Chibi-robo doesn't fit any real genre as more of a cleaning simluator with puzzle and platform gameplay, I really love this game and wish more people would play it for its charm.
GAME 5
DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 1:43 of playtime February 28th
My very first game when I was a kid, it still holds up today, through theres some wonky hitboxes, and the levels can be infuriating, but the charms still alllll there.
GAME 6
DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 2 DIDDY'S KONG QUEST 3:04 of playtime March 4th
One of the best SNES platformers out there, and top billing for best Donkey kong game ever, highly recommended, if you don't play this you're either dead or in jail, and if you're in jail: bust out!
GAME 7
DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 3 DIXIE KONG'S DOUBLE TROUBLE 3:11 of playtime March 6th
The weakest game in the SNES trilogy, not my favorite honestly, it doesn't have the action and exploration of the second game, and nothing really comes together at all.
GAME 8
DONKEY KONG COUNTRY RETURNS 9:49 of playtime March 13th
The Donkey kong-athon continues with the the wii game, it's still fantastic to this day, even if a little brutal sometimes, definitely ranks up there among the best
GAME 9
MAJORAS MASK 3D 32:57 of Playtine March 21st
Ironically the Zelda game that gave me the most resistance on the N64 due to the time limit, I managed to 100% this one on the 3DS, it's very fun once you get past the looming numbers, there just isn't any game quite like it.
GAME 10
STARFOX 64 3D 1:06 of playtime March 23rd
The favorite of the series, while short has plenty of replay value, there isn't much else to say other then that, it's fantastic.
GAME 11
BOX BOY! 4:36 of Playtime April 8th
A cool little Puzzle platformer from HAL Labs, up there with Pushmo and Harmoknight as eshop must-haves
GAME 12
SUPER MARIO 64 6:59 of Playtime April 8th
The classic! the one that transformed platforming! The game I still can't get all stars for! SM64 has aged very well all this time and it's still up there as the one of the greatest games.
GAME 13
HALF LIFE 2 8 hours of playtime April 9th
I'm not a fan of First person shooters, but Half-life 2 and it's episodes are an exception, a fantastic game still, and one of the must plays if you have steam.
GAME 14
SUPER MARIO 64 DS 5:37 of playtime April 10th
Now hold up you might say, why am I playing a game again I just beat? Well for one thing junior: it's a remake with new content and 3 additional characters that play differently, so it was obvious to play. SM64 DS plays a lot better on the 3DS then it's precursor but maaaan the controls are still not as good as 64's the graphics while better give some levels are more generic look and the new levels aren't exactly inspired. Still a good remake beyond those problems.
GAME 15
SUPER MARIO GALAXY 17:00 of playtime April 27th
A masterpiece regarded by pretty much anyone who played it, theres really not much else to say.
GAME 16
CRYPT OF THE NECRODANCER 11 hours of playtime May 2nd
My Definition of an ending is seeing the credits after beating the final boss, in this case I beat the 4 zones as the Bard and got the credits after beating the last zones Boss. This game is very interesting and is challenging for the musically impaired, I really enjoyed it and the music is funky fresh.
GAME 17
CASTLEVANIA: SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT 37:22 of Playtime May 5th
What a game, this was my first time beating and basically completing more then the first 3 bosses, I'll admit I got really lucky and the best weapon dropped in the second castle for me but I loved the game a lot. Makes me anxious for Bloodstained all the more.
GAME 18
KIRBY AND THE AMAZING MIRROR 5:06 of playtime May 18th
A fun little metroidvania romp with a Kirby skin, it's a bit hard to navigate finding the bosses at times, and the multiple forms of the final boss is bull but it's still a great game.
GAME 19
KIRBY NIGHTMARE IN DREAMLAND 6:49 of Playtime May 20th
A remake of the old NES classic, some features are added and some removed (like the cool butter building scroll effect) but it's still a solid game if a bit dated now an days.
GAME 20
KIRBY SQUEAK SQUAD 4:42 of Playtime May 30th
Probably the most average of the kirby games, this one doesn't do much new and it's a buy-the-numbers Kirby platformer, still nice to play every now and then.
GAME 21
SPLATOON 20:13 of playtime June 5th
In this regard I beat Single Players final boss and got the credits. This game is a very interesting take on the shooter genre and I'm enjoying it, Single player was fun and the bosses were definitely Nintendo quality.
Edit # 1: After making up a little list of 52 games I aim to complete this year (30 of which I already own and 22 of which I plan to buy this year), howlongtobeat tells me I need about 984.5 hours to finish everything, which is about 2.6 hours per day. Crud. From February 'til end of May I don't see myself playing for more than a few hours during the weekends, so unless I play like 8-10 hours on summer days I don't see this happening. This will be interesting...
Edit # 2: It is June. My plan is to finish ~ 20 more games by the beginning of August, then 10 before we get to the middle of September...that should leave me with 6-7 games to complete for the rest of the year! It's wishful thinking but we shall see.
Edit #3: Post limit reached! Go to the Second Post for more.
THE LIST
Game 1: VVVVVV (Steam) - Hours Played: 2:45 - Finished Jan 1st
Rescued all crew members, found 12/20 Trinkets. Kind of a short platformer, the anti-gravity mechanic however was very well used (a couple of screens really had me thinking, like the "...Not as I Do" screen). Also the soundtrack is godly! I died 1112 times (thankfully you respawn in every screen, it's brutally difficult but forgiving like Super Meat Boy), mostly because of that nerve-wrecking "Veni Vidi Vici" section. 8/10
Game 2: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Steam) - Hours Played: 4:15 - Finished Jan 1st
Beat the final boss with over half the total amount of diamonds. This game looks great, and initially the castle theme + portals in the castle leading to levels gave me a Banjo-Kazooie vibe. Unfortunately the game is pretty short and easy, some bosses and awkward 3d platforming sections aside. Also I thought you had to collect 1 Chaos Emerald (that's what I call them because they look like one and there's seven of them) per world but the later worlds had 2, reducing the amount of stages. Mickey's physics are kinda floaty and the constant horrendous frame rate drops really hindered my enjoyment. The latter is probably my laptop's fault, but damn was it annoying when I kept dying at the final boss due to the frame rate deciding to bail on me. 6/10
Game 3: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I (Steam) - Hours Played: 7:00 - Finished Jan 2nd
I finally got around to finishing this one. I am in the minority that liked how each stage had its' own individual gimmick (i.e. one was card-themed, another one was built around lighting torches etc.) instead of the game having a generic bunch of acts. However the level design felt a bit uninspired and some of the aforementioned torch sections seemed to drag a bit too much for a Sonic game, otherwise the entire game was a breeze. There's also like 0% originality here. Splash Hill zone is Green Hill zone. Generic carnival-themed zone is the usual generic carnival-themed zone present in every 2D Sonic game. Lost Labyrinth zone is ... the Labyrinth zone from Sonic 1. Generic Eggman base zone is generic Eggman base zone. Even the bosses are recycled from the first Sonic games, except the 3rd one which is a dumb boss fight. Speaking of which, fuck the final boss fight. I think I have 4/7 Emeralds, but I'm not really feeling like getting all seven this time. The Special Stages however were a nice homage to Sonic 1. 6/10
Game 4: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II (Steam) - Hours Played: 4:12 - Finished Jan 2nd
This episode is much better than the last one. Zones still feel kinda samey but I enjoyed the festive ice zone and especially the last zone with its anti-gravity mechanics. There were a couple of bad parts (the bullcrap Sky Chase homage which has you avoiding boring projectiles for 5 minutes) but overall my experience was more pleasant. It's a bit tougher this time too, the last act gave me some trouble before I could get to the final boss. Bosses are new this time, but pretty easy nonetheless, despite some of them taking up quite a bit of time. I didn't collect all Chaos Emeralds again (or those Red Star Rings) because they don't offer anything cool here either, but I did get through Metal Sonic's stages. 7/10
Game 5: Rayman (PSOne Classics / PS Vita) - Hours Played: Approximately 15 - Finished Jan 3rd
There's no denying that the game is an absolute beauty to look at. I personally think it's the best looking 2D game on PSX. The music's not too bad. Where they completely screwed up was the save system and the difficulty (apparently the game wasn't even playtested!). Basically save points keep track of your lives and health. So unless you're really good at this game, there will be a point where your last save is at 0 Lives and shitty health. Congrats geniuses at Ubisoft, thanks for making me waste time on farming lives (as 1-Ups do not respawn either, no matter the stage). You also have to break every cage to unlock the final level, so basically to beat the game you have to 100% it. Plus the later stages (especially Pencil Pentathlon and Space Mama's Crater) are mind-blowingly difficult to clear. Not Super Meat Boy's "One more time! One more stage!" difficult, but more like "fuck this game" difficult. Really not worth my time in this day and age. 4/10
Game 6: New Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo 3DS) - Hours Played: 11:06 - Completed 100% Jan 23rd
I can't really say no to a portable Mario platformer. I kinda had my expectations low because of people saying it was rushed and by-the-numbers, but in retrospect I shouldn't have done so; this is probably one of the best handheld 2d Mario platformers to date. Yeah a lot of stuff (i.e. music) are recycled from previous NSMB installments but I didn't care as long as the core gameplay was pure Mario. The various coin-related additions were welcome (especially the overpowered Gold Flower) and the secret / post-game extra worlds were nice (they make World 9 in NSMB Wii pale in comparison). I didn't really have any trouble collecting all the Star / Moon Coins or finding all the hidden exits. In fact the only level where I felt like I was actually challenged was the very last one in Star World. But I'm not gonna complain, Mario games have mostly been easy since the NES. It's a short and fun game to 100%, that's all. 8/10
Game 7: Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit! (PSN Only / PS Vita) - Hours Played: 7:18 - Finished Jan 25th
This was my first time getting into Senran Kagura (or a rhythm game) ... I have to say I'm positively impressed on both accounts. I essentially finished half of the game (the other half is locked behind DLC that's as pricey as the game itself so I probably won't be getting that in the near future) but I enjoyed it thoroughly. The mixture of intense cooking imagery / rhythm-based gameplay is nonsensical and genius at the same time. The girls have a weird fascination with their cleavage (and food). Also, the rewards for destroying your opponent are amusing, to say the least. Overall though, it's probably the most fun I've had with a game for a while (it's excellent in short bursts). 9/10
Game 8: Breath of Fire 3 (PSP / PS Vita) - Hours Played: 45:32 - Finished Feb 14th
Cleared game file says 45:32 but adding to that the hours that got lost to a game over it should be closer to 55-60 hours. Main character was Level 44 and the rest 39 - 40 with one low-leveled exception. Anyway this is by far the longest (and probably best) JRPG I have played. I don't think I've cared this much about a couple of main characters before; something about Ryu and Rei (and Teepo) is endearing to me. That helped me get through most of the kinda generic plot, but even that picked up incredibly towards the end. I loved the recurring theme of morality and moral decisions, since pretty much every boss you fought wasn't your stereotypical baddie; there was a twist in every battle (e.g. the Nue fighting to protect its' dead babies, the Director trying to resurrect his dead mother, Emitai fighting to save his sick daughter, the Elder and Gaist basically wanting themselves to die ... even the final boss to some extent fought you for the good of the world). Really made me question if I ended up doing the right thing. The Dragon Gene system made cool tweaks to the otherwise standard turn-based battles and I, for once, enjoyed the various minigames (except Beyd, fell asleep doing that one). Haven't had this sense of a great journey by playing a game in a long time. 10/10
Game 9: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PS Vita) - Hours Played: 22:46 - Finished April 13th
All I can say is wow. I didnt know what to expect while I was getting into the game, so I believed the GAF hype and I was not let down.The concept of the game is very interesting; 15 students are trapped into their new school and the only way they can escape is by killing another student and managing to get away with it during the class trial for the murder. You collect clues, put what you know together, then engage in heated debates with your classmates in an attempt to find the murderer. At the same time you seek a way out of the school and try to uncover the mysteries behind the situation and find out who is orchestrating the entire thing. This is really hard to write about without spoiling anything even though I found out who the mastermind was before the last trial, the ending was still glorious
especially when the main theme starts playing as you start beating her at her own game
! The crazy train started since the first trial and it never stopped. I got pretty hooked, it's unlike any other game that I've played. Minigames aside, there's practically zero difficulty in this game so it all boils down to the story, as it should. I didn't much bother with the post-game content. Taka was the best character in there, Byakuya a close second.
What a fucking tragedy for Taka.
I liked it so much that as soon as I finished it I went online and bought Danganronpa 2 from amazon. 10/10
Game 10: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (PS Vita) - Hours Played: 28:47 - Finished April 26th
... which brings us to the second game! The concept is pretty much the same again: students are stranded on a strange island and can only escape by participating in that sadistic killing game. Monokuma's back (and his English VA is as glorious as ever), as does a weird rabbit called Monomi, claiming she's on your side... I have to say that I didn't like some of the characters at first (Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko I just wanted to roundhouse-kick in the face). Even though they eventually grew on me and I sympathized with everyone, I feel that I liked the cast of Danganronpa 1 more. I also liked the setting better in the first game; a deserted, barricaded school instills more urgency to escape than some sunny island. That being said, this game destroys the first one in terms of cases and trials. Even the first trial is more complex and mind-bending than the later stuff in Danganronpa 1. Case # 5 was probably the best one in the series, just so cleverly done
(fucking Nagito)
. They also dialed up the crazy; it became so out-of-this-world crazy by the final case that I could just not believe what was going on in my vita screen. Also, that ending sequence. I felt like jumping and screaming
with joy
. I really think Spike Chunsoft outdid themselves on that one. The only bad thing about Danganronpa is that now there's nothing to play! Until Another Episode is out, anyway. 10/10
Game 11: 999: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors (Nintendo DS) - Hours Played: Approximately 18 - Finished May 26th
After being told that Danganronpa is like Zero Escape x Phoenix Wright, I had to start the Zero Escape series. About time, too. So, nine people are trapped in what seems to be a huge ship, and a mysterious figure named Zero orders them to play the 'nonary game' in order to escape. You solve puzzles and make decisions that may impact the course of the story. Unlike Danganronpa, the madness does not set into the game until you're close to the (true) ending. But, as Danganronpa's story is linear, I welcomed the different ways that the story branched depending on your actions - most of them ended with you being killed but whatever. This game is like an avalanche; it starts slow, but by the time it gets rolling there's no stopping it. Again, I really wanted to know who was behind this situation, why were these 9 people chosen or simply what the hell was going on, so I played more or less non-stop. I was still not prepared for the true ending ... now I understand why people say this is the best DS game.
And it ends on a cliffhanger! Sorta. Maybe it's time for Virtue's Last Reward?
9/10
Game 12: Mega Man 3 (3DS Virtual Console) - Hours Played: 5:41 - Finished May 29th
Last summer I bought MM 1 through 6 on a whim when they were on sale, then decided to beat them in order. 1 and 2 were finished last year so I'm starting with 3. You know what you're getting with classic Mega Man - tough as nails platforming 'n' shooting and hectic boss fights. This game introduces a few big MM staples like the slide, Rush and Protoman. Personally I don't see what's so great about the slide and just used it as a trusty evasion technique when fighting a robot master. The help of Rush however is a plus. Shadow Man and Snake Man were my favorite robot masters. I feel like the stage design is a bit tighter this time around (more than MM 2 and much more than MM 1) so I had overall more fun. You get to battle the MM 2 bosses too! I think this game nails the middle mark between too easy and frustratingly difficult and it's my favorite Mega Man game so far. 8/10
Game 13: Mega Man 4 (3DS Virtual Console) - Hours Played: 4:28 - Finished May 30th
A solid entry in the Mega Man series. Once again it's pretty standard platforming and shooting with the occasional annoying boss fight. The big change here is the Mega Buster (charged shot) which admittedly makes the game a bit easier than the previous three. I mostly used it for the robot masters instead of exploiting their weaknesses. I also liked how we got essentially two Wily Castles instead of one (except the first one was called Cossack's Citadel - yeah these games have a story, it's hilarious). We also get the introduction of the Wily Capsule as the final boss! Other than that, not much to say about this one. Skull Man and Pharaoh Man = best robot masters. 7/10
Game 14: Mega Man 5 (3DS Virtual Console) - Hours Played: 4:17 - Finished June 4th
This will remain in my memory as the Mega Man game where you jet ski. Where did that come from? This game is on par with Mega Man 4, though I like it a tiny bit better because of cool stages like Star Man's stage and Gravity Man's stage, which made for some interesting platforming. We get two Wily Castles again, the first one called Proto Man's Castle. This is where the difficulty starts getting dumbed down; the game practically showers you with lives and the robot masters have a very predictable attack pattern (shoot projectiles, walk a bit, jump towards Mega Man, repeat). Still didn't stop Napalm Man and Gravity Man from being my favorite robot masters here. Overall I liked the stages better than 4 but less than 3. 7/10
Game 15: Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (Nintendo 3DS) - Hours Played: 13:22 - Finished June 5th
I had this on Wii but for some reason it never clicked with me. I decided to go portable and boy was that a good decision. Without exaggeration, this is the best platformer I've played in the last ten years. Hats off to Retro. Having finished NSMB 2 not too long ago, the difference is striking; DKCR is leagues above. To start with, every stage has its' own unique theme, whether it is rising lava, spiders chasing you or ship cannons shooting at you from a distance. The first couple of worlds didn't impress me that much (that might be why I dropped the Wii version after a while), but World 3 and onwards? The child within me awoke and I grinned like an idiot all the way to the end, because Retro reminded me what platforming bliss feels like. Except that I didn't grin all the way through; I also screamed FUCK a million times and wanted to fling my 3ds to the nearest wall (I didn't!). This game is tough. Getting all the KONG letters and puzzle pieces make it even more difficult. I'm currently sitting at a 82% completion, with most K levels done. The levels are hard but you want to keep coming back and play them because they manage to be super fun at the same time. It's a strangely blissful masochism. My only gripe is that the control scheme is still stupid (choose between circle pad to move or L/R to roll ... is custom configuration too hard to think of or something?) and Donkey Kong sometimes feels somewhat weird to control. Other than that though, this game (and by extension, this port) is excellent, pure fun. 9/10
Game 16: Mega Man 6 (3DS Virtual Console) - Hours Played: 2:47 - Finished June 5th
The final NES Mega Man game. I blazed through it in a single day. I really don't see why we needed a sixth game when it's so similar to its predecessors. Up to this point everything is saturated and it's clear that the developers had run out of steam. Jet Mega Man was a nice touch but it made bottomless pits very easy to avoid. Mega Buster takes care of everything. It has 2 Wily Castles again (one called Mr X's Castle) but it's all standard platforming and shooting that you've seen in Mega Man 1 - 5. It's not easy by any means, but after a while everything becomes predictable. I don't think I have any favorite robot masters here... Stage design is on par with Mega Man 4, i.e. it's good but doesn't stand out from the other Mega Man games. Maybe I got burnt on NES Mega Man, but I think this is the weakest entry for me. 6/10
Game 17: Donkey Kong '94 (3DS Virtual Console) - Hours Played: 7:31 - Finished June 6th
I used to have this game as a kid but never got far into it. It blew my mind how the game didn't end after the 3 ( + 1 extra) original stages of Donkey Kong but instead you had new worlds open up. Also this game probably has the most complex moveset for 2D Mario; you can handstand, backflip, high jump after a flip and so on. However the game really overstays its' welcome - there are 9 worlds, each around 10-12 levels on average, and I got tired by the 4th world since all these 'puzzle' levels offer little variety. Some levels make you stop and plan your movements ahead in order to get the key and enter the door, but most rely on some dodgy slow platforming and swift enemy avoidance. Also the bosses are all a variant of "throw 3 barrels at DK while you dodge his throws". This is kind of a cross between puzzle and platforming, coated in Donkey Kong (the game) paint, but honestly I've had better experiences of either game type in my game boy. 6/10
Game 18: Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (3DS Virtual Console) - Hours Played: 4: 25 - Finished June 7th
Another game boy game that's been gathering digital dust in my virtual console folder. I never played the original NES game but apparently this one is similar in nature ... I really hope Uprising is nothing like this. The game is thankfully short (3 worlds and a final stage) yet so damn boring. I had to get used to the weird scrolling scheme (which made stages look huge when in reality they were just narrow vertical levels), but after that it was just jumping and throwing arrows at enemies in the same pattern. Bosses took an absurdly huge amount of arrows to die since I never cared to upgrade my equipment. There are shops around the level where you can buy stuff to improve your stats (I think), but they feel out of place. It's like someone stuck the shops of The Legend of Zelda on a Super Mario Bros. stage. Anyway, things only turned slightly more interesting once I got to the final boss, who was so large he took up two screens. His predictable pattern however made it easy to avoid all of his attacks. I had more trouble fighting my boredom during the game. Why did I download this again? 3/10
Game 19: Ultimate NES Remix (Nintendo 3DS) - Hours Played: 10:37 - Finished June 21st
Unlocked Famicom Remix mode (done by triple-starring every single challenge), so I guess this counts as beating the game. This is basically a subcollection of the NES Remix 1 & 2 collection on the Wii U. I never played them there and I consider portability a huge plus for games like these, so I had fun with the game. You basically have a collection of NES games and must complete certain challenges as fast as you can to get the best rank (triple stars, rainbow glow). There are also the "Remix" stages, where as you can guess you clear challenges on remixed versions of NES games. For example, in one challenge you fight an invisible Birdo, in another challenge you use Peach from SMB 2 USA to beat an Airship stage in SMB 3 and so on. Some challenges are broken down into multiple parts. It's not as fast, as addictive and as fun as WarioWare but it's the next best thing for the 3DS. Some games were a nice trip down memory lane (the Mario games are mostly still fun to play), others were plagued with a bit more bullshit challenges and should have probably stayed in the '80s (like Metroid and Punch Out). Leaderboards are a nice touch, but why do regional when you can do global? The game also has a couple of other modes, like Speed Mario Bros (Super Mario Bros at 2x speed) and Championship Mode (so you can have your own Nintendo World Championship, I guess). Overall a fun, if rather frustrating game. 7/10
i'd like to try next year as well i got a wii u this year and already have a backlog. I hope to knock out my wii, wii u and 3ds backlog with this challenge.
Game 1.) Dynamite Deka / Die Hard Arcade (PS2 Classic) Finished on 1/02
First time I've played this in years. I could never beat this one in the Arcades since I would always run out of quarters.
Glad I can finally have my revenge on Wolf Hongo in 2015
Game 2.) Costume Quest 2 (PSN) Finished on 1/04 - 7 Hours 55 Minutes
Finished every quest, collected every Costume, Creep Treat Card and got every trophy (including "Hardcorn Mode")
Felt like more of the same but I didn't mind since I really enjoyed the first Costume Quest. I was happy to see the return of Wren, Reynold and the rest of the characters. I think I prefer the first just a hair over this one though.
Game 3.) Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable (Vita) Finished on 1/05 - 9 Hours 36 Minutes - Storm Class [Normal]
All 60 Missions finished on Normal. Unlocked Pale Wing plan on playing it on and off on the other difficulties. Loved it as much as I did on the 360
Game 4.) Plants vs Zombies (PSN) Finished on 1/13 - Adventure Mode
Well, this one's been sitting in my backlog for a while.
Kind of ashamed it took me this long to sit down and finish it. Not much to say or explain but I loved it. Hours felt like minutes while I was playing it, and the music video by Laura Shigihara was cute
Game 5.) The Legend of Korra (PSN) Finished on 1/15, Platinum Trophy on 1/17
I thought the game was fun consider the development time and budget. It was short and a number of repeating enemies and bosses. Still I felt it had that PG charm and enjoyed the combat, I couldn't help but feel like it was a slice of a bigger game, though. Ended up Plat'ing it a couple days later (which was pretty manageable.)
Game 6.) Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll (PS3) Finished on 1/25 - [54hrs:36m] - Party Levels around 66-64
Omega Force's take on RPG+Musou hybrid
A game I started in 2013 and kinda been slowly chipping away at it. I would frequently get disinterested and take long breaks from up due to the repetitiveness. Since I'm taking the 52 challenge this year, I decided that this was the year to finally finish it. Usually I love me some Musou but this felt weird to me since it felt like about half the game is wading through menus and reading the lore of the world. I know this a series the US never got, and maybe if were more familiar with it I suppose I would've appreciated it. The first 2 chapters felt a slog... but it kinda got more interesting after that. By the end I liked it okay, kinda bittersweet.
Game 7.) Five Nights at Freddys (PC) Finished on 2/3 - [2 hrs]
Finished up all five nights. Got pretty tense at times for me, even knowing some of the nuances of each animatronic (mostly Freddy and Foxy.)
Probably won't be attempting 20/20/20/20 any time soon...
Game 8.) Batman Arkham Asylum[/B]
Finished on Normal - 82% Complete| 226/240 Riddles
Finally played a Rocksteady Batman game, my first Batman game since Batman Returns on SNES, actually. Went into not knowing much, sorta expecting it to be Metal Gear-ish for whatever reason. Surprised to learn as I played it felt more like a Metroid game. Enjoyed my time with it but most of that enjoyment came from the voice cast (grew up with Batman TAS) and solving those Riddler Challenges
Game 9.) SteamWorld Dig
[6:19] Total Cash:22175 | Total Orbs: 186 | Deaths: 9
Loved it.
Felt like if Spelunky and Terraria had a baby.
Really looking forward to SteamWorld Heist
Game 10.) Shovel Knight|Finished on 4/10
Game 11.) Telltale's Jurassic Park|Finished on 4/14
Game 12.) Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space|Finished on 4/20
Game 13.) Broken Age|Finished on 4/28
Game 14.) Samurai Warriors 4|Finished on 4/29
Game 15.) Under Night In-Birth exe:Late|Finished on 5/12
Game 16.) Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution|Finished on 5/25
Game 17.) Ninja Gaiden Sigma|Finished on 6/11
Game 18.) Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2|Finished on 6/25
Game 19.) Yaiba Ninja Gaiden Z|Finished on 6/29
Game 20.) Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus|Finished on 6/29
Game 21.) Splatoon|Finished on 7/1
Game 22.) Hyrule Warriors|Finished on 7/6
Game 23.) Earthbound|Finished on 7/26
Game 24.) Earth Defense Force 2025|Finished on 7/28
Game 25.) Kirby Mass Attack|Finished on 8/29
Game 26.) Kirby Triple Deluxe
Game 27.) Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls
Game 28.) Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Game 29.) Corpse Party Book of Shadows |Finished on 10/13
Game 30.) Corpse Party Blood Drive|Finished on 10/18 (Platinum'd)
Game 31.) Grabbed by the Ghoulies (via Rare Replay)|Finished on 10/22
Game 32.) Battletoads Arcade (via Rare Replay)|Finished on 10/24
Game 33.) Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax|Finished on 10/24 (Beat Story Mode with all characters)
Game 34.) Senran Kagura Full Burst |Finished on 10/28
Game 35.) Persona 4 Dancing All Night |Finished on 11/01 (Platinum'd
Game 36.) Senran Kagura Bon Appetit|Finished on 11/12
Game 37.) Dead Space |Finished on 11/13
Game 38.) Until Dawn |Finished on 11/18
Game 39.) Dynasty Warriors NEXT|Finished on 11/28
Game 40.) Tales from the Borderlands|Finished on 12/13 (Platinum'd)
Game 41.) Dead Space Extraction|Finished on 12/13
Game 42.) Life is Strange |Finished on 12/13
Game 43.) Disaster Report| Finished on 12/18
Game 44.) Mortal Kombat X| Finished on 12/20
Game 45.) Senran Kagura 2 Deep Crimson| Finished on 12/21
Game 46.) Transistor | Finished on 12/26
Game 47.) Valiant Hearts: The Great War| Finished on 12/26
Game 48.) Dropsy | Finished on 12/26
Game 49.) Read Only Memories | Finished on 12/27
Game 50.) Never Alone | Finished on 12/30
Game 51.) Super Mario 3D World | Finished on 12/30
Claiming a stake, I lurked the 2014 thread and never felt good enough to jump in, but I am down.
I finished a lot of stuff in 2014, and I want to continue the trend and beat a lot of games.
First Update; Steam Games;
These are the games I currently have installed, and I am going to knock out in the challenge. I will update as I get through them. I am setting an additional goal of no new Steam games bought before I finish this list. I may install more as I get through the list.
In an effort to hold myself accountable, this is my library.
I will continue to play this, but I did actually finish the game several times over. I have collected too much loot, and had a great time. I have been playing it with the wife lately, and it's a lot of fun. I just know we are both a bit burnt out so we are taking a Destiny hiatus.
Game #2 Singularity (PS3)
5 hours
After getting about 2/3rds through the game I had seen enough. I was hoping it was more Bioshock and a little less run and gun. I think a lot of the ideas in the game were done well, but the mechanics and gameplay overall felt loose.
#1: Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon (PC)
23 hours (16 in 2014)
A 40k' Panzer General with super-heavy tanks and some small titans. It may be pricey for a reskinned Panzer Corps with a non-very long campaign. It may have some huge balance issues. It may be not as massive as Final Liberation or charming as Rites of War. I don't care. I enjoyed it and there is no such thing as enough good 40k games. This is one.
★★★☆☆
#2: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PC)
7.8 hours (3 in 2014)
Metal Gear Solid with top-notch gameplay and non-clunky mechanics? What kind of sorcery is this? As a "complete" game it may be lacking for many people, but as a "gaming experience" is fantastic. First time I loaded the game I ended up spending hours doing silly things around the camp just because I could, without even touching the mission itself... and it was a blast. As a TPP teaser it works even better: I'm hyped as fuck. I will probably replay all the missions before TPP on a higher difficulty.
★★★★★
#3: Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC)
13.8 hours (2 in 2014)
What a ride was this. Perfect hybrid of old-school and modern mechanics plus some extra things of its own, creating a game as challenging as fun to play. The over the top B-movie setting and plot is superb, and it has some extra bonus points for all the satanic Nazi constructions the game features.
★★★★☆
#4: Deus Ex (PC)
21 hours
I never played beyond the first level when the game was released, so decided to purge this heresy... and I kinda regret not doing it before. Fantastic game with an incredible scope and ambition even for today. I loce the FREEDOM it gives to you to face each and every situation. Its only weakness is the horrible AI, one of the worst I've ever seen, hilarious at times. And somehow, during these years the graphics have moved from crappy to "hey, it's not so bad" on my brain.
★★★★☆
#5: Sleeping Dogs (PC)
17 hours
I really like how the game tries to get away of the usual GTA formula with its focus on melee combat and the use (and abuse) of all kind of Yakuza/Hong Kong action movie tropes. I also love the city in both, visuals and how different does it feels when you are moving around all its places, although at the end is pretty small and seems a bit underused due the short main story. It's also a shame how unpolished combat is, including melee. With some more love (and money/time/whatever), it could have been a fantastic game instead of just an okish one.
★★★☆☆
#6: The Expendabros (PC)
1 hour
Fun little game, much more difficult than I expected and good enough to pique my curiosity with Broforce, so kudos for it. It's also better than the movie it promotes, but that was easy
★★★☆☆
#7: Ryse (PC)
6 hours
What a wasted opportunity. Visually it's breathtaking, one of the few games that really "wowed" me in my life. But jeez with the gameplay. Ten minutes into the game, and you have already seen 80% of what it will offer gameplay wise. The other 20%, a couple new enemies with special attacks and the Gladiator mode which I almost didn't touch. On the other hand, the story is as stupid as I expected, with a silly "Batman of Duty: Roman Warfare" take that ends up being kinda charming... although the only reason I continued pushing the game was to see how the next scenario would look.
Someday Crytek will remember again how to balance tech and gameplay. Someday.
★★☆☆☆
#8: Shank (PC)
2:31 hours
I'm amazed with Klei. I already had them on high regard after the marvelous Mark of the Ninja (and a bit of Invisible Inc.), but after playing both Shanks I would follow them to the hell. Gorgeous art and fun to play.
★★★☆☆
#9: Shank 2 (PC)
3:30 hours
Same beautiful art than the first game and same gameplay... but somehow it doesn't work as good as there. I still don't understand why the hell they moved dodge from the left trigger to the right stick. Awful decision and completely non-intuitive.
★★★☆☆
#10: X-Wing Alliance (PC)
~28 hours
I try to play this (and the rest of the X-Wing series) once a year, and the recent GOG release has been a good excuse to do it. And after 16 years since its release, its perfect gameplay still makes it as fun and challenging as ever... while thanks to the people of XWAUpgrade, nowadays itlooksbetterthanever. One of my GOATs, even with its unfinished story.
★★★★★
#11: Alpha Protocol (PC)
17 hours
I'm not sure what to think about this game. On the one hand, it has TONS of great ideas, making a successful RPG-stealth-action hybrid is a huge achievement on its own, and Steven Heck is best crazy bro ever. On the other, each and every game system is unpolished as hell or just plain and simple stupid (HELLO YOU, HACKING). During all the game I couldn't stop thinking the masterpiece it could have been with more time and love... but I guess that's the usual Obsidian trademark. What a pity.
★★★☆☆
#12: Dark Forces (PC)
4 hours
This is a game usually eclipsed by its sequels when it comes to "good Star Wars games", and it's a shame as it's truly fantastic on its own. Brilliant atmosphere, great gameplay, good and tricky level designs (God, how I miss those years when instead of an ocasional puzzle in a level, the level itself WAS the puzzle), satisfying weapons... everything a good old FPS needs is there.
And Stormtroopers yelling at you "STOP, REBEL SCUM" never gets old.
★★★★☆
#13: Knights of the Old Republic (PC)
22 hours
I shouldn't have replayed this game. My first (and only until now) playthrough was on its release on Xbox, and it was as good as you may expect. But on this occasion it didn't work so well. I've found the game much more tedious and sloppy than it was on my memories, and the UI is a fucking mess on the "managing things" side. It's still a good game, a great game actually, but the letdown has been huge. I've even been tempted to abandon the game a couple times, although at the end I just rushed it, ignoring tons of side quests.
Hell, it even almost killed my desire to replay Kotor 2, this time with the restoration mod. Almost.
★★★☆☆. Back in the day was a clear ★★★★★
#14: Renegade Ops (PC)
7 hours
A great Strike series, comic-book, G.I.Joe and Expendables mash-up. It looks beautiful, it plays great, is intense as hell, and it will make you chuckle several times with how stupid the story is. It could be longer and some missions could do with more varied objectives or situations, but overall is a great and fun surprise, surpassing all my expectations. Sadly I had no one to play with in coop, which I guess could have added an extra star.
★★★☆☆
#15: TIE Fighter (PC)
~22 hours
As Dungeon Keeper 2 said back then, it's good to be bad. But it's even better to make the bad people good, and TIE Fighter does that insanely well. The Star Wars Empire has always been portrayed as THE Lawful Evil fiction organization, but this game subverts it without insulting the player's intelligence. You are not member of an oppresing empire. You are an agent of order, somebody who fights to keep the peace in a galaxy full of criminals, traitors, terrorists and local civil wars, and you do it from the cockpit of a fucking TIE.
The game may have been surpassed in most of its features (gameplay, scale, narrative) by XWA or other late space sims, but it still shines as one of the best games ever done without any doubt, and 21 years after its release it remains a pleasure to play while features some of the best highlights I've seen in a game. I mean, you even have the goddam Darth Vader as your wingman in some missions.
★★★★★
#16: Homeworld (PC)
11 hours
This is a game I never understood on its full scope when it was originally released. I was young, and I guess I expected a more pewpewing game than the majestic and nostalgic experience we finally got. This time, tho, I loved it from beginning to end. I still think some missions could have done with a bit more combat, but overall is a fantastic game, and top notch in all its artistic features, from soundtrack to ships design.
★★★★☆
#17: Homeworld 2 (PC)
10 hours
And here is the extra pewpewing I originally expected for Homeworld 1. Ironically, while the first game had too little combat, this sequel has *too much*, to the point it becomes kinda exasperating at times with all the waves of enemy ships you must destroy or the areas you must check and clear. Clearly inferior to the first game, but still great.
★★★☆☆
#18: Codename: Gordon (PC)
1 hour
I completely forgot the existance of this little game until I saw a friend playing it some weeks ago, and decided to give it a go. It's a charming promotional piece for Half-Life 2 and it can be fun at times, but as a game is just bad.
★☆☆☆☆
#19: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC)
6 hours
I was a bit scared with this one. Hotline 1 was one of the most pleasant surprises I've played on the last few years, but I was not sure if the relatively simplistic (but awesomely intense) gameplay would sustain per itself another game. At the end it actually does and is a blast to play, but overall the level design feels notably worse than the first game... and that's a huge problem on a game like this.
★★★☆☆
#20: Pillars of Eternity (PC)
70 hours
It's far from being a perfect game. It has some balance issues (although Obsidian is constantly working on this), there is too much combat at times, and the stronghold system is clearly underused and disappointing. I don't give a shit. It's a goddamn masterpiece.
★★★★★
#21: Game Dev Tycoon (PC)
7 hours
I was going to say "Fun game", but it really isn't. Addictive? Sure. Interesting? Yeah. But fun? Not really. Yeah, mocking the industry while making your own games of weird genres and silly names is great, but how you do it, not so much. Many times the logic behind in how you should distribute your points during the development of a game doesn't make any sense, turning the game into a trial and error fest kinda tedious. Yeah, you can always (and you will) use one of those wonderful guides out there, but that's not fun either. Is actually even worse, as the guide plays for you.
★★☆☆☆
#22: Grand Theft Auto V (PC)
42 hours
Incredible game. So many things to do, so many places to go, so much detail everywhere, so much everything. I still have a gazillion things pending outside the main history, but honestly I have no idea when I will tackle them. Someday.
★★★★☆
#23: Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight (PC)
9 hours
I'm always amazed with the level design of this game. All the levels are so huge, so freaking vertical, with a great balance of pewpewing, plataforming, exploration, puzzles and secrets (usually mixed all together). It also does a great job on the "I'm a fucking Jedi" part, although the lightsaber feels a bit underwhelming and not as useful as it should be in a game with this name.
★★★★☆
#24: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (PC)
13 hours
My favourite Jedi Knight game, and IMHO one of the best Star Wars games out there. It suffers with a slow start, the cutscenes are awful and incredibly disappointing after the charming FMV from DF2, your huge arsenal of laser weapons* are forgotten once you get the lightsaber, and the level design may be not as inspired as on the previous game. But who cares. Once you reach Bespin the game becomes a rollercoaster with you, a badass bearded Jedi, kicking stormtroopers and Sith asses all around the galaxy with a fantastic lightsaber combat and, overall, the best representation of a Jedi and its powers on a videogame to date.
*Fuck them, tho. It's awfully stupid how hard is to hit a moving target (even walking directly towards you!, or at just 2 meters away) with most of them.
★★★★★
#25: Invisible, Inc (PC)
22 hours, and icreasing
A stealth masterpiece, and one of the best turn-strategy games I've played on the last few years. It may lack variety on items/programs/enemies/missions/environments for a roguelike FTLesque game, but the core gameplay is just flawless. It's really easy to fuck up a stealth game with stupid concessions to reach a wider audience, or just being unable to balance it correctly, making the game too hard/too easy... but Klei knocked it out the park. Again.
★★★★★
#26: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC)
102 hours
A in.
★★★★★
#27: Hexcells (PC)
1:30 hours
A in.
★★★★☆
#28: Hexcells Plus (PC)
5 hours
A in.
★★★★★
#29: Hexcells Infinite (PC)
21 hours, and increasing
A in.
★★★★★
#30: Batman Arkham Knight (PC)
34 hours
A in.
★★★★☆, ☆☆☆☆☆ for the fucking port
#31: Rayman Legends (PC)
10 hours
A in.
★★★☆☆
#32: Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (PC)
12 hours
A in.
★★★★☆
#33: Castle Crashers (PC)
4.4 hours
A in.
★★★☆☆
#34: Trine 2 (PC)
10 hours
A in.
★★★☆☆
#35: Qvadriga (PC)
12 hours
A in.
★★★☆☆
#36: Mechwarrio Online (PC)
63 hours (this year) and counting
A in.
★★☆☆☆
#37: Rocket League (PC)
230 hours and counting
A in.
★★★★★
-------------
Abandoned Games
#1: Assassin's Creed II (PC)
4.9 hours
To be honest I've never liked Assassin's Creed since I played the first on 360, and the few hours I did spend with the third game worsened my opinion on the saga. But AC2 has always been claimed as THE BEST Assassin's, including several friends, so I decided to give it a chance during the last Steam Sales. But nope, I still don't like the gameplay at all. Boring combat, awful stealth. This series is dead to me.
★☆☆☆☆
#2: Deus Ex Invisible War (PC)
4 hours
And here goes the award for the Worst Sequel Ever, also nominated for Most Disappointing Game, Worst User Interface and Worst Gunplay In A FPS. Terrible game, and not only as a Deus Ex title. Really awful.
☆☆☆☆☆
#3: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (PC)
3 hours
Tried to play it in cooperative, and turned to be a terrible bug-fest with stupid mechanics and awful combat. Gigantic disappointment after all the good things I did hear about it.
☆☆☆☆☆
-----------
Working on:
-Dark Souls II (PC) - 3 hours in. Not really digging it for now
-Euro Truck Simulator 2 (PC) - 8 hours in. Playing it from time to time.
-XCOM + The Long War (PC) - 17 hours into this game. Not sure if I will be able to finish it this year.
I managed to squeak out 52 games in 2014, so here's hoping I can do it again.
Game 1: Alpha Protocol ~25 Hours (PC)
A very fun, but very flawed game. The gameplay is a bit of a mess until you get some points into some decent skills, but the story and the way your choices impact the game were top-notch.
Game 2: Sunset Overdrive ~30 Hours (Xbone)
Pretty good, if a bit lacking. It was fun, but the writing, excessive swearing and overall "HEY YOU'RE PLAYING A GAME! SEE THIS? THIS IS OKAY 'CAUSE WE'RE TOTALLY IN A GAME" really got old.
Game 3: Forza Horizon 2 ~25 Hours (Xbone)
Very good, and very pretty. The lack of rally and other race modes that were present in the original was a bummer -- even moreso when they were introduced in a paid DLC pack -- but overall it was pretty good.
Game 4: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ~8 Hours (PC)
A good Platinum-style action game, that's taken down a couple notches due to the Kojima-esque story/writing.
Game 5: D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die ~8 Hours (Xbone)
Truly, truly great. I wish it wasn't Kinect-focused, and that it was released as a full, non-episodic game, but the story was very, very good. Here's hoping that we get the rest of it.
Game 6: Dead Rising 3 ~ 20-25 hours (Xbone)
A decent game severely hindered by tons of unneeded backtracking. Driving around was fun at first, but eventually became a massive chore. Difficulty-wise, the game was also pretty easy, with very little tension, leading me to the brink of boredom by the end of the campaign. And yet...
Game 7: Dead Rising 3: Untold Stories of Los Perdidos, Episode 1 and Episode 2 ~ 10 hours (Xbone)
Not much worth talking about. Two alright DLCs, but, again, tons of backtracking and general time-eaters to get collectibles. Note that I'm counting two DLCs as a game entry based off of the average time spent.
Game 8: Dead Rising 3: Untold Stories of Los Perdidos, Episode 3 and Episode 4 ~ 10 hours (Xbone)
Not much worth talking about, except that Episode 3 was by far the worst in terms of wasting the player's time.
Game 9: Infamous: First Light ~ 10 hours (PS4)
Great standalone DLC. The Battle Arenas didn't do much for me, but the new and improved Neon powers were really cool. More backstory for Fetch was a welcome bonus.
Game 10: Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 1 ~ 8 hours (PC)
A nice DLC campaign that doesn't wear out its welcome. In hindsight it wasn't anything special, but it did set things up nicely for...
Game 11: Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 2 ~ 8 hours (PC)
This DLC is both really good and really bad at the same time. The first half of it is very, very good. The pacing is good, the story is good, etc. The last half falls apart due to trying to
tie Infinite to Bioshock 1 and vice versa
. That may sound like a cool thing if you haven't played it, but it's actually handled really poorly and only serves to retroactively
screw up the stories of both Bioshock 1 and Bioshock Infinite
. I completed the DLC feeling a bit cheated, as
two great story-driven games that I really enjoyed had essentially been ruined by some fan fiction masquerading as canon storytelling
.
Game 12: New Super Mario Bros. U ~ 10 hours (Wii U, Replay)
I actually ended up replaying this to get all of the gold coins. Great party game. I'm kind of ticked off that the game seemed to lose our last save right before we did the final special level, but we did enough that I'm calling it done. Not replaying it again since the game screwed up our last save.
Game 13: The Last of Us Remastered ~ 20 hours (PS4)
I started off not liking this at all. The annoying one-hit kill Clickers and linear level design at the start was a huge turn-off. Thankfully, right after
Tess dies
the game picks up quite a bit, and actually turns into one of the best story-driven games I've played in recent years. I was hating it near the start, but loving it near the end -- very few games do that. Great game.
Game 14: The Last of Us Remastered: Left Behind ~ 5 hours (PS4)
I took my time with this one, as I was coming in right after the end of the main game. A decent DLC, but it did feel a bit "padded". I'm all for more story (which was great, by the way), but some of the gameplay sections did feel as though they were stretched out just to give it some more gametime. I still enjoyed taking my time and exploring things, but it certainly felt more linear than the main game. Overall, a good DLC with a great story, that suffered from some minor pacing issues.
Game 15: Far Cry 4 ~ 40 hours (PS4)
Great game with one major, major flaw: quantity over quality. By the end of the game I was so tired of everything (due to it being extremely repetitive) that I literally gave up and Rambo'd my way to the end. Co-op is a blast, but no Campaign Co-op or even collectible hunting in Co-op leads to things getting a bit stale due to the aforementioned repetitive-ness of all the sidequests.
Game 16: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor: Lord of the Hunt DLC ~ 5 hours (PC)
I really loved Shadow of Mordor when I played it last year -- in fact, it was one of the games I nominated in my votes for the SteamGAF GOTY awards.
Had I played the DLC before the votes were sent, I would have nominated something else.
My issue is that both DLCs (including the one below) epitomize everything wrong with the base game. Generic quests, lots of backtracking, sadistic Captain arrivals, more backtracking, etc. This DLC especially felt like a cashgrab, as none of the Orcs even reacted to the new enemy types -- they'd still call them out by their old appearances. Very, very disappointing.
Game 17: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor: The Bright Lord DLC ~ 5 hours (PC)
This DLC has pretty much the same issues as the one above. Granted, it's slightly better, but overall it's a massive disappointment.
Sauron's boss fight
is really lame, playing as Celebrimbor doesn't really add anything new and the ending of the DLC actually manages to retroactively make the base game's ending worse. As a side note, I got the Season Pass on the cheap (about $6, I think) so I'm not bitter due to paying full price. The DLC is serviceable, but overall it feels like content that was cut from the game due to time constraints, or because it wasn't up to the same level of quality -- and then it was sold to you later, at a premium, with very little additional polish.
Overall, if you can get both DLCs for under $10, I would say they may be worth it. At full price, they're some of the worst DLC I've played in recent years.
Game 18: There Came an Echo ~ 6 hours (PC)
Really great game, if a bit short (and lacking on gameplay). I'll be honest, voice controls aren't really my thing, but after a couple of patches the voice controls for There Came an Echo really impressed me. They aren't perfect, and sometimes they get a bit confused, but overall they're pretty accurate and very precise. The story was good, but my only real complaint would be that I was expecting some more gameplay and less cutscene-watching. Still, overall, I'd highly recommend it!
Game 19: Max Payne ~ 8 hours (PC)
Having never played it before, I was really looking forward to experiencing Max Payne (as I'm a fan of Remedy). I was surprised at how well it held up. The story was good, and the gameplay was still very tight, but overall it dragged itself down with a pretty bloated third act. Overall, very good, with some moderate pacing issues.
Game 20: Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne ~ 6 hours (PC)
Much like the first game, Max Payne 2 holds up very well. Thankfully, Remedy tightened up the story and game length with the sequel. Overall, Max Payne 2 was great -- great story, great pacing, great mechanics, etc. I'm very, very glad that I went back and played these.
Game 21: Bloodborne ~ 50 hours (PS4)
Very good, if a bit disappointing. World design and atmosphere was great, but item selection, build variety, etc. were all lacking. Better than Dark Souls 2, but still not better than Dark Souls or Demon's Souls. Still, that didn't stop me from playing it multiple times for the platinum.
Game 22: Bloodborne: Playthough 2 and 3 ~ 30 hours (PS4)
Game 23: Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast and Furious ~4 hours (Xbone)
Short, and a bit repetitive, but still pretty decent (especially since it was free). Definitely one of the better movie tie-in experiences.
Game 24: Child of Light ~10 hours (Xbone)
A pretty decent (if a bit easy) RPG, with great art direction, and a super catchy soundtrack. I can't recommend it highly enough, even though I wasn't a fan of the writing/rhyming scheme they had going on.
Game 25: EDF 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair (Normal, Wing Diver) ~7 hours (PS4)
Having played EDF 4/2025 last year, I was looking forward to any of the new stuff that was added to 4.1. Unfortunately, that stuff amounted to a few new levels, none of the DLC, and even more crap locked to the terrible Air Raider class. After playing it through once, I have no desire to go back and play any more and, in fact, regret importing it.
Game 26: Rayman Legends ~12 hours (Xbone)
A worthy successor to Rayman Origins (and without all of the end-game backtracking), Rayman Legends was a wholly enjoyable platformer, with some seriously cool musical levels. I really liked it, even if there were a few obvious "filler" levels.
Game 27: Counterspy ~6 hours (PS4)
Counterspy totally came out of left field for me. I had no idea what to expect, but it actually ended up being one of my favorite recent PS+ titles. Cool stealth platforming mixed with a novel shooting mechanic, Counterspy was pretty enjoyable from beginning to end, and also makes for a great "pick up and play" game on the VITA.
Game 28: Sunset Overdrive: Mystery of the Mooil Rig ~5 hours (Xbone)
A fairly decent DLC to a fairly decent game. Mooil expanded a bit on the mechanics of the base game, and added some much-needed water traversal mechanics, but overall it felt like it was a bit lacking. However, it was nothing like...
Game 29: Sunset Overdrive: Dawn of the Rise of the Fallen Machines ~4 hours (Xbone)
(continued from above)...this. This was basically Adventures in Boring Fetch Quests: THE DLC. Very little was fresh or enjoyable, most of the humor fell flat and the only redeeming feature was a couple cool weapons and an interesting boss fight. Would not recommend this one at all, while I would tentatively recommend the Mooil DLC, if it's on sale.
Game 30: Ori and the Blind Forest ~6.5 hours (Xbone)
A beautiful game from start to finish, marred by a couple questionable platforming sections/not-quite-what-I'd-call-tight mechanics. Overall, a great Metroidvania platformer.
Game 31: Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island ~7 hours (Xbone)
A pretty decent DLC that I couldn't help but feel was sorely missed in the base game. The "extreme" weather was novel, until I realized that it ultimately didn't affect races that much (outside of torrential downpours). I would recommend it for fans of FH2, if it's on sale. Full-price is still a bit much.
Game 32: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon ~7 hours (PC)
Relatively-short length and repetitive quests aside, Blood Dragon was fun, frenetic and very, very 80's. Five Laser-Eyed Gatling-Gun-Toting T-Rexes out of Five.
Game 33: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger ~7 hours (PC)
Have you ever wanted to be a gunslinger in the middle of a progressively-over-the-top western shootout movie? This is basically the game equivalent of that, and it's amazing.
Game 34:The Unfinished Swan ~ 4 hours (VITA)
A pretty good game, where each area has a different play mechanic. Pretty decent, overall.
Game 35: MonsterBag ~4 hours (VITA)
This is another of those games where I went into it have no idea what it was, and it turned out to be pretty great. I don't really have anything to compare it to, but MonsterBag is enjoyable (and cute) from start to finish.
Minus the super cheap and frustrating last boss
Game 36: Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition ~20 hours (PC)
I had already played Sleeping Dogs, but never played the DLC. Honestly, the base game was still pretty good (although not as good as the first time playing it) and the DLC was largely...unsatisfying. So, for me, base game: great! DLC: pretty lackluster, aside from a few entertaining moments.
Game 37: Metal Slug 3 ~3 hours (PC)
Game 38: Metal Slug X ~4 hours (PC)
I'm going to tackle the description for both of these here. To start, I love Metal Slug. It's really great, dumb fun -- especially in co-op. So when these were cheap I picked up some copies and launched into some online co-op expecting a great time. ... Unfortunately, the online co-op portion of these is pretty rough. It works, in the strictest sense, but there were multiple times where we encountered severe lag (mostly on bosses) as well as strange sync-issues. Overall, it really put me off playing any more of them, so we pretty much played them through twice and called it good. Such a shame, the old Metal Slugs (on their original platforms) were amazing. These ports... not so much.
Game 39: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PC, ~3 hours)
A really great "walking simulator", with some pretty heavy atmosphere. Aside from one horror/jumpscare area, it's a really great, atmospheric, edge-of-your-seat kind of experience. I really liked it (aside from the jumpscare area, as that was A.) frustrating and B.) pretty frightening the first time it happens).
Game 40: Corporate Lifestyle Simulator (PC, ~2 hours)
A pretty fun way to kill a few hours. The humor falls flat a little bit too often, but otherwise it's a pretty entertaining bite-sized game.
Game 41: Grim Fandango Remastered (PC, ~8 hours)
The Remaster helps fix some of the problems with the original (tank controls, input not registering very well, etc.) and overall polishes up a gem of a game for a new generation. Definitely recommended for fans of point-and-clicks.
Game 42: No Time To Explain Remastered (PC, ~2 hours)
An entertaining platformer/punisher-lite that doesn't overstay its welcome. The humor is funny for the first half, but quickly becomes grating towards the end (mostly due to the end being fairly frustrating due to poor controls). Overall, pretty decent.
Game 43: Soul Sacrifice Delta (VITA, ~50 hours)
Having met with a grim fate in the original (save corrupted) I got this on sale and picked up where I left off (roughly). A fantastic game that plays really well on the PSTV, I highly recommend it. I've still got probably hundreds of hours of content left, but after reaching the end most of the missions become repetitive. Co-op is still a blast, though, and the endless dungeon is a great addition that wasn't in the original. Overall, it's a great game to play while traveling.
Game 44: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PC, ~7 hours)
I really liked The New Order. I really liked The New Order. The Old Blood? Mediocre at best. Performance was all over the place, pacing was terrible, the areas were bland, stealth was boring, etc. Basically it took all of the great things from The New Order (memorable characters, great gunplay) and threw them out the window. I think I ended up paying around $5 for this, and I still felt like it was a waste of money. Not recommended.
Game 45: The Talos Principle (PC, ~21 hours)
It's difficult to explain what makes this special without spoiling everything, but, without talking about the story, the puzzles are great, and the game is pretty. The story is top-notch as well, but, again, you can't really explain it without spoiling it. Highly, highly recommended (even if it overstays its welcome a bit).
Game 46: Wrack (PC, ~4 hours)
Didn't like this one at all. I think it was going for a Doom/Quake vibe, but the levels were laid out poorly, the enemies were spongy and the writing was really, really...bland.
Game 47: Not a Hero (PC, ~5 hours)
I liked this one quite a bit. A cool mix of 2D sidescroller and cover shooter, with a really sweet soundtrack. The humor was pretty decent thoughout, which was refreshing after Wrack.
Game 48: The Witcher 3 (PC, ~108 hours)
I could go on about this all day. Suffice it to say, the Witcher 3 is easily in my top 10 games of all time, and in my top 5 RPGs of all time. It's near-perfect, except for some combat bugginess and a couple choices that don't realistically match their consequences. My personal GOTY for 2015.
Game 49: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PC, ~37 hours)
My DOTY (disappointment of the year). The gameplay is top-notch, but it quickly wears thin. Repeating missions is boring. What little story there is, has the typical Kojima-crappiness to it (so, actually, less story is more of a good thing). Overall an obviously half-finished game, that Konami has really messed up post-launch. I wouldn't recommend it.
Game 50: Mad Max (PC, ~24 hours)
Another game that feels a bit half-baked. Overall it's enjoyable, and cruising around the wasteland is pretty fun, but the heavy emphasis on collecting crap wears thin. It's still very good, and very much worth playing, but be forewarned about the collectathon lurking within.
Multiplayer Games
Game 51: Counterstrike: Global Offensive (PC, Many Hours)
Still great, and a great way to pad out your Steam Wallet.
Game 52: Team Fortress 2 (PC, Many Hours)
Valve's done a great job of reviving this a bit this year with the new Mission/Contract scheme taken from Counterstrike. Still very fun.
I'm pretty sure I'll do this easily. Every 5 games / new post, and linking to the older one, I may keep this as a Master Post type deal.
Game 1: Sleeping Dogs / PS4 - 20+ Hours
I had already played through and platinumed Sleeping Dogs on the PS3, but I loved it so damn much that I had to get it again. The DLC adds a ton of new things to do, and the game is just worth a visit by anyone. I looks pretty good compared to the PS3 version, and obviously looks weak compared to heavy hitters like Killzone and Infamous. That said anyone who wants an open world game, Sleeping Dogs is currently the best one on the system. The story is incredibly strong compared to it's contemporaries (GTA5, Watch Dogs) and the combat is great. The story isn't actually 20 hours, but if you want to 100% the game there is quite a bit to do, most likely over 20 hours if it was your first run.
You should play it / 10.
"Wei Shen Motherfucker, who are you?"
Game 2: Destiny / PS4 - 100 Hours (ongoing)
Actually loving Destiny, it's so fresh and different from other games thanks to the legit MMO structure of the game after the story. The gameplay is sublime for me, and I literally can't wait to play it somedays. This will be an ongoing one, since I'm in love, but I figured after 40 hours I'd right something up. Edit: 100 Hours now.
Give it a chance / 10.
"Greetings Guardian"
Game 3: Thomas Was Alone / PS4 - 5 Hours
This was a great little game with a lot of heart. The story was very emotional and thought out, with some fun platforming. As a Graphic Designer, the vector art aesthetic was extremely pleasing for me. The music was incredible, and I actually made a storybook version of the game afterwards. I'm not as excited for Volumes because of the more gameplay focused - route, but it will be great I'm sure.
Cheap and quick and full of heart / 10.
"Thomas had to warn the others"
Game 4: The Binding of Issaac Rebirth / PS4
This is actually just finishing up a run I started in November, but I really loved this game. Not a ton to say about it, mixes bullethell dodging with OG Zelda dungeon crawling. Super fun and addictive.
If it's your thing / 10.
"Yes Lord".
Game 5: Lords of the Fallen / PS4
As a big "souls" fan I really loved this game as well. That same weighted and deep combat, some great lore and environments, and honest improvements over the FromSoft titles made this a great play. The secrets really felt hidden, and the surprisingly choice heavy story and endings were a great surprise.
Game 1: Shadow Warrior (PS4) - 13 Hours
I originally played Shadow Warrior 2013 on PC back when it released, but unfortunately I could never finish the game due to a severely underpowered GPU. I did enjoy the gameplay and writing, both of which still managed to impress on the PS4. At 1080p60FPS, Shadow Warrior is an absolutely amazing shooter and one that I would definitely recommend. The PS4 version suffers from some distracting screen tearing and long load times, but if you don't have a PC capable of playing it I'd still suggest playing it on consoles. Rating: 9/10
Game 2: Cel Damage HD (Vita) - 3 Hours
Fun little game. I had played some of it previously, but decided to finally finish off the solo mode and get all of the trophies. It's better in local multiplayer on the PS4/PS3 - of which I still haven't completed. Rating: 5/10
Game 3: Earth Defense Force: 2017 Portable (Vita) - 5 Hours (Replay)
I've already played through the game three times previously, but I'm going for the platinum trophy and that means I have to play through the game ten times in total (five times on each difficulty level for both characters). Ended up running through the game another two times, but I'll count this as one playthrough. Rating: 10/10
Game 4: Metrico (Vita) - 3 Hours
While Metrico was met with mixed reactions, I actually quite enjoyed it. Well, up until the game started requiring me to use the Vita's camera to find light sources and different coloured surfaces. I could deal with the rear touch pad and gyroscope controls, but the camera sections were a big inconvenience. I still think it's worth a playthrough though. Rating: 6/10
Game 5: King Oddball (Vita) - 2 Hours
Simple physics based puzzle game. Nothing particularly spectacular, but not horrible either. I'm not a fan of puzzle games to begin with though. I still have the PS4 version to play through, but I'll probably hold off on that. Rating: 5/10
Game 6: inFAMOUS: First Light (PS4) - 6 hours
The entire "Second Son" Saga of inFAMOUS has been a bit of a let down for me. First Light doesn't really do much to improve on the bland writing or lack of variety found in Second Son, but I definitely enjoyed it more. Quick platinum, too. Rating 7/10
Game 7: The LEGO Movie - Videogame (Vita) - 4 hours
Though I've heard the handheld versions don't quite compare to their console counterparts, I quite enjoyed the Vita version of The Lego Movie - Videogame. Simple, brawler-esque gameplay based off of an enjoyable movie. I still have yet to play a LEGO game that can stand with LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, but this was a serviceable effort. Rating: 6/10
Game 8: Rayman Legends (PS4) - 8 hours
I've had a bit of a love/hate with Rayman Legends. I loved Origins on the Vita, but when a friend let me borrow Legends on PS4 I was instantly turned off by the Murphy levels, Awesome rankings, and other additions that I perceived as "fluff." I picked up the Vita version a few months later, hoping I'd enjoy it there, but the Murphy levels were poorly implemented and really impeded my enjoyment. Finally, I tried the PS4 version again after the latest sale, and holy crap did this game deliver. It's definitely up there as one of my favourite 2D platformers. I'm still not sold on Murphy levels and the like, but the presentation is top solid. Amazing game. Rating: 10/10
Game 9: SpongeBob HeroPants (Vita) - 3 hours
The movie this game ties into is great. The game is garbage. Rating: 3/10
Game 10: Call of Duty: Ghosts (PS4) - 4 hours - (Replay)
Known as one of the worst Call of Duty games in recent memory, Ghosts' campaign is actually somewhat decent in terms of creating the spectacle CoD games are known for. The writing was laughably bad, and the voice acting even worse, but it still provided that blockbuster feel of previous games, so I wouldn't say I hated. Plus, Riley is so adorable! Rating: 5/10
In Progress
Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze (Wii U)
Zombie Army Trilogy (PS4)
BTW last year's thread is now a great place to find bite sized reviews and impressions for basically any recent game and lots of old ones. Just search inside the thread for the game you want.
Might as well try. Only got 21 done this past year but I can probably get more done in 2015
4/52
Game 1: Sakura Spirit (PC) 1.6 hours 1/1
Pretty disappointing. Not only very short but only one choice in the entire game with a weak story. Only worth it for the fanservice and check it out. Definitely not worth full price
4/10
Game 2: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50+ hours 12/25 -
Game 3: Color Zen (Wii U) 1/1
Game 4: Steamworld Dig (Wii U) 1/2 -1/12 4:27
Completed this last year on 3DS and now doing it on Wii U. A pretty solid experience though short. It wasn't too challenging as I remember most of hard and digging was straightforward
7/10
Game 5: Shovel Knight (Wii U) 1/2 -1/7 6:37
Pretty damn fun. Can easily see the recognition it got. Finished it right after AGDQ did.
9/10
Game 6: Demon King Box (3DS) 1/2
Game 7: Tetris Axis (3DS) -1/11
Game 8: Spy Chameleon (Wii U) 1/13-1/20 5:38
I readily recommend this game. Surprising level of quality for a little-known eShop title. The game is fun and challenging, even without going for the ladybugs
8/10
Game 1: Final Fantasy XIII | PC Steam | Completed Jan 3rd, 2015
First game of the new year was an epic opening to 2015. After somehow ignoring this game on the PS3 for years, I decided to pick it up the moment it hit Steam. After the first patch was in place, I was ready to start playing. 38 hours, and I've finished it.
Game 2: Fantasy Life | Nintendo 3DS | Completed Jan 10th, 2015
This game was a great blend of Animal Crossing and Final Fantasy. I loved the job class system and the level progression. The story was cute but a bit "kiddie" for my tastes. One of my favorite 3DS games to date.
Game 3: Crystalis | Nintendo NES | Completed Jan 12th, 2015
I played this game a lot when I was a kid, but I haven't played it in probably 10 years. I found it crazy how a lot of the puzzles and things came back to me (I played this a lot back when it was new). One of my favorite NES games, and I remember playing it for the first time after opening it on Christmas day back in 1990.
Game 4: Bitcoin Billionaire | Android | Completed Jan 15th, 2015
I usually like to have some kind of grinding/idle game going on Android and at first glance Bitcoin Billionaire fit the bill. It's basically a cookie-clicker clone with micro-transactions and bad humor. Every day you get 25 currencies, so the longer you play the more stuff you can unlock. It's a terrible game, but I like to use games like this to teach myself patience. I unlocked everything and earned all achievements.
Game 5: Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris | PC Steam | Completed Jan 17th, 2015
This game was a lot of fun, but far too short. I loved the combination of classic Tomb Raider puzzling and platforming mixed with loot gathering and RPG-like elements. I'll probably pick up the season pass when it's cheap.
Game 6: Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line | Android | Completed Jan 18th, 2015
This is only the second time I've ever beat Dragon Quest 2, despite having played it several times. The NES version was cool back in the day, but didn't age well. The GBC version of the game was really limited. The latest Android version is by far the most superior version of the game, and it made the game fun again instead of needlessly tedious.
Game 7: Infamous First Light | Playstation 4 | Completed Jan 25th, 2015
I loved Second Son when I played it last year, and I loved First Light even though it was shorter and had much less morality decisions overall. I loved the back-story of Fetch. I hope they release a new Infamous game soon!
Game 8: Cat Goes Fishing | PC Steam | Completed Jan 25th, 2015
Great little indie game - only 11MB but packs in a lot of fun. It's a fun arcade style fishing simulator that includes incremental upgrades. Since this is kind of an "endless" game, I decided that I was finished with it after it started taking 20-30 minutes to complete each challenge (when in the beginning it would take 1-4 minutes each).
Game 9: Season Match | PC Steam | Completed Jan 30th, 2015
A fun little collapse clone that takes a few notes from Jewel Quest. A great combination that overstays it's welcome after a while and gets rather boring and repetitive. There are a few sequels, but I'm not sure if I'll be playing them or not. The game does scratch that "mindless puzzle game" itch.
Game 10: Super Win the Game | PC Steam | Completed Feb 1st, 2015
A great follow-up to one of my favorite (and free) games that was released on Steam last year. This game wasn't free, but there is so much more content here that I didn't mind in the least. The game is similar to VVVVVVV in it's retro graphics and twitchy jump controls, but I loved it. A great homage to a handful of retro games.
Game 11: Transistor | Playstation 4 | Completed Feb 7th, 2015
This was my favorite game of last year (when I got 100% of the achievements on Steam) and I wanted to play through it again but with the Dualshock 4 controller speaker. While it added a bit of realism, my wife absolutely hated the guy's voice. Who knew? The game was still great, and I still beat it again and loved every second of it.
Game 12: Resogun | Playstation 4 | Completed Feb 7th, 2015
This game was pretty short, but a great bullet-hell-lite that was easy to pick up but difficult to put down. The game had a great "one more round" feel to it that I really appreciated. Some of the trophies were pretty simple, while others were absolutely ridiculously hard. The game had a cool voxel/particle aesthetic that was unique and enjoyable.
Game 13: Far Cry 4 | Playstation 4 | Completed Feb 18th, 2015
Wow, this game really sucked me in. After about 34 hours, I had completed all of the objectives, got a little over half of the collectibles, did about half of the side missions, and unlocked 90% of the trophies (all but 2 of them were multiplayer only, yuk). The scenery, setting, and characters all kept me coming back for more.
Game 14: Fable Anniversary | PC Steam | Completed Feb 21st, 2015
I haven't played this game since it was first released on the original Xbox, but this version holds up really well and looks and plays fantastically! I had a weird frame-drop issue on the movies, but everything else played at a smooth and wonderful 60fps. It's a shame that the game's sequels weren't very fun.
Game 15: Actraiser | Super Nintendo | Completed Mar 3rd, 2015
An excellent SNES that still holds up well today. I started playing it to check out how well RetroAchievements.org works, and I was really pleasantly surprised! I'll definitely be playing some more retro titles in the near future, as playing this game with achievements was a new and unique experience.
Game 16: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past | Super Nintendo | Completed Mar 6th, 2015
This game is an absolute masterpiece. The SNES was probably my favorite console of all time, and this game is probably in my top 5 for the system. Completed using RetroAchievements.org and it worked beautifully. Beating this makes me want to play through A Link Between Worlds again!
Game 17: Valiant Hearts: The Great War | Playstation 4 | Completed Mar 7th, 2015
This game is amazing. While I do own it on PC, I decided to play it on Playstation 4 because Uplay isn't such a pain in the ass on the console. The story was incredible, the characters were great, and the art style was amazing. I had a lot of fun with this game, and learned a lot about what life was like during World War 1. Also, it's just extra dusty in here, okay... that's why my eyes are all red...
Game 18: Final Fantasy - Mystic Quest | Super Nintendo | Completed Mar 8th, 2015
I've been on a roll with these SNES games lately and I've been having a great time with them. This is the first SNES game that I've completed to 100% on RetroAchievements.org. I loved this game when I was a kid, and haven't played it in almost 20 years. The game brought back some great memories for me, and even though it's really cheesy I loved it.
Game 19: Final Fantasy XV - Episode Duscae | Playstation 4 | Completed Mar 18th, 2015
While technically just a "demo" for Final Fantasy XV, it was beefy enough (at 5 hours play time) to be considered a full game I think. The game is absolutely amazing! If I didn't already have my pre-order in place for Final Fantasy XV, I'd be doing that right now instead of writing this. I really enjoyed the characters, despite having an all-male party throughout the game. Hopefully Final Fantasy XV is one of the other games I beat this year, though there is still no word on the final release date.
Game 20: Far Cry 3 | Playstation 3 | Completed Mar 22nd, 2015
I loved Far Cry 4 so much that I decided to pick up a used PS3 and give Far Cry 3 a shot. I own the game on Steam, but Uplay is a horrible steaming pile of garbage on PC. The PS3 version has achievements and none of the Uplay shenanigans besides a few seconds of waiting to log in. Overall I thought the game was really good (not as good as 4) with the exception of one stealth mission that really sucked ass and took me almost 3 hours to complete near the end of the game - very frustrating. I liked the story and characters. I bought the "Compilation" so I might give 2 or Blood Dragon a try sometime soon.
Game 21: Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation | Android | Completed Mar 29th, 2015
This game was amazing, until I had to grind for almost 20 hours to raise enough levels to beat the final boss. (And yes, I used the Sphere of Light!) Great game, excellent storyline, but with cruel difficulty spikes that JRPG games are known for. I enjoyed my time with the game and I'm thinking "it's been a few years since I played Dragon Quest IV on the DS, maybe it's time to play that one again." You know, since I've been playing these in order thus far...
Game 22: Super Mario World | Super Nintendo | Completed Mar 30th, 2015
One of my favorite SNES games, made better with the inclusion of achievements thanks to RetroAchievements.org. It's been several years since I have completed the game "from start to finish" since I typically just take the shortest route. The game was incredibly easy thanks to the fact that I played the shit out of it for years when the SNES was first released and I could probably beat it in my sleep using only muscle memory.
Game 23: NES Remix Pack | Wii U | Completed Apr 3rd, 2015
I picked up the physical release - because honestly who can resist that NES themed disc? I really enjoyed the game and got a kick out of playing all of the challenges with my kids who (obviously) weren't alive in the NES era. My kids are getting older and much better at video games, so it's nice to have a "back in my day!" story to share with them while knocking out their highest scores. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the purchase, though like many others have said for the $30 price tag I wish it would have included at least a few of the full featured games, since playing the remix challenges sometimes made me want to go back and replay them.
Game 24: Theatrhythm Dragon Quest | Nintendo 3DS | Completed Apr 3rd, 2015
The only thing I can say about this game is that it was absolutely fantastic and perfect in almost every way. I'm a huge Dragon Quest fan from the beginning, and this game invoked a huge amount of nostalgia for me. I loved the orchestrated themes from the older games which are incredibly classic, and I love the newer Dragon Quest music as well. The music from this series is almost as iconic as the music from Final Fantasy. While this game didn't boast as expansive a of repertoire as Curtain Call did, I thought they did a great job picking out the best 8 or so tracks from each game. Completed to the end (24,000 Rythpo) and beat the final dragon boss to watch the credits roll. Had 7 characters at level 99 with only 4 left unlocked. I'll probably pick this up a few times here and there to unlock absolutely everything. Really, this game was such a treat I almost forgot I was playing it in Japanese.
Game 25: MediEvil | Playstation Vita | Completed Apr 5th, 2015
This is a great PS1 game that's absolutely tarnished by it's terrible camera and controls. I loved this game when it first came out, but sadly it hasn't aged well. Levels like the Pools of the Ancient Dead are particularly dreadful, where it's not uncommon to fall through the floor when jumping. I think I should have played MediEvil Resurrection instead, I hear it's a bit better.
Game 26: Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon | Playstation 3 | Completed Apr 9th, 2015
This game was great fun and far too short. While it had a lot more of an "action game" feel to it than most other Far Cry games, I thought it was a great take or deviation on the Far Cry formula. I loved all of the homages to the 80s and 90s and had a blast with the story. My only complaint is that I wish it were a little longer.
Game 27: Mortal Kombat X | Playstation 4 | Completed Apr 20th, 2015
It's been a few weeks since I completed a game, and it feels good to get back into the habit. Mortal Kombat X was pretty great, being that it was a direct sequel to the Mortal Kombat reboot that released a few years ago. A great choice of characters (and character customization) and an actually passable story mode. This game also holds up well for it's local co-op mode which I enjoy. Will I pick up the "season pass" to unlock the new characters? Maybe. Jason looks pretty bad ass.
Game 28: Peggle 2 | Playstation 4 | Completed May 17th, 2015
Wow it's really been a rough couple of months for me and gaming. I've been dealing with sick family members and a stressful time at work, so I've mostly been playing games that I can pick up and play in short bursts without getting too involved. Peggle 2 fit the bill pretty well, pick up a game here and there and play until I've run out of levels. All told, it wasn't a very long game and some of the levels were pretty frustrating. But it was an enjoyable experience none the less. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get back to my regular game play sessions and hopefully get back on track for the challenge.
Game 29: Star Realms | Android | Completed May 28th, 2015
I've been obsessed lately with the physical card game Star Realms after I caught up with an old friend of mine who introduced me to the deckbuilding game. I immediately went out and got the tablet version and paid to unlock the entire campaign. I'm happy to report that this evening I finally beat the last boss! I'm sure I'll keep playing this game, especially the physical version of the cards. But the tablet version is also great as it has hotseat multiplayer, singleplayer vs AI, and online multiplayer in addition to the campaign. If you're a fan of deckbuilding card games, be sure to give this one a shot.
Game 30: AdVenture Capitalist | PC Steam | Completed May 30th, 2015
This game was... a huge waste of time. Not that it's totally a bad thing, as it gave me something quick to do/play when I had a few spare minutes. Those spare minutes added up to about 25 hours total play time. The game is a grind just for the sake of grinding. I consider it complete since I unlocked 100% of the Steam achievements, but there is still more to do. I probably won't be doing any of that stuff, but the game was a fun distraction.
Game 31: Final Fantasy X HD Remaster | Playstation 4 | Completed May 30th, 2015
The second time I've beat this game in as many years - last year I completed it on the PS Vita. Still an amazing game and one of my favorite Final Fantasy games. This time I decided to powerlevel most of my characters at the end, although I still didn't max out the sphere grid (that's just crazy), and I got most of the celestial weapons completely unlocked. I love the story and was really surprised how good the game looked on the PS4, as I'd only every played it on the PS2 and the Vita. I'm thinking of trying to tackle Final Fantasy X-2 now, since I've only ever played through it once when it was first released.
Game 32: Kung Fury - Street Rage | PC Steam | Completed Jun 13th, 2015
This game is a retro One Finger Death Punch knock-off, and it's pretty decent for what it is. With a retail price of $2 and a length of about 30 minutes (the maximum time I could play without throwing my controller) it is a reasonable bargain for fans of the movie. You play as Kung Fury as you try to lay the smack down on nazis, robots, ninjas, and cheerleaders(?) while looking at a simulated curved glass screen that's designed to invoke nostalgia in the setting, graphics, and play style. I enjoyed this game but would like to point out that it's nowhere near as fun as One Finger Death Punch as it lacks any sort of depth whatsoever.
Game 33: Splatoon | Wii U | Completed Jun 14th, 2015
This game oozes charm! The premise is great, the soundtrack is amazing, and it's just plain fun. I played all of the single player levels, beat the final boss, and leveled up to level 10 in the online arena, which is something I typically ignore in games. This is definitely my favorite Wii U game that's been released this year so far, and I'll probably be playing the online multiplayer for a while to come.
Game 34: Final Fantasy Record Keeper | Android | Completed Jun 19th, 2015
While I'm no means "finished" with Record Keeper, I thought it'd be okay to add it to this list since I've now unlocked all of the achievements. I love this game, and I've played it faithfully and consistently every single day since it was released. Every day, without exception. I've got about 15 heroes at level 50, maybe 30 different 5 star relics, and perhaps 200+ hours of game time. I can honestly say this is my favorite game ever released on Android. I've still got a ton of content to unlock so I'm sure I'll continue playing even though I've "finished" it. I've also not spent any money on this free to play title, so it's easily surpassed my dollars to hours ratio on absolutely anything every. If you like Final Fantasy like I do, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
Game 35: Pixel Puzzles Japan | PC Steam | Completed Jun 21st, 2015
I'm a huge fan of jigsaw puzzles, and Pixel Puzzles Japan was a pretty good digital representation. The Japan-inspired landscapes and pictures were also really nice and added a bit of difficulty to the game. My only complaint is that towards the end the game started getting almost too hard, because clicking on the piece you wanted started to become an exercise in frustration. Despite that, I'm looking forward to playing other games in the series. I was able to unlock 26/26 achievements on Steam (basically, complete all the puzzles) in about 9 hours.
Game 36: Oceanhorn Monster of Uncharted Seas | PC Steam | Completed Jun 28th, 2015
I really liked the game - it was fun and engaging and had some really great puzzles. Although it's obviously a Zelda clone, there were even a few things I liked about it and thought were done better than Zelda. I really liked that killing monsters gives you experience points and that you gain levels throughout your adventure and that those levels are actually meaningful. For example, sometimes when you level up you get the ability to carry more bombs or arrows, or sometimes you get new abilities you can do with your sword like a spin attack or shoot beams of light when you're at full health. For me, it's probably in the top 5 of my 2015 Steam GOTY contenders right now.
Game 37: Demon's Souls | Playstation 3 | Completed Jul 11th, 2015
Great game that holds up well despite being quite old now and not having nearly as many features as, say, Bloodborne. I'm pretty sure I missed quite a bit of stuff (judging by my trophy list) but I still had a great time with the game and could easily see why it went on to spawn the successful Dark Souls franchise.
Game 38: The Order 1886 | Playstation 4 | Completed Jul 16th, 2015
This game gets a lot of shit, but I thought it was pretty well done. I know most of it's criticism stems from the game being released for $60 (I bought my copy for $12) so I might have been a little pissed too if I would have paid that much. As it was, I thought the game looked incredible and had a pretty well put together alt-history story. I liked the characters, although the voice acting was pretty terrible in some (most) parts of the game. Some of the chapters didn't make sense because they were just movies, but I pretty much played the game as if it were an interactive movie anyway so it's all good. It wasn't incredible, but it was worth playing.
Game 39: Journey | Playstation 4 | Completed Jul 24th, 2015
I went into this game blind somehow without any spoilers about... really anything. Somehow I managed to miss all of the hype when it was released on the PS3 (because I didn't have one at the time) so when it was announced for the PS4 I thought I'd give it a go. It was the GAF GOTY a few years back, I heard. After playing it, I can say it's pretty well deserved. The game was simple yet somehow managed to have an emotional impact - mostly through the music. I love a good soundtrack, and Journey's soundtrack was great. I saw there were a few challenges and things that I (obviously) missed on the first play through, so I'll probably play through it again at some point. Overall, a really well done game.
Game 40: The Walking Dead - Season 1 | Playstation 4 | Completed Jul 25th, 2015
So I played this game last year on PC and absolutely loved it. I'm a sucker for physical media, so I bought this game (along with Season 2) on Gamefly for cheap, and just finished season one again. I can't really describe all the ways I love this game more than the show which I've always found to be a bit on the boring side. It was great to be Lee again after also playing Season 2 last year. I'll probably be replaying 400 Days and Season 2 again, as well as The Wolf Among Us which I also picked up.
Game 41: Bastion | Playstation 4 | Completed Aug 2nd, 2015
I loved this game when I first played it on Steam, and I loved the PS4 version just as much. The music is still some of the best I've heard in any game, and the narrator's voice carrying throughout the game is unique until this game and Transistor. I honestly liked the narrator, the story, the setting, and the music in this game better than Transistor, though both are great games. I can't wait to see what Super Giant Games has in store for us next.
Game 42: The Walking Dead - Season 2 | Playstation 4 | Completed Aug 8th, 2015
I played this last year on the PC as the episodes were releasing, so I knew what I was in for. The game plays a little differently when you don't have to wait weeks on end for new episodes, and I kind of enjoyed that aspect of this play through. Strangely, even though I knew I could get different endings based on my choices in the last half of episode 5, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm looking forward to the new mini-series and to the eventual third season.
Game 43: Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim | PC Steam | Completed Aug 11th, 2015
A great GAFer gifted me this the other day when it went on sale at Humble Bundle. It's been quite a few years since I've played a Ys game, and only briefly played the Ys IV remake. I love the series though so I was eager to give this one a shot. Holy cow, this game was amazing. It was an excellent action RPG and full to the brim with all the stuff I love about the genre. Although it was originally a PSP game, it was barely noticeable - all of the background images, character animations, etc were right on target. The PC version also played at a butter smooth 1080p60fps for me. Overall it was a great experience, so now I'll probably be re-playing some of the older games while waiting for Seven to get released on PC.
Game 44: Ys Origin | PC Steam | Completed Aug 16th, 2015
Another great game in the always charming Ys series. I had never played this game before and skipped it because of the whole "Ys isn't Ys without Adol" argument (which still holds up, to an extent) but I really enjoyed this game. Since I've now played two Ys games in a row (and loved them both) I'm thinking about being crazy and playing through them all in sequence. I'm not at all burned out on the series and I'm ready for more.
Took me until damn near last minute to finish it this year. I'll give it a shot for 2015 but I have a deployment coming up that'll probably kill all progress
Game 1: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, PC. 36 Hours
Finished it up just after midnight! Best AC game I've played, though I got overwhelmed with content about halfway through and gave up trying to 100% it.
Game 2: Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, 3DS(GBC VC)
Picked it up with a $20 e-shop card I was given, put a bunch of hours into it the last few days. Damn the challenges are kinda tough sometimes
Reserving a space. First time attempting this so wish me luck. Got a big back-catalogue to catch up on and lots of games coming this year I anticipate playing.
Game 1: South Park: The Stick of Truth - 17 hours, beaten January 2, PC
Incredibly fun, awesome and hilarious even without having seen too much of the show and not being a huge fan. I can see myself replaying this later this year to play as a jew (was mage this time). Started my year working on unfriending Al Gore.
Game 2: Hatoful Boyfriend - 5 hours, beaten January 9, PC
Overall very disappointing. The dating sim is not really my genre, but most of it was somewhat adequate; mostly silly crazy rather than awesome crazy for the relationships that weren't just completely normal if one disregarded the pigeons. Unfortunately the dating sim aspect turned out to be only half of the game. Having reached 6-7 endings, I decided I might as well go for all of them, pulled out a guide and finished the rest to see the "real ending". This turned out to be one convoluted and boring visual novel that was way, way too long.
Game 3: The Raven - Legacy of a Master Thief - 14 hours, beaten February 11, PC
I liked the story and the writing quite a bit, characters' behaviour and lines were fitting, so overall that was quite nice. That's pretty much half of a point&click, and maybe the more important half, so overall it was a positive experience. Puzzles weren't very confounding, could have been a bit harder I guess, but then again I didn't get some of the achievements from playing around with stuff, it might have had some nice hidden tricks. Technically the first two chapters were alright, and the last one was obviously rushed, I had to reload a save because a puzzle got stuck, and my character got stuck walking in one place more than once. Controller is supported, although it's not great, but at times I had to switch to mouse and back due to stuff simply not showing. The game also has a launcher with the single duty of carrying a "Start game" button that needs a mouse, what's the point? I got to play in German though, was a nice change, and I hadn't used the language in a while - but then again the game would never remember that one setting and default to English at every start. So overall good story, characters and writing, tacky controller support, and lack of polish towards the end of the game. The positives outweigh the negatives for me, but it felt discouraging at times.
Didn't really finish many games last year since most of my gaming was CS:GO. Looking to slow that down a bit and tackle my backlog instead.
Game 1: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Hours played: 8-10
Rating: 9/10
The first DK game I sat down with the intention of beating and only my second played ever behind the one for GBC. Level design and challenging-but-not-frustrating gameplay were definitely my favorite aspects and some of the best I've ever seen in platformers. Looking forward to purchasing DKCR 3D now.
Game 2: Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones
Hours played: 8
Rating: 8/10
Loved the first one and was pretty bummed when it was announced as a WiiU exclusive. Ended up getting a WiiU on an impulse buy in November so it was only a matter of time before I got to this. The dark story and puzzles were at the high standards set by the first. The castlevania type exploration between puzzles was different and alright but didn't quite feel good enough to be noteworthy on it's own.
Game 3: ToeJam & Earl
Hours played: 3
Rating: 6/10
Stronk nostalgia for the sequel from when I was younger. Don't remember playing this one though so figured I'd give it a shot. The gameplay is some of the worst I've ever experienced but it's somewhat saved by the concept, visuals, and music.
Game 4: LittleBigPlanet 3
Hours played: 4
Rating: 8/10
Even though it's usually not something important to platformers, it seems like the plot took a backstep a little bit. Besides the new "heroes", the characters weren't very memorable at all. Definitely on the short side too but I didn't really check out the sidemissions all that much after getting stuck on an early one lol. Mostly just wanted to beat story mode so I can trade this in before value tanks since LBP is the most safe bet for PS+ of any franchise.
Game 5: Bravely Default
Hours played: 45
Rating: 6/10
This game ended up massively overstaying it's welcome. Ended up trying to rush through to the end after hitting lvl70-75 but found out even on easy I was underleveled for the actual final boss when I died on it's last stage after barely making it that far. Don't really feel like grinding to "finish" the game so I'll just consider it beaten. The first 4 chapters were actually good until they decided to go full shitty and create the most boring and repetitive last few chapters. Not really interested in the sequel unless I hear it's much improved.
Definitely a huge step up from Dead Island as far as gameplay goes. Early zombie fights were challenging which is rare in these types of games. Main story had a few interesting moments but mostly was boring and predictable. Didn't help that Crane is one of the all-time biggest dumbasses in video game history. Beyond that though it's a fun and very beautiful game.
Game 7: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Hours played: 25
Rating: 10/10
Definitely still worth all the praise it gets. Maybe the only negative I can see is the really easy boss fights compared to even other entries into the series. Everything else though is top notch.
Game 8: Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
Hours played: 8
Rating: 8/10
Only my second game in this series after Tropical Freeze. Felt TF's level design was a little more interesting and having more than just Diddy as sidekicks was good for different playstyles. This was definitely a good game though and one of the better platformers I've ever played.
Game 9: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Hours played: 10
Rating: 10/10
Finally decided to give this a shot after seeing it become a "Book Club" selection from the Kinda Funny guys. One of the best games I've ever played. Everything about the inverted castle is perfect from the fake ending with belmont in the normal castle, to the different bosses, and everything in between.
Game 10: OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood
Hours played: 5
Rating: 8/10
Don't really have the patience for most of the "pro" tracks so I just went through Amateur. Game still controls great and feels much more complete than the first.
Game 11: Rayman Legends (Vita)
Hours played: 6
Rating: 7/10
Even though this is supposedly better than Origins, I felt bored with the formula this time around and even a little irritated with the Murfy sections.
Game 12: Wolfenstein: The New Order
Hours played: 11
Rating: 9/10
First time playing any games of this series despite being a lifelong FPS fan. Not having multiplayer and focusing completely on the story was a fantastic move and I'm glad they were getting the props they deserved for the gem they created.
Game 13: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
Hours played: 10
Rating: 9/10
Loved HM1 and this was pretty much more of the same with better level design. The plot was incredibly hard to follow though.
Game 14: Infamous First Light
Hours played: 7
Rating: 9/10
The story was much better than Second Son and Fetch is perhaps the most likable protagonist of the series with a backstory worth caring about. Still a lot of repetitive minigames but the main missions seemed a bit more varied this time around.
Game 15: Fight Night 3 (psp/vita)
Hours played: 7
Rating: 7/10
Kind of a nostalgia buy since it's on sale. Played the shit out of this on 360 back in 2006-2007. This version doesn't really offer the same fight experience and the block system is a little shitty but it's surprisingly addictive despite it's flaws.
Game 16: Pixeljunk Shooter Ultimate
Hours played: 15
Rating: 9/10
Addicting and challenging without ever being frustratingly so. It dragged on a little bit but considering it was meant to be two separate games it's not a big deal.
Game 17: Bloodborne
Hours played: 30
Rating: 10/10
Took a long break in the middle and recently came back looking to finally complete it. Terrific game all around and I've barely even touched the surface of all the content provided.
Game 18: Fallout: New Vegas
Hours played: 30
Rating: 9/10
Decided to finally play this in anticipation of 4's release. Loved most of it besides the hundreds of load screens and tons and tons of bugs I ran in to. The story was a lot more interesting than what I recall of Fallout 3. Was not expecting the visuals to be so dated for a 5 year old game though.
Game 19: Fallout 4
Hours played: 40
Rating: 9/10
The gameplay was a huge step in the right direction. Also loving all the extra stuff to do. Much more dense with exploreable areas than the two from last gen. Speech options were definitely a letdown and the loading times were frustrating just like the other games but I still had a lot of fun and will return to see everything as well as the DLC.
Game 20: The Evil Within
Hours played: 16
Rating: 9/10
Went into this not expecting much but was very pleasantly surprised. One of the best true "survival horror" games I've played in a long time, if ever. The story was a little messy but very interesting. Most encounters with enemies felt different enough to keep it more fun and less mindless horde killing.
Game 21: The Order 1886
Hours played: 7
Rating: 8/10
I was hyped for this game since buying my ps4 at launch but I passed on this at $48(GCU). Black friday sale for $10 though was a no brainer. Was actually pleasantly surprised with the game despite the critical beating it took. The main story was somewhat interesting and the pace was about perfect with there being enough enemies to have fun with the different guns without ever getting bored.
Game 22: Strider (PS4)
Hours played: 5
Rating: 6/10
PS+ freebie from a few months ago that I'm finally getting around to. Something about the game just felt off. Most fights were boring and even the bosses were easy to figure out and conquer quickly. Last kinda-platformer I've played like this before was Mark of the Ninja which is probably the hardest act to follow.
First time playing this since I got my PS3 back in 2010. One of the few games where I'm more excited by the cutscenes than any other part of the gameplay. The platforming is pretty fun and the gunplay is alright except for the horrible AI.
Game 24: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered
Hours played: 13
Rating: 10/10
Much improved over 1 in almost every conceivable way. The enemies don't just sprint at you, the story was bigger and more interesting, and the heist chapter was a great way to kick everything off.
Game 1: Suikoden Playtime: 18:36 (2015: 8 hours) Start/Finish: Dec 9th, 2014 - Jan 2nd, 2015
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-- Game 2: Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed Playtime: 8:51 (2015: 6 hours) Start/Finish: Dec 29th, 2014 - Jan 2nd, 2015
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-- Game 3: Valkyria Chronicles Playtime: 32:05 (2015: 12 hours) Start/Finish: Nov 11th, 2014 - Jan 4th, 2015
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-- Game 4: Katawa Shoujo Playtime: 26:15 (2015: 8 hours) Start/Finish: ?/?/2012 - Jan 8th, 2015
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-- Game 5: 100% Orange Juice Playtime: 2:18 Start/Finish: Jan 9th, 2015 - Jan 10th, 2015
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-- Game 6: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS Playtime: 6:25 Start/Finish: Jan 3rd, 2015 - Jan 12th, 2015
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-- Game 7: Taiko no Tatsujin: Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb Playtime: 7:28 Start/Finish Jan 9th, 2015 - Jan 12th, 2015
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-- Game 8: Ys I Playtime: 6:00 Start/Finish Jan 11th, 2015 - Jan 12th, 2015
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-- Game 9: Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Playtime: 52:16 (2015: 40 hours) Start/Finish Nov 25th, 2014 - Jan 15th, 2015
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-- Game 10: Rune Factory 4 Playtime: 30:05 (2015: 6 hours) Start/Finish June 17th, 2014 - January 16th, 2015
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-- Game 11: Taiko no Tatsujin: Don to Katsu no Jikū Daibōken Playtime: 5:47 Start/Finish January 12th, 2015 - January 17th, 2015
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-- Game 12: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Playtime: 13:33 Start/Finish January 13th, 2015 - January 18th, 2015
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-- Game 13: Gravity Rush Playtime: 9:40 Start/Finish January 21st, 2015 - January 24th, 2015
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-- Game 14: Life is Strange Episode 1 Playtime: 2:50 Start/Finish Jan 29th, 2015 - Jan 30th, 2015
//Comments Episode 2 Playtime: 3:04 Start/Finish Mar 24, 2015
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-- Game 15: Sunrider Playtime: 13:30 (2015: 5 hours) Start/Finish Oct 2nd, 2014 - Feb 8th, 2015
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-- Game 16: Persona 3 FES: The Answer Playtime: 21:15 Start/Finish Feb 6th, 2015 - Feb 10th, 2015
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-- Game 17: Demon Gaze Playtime: 61:21 (100%
) Start/Finish: Jan 21st, 2015 - Feb 19th, 2015
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-- Game 18: Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines Playtime: 49:00 Start/Finish: Mar 3rd, 2015 - Mar 11th, 2015
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-- Game 19: Ys II Playtime: 7:40 Start/Finish: Jan 27th, 2015 - Mar 11th, 2015
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-- Game 20: Tales of Hearts R Playtime: 45:38 Start/Finish: Feb 24th, 2015 - Mar 14th, 2015
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17h
4/5
You can see how much it inspired every FPS since 2004. It only has two vehicle sections, but they seemingly drag on forever. Luckily those are earlier on in the game and towards the end, the game gets much better.
50h
My first strategy game. When I built my PC two years ago I did it to play more genres than just RPGs and FPS, predominantly the latter. It took me awhile but some GAFers finally got me to start playing it and I'm loving it so far.
15h
3/5
Best story of the series by far. I came in knowing some stuff about the story so maybe that's why it wasn't such a disappointment to me. Unfortunately the rest of the game is pretty mediocre at best. Boss fights are forgettable, and there are no real new concepts. For example in AA/AC you have ice grenades to create platforms and you batclaw your way through water or use it to seal up pipes. The same thing exists in this game, only it's with a glue grenade. They didn't really try to do anything new besides how it handled boss fights, and it did that poorly.
24h - 100%
3.5/5
It's a decent game. The map is awful and confused me more than it helped which was my biggest problem with the game. There's also way too much backtracking, which wouldn't be that bad on it's own but when you have an awful map it just makes it worse. My last complaint would be how you need to scan everything in order to interact with it.
The game being 2.5D the combat isn't as close to as fluid as the main series but it gets the job done when you realize this was a handheld game originally. Even taking that into consideration, two of the boss fights are bad. One was great because it used the games mechanics to create a unique fight. Lastly, it had some cool teases that I hope come to fruition.
6.5 hours
2/5
An extremely short game. Even doing all activities and getting all 1100 collectibles i still finished it on hardcore difficulty at 6 and half hours. There are almost no story missions, it's just doing activities and collectible hunting with maybe 3 story missions. You probably can't beat the game without doing activities and getting clusters because unlike previous SR games, the final boss isn't a QTE (so you need upgrades, at least on Hardcore). While it is short, I did love it but I can't give it a higher rating as it just doesn't offer much
Game 1: Killzone Shadow Fall (PS4) - ???
Notes:
Completed story mode on Easy and I'm at 17% trophy completion. I may go back for the collectibles and other trophies, but for right now I'm done.
Comments:
Story was okay. Nothing like CODAW. It is pretty forgettable. Echo was pretty cool and I hope she is the featured character for the next game. Her stealth and snipping make her a dangerous adversary.
As for gameplay; besides your drone buddy, who can be a lifesaver in tough situations, it seemed pretty similar to COD. For some reason I really had trouble spotting the enemies, especially in the forest area with the cliffs.
Game 2: Alien Isolation (PS4) - 14:47:13
Notes:
Completed story mode on Hard. I'm at 80% trophy completion.
Comments: it was a wonderful game, but very long. Amanda Ripley was a great character. Really liked her reactions. And while the Alien was good, I felt it being invulnerable to everything but fire was a bit much at times. The androids and humans seemed mostly secondary. I may visit this game again, but not for a long time.
I'm going to try this. I played quite a bit of games this year. But with my current backlog right now, I can probably finish a lot of games next year. So I'll reserve this post for now.
Game 1: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PC) - 3-4 hours Started: Jan. 2nd Finished: Jan.3rd
The game follows the "Walking Sim" formula of the Stanley Parable or Dear Esther, the game has some really neat puzzles and fairly good narrative.
Game 2: Among The Sleep (PC) - 2-3 Hours Started: Jan. 3rd Finished: Jan. 3rd
Been hearing some decent things about this game. Play as a baby escaping from a shadowy nightmare along with a talking teddy bear, has some good puzzles and "Amnesia" item interaction. Short, but a fairly good experience.
Game #3: Elite Beat Agents (DS)- Started 1-6-15 Completed 1-8-15 Time spent:2:15
Really fun portable rhythm game, has a great comic book style cutscenes, a fairly good song selection from bands like Queen, Earth, Wind and Fire, Rolling Stones etc.. The game is a must have for your DS library.
Game #4: Space Harrier 3D (3DS)- Started 1-24-15 Completed 1-24-15 Time: 0:36
A great arcade game made by Sega. Has a nice 3D backgrounds mixed in with 2D sprites. The game is quite revolutionary for it's time. Also a great fit for the 3DS.
Game #5: Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland (DS) Started 1-13-15 Completed 2-2-15 Time: 17:48
"Rupee is love, Rupee is life." A very well made Zelda spinoff. Play as Tingle to pour Rupee's in to a tower to get into Rupeeland to enjoy a paradise of riches and freedom.
1) Shadow of Mordor PS4 H15
I'm not big into LotR universe and this was my first LotR game. I enjoyed what I played of it. Once I got past the tutorial portion I think I died 3 times in a row before I figured out how to play. Game may have lasted a little longer than it needed to, but I didn't feel burned out by the end of it. Combat was as fun/challenging as you made it.
2) Akiba's Trip PS4 H13
It was an ok brawler, but too many issues held it back. First off the picking up the loot sucked. It was highlighted or anything so it was very easy to miss some of the stuff just sitting on the ground in front of you. Next, and I kind of get why they did it, but locking all the "cool" stuff behind replaying the game a lot. Beating the game once unlocked some stuff, but if you wanted all the options you needed to meet all kinds of requirements. I get it, it is a way to add replayablility. I could only manage 2 playthroughs and then I was done. Any of the perks that were locked out weren't worth playing through again.
3) Wolfenstein: New Order PS4 H13
A lot more fun than I was expecting to have. This was my first Wolfenstein game and I had little idea of what I was getting myself into. Some of the cutscenes were a bit much for me, but what are you going to do. Gun handling was good, though I was surprised at how much I took advantage of stealth. Going into the game I thought it would have been completely run and gun.
4) Infamous Second Son PS4 H12
The first two Infamous games were just ok to me. Good enough to beat them, but not my favorite by a long shot. Second Son just felt so much better. I'm trying to figure out why, and sadly I think it is the production values that put it over the top for me. Even with fast travel I still found myself zipping through the city using the different powers. The game was beautiful and the powers, while similar, did enough to make each of them interesting.
5) Transistor PS4 H6
Story was meh and very forgettable. Luckily I really liked the combat system in the game. Mixing and matching the powers, trying different things, and a game short enough that I never got bored. I felt Bastion had better music, but there are a couple tracks from Transistor I really liked.
6) Bravely Default FF 3DS H55
The combat system, the options they give you, the class diversity, and the characters were all high points of this game. The story was enough to keep me interested, though the 2nd half of the game really tested my patience.
7) Demon Gaze Vita H40
Had a lot of fun with this, even though it got pretty easy towards the end of the game.
8) Drakengard 3 PS3 H19
Did not play this when it first released, so I didn't get to experience the frame rate before the patch that "fixed" it. The first chapter and anytime you stand under the dragon fire seems to be the two worst offenders of FPS dips. For whatever reason the rest of the game wasn't bad at all. Enjoyed most of what I played, wasn't the deepest combat but using different weapons helps.
9) Ratchet & Clank Into the Nexus PS3 H5
2nd R&C game. I really like the bite sized length that each game offers. The only thing better than that is the guns. Otherwise a quirky, and fun game. Wasn't a big fan of Clank's sections in the game at first, but they kind of grew on me.
10) Catherine PS3 H14
I tried my hardest to play the game all the way through on normal difficulty. I didn't last long, and bumped it down to easy. Story was good for what it was, two of the endings were funny more than anything and what I consider the cannon ending was the most natural. Even on easy, fuck some of those bosses.
11) Izuna 2 3DS H18
Picked this up awhile ago and never got around to it till now. Fun roguelike game that starts off very unforgiving and gets easier as the game goes on. I did not like how they made it more difficult by taking away a certain character for story reasons. I did not realize this and all the time I spent leveling them up went away. So back to level one with another character...
EDIT: HOORAY! Finally finished 52 games this year (plus a TON of ones I got halfway through for review and such)
Game #1: Class of Heroes 2G (61 hours). I stopped after getting the All Clear trophy, clearing out all quests and pieces of post-game content. I ended the game with about 9,600 kills and there is a trophy for getting 50,000 kills. Sorry but I'm not going to grind that heavily.
Game #2: Valiant Hearts: The Great War (5-1/2 hours). Definitely recommended, though I kept getting a lot of Stick it to the Man! vibes with the puzzling. The piano theme is so good.
Game #3: The Wolf Among Us (PS4) (~5 hours). Platinum trophy. Combat felt a little janky, but overall I enjoyed the story and characters. Look forward to reading the comics one day.
Game #4: Magus. (~3 hours) Platinum trophy. Now to get rid of this garbage.
Game #5 Magical Beat (Vita, ~1 hour). 100% trophies, kinda cheated and did the easy skip for all of the levels. Just got tired of seeing it on the Vita and never playing it!
Game #6 Lords of the Fallen (PS4, ~12 hours). Finished a playthrough as a Warrior. You really feel more powerful by the end of the game than in any Souls title. Hit detection and stun are really bad as are the majority of enemies with shields. Don't think I'll be going back for NG+
Game #7 Drakengard 3 (~40 hours) I really enjoyed the music, even enough to buy the NieR pack for battle too. I can't tell if I spent more time grinding money to max every weapon, or trying to beat the final boss.
Game #8 Citizens of Earth (PS4, ~25 hours) One of the best EarthBound clones I've played yet. World first to finish the game according to trophy websites, just missing one or two citizens. Will go back to finish out 100% at a later date.
Game #9 Atelier Ayesha Plus (Vita, ~23 hours) I've never 100%'d an Atelier game and this one was no exception. Got every ending, beat every optional boss..then realized I missed a trophy for not playing it on hard mode.
Game #10 Criminal Girls: Invite Only (Vita, 60 hours) Beat the game, beat the post-game, etc etc. I have about two hours left of trophy cleanup if I want that platinum.
Game #11 Castle in the Darkness (PC,8 hours) One of the finest metroidvania I've played in years. Highly recommended!
Game #12 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4, 6 hours) Up until now, I've only ever played the multiplayer. Sat down for a couple nights and played through the campaign on Veteran. Man, Spacey's eyes are super dead.
Game #13 Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters (PS3, XX hours) Finished for a review, will comment on this later
Game #14 The Order: 1886 (PS4, 4-1/2 hours) Platinum trophy, very pretty but not much of anything under the shell
Game #15 Final Fantasy Type-Zero (PS4, 42 hours) Platinum trophy, felt content with a single playthrough.
Game #16 Axiom Verge (PS4, 12 hours) Beat it on hard with nearly 100% completion, will go back another time for the speed run and low % trophies
Game #17 Bloodborne (PS4, 60 hours) Platinum. The chalice dungeons felt like they took up half of my time.
Game #18 Monster Monpiece (Vita, 23 hours) Platinum. Got someone to boost the online trophies with, got bored a couple hours afterwards but still persevered to get that platinum.
Game #19 Moero Chronicle (Vita, 50 hours) Platinum. I can't believe I made the choice to going back to back from Monpiece to this. At least this one was a decent DRPG.
Game #20 XBlaze: Code Embryo (Vita, 25 hours) Platinum. That was a whole lot of backtracking around and having to replay scenes to get the store recaps I missed out on.
Game #21 Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy (Vita, 52 hours) Platinum. Recently went back and did the post-game content.
Game #22 Steins;Gate (Vita, 30 hours) Platinum. One of the finest VN's I've ever played and long worth the wait.
Game #23 Persona 4: Dancing All Night (Vita, 20 hours) Platinum. Easily the best soundtrack in a long time.
Game #24 The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS4, 4 hours) 100% trophies. Quite an enjoyable setting, one of the best looking games on the console.
Game #25 IA/VT Colorful (Vita, 60 hours) Platinum, whole lot of grinding to get the last few trophies. One of the few non-Rock Band rhythm games where every song is the full version.
Game #26 Onechanbara Z2: Chaos (PS4, 20 hours) Beat twice, got most of the trophies. Just not interested enough for two more playthroughs for 100%
Game #27 Taiko no Tatsujin V Version (Vita, 25 hours) Platinum, fun little rhythm game. I'm ass at oni songs.
Game #28 Lost Dimension (PS3, 18 hours) Beat once, may go back another day to get the True Ending, otherwise satisfied with the experience.
Game #29 Metal Slug 3 (PS4, 3 hours) Full playthrough
Game #30 The Awakened Fate Ultimatum (PS3, 23 hours) Beat twice, just missing the collection trophies.
Game #31 Senran Kagura Bon Appetit! (Vita, 16 hours) Finished all routes, just missing the grinding trophies. The music's not good enough to complete another 100+ songs.
Game #32 Luftrausers (Vita, 8 hours) Beat as many of the missions as my skill would allow, got every part at least.
Game #33 Xblaze: Lost Memories (Vita, 6 hours) Platinum. Pretty obvious given that it's a sequel, but you've have no idea what's going on without playing Code Embryo. Also, about 75% of the story is identical to the first game and reuses a LOT of dialogue.
Game #34 Actual Sunlight (Vita, 2 hours) Pretty short gamr that focuses on depression in the daily working life. Certainly an existential experience.
Game #35 Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (Vita, 20 hours) Much, MUCH darker than the previous two games.
Game #36 Arcade Archives MOON CRESTA (PS4, 15 minutes) 100% trophies. Woo!
Game #37 Arcade Archives TERRA CRESTA (PS4, 5 minutes) 100% trophies. This one was fundamentally more engaging than MOON.
Game #38 Persona 4: Dancing All Night (Vita, 7-1/2 hours) Platinum. The NA version went a lot faster since I already knew how to play the game and beat the JP version previously.
Game #39 Until Dawn (PS4, ~20 hours) Platinum. Horror trope-y but still quite good. There was still some jank from the reliance on MOVE controls.
Game #40 Dragon Fantasy: Book II (Vita, 17 hours) Platinum. I started this back in 2013 and only got a couple hours in before I got bored. Decent SNES-era RPG, but a lot of glitches and bugs that took away from the experience.
Game #41 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA, 15 hours) 100%'d map. I actually forgot I played all three of these back in July in a one week stretch.
Game #42 Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (GBA, 15 hours) 100%'d map
Game #43 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA, 15 hours) 100%'d map and soul completion, used AR codes to boost my luck up to max because nobody's got time for grinding.
Game #44 Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (PS4, 25 hours) Platinum. Whimsical little game with the signature Lucasarts' style obtuse puzzles.
Game #45 Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations (PS4, 9 hours) Platinum. Fairly simple adventure with a couple obnoxious puzzles. Combat was quite boring and felt entirely unneeded. You could easily see seams where content was changed/cut at a moment's notice.
Game #46 Goosebumps: The Game (PS4, 2 hours) Platinum. Kind of a neat little Shadowgate/Deja Vu experience for the younger generation.
Game #47 Need for Speed 2015 (PS4, 20 hours) Platinum. Would've gotten this in a single weekend if it wasn't for the 15 daily challenge trophy.
Game #48 Fallout 4 (PS4, 65 hours) Platinum. Buggy, grindy, all around 7/10.
Game #49 Game of Thrones (PS4, 20-22 hours) Platinum. Great story, with an abrupt ending and far too many glitches during the last episode to be that enjoyable.
Game #50 Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (PS4, 35 hours) Platinum. Overall a fairly easy game, just somewhat grindy for particular trophies if it isn't part of your typical playstyle.
Game #51 Eiyuu Senki: The World Conquest (PS3, 30 hours) All but two trophies (normal ending and post game dungeon). Finished with a true ending and don't like the game enough to wanna play it a second time.
Game #52 Tales of Zestiria (PS3, 50 hours) Finished all post game content, missing a couple of trophies for skill stacking and unnecessary grinding.
I may have miracously finished the challenge this year but there's no way I'll pull it off again! But I will claim a post later on when I do beat a game next year!
This really is the best way! As I found out this year many maaaaaaany games that have "time played" counters don't count cutscenes and other random things.
Playable enough for a licensed game but Toy Story 2 on PS1 was much better. Bad stealth sections in non-stealth games strike again. A lot of the Toy Box mode was a disappointing due to the grinding/collectibles.
Game 2: DLC Quest (PC) - 1 hrs, 32 mins
Better than I thought it would be. Not a bad way to kill some time. Kind of depressing when you think about how accurate some parts of this really are though.
Game 3: Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut (PC) - 4 hrs, 54 mins
Decided to get around to this one after enjoying Broken Sword 2 a fair amount last year. As with the other one, a nice little point and click adventure title. Puzzles felt more challenging than in the second. George and Nico continue to be some of my favorite lead characters in any game.
Game 4: Infamous: First Light (PS4) - ~7 hrs
Free plus game. Haven't played any Infamous games since the original but this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the neon powers and traversal was much improved. I wish there was more story/free roam content but this wasn't bad for a standalone add-on by any means. The challenge modes were a lot of fun made up at least half of my overall playtime.
Game 5: Resident Evil (PC) - 6 hrs, 8 mins *
Really glad to be able to play this one again. Played through with Jill on normal. The aqua ring is still the scariest part of any game I've played for me. I look forward to going through the game more to cover all modes/endings.
Game 6: Coming Out On Top (PC) - 3 hrs~
Nice little VN/dating sim. There will be some notable content additions in the future so I'll be sure to come back to this one for those as well as the other routes.
Game 7: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3) - 9 hrs, 23 mins
Played through Arcade mode with each character, did score attack mode once or twice, and completed the story. Quite a bit easier than the original Arena title. The additions of Junpei, Yukari, and others was nice even if Junpei's new design is horrible.
Game 8: Resident Evil: Revelations (PS3) - 5 hrs, 37 mins
Pretty good for what was originally a handheld title. Some of the enemies are a complete pain but the game introduced raid mode and some of my favorite characters so it evens out. I'd put it above RE6 but below 5 in quality.
Game 9: Saw (PS3) - 5 hrs, 30 mins
Surprisingly decent for what it is. Would only play if you are a fan of the film series though.
Game 10: Saw II: Flesh and Blood (PS3) - 7 hrs, 45 mins
More of the same from the original really. Changing combat into a series of QTEs isn't really much of an improvement.
Game 11: Infamous: Second Son (PS4) - 8 hrs~
Didn't enjoy this one as much as First Light. A lot of the sandbox content was pretty mind numbing and Delsin wasn't a very likable lead.
Game 12: The Godfather II (PS3) - 15 hrs~
Decent GTA clone. I really liked the various things you could do from the Don's view. The lack of a jump button or any kind of fast travel really extended my playtime towards the end when I was going around and taking over rackets and such.
Game 13: Spongebob Heropants (Vita) - 6 hrs 30 mins~
Don't know why I rented this one to be honest. It definitely was no Battle For Bikini Bottom. Worth a try if you're a hardcore fan of the license I guess.
Game 14: Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (PS4) - 17 hrs, 34 mins
All 4 story eps, 2 bonus eps, and 2.5 Raid mode gauntlets complete. Enjoyed this one way more than I expected to for a cheaper digital release. I'll probably sink many more hours into this to cleanup medals and of course finish Raid mode.
Game 15: A Golden Wake (PC) - 3 hrs, 6 mins
Another great point and click title published by Wadjet Eye Games. Not as great as the Blackwell series or Gemini Rue but if you're a fan of the setting and genre you can't go wrong.
Game 16: Dead Or Alive 5: Last Round (PS4) - 4 hrs~
Played through story mode and arcade mode a few times. The story was really something else with the characters finding nearly any excuse to fight each other. I started to skip cut scenes about half way through. I'd probably have enjoyed this more if I wasn't so bad at fighting games.
What up. Let's do this sheeeiiiiit. I think my first game might be Bayonetta 2. Or maybe it'll be done by the time January rolls around. We'll see.
Edit 1: Orrr it won't be Bayonetta 2.
Game 1: Resident Evil 5
Started 12/26/2014 - Beaten 1/10/2015 - 18 Hours
Played this through in co-op with a friend. We had some connection problems, but it was a lot of fun and it was actually the first Resident Evil game I've ever played through. Despite the fact that a lot of people separate this and some of its siblings as not being 'real' Resident Evil games, it was a great introduction to the series for two people who had no particular attachment to previous gameplay tropes.
Game 2: Velocity 2X
Started 12/30/2014 - Beaten 1/14/2015 - 38 Hours
Got this game on PS+ and LOVED it. If you were willing to spend the time perfecting all the levels, it was such a fantastically demanding gameplay centric playthrough that constantly demanded you work your head around new gameplay systems, right up until the end of the game. This isn't NEARLY as long as my playthrough makes it out to be, but some of the levels were absolutely brutal to finish within all the requirements for the perfect medal. Finishing those levels was the stuff of white knuckled clammy hands, and elicited the biggest whoops of joy of any game in a long long time.
Game 3: Demon's Souls
Started 12/30/2014 - Beaten 1/15/2015 - 47 Hours
My first Souls game. What an experience this was. Despite its reputation, Velocity 2X was definitely the more demanding game. Still, the exploration, the experimentation, the mystery of the world, the community features, the very unguided, unassisted combat systems, all produced such a fantastically unique game. I started this one when a friend got me Dark Souls 2 for Christmas, which means that Dark Souls 1 is one of the next games I have to put in my sights. I look forward to it.
Game 4: Resident Evil 6
Started 12/28/2014 - Beaten 1/17/2015 - 16 Hours
My second RE game. Played it in co-op with the same friend as I played RE5 earlier in January. Due to my RE5 connection issues, my playthroughs actually ended up overlapping a decent amount, but still, this one didn't get a real focus until RE5 was done. LIked this one even better than RE5, with the Chris and Leon campaigns in particular just being outstandingly fun. It really is too bad though that the Ada campaign was so poor, particularly as a co-op experience.
Game 5: Dishonored
Started 1/6/2015 - Beaten 1/22/2015 - 37 Hours
Definitely not as short a game for me as it was for some. I ended up playing through this three times, twice in search of the various pacifist and ghost achievements, and once to slaughter absolutely everyone and get the bad end. The open endedness of the levels and the encouragement to find your own means to accomplish the tasks you were presented with was cool, the world was fun to explore, and the toys were a hoot to play with. I have but a single major complaint about this game. The majority of my time spent with this game was avoiding NPC's and playing non-lethally, and also going for the Mostly Flesh and Steel achievement. This locks away from use the overwhelming majority of this game's tools. Dishonored might have been a lot more fun if it offered a more flexible toolkit for stealth and nonlethal play, and didn't discourage you from touching those tools which you did have access to. Ah, well. I look forward to the much loved DLC, Knife of Dunwal and Brigmore Witches.
Game 6: Shovel Knight
Started 1/28/2015 - Beaten 1/29/2015 - 7 Hours
I played this one at a friends relentless encouragement. It was for the most part a joy to play, managing to overcome even my distaste for the Megaman formula. There were some sections of the game that made me remember why I didn't want to play it though, particularly in the aerial and final levels. Still, with such a short runtime, it's hard for it to wear out its welcome too much. Thoroughly charming platformer with fantastic controls and gameplay.
Game 7: Arkham Asylum
Started 1/14/2015 - Beaten 2/5/2015 - 19 Hours
Completed this game for what... the third time? The fourth? This time it was the copy I'd gotten free through PS+ I love the Arkham games and that was reason enough to replay this brief first chapter. It was my first time playing an Arkham Game with a gamepad, and Demon's Souls was a good warmup for all the claw gripping I'd do of the dual shock with my right hand. Still, I'd have rather been at my mouse and keyboard, despite all my friends insistence that this is a terrible heresy.
Game 8: Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus
Started 10/28/2014 - Beaten 2/11/2015 - 9 Hours
My second Senran Kagura game, but it'll certainly be my last. Despite the game's titillation, flash, endearing characters and simple, charming story about the overwhelming power of friendship, it's just way too dull to play. On the 3DS or the Vita, in 2.5d or as a musou, SK games are a tremendous snoozefest to button mash your way through, and I won't waste my time more money on the series again.
Game 9: The Longest Journey
Started 2/11/2015 - Beaten 2/16/2015 - 29 Hours
In contrast to what I just finished, this was a slow burning, but completely enchanting point and click adventure with a delightful blend of science fiction and fantasy, seriousness and humour. Its visuals don't hold up well, and I've never been particularly fond of the rigid and obscure demands of point and click adventures, but its writing more than overcomes any headaches in these departments and completely earn it its status as a PC classic.
Game 10: Fire Emblem: Awakening
Started 8/7/2014 - Beaten 2/21/2015 - 98 Hours
Another first. I'd not played a Fire Emblem game before, and I did this one on hard/classic. I appreciated the option to choose not to play with permadeath, but picking it felt a bit like cheating, and not getting the true Fire Emblem experience. So instead I reset my game when people died. I reset my game a lot. If you're going to play this, it might be helpful to know that you can reset your game by pressing R+L+Start simultaneously. The characters were charming, the game was gorgeous, the story was serviceable, the support conversations were delightful, the game was absolutely chunky with content, and every victory was a relief. Two regrets were that some of the systems were totally unclear - how promoting affects your various levels, and how best to plot your characters paths through reclasses and skills. With no knowledge of what skills existed, or what they even did, choosing reclasses felt hopelessly at the start of the game. Only through outside resources was I able to make good decisions about how to progress my characters. Apart from those small troubles though, this was an outstanding, if just a little bit intimidating, introduction to a new series and genre for me.
Game 11: There Came an Echo
Started 2/26/2015 - Beaten 2/26/2015 - 4 Hours
Thanks again to Feep for this neat little game. Creating a voice controlled RTS with the VA talent he chose was an ambitious project indeed, and in some ways it paid off. The game works, and when it's at its best it can be quite fun. Unfortunately, not all of the game feels quite as well conceived as the best of it, and the unique gameplay systems simply aren't given the room necessary to spread their legs and gain the depth they feel like they should offer. The closest they come to doing that is the 12 wave challenge mode which is entirely separated from the main game. The rest of the game suffers from extended periods where there's little for the player to do but listen to the actors talk as well as unfortunate difficulty spikes and valleys. Still, the story is fun, the characters are charming, and the majority of the roles are quite well acted. And when it all comes together, gameplay and story, it can be quite good. It's just not a large enough chunk of the game.
Beaten [58/52]: Game 1: Shovel Knight - 6h23m
# So damn awesome. Game 2: To The Moon - ~4hr
# Very emotional. ;-; Game 3: Super Mario 3D Wold - 8hr25m
# Very fun. Last world was satisfying. Game 4: Alphadia Genesis - 16h22m
# Generic and pretty boring. Game 5: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - ~5hr
# Cleared Classic Mode a few times. It's Smash, what more is there to say? Game 6: Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition - ~1h30m
# Cleared Arcade with Ken. Been a long time since I played a Street Fighter game, this was pretty fun. Game 7: Narcissu Side 2nd - ~2h
# Man, that was pretty sad. The original is still a lot more... heartfelt, though. Game 8: Westernado Double Barreled - 3h12m
# Wow, this is actually pretty amazing. Getting clues for the randomized killer is fun, and the atmosphere and gameplay really drive everything home. Game 9: Castlevania: Harmony of Despair - 8h25m
# Pretty fun with friends, so dull with single player. Played as Charlotte, which was cool, but the extra grinding I had to do for spells was meh. Game 10: Attack on Titan - Humanity in Chains - ~2h
# Once I actually understood all the moves at my disposal, the missions were pretty okay. Too bad it was only two or three more missions until I beat the game, and I don't have much interest in World Mode. Game 11: Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland - ~20h
# Sterk's ending get. I liked Atelier Rorona just a bit more, but this one's pretty good, too. Game 12: Basketbelle - ~1h30m
# That was... weird. Game 13: Long Live the Queen - 1h58m
# Pretty interesting. I made my princess rather... militaristic, heh. Oh, and all magic all the time Game 14: Super Chibi Knight - 2h47m
# Fun enough for a nice afternoon romp. Reminded me a lot of Zelda II without the horrid difficulty spikes. Game 15: Lost Dimension - ~20hr
# The traitor mechanic is a great idea, but the battles are dull and tedious, and really drag things down. It's be a lot better if there was a fast forward button for enemy phases. Game 16: Cthulhu Saves The World - 7h30m
# Honestly, didn't enjoy it all that much, just finished it up since I was close to the end. Meh. Game 17: Battle Fantasia -Enhanced Edition- - 1h15m
# It's bleh. Game 18: Retro/Grade - 58m
# A fun little distraction. Game 19: Onechanbara Z2: Chaos - ~5h
# Tits McGee. Game 20: Zenzizenzic - 2h10m
# Nice shump. Game 21: Astebreed - 58m
# Quite pretty, and fun enough. I enjoyed it. Game 22: Mighty Switch Force Hyper Drive Edition - 2h20m
# Still as fun as the 3DS version. Game 23: Freedom Planet - 3h05m
# Very nice throwback to the Genesis Sonic games. Should have really played Classic instead of Adventure though. Game 24: A Bird Story - 1h08m
# Interesting. Not heart-wrenching, but nostalgic for simpler days. Game 25: Nitronic Rush - ~30m
# Neat, I like it. Beat Story Mode. Game 26: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - 1h50m
# Gameplay was awesome, story was cringeworthy. Game 27: XBlaze Lost: Memories - ~10h
# Quite boring, honestly. Not worth playing. Game 28: Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX - 4h21m
# Pretty darn fun, and super cute :3 Game 29: eden* - 10h
# A good story, but it really could have dealt with some editing down during the second half, it really drags. Game 30: Half Minute Hero Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy - 3h50m
# Lots of fun! Though, the concept probably would have went stale if I tried to go down all the different paths. Game 31: Amnesia: Memories - ~3h
# One path complete. God, getting the Good End is stupidly difficult without a guide. Game 32: DanganRonpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls - ~17h
# Interesting, but not as good as the main games. Game 33: Persona 4 Dancing All Night - 8h07m
# Good for Persona 4 fans, okay for everyone else. Game 34: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call - 9h09m
# Fun! I like it way better than the original. Game 35: Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D - 9h12m
# Good, and not as overly difficult as I thought it'd be. Game 36: Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows - 7h34m
# Great fun. The ending was perfect. Game 37: Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed - 7h41m
# Getting the 95 stars was difficult, but I feel like a better player now Game 38: Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax - ~1h
# It's not bad, but nothing really special either. Game 39: You Must Build A Boat- 5h40m
# Really great for commutes on my phone. Game 40: Saya no Uta - ~4h
# That was... interesting. Game 41: Pokemon Alpha Sapphire - 21h13m
# Whew, it's done. Didn't like it too much overall. Game 42: Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ - ~8hr
# Victor's path complete. I'm surprised about the writing quality, honestly. Game 43: Norn9: Vas Commons - ~3hr
# Heishi's path completed, it was super adorable. Game 44: Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below - 30h37m
# Super duper fun. I love Dragon Quest, so of course I loved this. Game 45: Ridiculous Fishing - ~4hr
# Pretty ridiculous. It's a little grindy at times though. Game 46: Asphyxia - 5hr
# Quite interesting, I didn't expect the writing to be so good. Game 47: Dust: An Elysian Tail - 10hr13m
# Gameplay was pretty fun. It looked pretty outside of cutscenes. Was dramatic as fuck. Game 48: Undertale - 5h50m
# Wow. That was... wow. Game 49: Mario Kart 7 - 2h54m
# All cups 3 starred on 50cc. Pretty fun but I like 8 more. Game 50: Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengence - 48h44m
# Wonderful. By far the best Disgaea game Game 51: Kirby and the Rainbow Curse - 5h54m
# It was... okay. I had a lot of trouble controlling Kirby in tense scenarios. Game 52: Hatoful Boyfriend - 59m
# Sakuya's full end. This is... interesting. Game 53: The Royal Trap - ~3h
# Oscar's Happy End. Didn't really like this one much. Game 54 Splatoon- ~4h
# Took me about 4 hours for single player, but I spend way more in multiplayer before touching it. Game 55: Tales from the Borderlands Episode 1 - ~2h
# <3 Game 56: Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2 - ~2h
# <3 <3 Game 57: Tales from the Borderlands Episode 3 - ~2h
# <3 <3 <3 Game 58: X-Note - ~3h
# Oure's end. I like this
Failed miserably in 2014 by beating something like 20 games in the first 2 months then getting nowhere for the following 10. Might as well throw my hat in and try again.
Update: Final tally for 2014 (went to go post this there only to find the thread was closed) - 90 games (the final two games of 2014 being Jurassic Park for the Genesis at 5 hrs and the Cold, Cold Heart DLC for Arkham Origins at 4.5 hrs)
(36/52 finished)
1. Bayonetta 2 (Finished 1/5/15, playtime 13 hrs 36 mins) - As part of last year's challenge (see #30) I played and beat the first Bayonetta game on the PS3. Earlier this year I got Bayonetta 2 and unlike the first Bayonetta I ended up thoroughly enjoying Bayonetta 2 as I found that there weren't as many frustrating moments as there were in the first game.
2. After Burner II 3D (Finished 1/15/15, playtime 4 hrs 39 min) - I ended up getting this game because I had fond memories playing After Burner on the 32X, which if I remember correctly was actually After Burner 2. Well after beating the game's 22 mission (I don't count the 23rd mission cause all it is is launch & land on an aircraft carrier) I gotta say I can't help but feel a bit disappointed, mostly because it didn't play similar to the way I remember it playing, but hey sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles.
3. Resident Evil Remastered HD (Finished 1/25/14, playtime 7hrs 2 mins+) - About 10 years ago I played & beat the original Gamecube version of this game, which I remember really really enjoying at the time. So naturally I decided to pick up the HD remaster for the PS3 and I gotta say I still really enjoy this game, so much so that I plan to do a few more playthroughs (my first playthrough was with Jill) to get the rest of the endings. I was also blown away at how well this HD version of the game looked and even noticed a few things (like Jill's bouncing breasts) that I didn't pick up (mostly because of the crappy CRT TV I had used to play the original game) when I first played the game way back when.
4. Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 1 - The Penal Colony (Finished 2/28/15 - 14 hrs) - was debating on whether to do this episodically (which is the way I am experiencing the game) or as a whole and after much internal debate I decided to go episodic because it's the main way I'm experiencing the game. Now if I had opted to buy the retail disc or get the Season Pass after all 4 (6 if you include the 2 bonus episodes) episodes were release then I would do it as a single game. With that said my feelings on Episode 1 of RE Revelations 2 are pretty positive and I thoroughly enjoyed the revamped Raid Mode having nearly gotten all the currently available Medallions (I only have approx 65 left to earn/get) so far.
5. Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 2 - Contemplation (Finished 3/8/15 - 15 hrs) - Really enjoyed playing this episode and loved the two end of scenario boss fights as well as the little cliffhanger at the end of Barry's scenario. Raid mode continues to be awesome despite the RE 6 love (all the new stages are from RE 6) and some of the missions (like Gauntlet IV, Very Hard, Mission 3) really ramping up the difficulty.
6. Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 3 - Judgement (Finished 3/12/15 - 10 + hrs) - I'm gonna be honest here, I was a bit disappointed by this episode overall as I experienced (more than usual) slowdown playing the episode, it didn't have much of a cliffhanger at the end, and the episode's big plot "twist" was spotted a mile away by eagle eyed players in Episode 2. One of the few things I did like about this episode was that it incorporated a lot more puzzles than the previous episodes and that the episode's "big" plot twist did tie into the previous Revelations game.
7. Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 4 - Metamorphosis (Finished 3/19/15 - 10 + hrs) - Overall this episode wasn't too bad and had a kick@$$ ending if you
got the good ending
, though I was a bit disappointed by the short anti climatic way that Claire & Moira's scenario ended.
8. Resident Evil Revelations 2: The Struggle & Little Miss (Finished 3/20/15 - 2 hrs) - I still don't know how I feel exactly about these two bonus episodes overall, just that they aren't as good as the 4 other episodes. The Struggle was, well a struggle and Little Miss felt like a forced attempt at mimicking the stealth sections from the Metal Gear Solid series.
9. Chip n Dale's Rescue Rangers (Finished 3/21/15 - 2 hrs) - I first played this game about 23 years ago and it's been almost 20 since I last played it so I figured that going back to it would make for a nice change of pace. Funnily this game ended up being a whole lot easier than I remember and the more I played it the more I started remember of it, in fact now that I think about it this game may very well have been the first video game I ever beat.
10. Castlevania Bloodlines (Finished 4/2/15 - approx 7 hrs) - I first played this game about 20 years ago (I talked my parents in to renting it for me from Blockbuster) and managed to get as far as Dracula's first form, but no further. Well earlier this year I set out to finish what I started, but my progress was halted after encountering an issue with the Retron 5 not liking my game (everytime it tried loading the final stage it would reset).......until now. After installing the beta version of the latest patch (v2.3) I discovered that it had fixed that issue allowing me to finally finish this game. Despite the issues I had with the Retron 5 this game still remains as one of my all time favorite Castlevania games.
11. Strider (Finished 4/7/15 - total time 5 hrs 25 mins w/65% completion rating) - I got this game while it was on sale last year on PSN and the main reasons I got it was 1. I enjoyed what I played of the demo & 2. I had never played any of the strider games before. After playing through the game I gotta say it was tough at times but ultimately enjoyable, I especially liked the game's metroidvania feel (all areas are interconnected and there are some areas that you can't access w/o a certain skill or upgrade) and the decent amount of hidden collectibles like the different Strider outfits (from what I can tell there are about 10 of them, but in my first playthrough I only managed to find 2, Hien & Rouga) and concept art. The only things I did not like about the game was that it doesn't (as far as I can tell) have a new game + mode where you can go back with the stats/upgrades that you had at the end of your last playthrough and no way (again as far as I can tell) to fast travel to the different areas which makes backtracking to earlier areas so you can try to access areas you couldn't before a real pain in the butt.
12. Batman: The Video Game (Finished 4/10/15 - estimated time 6 hrs) - Growing up I always had friends who owned Sunsoft's Batman: The Video Game on the NES, but I never owned it and rarely got to play it. Well after getting a Retron 5 for Christmas last year I decided it was finally time I tracked this game down and played all the way through it.....I gotta say it was kinda worth the wait. I say kinda because man does this game get hard in some areas and becomes a bit frustrating at times (the sewer level aka stage 3, sticks out at the moment mainly because of those jumping f***tard creatures constantly jumping/harassing you most of the stage) having to redo stages after getting through them, dying at the boss, then using a continue. It also didn't help that my original NES controller felt a bit stiff at times leading to some deaths, but all in all I managed to power through (especially the Joker fight, after a couple of continues I managed to get to him with almost an entire health bar, got lucky, dodged his opening shot and started to wail on him with batarangs while doing my best to dodge his lighting attacks) and beat this game once an for all.
13. AVGN Adventures (Finished 4/21/15 - est total playtime 16 hrs) - I picked this game up last June during the Steam Summer Sale since I was a fan of the AVGN series and was curious to see how this game turned out. Well it imo turned out to be a pretty good, but challenging 2D platformer that had some nice nods to some of the better known AVGN episodes.
14. Mark of the Ninja (Finished 4/23/15 - est total playtime 10 hrs) - I'd been interested in playing this game for a while (I liked the art style and was interested in playing a 2D stealth platformer) so last year I picked this game up during the Steam Summer Sale. I initially played a good chunk of the game (got about halfway through the game) before my gaming ADD struck (ooh shiny shiny new game) and I moved on to other games I had gotten during the sale. Well earlier this week after beating AVGN Adventures I decided to go back and tackle this game in order to finally finish it. After playing it I gotta say I kinda enjoyed playing it as it was a nice change of pace from the other 2D games I've played recently and would recommend checking it out if you are into 2D platformers.
15. Shantae & the Pirate's Curse (Finished 4/28/15 - playtime 9 hrs 34 mins) - Prior to getting this game I had briefly played one previous Shantae game (Risky's Revenge for DSi) and I honestly didn't like it, but after hearing that the latest game in the series Shantae & the Pirate's Curse had fixed the issues I had with Risky's Revenge I decided to give it a go. All in all I'm kinda glad I gave this game a shot cause this one is imo a lot better than Risky's Revenge and now actually has me interested in checking out the sequel Half Genie Hero.
16. Wolfenstien: The New Order (Finished 4/28/15 - est playtime 12 hrs ) - I had heard good things about this game, but wasn't a fan of the last Wolfenstien game I had played (the 2009 game Wolfenstien) so I had been putting off on getting the game. Well last week I finally broke and got the game (found it new for PS3 on Amazon.com for $16) and I gotta say other than the ending I really enjoyed playing this game, it still doesn't top Return to Castle Wolfenstien as my favorite game in the series, but it's up there.
17. The Evil Within: The Assignment (Finished 5/3/15 - playtime 3 hrs 27 mins) - I had heard generally positive things about the currently available DLC packs (The Assignment & The Consequence) and since I enjoyed the main game I decided to get the game's DLC season pass. Initially I enjoyed The Assignment's change of pace gameplay with it's forced stealth sections, but once the novelty of being forced to sneak around without a weapon wore off it began to become more and more annoying. Fortunately I felt that the story for The Assignment was interesting and engaging enough to make me want to finish it. Overall I felt a bit disappointed by The Assignment and if not for the fact that I had gotten it via the season pass (which I had only paid $8 for after using the remaining balance on a old Amazon gift card) I would have been a bit pissed cause The Assignment imo wasn't worth it's standalone $10 price tag.
18. The Evil Within: The Consequence (Finished 5/5/15 - playtime 2 hrs 48 mins) - I initially wasn't gonna play through this after my disappointment from playing through The Assignment, but I figured since I had paid for it I might as well play it. In the end I'm kinda glad I did as I (for the most part) found it to be (other than the drawn out
mini chase sequence with the spotlight lady
which was frustrating as f**k) a more satisfying experience than The Assignment despite it being a little bit shorter in length.
19. Stretchmo (100% Finished 5/27/15 - playtime 34 hrs 1 min) - I decided to pick this game up the day it came out (bought the $10 bundle) because it had been a while since I had played a game in the series (played Pushmo when it first came out and got as far as Challenge S -11 before calling it quits) and I felt that the stretch mechanic was good enough to help change things up from the first game. Overall I (obviously) enjoyed playing this game (since I did spend 34 hrs trying to complete it instead of ending it when I had finished the 4 packs you get when you buy the bundle) and at times these puzzles were quite challenging, so much so that I spent at least 30 mins or more on a few of them (before smacking myself upside the head when I realized I was so stupid and now knew what I needed to do to complete the puzzle) in the last 2 "areas" (NES Expo & Perilous Park) of the game.
20. Gunman Clive (Finished 6/2/15 - playtime 1 hr 10 mins) - I got this game as part of the Humble Nindie Bundle and honestly if not for the bundle I wouldn't have picked this game up (even though it's relatively cheap at $2) mainly due to it's shortness and art style, which for some reason gives me a LCD Game & Watch vibe.
21. Splatoon (Finished 6/4/15 - playtime 18 hrs 39 mins) - I originally wasn't planning on getting this game, but after having my PS3 MK X pre-order paid of since the beginning of April and slowly getting pissed about WB Games, High Voltage, & NetherRealm's radio silence for the last gen versions (which is currently about the only way I would've been able to play MK X) I decided to cancel my pre-order. What made me choose Splatoon as the "replacement" game was all the hype I was hearing for this game...plus not being able to pre-order Fatal Frame 5 since it wasn't available for pre-order yet. All in all Splatoon isn't a bad game, it just feels a little light on content compared to the previous Nintendo titles I've bought in the past couple of years. As for the game's online multiplayer, well, it needs a lot more modes (would have loved to see local split screen multiplayer & the ability to do it solo by adding AI controlled bots or using/selecting an online player's ghost data to play/practice against), weapons, and more maps, also the rank matches kinda pissed me off, and I didn't care for the fact that the decision of who the winning team is just felt completely random at times.
22. OlliOlli (Finished 6/9/15 - playtime 7 hrs 34 mins) - I got this game as part of the Humble Nindie Bundle and and honestly if it wasn't for that I probably wouldn't have gotten this fairly decent (and challenging once you go for all 5 stars for all the Amateur and Pro stages) 2D skateboarding game.
23. The Evil Within DLC: The Executioner (Finished 6/20/15 - est playtime 2 hrs 30 mins) - Finally got around to playing the last piece of DLC for The Evil Within and I gotta say it was kinda nice, like a breath of fresh air. In "The Executioner" you play (in first person perspective) as the "Boxman" enemy (the one with the giant safe for a head) and you are given a mission based story centered around defeating rooms of enemies in order to rescue your daughter from being corrupted by the STEM system.
24. Super Meat Boy (Finished 6/22/15 - est playtime 13 hrs) - In the past couple of years I've started to become a big fan of challenging 2D platformers so I decided to finally tackle Super Meat Boy, which I had heard was the toughest 2D platformer out there. Well after beating the game and getting the "normal" ending I gotta say it didn't disappoint and I plan on definitely revisiting this game in order to get the "real" ending as well attempt to 100% complete it (at the moment I sit at 51% completion)
25. Batman: Arkham Knight (Finished 7/1/15 - Playtime 67 + hrs) - I recently bought a Xbox One (the Backwards Compatibility announcement at E3 was the big thing as that feature was what was making me resist getting either Xbox One or PS4) and got this game for free as part of Microsoft's (and various retailer's) post E3 deals. I am a big fan of the Arkham games having 100% completed (story wise) all 4 of them (Asylum, City, Origins, & Origins: Blackgate) and this game was no different. While it did a few things I didn't like (like the forced Batmobile segments & pretty much botching the
Red Hood story arc
) it was still a pretty good Batman game as well as (imo) the darkest one to date.
26. Killer Instinct (Finished 7/4/15 - est playtime 10+hrs) - I decided to pick up this game (the Season 1 Combo Breaker physical release) earlier this week mainly because I had never played a Killer Instinct game before and had heard that this latest game in the series was pretty good. So I figured it was time to check it out and all in all I gotta agree this is a pretty solid (and at times occasionally frustrating) fighting game that kept giving ma a bit of a Street Fighter vibe (some of the characters have similar quarter circle style move sets and the game is very combo heavy) the more I played it.
27. Mortal Kombat X (Finished 7/12/15 - est playtime 26+hrs) - As a long time fan of the MK series there was no way I was gonna pass up this game especially after loving the previous MK game (MK9), but due to the debacle that is WB games & High Voltage Studios I wasn't able to play this game day one because at the time the only version I'd be able to play (PS3) had been delayed and delayed,etc. Well now that I've finally gotten to play through the game I gotta say I for the most part really enjoyed it despite it's blah main story and lack of fan favorites like Cyrax, Sindel, Baraka, Kabal, etc.
28. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Finished Single Player mode 7/24/15 - est playtime 8 + hrs) - I was originally gonna skip this game even though I do generally like Kevin Spacey's movies and it falls in line with my CoD philosophy (skip every other release, the last CoD game I purchased was Black Ops 2 ) that I adopted once the series went yearly. That all went out the window with the purchase of an Xbox One as well as the announcement that Bruce Campbell (one of my all time favorite actors) was joining the cast of the Exo Zombies mode (which I haven't gotten around to playing just yet) in the DLC chapter "Carrier". Well now that I've played through the game's main story mode and a few hours of the online multiplayer (I've yet to play the Exo Zombies mode, but I plan to soon) I gotta say that I enjoyed the story for the most part (it's imo better than MW 3, but no where near as good as MW 1 & 2) but I felt that most of the game's chapters were a bit too short (they seemed to me to be over within 10 - 15 mins) and there were a few story bits that were telegraphed from a mile away. As for the online multiplayer, well from what I can tell not much has changed since the last CoD I played online (Black Ops 2, which I played well over 300 hrs of online) outside of the Exo mechanic (which gives me a Titanfall vibe) so I feel like I haven't missed out on much.
29. Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious (Finished 7/24/15 - playtime 3 hrs) - I decided to pick up the stand alone version of this DLC pack for Forza Horizon 2 because I didn't really care for the last Forza game I played (Forza 2) and didn't want to spend $60 on a game I might not like. So when I saw that there was a $10 standalone DLC pack for the current Forza game (Forza Horizon 2) based around the Fast & Furious franchise (my favorite one so far has been Fast Five) I figured it might be worth checking out as it would give me an idea on how the main game plays and if it would be something that'll interest me. Now that I've finished with the DLC's campaign I can say that I ended up enjoying it a bit more than I did Forza 2 (which I think I returned within a few days of getting it) though I'm still not too big of a fan of the game's simulation style gameplay (when it comes to racers I tend to levitate towards arcade style games like the Burnout series or the early Test Drive/Need for Speed games) as I (personally) feel that it kinda zaps the fun out of doing some of the crazy stunts with the cars.
30. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Finished 7/31/15 - playtime 18 hrs) - I played the original version of this game on the PS3 a few years ago and overall I really enjoyed it. So when I saw the Definitive Edition was only $10 on Xbox Live I jumped on it and started playing the game almost immediately. One thing I've noticed (and liked) was that this version had some added content (extra videos, the comic book, and a mini art book) that wasn't included in the original version of the game not to mention all the game's DLC.
31. Contrast (Finished 8/9/15 - playtime 3 hrs) - I got this game during this year's Steam Summer Sale for $5 and I pick it up mainly because the game's art direction, soundtrack, and basic premise intrigued me. After initially playing the game I got side tracked by a few other games I decided to come back and try to tackle it again as part of this thread . All in all I really liked the game it's a nice little puzzle platformer that requires you to play with shadows in order to solve puzzles. While the game is pretty short (I almost 100% completed it in 3 hrs) and suffers from "invisible wall" syndrome for the price I paid I feel it was an enjoyable little romp essentially about a girl coming to terms with a complicated family situation with the help of her imaginary friend.
32. Ori and the Blind Forest (Finished 8/16/15 - playtime 8 hrs 47 mins) - Like a number of games I've beaten this year this title was one I originally wasn't going to play, but after hearing numerous positive comments about the game on other gaming messageboards I decided to pick it up and give it a go. All in all this was a pretty good 2D metroidvania style platformer with a heartfelt tale that at times reminded me of a few Disney movies specifically The Fox & the Hound and Bambi. If you are a fan of Metroidvania style games and like a pretty good overall story in your games then definitely check this game out this fun, but challenging little game.
33. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Finished 9/1/15 - est playtime 6 hrs) - I wasn't originally planning on revisiting this game, but since it was a Xbox Live GwG game and I ended up changing my TPP pre-order to the Xbox One I decided to revisit it so that I could get some of the unlockables that you get in TPP by having a Ground Zeroes save file. I did almost all the same stuff I did in last year's playthrough, but in less time so I didn't bother going for 10 hrs of gameplay before counting it, as for my thoughts on it well they honestly haven't changed all that much from last year
34. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Finished 9/18/15 - est playtime 100+ hrs) - Since mid March I had been debating on whether or not to pick this game up given what was transpiring behind the scenes at Konami, but I figured if this was gonna be Kojima's last game at Konami it would be the last Konami game I would buy new or digitally. So after beating the game's main story missions and 97 of the 157 side ops I gotta say I really really enjoyed this game despite it being unfinished (there was a whole chapter taken out and another one left partially finished) and getting a bit repetitive at times.
You know what, I think this is what I need to finally go through my backlog, be able to talk about the games I play.
Reserving this post.
Week #1 Couldn't play because of travel.
Week #2 Didn't play a lot but because of the events in Paris.
Game #1 I did play a little of COD World at War. I'm cheating a bit as I started this one before the holidays. I'm now about half into the game and I can't take it anymore. I took the game out of the console and back into its case, which almost never happens for me. It's just too damn annoying to redo each level 20 times in a row because you keep dying for no apparent reason. It's really boring and you can see it's a PS2 era game despite playing it on 360. The only level I remember is the one where you pursue a nazi officer as a russian sniper, but how many times have I played something similar before? I don't have time for this crap.
Weeks #3 and #4 Game #2 Damn, why do I put so much into games that aren't worth it? This time it's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter on 360. It's not aged well, like at all. Anims are stiff, so are the controls. The AI is completely dumb and super accurate and intelligent the second after. In Normal I died so many times with one-shot kills I had to check if I was playing in Hard. The audio is silent most of the time, except for some pseudo-epic generic war theme that plays on the most basic of triggers. The voice acting is bad. The story? Nobody cares about it. Missions are far too long and badly paced.
The worst part was towards the end of the game, where a glitch can prevent you from finishing the game. Found a workaround but was so frustrated at this point, I was delighted to find some cheatcodes and finished the game launching infinite grenades all over the place. Only then I started having fun.
Can't believe I spent the last two weeks beating this.
Week #5 Game #3 After World at War I thought I would never touch another Call of Duty for a while, but in my pile I had COD Black Ops. I'm glad I played the solo part, which is actually really good after accepting it for what it is: a linear gun shooting over the top FPS. I'm OK with that. In that particular type of experience, it's indeed really one of the best in the industry. I was afraid because the first few levels don't give you a lot of control, you can advance and almost not do anything more than moving through the scripted events, without having any influence. However this fades away after a while, you're given more control and you do have to be active to make things go forward, even if it's still heavily scripted of course. But the illusion works well enough. The vehicle shooting sequences are there but they're much better, you actually have to control the vehicle at the same time which makes it enjoyable instead of just standing behind a gatling, a flaw past CODs and GRAW suffer from. The usual style COD style of narration, jumping from location to location, actually works well this time since you only play as one character in a chronological order, except for one level in the past where you play as Reznov. I struggled keeping track of who I was playing and why in other COD games, ending up not caring about the story that I was told. It's much more focused in Black Ops and I like it. The story is actually pretty good, relatively speaking.
The solo is just the right length, I beat it in three evening seatings. Now I'll be playing Zombie mode as Kennedy and maybe some multiplayer if it's still active. I'm actually thinking about getting Black Ops 2 and Ghosts.
1/9 Game 1: GTA V -45hrs sogood.gif
I played this on last gen and promised that I would get it on PC when it comes out. Couldn't wait. My GOD! this looks so good! Rockstar outdid themselves once again! The graphics are superb, all the new little things are as awesome as the old ones, GTAO still sucks imo but whatever... This game is and will always be a solid ten out of ten. The story line is a masterpiece and some of the missions are just begging to be replayed after beating the game. I can't wait for the DLC.
1/11 Game 2: Borderlands -23Hrs
Alright so im in a very strange position with this game. I liked it but I hate it. Something about games with 100+ mission (including sides) has never really appealed to me and so that is why I had to stop doing the side missions halfway through the game and continue with only the main ones if ever wanted to continue clearing my backlog. The story was kind of weird imo.. I don't know if the problem is that I don't get it or if Im putting too much effort into trying to get it, when Gearbox probably made this game to just be enjoyed how it is. Bunch of glitches here and there but nothing to rage about.
1/18 Game 3: Dead Rising 3 -16Hrs
Stupid story, horrible companions, buggy as fuck. It was fun tho.. lots and lots of zombies even tho they were super annoying at night. I kinda enjoyed it but not enough to make me want to do the side missions. The 30fps was not a killer for me but I do wish I could've played this with higher framerates without braking the game. DR2 was better imo.
1/19 Game 4: Portal -3Hrs
Aaamazing! Now I know why people love portal so much. Its fun, really funny and it has a great style. The game looks great and it looked even better with GeDoSaTo..not that I was expecting amazing graphics but considering its age, it looked pretty good.The length is good imo but I kinda wish the first couple of levels were as hard as the last ones.
1/27 Game 5: Forza Horizon 2 -22hr
One of the best looking games out there hands down. Loved it! absolutely loved it! Only thing I hated was not being able to purchase some cars because grinding. No, Turn 10, I will not give you $2.99 for the Lamborghini Veneno and no, $19.99 for 1000 tokens either or whatever tokens it was. I will not give you more money! Could've bought the car DLCs? yea! of course! I still want to buy them! The problem? ILL PROBABLY WONT EVEN BE ABLE TO DRIVE THEM BECAUSE OF YOUR FUCKING GRINDING SYSTEM!! I mean, I finished all my races in first place and around how much did I win on each? Like around 10,000 credits? How the FUCK am I supposed to purchase a 5 million credit classic then? So stupid. So no, I won't buy the car DLCs because I will not take forever to be able to drive them! Storm Island on the other hand, Ill probably get it someday. So yea.. I loved the graphics, the soundtrack, the handling and just how fun it is.
2/12 Game 6: Scribblenauts Unmasked -5Hrs
Loved the art style and creativity but to be honest, I don't think ill ever play another Scribblenauts game. Its just not my cup of tea..or coffee in my case. The fun creations and missions were really cool and I sometimes felt like I was making it harder on myself when I couldn't figure out how to solve something. I guess thats the whole point of the game anyways.
2/13 Game 7: Flashback -5hrs
I don't know, man. I remember playing a demo of this on xbox 360 and enjoying it a lot. I bought it for PC and its like I don't even know why I bought this. I didn't really like it. It feels so mediocre, the difficulty feels weird and the missions are stupid. It is what it is, I guess. Moving on.
2/16 Game 8: Max: The Curse of Brotherhood -5hrs
Max was an Okay game for me. I don't like puzzle games a lot but the environment of this game made me forgive it. The difficulty was alright even tho sometimes it felt as if the controls lost its way. Hard to describe.. Glad it was short.
2/18 Game 9: Renegade Ops -11Hrs
A friend of mine recommended me this game and I couldn't be more glad i played it. Everything about it screams fun and awesome! The graphics were great specially the explosions, the story was fun and the controls pretty easy. I found bugs here but I made sure I didn't think abut them so much.
2/25 Game 10: Rayman Origins -10hrs
God damn this is one of the best and very best franchises Ubisoft has. Its so refreshing to play this game even when itsn ot being played as a challenge but rather as a speedrun. Its beautiful, fun, quirky and hella pleasing. I would finish this in 100% if I didn't have about 80+ games on my backlog. Ubisoft should never, ever let Rayman die. Ever.
3/11 GAME 11: Deadpool -7Hrs
Hilarious, Stupid and hella fun. All the puns and pokes at different franchises were spot on and really funny. I felt as if the controls were kinda buggy and some of the levels were a little bit boring, but the overall mechanics were really good! The combat was cool even tho I would've enjoyed more combos and upgrades. Downsampled with GeDoSaTo helped the graphics look 100% better imo.
3/25 GAME 12: Ryse Son of Rome -7hrs
Im gonna be a brief as possible with my opinion on this game. I liked it. I looks glorious, the combat is laxy but cool and the length is fine. Do I want to play another Ryse game? Maybe.. If the make it more open to explore and combat. Multiplayer co-op is fun and the story was kinda entertaining. Nice to see a game that makes my PC struggle to keep running at 60fps.
3/29 GAME 13: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons -3hrs
Im not gonna lie, I cried a little. Its awesome how this game didn't need one single real word to describe all the feels. The music, the tone, the atmosphere.. everything links up perfectly scene after scene. Its not challenging at all, it doesn't have any annoying UI or directions or weird stuff on the screen. Its just you and the story. Very well developed.
4/19 GAME 14: Hyrule Warriors -20Hrs
What a cool little game this is. I didn't know what to expect to be honest..Let me get out of the way the fact that I would've LOVED to be able to tell my companions where to go. To send them to defend outposts whenever I wanted to instead of having them have a hard time in the middle of the battlefield. I also would've loved if the enemies actually hit me? And I don't mean the ones that actually do hit u, I mean the smaller ones. I mean, they don't do shit! With that said, love the story and the overall gameplay experience. The length is fine but I didn't get the story. I got that you could play as friend and foe and live both stories, but It just didn't make sense or at least to me. Please make a HW2.
GAME 15: Assetto Corsa Career mode -In Progress
5/28 GAME 16: The Last of Us Remaster -13Hrs
Soo good!!I love all the work that was put into this game to make it look better. My thoughts of it would be the same as the first time I played it so I won't be saying much now. It definitely left me wanting more this time.
5/17 GAME 17: The Last of Us: Left Behind -2hrs
So I wasn't sure if I should've played this before the main story of after. I mean I've played the main story already, but I didn't know if I should have played Left Behind before replaying it or after. Anyways, super fun. I love playing as Ellie and I really hope that TLOU2 is Ellie's story even if its more of Left Behind or whatever happens after TLOU. I feel as if playing as Ellie is more free and hardcore and I really think that when one plays as Ellie theres actually more action involved and less stealth and adventure. Maybe its just me.
5/31 GAME 18: Castlevania LOS2 -1hr
Hated it. Shame on you, Mercury. I had to quit the game on its first hour because of how AWFUL it is.I will not play more of this and destroy the great memory I have of LOS1.
5/31 GAME 19: Empires & Allies
So I found this awesome android game that I simply can't stop playing. Its like what Command & Conquer would be if it came out on mobile. Its so much fun both campaign and online match mode. The objective is pretty much to deploy your troops and squash the enemy base and also build your base strong enough so that it can defend itself from any enemy invasion. I love the fact that the microtransactions are there but you can actually move forward in the game without spending any money on it.
GAME 20: Bioshock Infinite -4hrs
My game broke 4 hours into the game and I lost my save file. Im sad I wont finish this but it is what it is. I really liked everything I saw in only the first couple of hours. Bioshock really is one of those games that even if you don't like the franchise you have to just play those games. Really great and with a kinda fresh feel.
6/12 GAME 21: Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes - 2Hrs
Alright so this demo..I don't know, man. I am so glad I didn't pay for this. I love the fact that we're getting a glimpse of whats coming but I don't think he should've been charged for it. Anyways, Its fun and amazing looking. Kiefer did a great job with the voice acting and I can't wait for the whole game to be released.
6/12 GAME 22: P.T. 1hrs
HOLLY FUCKING SHIT! I don't like playing horror games but I had to find out what the buzz was all about. A M A Z I N G. It really kept me to the edge of my seat. I absolutely loved it and FUCK YOU KONAMI FOR WHAT YOU DID! I don't think I would play a new Silent Hills game, but the fans really deserved this.
6/24 GAME 23: Infamous Second Son - 12hrs
Very good looking, loved the story and very fun overall. Things got very repetitive so I decided to not do all the side things that I was supposed to do but the main missions were very cool.
6/25 GAME 24: Wonderful 101 - 2Hrs
Unique gameplay, weird mechanics and boring story. This game was cool but it was just too childish for me. I would love someone like my little sister to play it or some kid but I just didn't see myself finishing it.
6/27 GAME 25: Driveclub PS+ Edition - 2hrs
Great great Demo. I was always on denial with Driveclub because of what it really is, Everybody kept calling it a "simulator game" but its not, its not. I would say its a hybrid, the driving feels really nice but it doesn't feel like a real simulator game feels...actually, the driving its good at times and really bad at others. The weather system is AMAZING and on par with the graphics. I will definitely buy the full product because I really liked what I saw.
GAME 26: Call of Juarez Gunslinger -1Hr
Not really my cup of tea.
GAME 27: The Evil Within -1hr
The evil withing looks and feels like a promising game, but horror games are not my thing. I gave it a try, tho. Nothing personal.
GAME 28:The Walking Dead Season 1 -13Hrs
Superb! I purchased the first chapter and fell in love with it so much that ended up purchasing the whole season. I will definitely finish season 2 and 400 days later on. I love how this game is set up and now I see why people love teltale games so much. Im not even going to hate on the fact that in teh end only 3 people helped me because thats on me. Loved it!
GAME 29: Bayonetta 2 -In Progress
GAME 30: Fallout Shelter -Many hours
Holly crap! My productivity lever has never reached an all time low like when I started playing this. It's so brilliant and time consuming! I couldn't wait no more for the android version so I decided to borrow my sister's iPhone for a whole week. I probably drained the battery 5 times a day because of the incredibly long play sessions. I wanted to play it in the bathroom, in the car, at work, when I went out..it took over my life.
I'm going to update this post monthly instead of as I finish games because I'm lazy. January: Game #1 - Dead Rising 3: this game was the reason I bought an XBONE. It was better than I expected. I wish it was more colorful and tongue in cheek like the first two, but it wasn't as boring and brown as I though it would be after seeing the trailers. I tried playing the DLC that came with the apocalypse edition but got bored with that really quickly since it was mostly just running from place to place with a less interesting story and I was already past level 50 by the time I finished the game. the game itself was also very easy. I never felt threatened by the giant hordes of zombies and once you unlock the level 50 abilities everything is laughably easy. I wanted to try the super ultra turbo whatever DLC but I don't know anybody who would want to play co-op so I didn't bother.
Game #2 - Walking Dead Season 1: Fuck Kenny. If I play this game again I'm going to be a dick to him the entire time. The ending was annoying because I chose not to steal the stuff from the guy's car and he still kidnaps Clementine. It made me feel like all the choices I had made throughout were only superficial and didn't really effect anything.
Game #3 - Persona Q: I started this when it came out and it took me forever to finish it because there were a couple points where I lost my momentum. This was the first Etrian Odyssey game I've put any real time into and I really enjoyed the dungeon designs. It made me realize how much more I like the set dungeons of mainline SMT games over the random Persona dungeons. The last boss was disappointingly easy for a SMT game. I went in to it expecting to have to die and come back after I saw what skills I needed to beat him and I beat it in one try without ever being in any real danger. I should ass that the limited edition was the most disappointing LE I've ever bought. Some flimsy pieces of cardboard, a case that doesn't fit the system well, a soundtrack that's like 5 minutes long, and one of the most pathetic artbooks I've ever seen. It's a real shame too because the music was great and I would have been satisfied with the LE if the CD was of a reasonable length.
Game #4 - Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories: I had only played the first Kingdom Hearts on the HD Remix and I thought I would be able to just jump into Kingdom Hearts 2 HD as I had no interest in the side games. After about two hours of Kingdom Hearts 2, I accepted that I had no idea what was going on and went back and watched the 358/2 Days cinematics that were on the first HD Remix and realized that I would also need play Chain of Memories th actually understand what happened to Sora. They really should have also made this game into a movie. It was super repetitive and not very challenging once you figure out the tricks to combat. I would have beat the game at around level 30 if there weren't several points where you have to grind to get a critical mass of cards to open the story doors. At least the game was less than 20 hours long and now I understand what the hell is going on in 2.
Game #5 - Wolfenstein: the New Order: I didn't expect how little shooting there would be in this game. The storytelling reminded me of Half-Life with the long sections wandering around talking to people. at points it felt like a hybrid between an adventure game and an FPS. I really didn't like how the ending did the thing where you're taken out by a single grenade after taking hundreds of bullets over the course of the game.
February: Game #6 - Adventure Time: Secret of the Nameless Kingdom: This game was so close to being very good but there were a ton of problems that made it very obvious that the game was rushed and barely playtested. The throwing mechanics barely functioned and there were several times where thrown objects disappeared into the ground. Stairs and jumping off ledges were also barely functional and very finicky. The invincibility frames are way too short leading to getting hit twice almost every time you get hit. Grabbing and pulling objects only worked if you let go of all directional input for a couple frames before you grab anything causing you to just run away from blocks half the time you want to move them. These things would have been really simple to fix and it would have been a solid Zelda clone if it wasn't for them.
Game #7 - Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon: Overall, I liked this game less than the first one. I preferred the exploration of the first game to the mission structure of this one. Ironically, this one felt more repetitive than the first Luigi's Mansion even though there were more locations. Mostly because the missions had you running through the same areas over and over and there was very little variety in the ghosts. The lack of elemental attacks also contributed to the lack of variety.
Game #8 - Picross E5: Love me some picross.
Game #9 - Majora's Mask 3D: Majora's Mask has been my favorite Zelda game since I first played it. The changes to the boss fights weren't all good, but they weren't excessively bad. The other usability changes were all welcome. The last time I played Majora's Mask, I didn't 100% it mostly because of the tedium involved and the improved song of time made it much easier to do this time. One thing I noticed about Majora's Mask vs Ocarina of Time is that it feels like you actually earn the items in Majora's Mask and you just find things laying around for you in Ocarina of Time. I also like the density of the world on Majora's Mask over the emptiness of Ocarina of Time.
Game #10 - Kid Icarus: Uprising: I spent months trying to track down a complete copy of this at Gamestop and a week after I finally did, they gave it away for free on Club Nintendo. I really enjoyed this game but people aren't lying about the controls being awkward. I could only play a mission or two before my left hand would cramp up. The dialogue was fantastic, but I wish there would have been some cutscenes because I felt like I was missing a bunch of the story by getting distracted by battle while everybody was talking. The flying levels controlled really well but I wish the ground levels were still on a rail like Killer 7 and that would have solved a lot of problems I had with the controls.
Game #11 - Pokemon Shuffle: I wanted to see how far I could go without spending any money. I got to level 150 and EX12 catching every Pokemon along the way before getting frustrated at the amount of grinding I would have to do to continue and quit.
March: Game #12 - Super Mario Land: Watching the Game Center CX episode featuring this game made me want to play it again and I conveniently had a VC copy from Club Nintendo. I played it a fair bit when I was very young but I don't think I ever beat it. This time it took me 45 minutes to finish and I didn't have to use any continues. The game's pretty simple and it's not bad but it doesn't feel like a Mario game.
Game #13 - Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins: I had this from Club Nintendo so I decided to play through the whole series since I never really game the Wario Land series a chance. I played the hell out of this game as a kid and it was also pretty easy but it feels like the first real portable Mario game and is quite the upgrade from the first one. It did only take about an hour and a half to finish. But I didn't go for 100% completion since I'd already done it so many times.
Game #14 - Super Mario Land 2: Wario Land: This game was impressive for the amount of content and polish compared to the previous two games. It didn't differentiate itself very much from the Mario Land games very much though and felt like Wario was pretty much interchangeable with Mario.
Game #15 - Wario Land 2: Now this is a hell of a game. I love the mechanics with indestructible Wario and the puzzle elements. It also has an impressive amount of content for a Game Boy game. The multiple endings and secret extra level were great too.
Game #16 - Wario Land 3: The island map and unlocking of abilities gave this game a real Metroidvania feel. My only major problem with the game is that the hints it gave you to which levels you should be going to next only appeared when you got a treasure and there was no way to reference the path later so I eventually just had to turn to a FAQ for the proper stage order.
Game #17 - Metroid Zero Mission: I picked up a Game Boy Micro to play a repro of the Mother 3 translation and was looking for something to play while waiting for the cart to come in the mail. This game was much shorter than I remember but it was still fun. I forgot how the game had a distinct comic book style. Probably because I originally played this on a normal GBA and the style really shows through on the dark backgrounds.
April: Game #18 - Mother 3: I hadn't played this since the fan translation was released almost a decade ago. It's a great game but I still like Earthbound more. The story is much more straight forward in Mother 3 and in your face. It pretty much pushes you along a straight line the entire time. Earthbound's story is much more horizontal and gives you a chance to explore to make it feel like the world is a living thing.
Game #19- Warioware Twisted: The only time I had played this game previously was on a flashcart patched so that the L/R buttons controlled rotation. I was impressed with how responsive the rotation sensor was and I hadn't known that the cart had rumble built in and that added a ton to the tactile feedback of the game. I also forgot how much I love the style of the Warioware games.
Game #20 - Final Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae: After playing this for an hour or so, my biggest impression was that there was no way this game would be out this year. the whole experience was really janky and the combat was really terrible when fighting anything that moved because the camera wouldn't follow your target and your attacks barely lock on so you spend the entire time chasing after wolves and fighting the camera. The main characters also felt out of place with every other NPC and the locations. Your party looked like the most anime people possible and you just walk up to a place that looks like a normal gas station surrounded by NPCs in khaki shorts and v-necks of varying colors.
Game #21 - Mario Party: Island Tour: I got this game free from Club Nintendo and expected it to be crap after hearing all the things about Mario Party 10. I played the multiplayer with my girlfriend and was really impressed by the variety of the stages and the different game modes. It innovates on the Mario Party formula in ways that are actually interesting and not the stupid car that the console versions have been using. My major problem with the game is that the stages are so short that it greatly increases the effect that the randomness has on the game. I understand why the would want to make the portable Mario Party games shorter, but they could have given the option to play for longer periods. The single cart download play is a really great bonus too.
Game #22 - Ultimate NES Remix: This was another Club Nintendo freebie that I played while waiting for Xenoblade to come out. The game was fun, but I wish there were more remix stages since they were the most interesting parts of the game. All the other challenges were really easy because they asked you to do things that you've done a hundred times over if you grew up with an NES. I wish they would have delved deeper into the games they had challenges from instead of having you do things like play different parts of Super Mario Bros 1-1 over and over. The reward for getting three stars in every challenge was really lame too.
Game #23 - Xenoblade 3D: I had played the Wii version and loved it but ignored most of the sidequests. This time I tried to do most of them, but eventually gave up when I got to a point where the story locked out some previous areas that I couldn't get back too. But as a result of doing all the quests, my party was much higher level than the last time I played it and it made combat kind of boring. Even after beating the game twice, I still haven't traded with a single NPC.
Game #24 - Rhythm Heaven DS: I've been meaning to play this game forever. I really liked the Warioware-esqe aesthetic and the music was great too. The biggest issue I had with the game was that the flicking was really finnicky and caused me to miss a bunch when I know I hit them. I stopped playing after I got to the credits because the stages unlocked after that were just slightly different versions of previous ones. I would have also been motivated to continue playing if stages would be marked as perfect the first time you perfected them and not only when you perfect them at specific times. I ordered a copy of the GBA Rhythm Heaven because I want to try one that only uses button and doesn't require flicking.
Game #25 - Pushmo: I was going to play something on my Vita, but it had been sitting unused so long that it needed to charge before it would even turn on and needed something to play while I was waiting. This game turned out to be one of the best puzzlers I've played in a long time. It consumed my free time for several days but I got pretty burnt out on it and am going to wait awhile to play Pushmo World or Crashmo.
1. Redux: Dark Matters - FINISHED ON: 20150103DURATION:3 hours
A mediocre indie shooter that was released on the Dreamcast. It's a horizontal shoot'em up that really doesn't bring anything new to the table and comes off as being very basic. The controls seems floaty at first, but I quickly got accustomed to it.The game's art direction is definitely off putting for me as everything seems too big and toyish. There are 2 or 3 tracks in the game that sound pretty good, but the rest of what it has to offer isn't. The difficulty just isn't there until Stage 7 where all hell breaks loose. It almost seems like all their work in terms of bullet patterns went only to that stage. I was able to beat it on one continue on normal after a couple of playthroughs. There are other shooters who have gone this route and have done a better job with it. It's definitely not a horrible game at all and playing it on Veteran really brings a new twist to the game and makes it a bit more entertaining. It's worth a purchase if you're an STG fan, but only pick it up on sale.
2. Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - FINISHED ON: 20150104DURATION:57 hours
I beat Mega Satan and I'm still far from putting the game down. This version of the game has more of items, better controls, redone sprite work, and more enemies. If you're a fan of the previous game this will not let you down.
3. REVOLVER360 RE:ACTOR - FINISHED ON: 20150104DURATION:3 hours
This is a very well done and thought out shoot'em up. The game's gimmick, which uses a rotational spin on the screen to evade/gather bullets and maximize points, doesn't feel like an after thought at all. You have 3 different attacks consisting of a regular shot; a laser used to absorb, damage, and power up your "bomb" that turns all bullets on the screen into point crystals once used. The game's aesthetics are also very pleasing with shades of blue and hints of red for its main color palette. One thing that this shooter does that hardly any shooter EVER does is include a manual for the mechanics of the game. Every STG should have one for their games. Especially if they are digital only titles. This is one of the better shmups to be released on Steam and should be a welcome addition to any fan's library.
4. KAMUI - FINISHED ON: 20150110DURATION:2 hours
The Tales of Alltynex games are all very solid titles. Kamui's entry to the series finds itself losing the reflection mechanics for RefleX and goes with a more Raystorm-like approach with a lock on lighting attack and a beam attack option. Like all other Shmups, this game isn't long at all unless you're trying to 1CC the thing, then you can look at tacking on a few more hours. The music isn't varied, but it sounds great. The sprite work is top notch for a doujin of its time. I will be coming back to this game to at least unlock the secret ship. I don't see myself 1CC this on anything above Easy mode.
5. Dodonpachi Maximum - FINISHED ON: 20150120DURATION:5 hours
Picked this up for my Android phone. It's a shame that this isn't on Steam. I really feel like that game would shine even more with traditional controls. It still played amazing and the laser gimmick was pretty cool and helped you get out of tight places.The music was great, the sprite work was detailed and rich in color, and the difficulty was just right. It's one of the best mobile Shmups on the platform.
6. Super Galaxy Squadron - FINISHED ON: 20150123DURATION:1.5 hours
I played through the entire game with the Teal ship and found the game to be decent overall. It was a better experience than the mind numbing Redux: Dark Matters. As for the developers saying that this wasn't a bullet hell, that is complete bullshit. Some of the later bosses had ridiculous bullet spreads. It wasn't as outrageous as some of the other bullet hells out that, but there was enough to label it as one. Bullet patterns felt fine for me, but I feel like your ships detection and hit boxes were WAY too small. I know this seems like something silly to mention, but it just detracted from me escaping masses of bullets. The music is another thing that bothered me. While the music sound pretty great, I think the game only has 2 or 3 tracks total with a vocal track at the end. The sprite work is okay, but everything is pretty static and lacks moving parts. There was also an incident where the game didn't restart the stage after a death and just stayed there on the boss screen. The power up system has a good amount of upgrade room and maxing out your ship makes you feel pretty empowered. Even with some of its downfall, this is nowhere near the worst Shmup on Steam and I don't really find it to be bad. I'll definitely be coming back to check out the rest of the selection. I, for one, don't regret my purchase since I love Shmups and I've played some truly horrible turds on Steam from the genre. I give this game an upvote, but I can see how others could not want to really jump on this game without it taking a deeper discount.
7. Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds - FINISHED ON: 20150124DURATION:3 hours
This is a great little beat'em up for cheap. The combo system is beginner friendly and while it's doesn't have much depth, more skillful players can find fun little combinations to use on waves of enemies. The fighting mechanics contain normals, counters, specials, and supers that are a lot like those found in fighting games. To add more depth to the game, there are multiple characters to try and even more to unlock, along with each one having their own skill tree that you can place points into so that you're character becomes stronger. Higher difficulties do add more challenge to the game, and you'll find that taking under powered characters through them will lead to an early demise. So the game isn't too much of a push over. As for the aesthetics, the game has great sprite work, smooth animations for the main characters, and 3D backgrounds done in a way that don't clash with the sprites. If you're looking for a game that's similar to Scott Pilgrim, then jump on this while it's still discounted at 20%.
8. Nuclear Throne (Early Access) - FINISHED ON: 20150131DURATION:27 hours
When Nuclear Throne is finally complete it will be a contender for game of the year for whatever year it gets released in. Damn. Made it to the end and damn. Can't wait to see what the finished product is like. I'm going to stop playing it now until it's finally released.
9. QP Shooting - Dangerous!! - FINISHED ON: 20150208DURATION:12 hours
What a pleasant surprise this game was. After getting past the cutesy aesthetics of this game I was able to really enjoy the mechanics. Novice Shoot'em Up fans will find that this game is stern, but fair. The game doesn't offer any continues from what I've seen so far. With that said the game is still easily 1CC-able after a couple of runs. The game offers interesting bullet and enemy patterns with a huge array of shooting options (bits) for your ship. Find what's comfortable for you and go at it. The final boss was very enjoyable to play against and really sent this game off with a bang. I'll probably come back to it to unlock the rest of the abilities that are offered in the game.
10. Raiden III - FINISHED ON: 20150219DURATION:3 hours
This port was god awful when it came to graphical options. The game looks horrendous on full screen and doesn't display in the correct aspect ratio unless you play on windowed mode. The bad port job really took away from the entire experience. The assets themselves weren't that great to begin with. Other than that this was a pretty solid shmup. The bosses were really fun to fight and the game was pretty challenging even on normal mode. If Raiden IV or V is released I hope they take the time to at least offer some resolution options with proper aspect ratio for the game.
11. King of Fighters 98 - FINISHED ON: 20150222DURATION:3 hours
KOF fans' favorite dream match. It's not my personal favorite, but I still got a little bit of enjoyment from it. It's got a huge roster, great soundtrack, good sprite work, but shitty netcode. But I wasn't expecting it to work that great. This should be in every fighting game enthusiasts collection. The one thing that DOES irk me about this release is the lack of 3D stages from the console release. This is a straight up arcade port. I'm thinking about coming back to it if things have worked out better for online play.
12. King of Fighters 2002 - FINISHED ON: 20150301DURATION:3 hours
My personal favorite Dream Match from the series. I love the roster selection and gameplay so much better. This was the first KOF that I really tried to sit down and learn back in my more younger days. The netcode has been improved from the last iteration. Sucks that SNK couldn't keep K9999 and had to use that lame Nameless in his place. That's the only downside to this game.
13. Terra Battle - FINISHED ON: 20150402DURATION:300 hours
This is the first mobile game I ever really put anytime in. It's a board based RPG that relies on character placement. It's addictive and fair when it comes to acquiring extra characters. It does have IAP, but it in no way deters someone from playing the game and acquiring characters through various other methods. My only complaints are that they didn't think certain modes through and the in-app purchases are steal too expensive for my tastes.
14. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin - FINISHED ON: 20150420DURATION:83 hours
Finally played through the entire game again with the DLC. What a treat that was. It had been well over a year since I last touched this it seems. The DLC was EXPANSIVE and definitely worth the purchase of the DX11 version of the game. I could see how this would be a ripoff for people who've already beaten all the DLC.
15. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - FINISHED ON: 20150502DURATION:17 hours
I only played through the single player campaign. I found it enjoyable and while the game wasn't graphically demanding, playing at 120FPS was a joy.
16. Hyper Dimension Neptunia Re:Birth
17. Hyper Dimension Neptunia Re: Birth 2
18. Fairy Fencer F
19. Assetto Corsa
20. Project Cars
21. The Evil Within
22. Rocket League
23. Assault Android Cactus
24. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
25. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
26. Juedgement Silversword -Resurrection-
27. Gunbird
28. Yatagarasu
29. Battle Fantasia
30. Rising Thunder
From this point on I'm just puttying games and playtime. I haven't updated in months because I didn't think I would reach my goal, but it seems that I'm about to.
Game 1: The Wolf Among Us - 8-9 hours
# I got the platinum trophy in this and I played it on the PS Vita. I had a tough time with some of the frame rate issues.
Game 2: The Stanley Parable - 2.5 hours
# Saw all available endings. This game was great and I loved the narration.
Game 3: Assassin's Creed Rogue - 14 Hours
# It's a great game. I liked how it is played through the Templar's prospective and it viewed the Assassin's Brotherhood as a reckless group. I am still debating whether I will go for platinum in this game or not, but I hope there is a continuation on Shay's story.
Game 4: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor - 35 Hours
# Excellent action game. I got the platinum trophy in this game and I enjoyed every second of it.
Game 5: Murdered: Soul Suspect - about 9 Hours.
# I beat the game in two nights. The game wasn't that bad. I'm glad I only spent $10 bucks on it because it was extremely short. I felt as if it was a point and click type of game.
Game 6: Gone Home - 1 1/2 hour.
# Great game. I loved going around and exploring the house and getting to know the characters.
Game 7: NAME - DURATION PLAYED
# INSERT INFO AND COMMENTS HERE
Game 1: Shovel Knight
# I was a bit late to this game but I absolutely loved it. The music was fantastic and the gameplay was super fun. It got kind of frustrating at some points but mostly due to me being terrible. I was really hoping you'd be able to play as Shield Knight in a NG+ or something but yeah, no biggie.
Game 2: Momodora 3
# I saw this mentioned on GAF late last year and decided to pick it up. I played through it like 3-4 times and got the Steam achievement to beat the game in 25 minutes or less. I really enjoyed this game for what it was but I wish there was a bit more to it.
Game 3: Bayonetta 2
# So I got a Wii U for this game (among some others but Bayo 2 primarily) and it didn't disappoint. I got the Wii U for Christmas and then played Bayonetta 2 nonstop until I beat it in January. I absolutely loved this game. Loki was a bit meh but everything else about the game was fantastic. Music, art direction, combat... everything was beautiful. I'll likely play through the first game as well but I'm definitely revisiting this one.
Game 4: Ghost Trick
# So I started playing this game when it was relatively new. Got a couple hours in and then got distracted. Tried to get in to it again a couple months later but I didn't feel like repeating what I had played but couldn't remember the story. So I forgot about it. Man, I felt like such an ass waiting so long to get to this game. It is such an amazingly clever game. The 3d > pixel artwork is BEAUTIFUL and it works so well with the personality of everything. The characters are memorable and the story is fantastic. I'd love to see another game like it at some point.
Game 5: 999
# I can basically repeat what I said about Ghost Trick. Started it, got distracted... etc. The story was insane to me. It is crazy how watching all of the pieces fall in to place once you keep finishing the different endings and how they all work towards the true ending. I LOVED the true ending. I couldn't believe what was happening and I was enjoying every minute of it. I started on VLR but once I realized it is going to be a while before Zero's Escape 3 happens (if it does) I decided to hold off. Seriously can't stress enough how dumb I felt for not playing this years ago.
Game 6: Infamous: First Light
# This was DLC but I feel like Fetch as a main character was infinitely more interesting than Delsin was. She had more enjoyable Neon powers and she was just more fun to play. I liked me some Infamous but Fetch is a better character and I hope the next game features her as the main character.
Game 7: Ys: Origin
# So Ys: Origin was introduced to me as a pixelated version of an RPG with Dark Souls gameplay mechanics... and while I'd think that is a poor representation of the game, Ys Origin plays like an action game with (SNES) pixelated graphics, and it is fucking awesome. This game was so good I suffered through constant crashes to continue my playthrough and I don't regret a moment. I plan on playing through the other characters' stories soon. It is so good.
Game 8: Bayonetta 2
# So Bayonetta 2 is the reason I own a Wii U. Super Mario 3D World was the nail in the coffin but as someone who played the first Bayonetta game, I had to own the sequel. I loved the original game... Bayonetta was one of my favorite characters ever and Bayonetta 2 solidified that fact. The gameplay was amazing, the cutscences were dumb and super entertaining. Everytime I'm bored and I feel like I should replay a game.... Bayonetta 2 is the first one that comes to mind.
Game 9: Super Mario 3D World
# Super Mario 3D World is ultimately the game that sold me on a Wii U. I remember losing my mind over Super Mario 64, I grew up loving Donkey Kong Country games so the idea of a 3D platformer blew my mind... 3D World brought all of that to a new level, it didn't break the mold but playing through it was a joy and the harder levels were so much fun to solve. 3D World is one of my favorite platformers ever.
Game 10: Wind Waker
# So back when I was a kid Wind Waker was released and it felt like some garbage attempt to score in on the cell shaded phase that was happening on consoles. Fast forward 10 years later and I finally played Wind Waker. It is legitimately my favorite Zelda game ever. I don't care about the Wii U remake, the new 3DS game... Wind Waker is a fantastic Zelda game and I am so happy I finally played it.
Game 11: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
# I love me some Persona 4... and it is why I buy in on every single stupid spinoff. I know they're dumb but I love the characters. P4A2 is no exception. The story mode is super dumb but they introduce Rise as a playable character and as silly as it is, it makes for a fun game... and I say that as a huge fan of P4. I hope Atlus doesn't milk P5 the same way they've done Persona 4 and Persona 3... but I can't imagine they don't.
Game 12: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
# So I got Skyward Sword as a gift the year it was released along with a Motion Plus adapter. It sat on my shelf for a few years... I love me some Zelda but after Twilight Princess I didn't want to play a new game using motion controls... I finally decided to play through it this year, its a solid game but goddamn the motion controls nearly broke me. They were something I had to overcome, the controls were alright but they nearly ruined this game for me.
Game 13: Apatheon
# I hadn't heard of this game until it was released as a PS+ title. MetroidVania games are some of my favorites... Apatheon is a solid version of that type of game... yet the bummer is that the gameplay is pretty average and then to top if off the game (on PS4) loves to crash. I lost progress a few times because of random crashes. The gameplay was fun at times but having to hold a ton of random weapons (because the good ones would decay) was super frustrating...
Game 14: Ultra Street Fighter 4
# I've been a fan of fighting games for most of my life... Ultra Street Fighter 4 ranks high on my all-time list... its really a shame that after ~20 hours I still cannot win a match online. I've come close and I love the game... but it reminds me that I am garbage at hard fighting games.
Game 15: Injustice
# So as a way to punctuate how hard it is to win a match of SF4... I've won most matches I've played online in Injustice. It is a fantastic game but compared to SF4... it is baby's first Fighter. Harley4life. I'd trade all my garbage skill to be an okay SF4 player.
Game 16: Dota 2
# Dota 2 might be my favorite game of all time... I'm complete garbage at it but despite my 1k hours in the game I still find it hard to queue up for a random match because of ladder anxiety and I still realize that I'm awful at the MOBA genre.
Game 17: Diablo 3
# So Diablo is basically the game that introduced me to the PC gaming genre. My step-brother and I would stay up past our bedtime back in Jr. high... and hide if our parents woke up to play online. The original Diablo was a poor game in comparison... but we both still play D3 and love it. It isn't the best game but it fills the itch of making a character and building it up.
Game 18: Ori and the Blind Forest
# Ori is the most beautiful MetroidVania game in years. It has solid gameplay that is punctuated by beautiful artwork. I had so much fun playing this game and the artwork hit me hard. Ori is one of the most beautiful games ever... 2015 doesn't hold a candle to this game's artwork.
Game 19: Heroes of the Storm
# HotS is a MOBA with characters I've spent years watching... it is no Dota but it does a fantastic job at being "baby's first MOBA"... and I don't mean that to be an insult. Heroes of the Storm does a fantastic job introducing the game's genre to people who aren't familiar with it... its a fantastic game.
Game 20: Bloodborne
# Bloodborne is one of my favorite games ever. I was super worried before the game came out that it would be too scary... I'm a 30 year old coward. It turns out despite that, Bloodborne is one of my favorite games ever. It is such an enjoyable action adventure game... Can't wait for more From Soft love.
Game 21: Mortal Kombat X
# One of my favorite games last year was Injustice. I've never been big in to comic book heroes but I always preferred DC to Marvel... so Injustice (to me) was amazing. I play a ton of it vs a buddy of mine and I played a bunch online despite me being a huge coward. Harley is REALLY GOOD.... I say that as someone who has received a shitload of hatemail, because I play Harley and for whatever reason people hate her.
Game 22: Axiom Verge
# Axiom Verge fills the MetroidVania void... it is one of my favorite genres and I don't get why people hate the term... MetroidVania does a fantastic job to describe the game. Axiom Verge does a good job of subverting the genre's usual tropes and makes a special game of it.
Game 23: Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
# Witcher 3 is up there for one of my favorite games of all time. The combat is poor, that has been a hallmark of the Witcher series... CDPR has worked hard to make their games more mainstream but I still think the combat is bad. However the writing is amazing, even sidequests feel like they have weight that most games can't relate in main quests. The combat is poor but everything that surrounds it makes Wild Hunt one of the greatest games ever made.
Game 24: Splatoon
# Splatoon is one of the reasons I bought a Wii U. The game has looked like an awesome shooter despite the "child-like" elements it has shown since the start. As a 30 year old I think Splatoon is one of the most enjoyable shooters I've played ever. The game is so simple yet so fun. Anyone who owns a Wii U should give Splatoon a shot.
Game 25: Race the Sun
# So Race the Sun came out on PS+ in May, I didn't expect much of it. Yet I ended up killing several hours playing it any time I had a spare few minutes. I wasn't very good at it but man was it fun to play. Super simple idea and it was executed very well.
Game 26: OlliOlli2
# I bought the original OlliOlli and played it a ton. It wasn't the most complicated game but it was fun and challenging. The sequel adds a few more layers and it is so much fun. The biggest issue with OlliOlli is that if you don't play it for a week or more, you might as well start over because you aren't going to remember everything that is required from you to complete later levels. The game can be extremely hard but it can be so fun. I had a blast with this game.
Game 27: Dishonored
# I was feeling like replaying Dishonored at some point this year and I'm glad I did. I adore this game, I can't wait for the sequel. Arkane made such an enjoyable first person stealth game with Corvo and his powers. The only complaint I have is that the pacifist skills are far more boring than the murder-boner abilities and that is a bummer.
Game 28: Mount Your Friends
# My cousin and I played this so many times throughout the year. For a game that feels so simple it is an amazing catalyst for shit talking. We rarely got to play bigger games than 1v1 but MYF is so entertaining. Drunken Mounting (calm down, pervs) is one of the best experiences I had this year.
Game 29: Hyrule Warriors
# I have zero experience with the -Warriors series. I figured the Zelda themed game would be an awesome intro for it and it was. The game isn't the most involved and it isn't very hard but damned if I didn't spend over 40 hours playing the various characters while listening to podcasts and enjoying every minute. The game was so much fun to just run around and beat things up that it has made me want to check out other Dynasty Warriors games.
Game 30: Mario Kart 8
# Bought MK8 some time during the summer and I played it a ton. I spent a ton of time unlocking things on my own and then beating up family and friends when they were around. Nope, I'm not really good at MK8 but its a blast to play. I haven't played a Mario Kart game this much since the SNES.
Game 31: Massive Chalice
# Massive Chalice is the only game I've funded through Kickstarter and while I've enjoyed it, I would have held off had I known what the final product was. I expected more out of it, more classes and more customization. However the game that was released is really fun if not a bit repetitive.
Game 32: One Finger Death Punch
# I had a couple of bucks in my Steam wallet from selling cards and I kept hearing people hyping up OFDP. It looked kind of boring from the screenshots but it was like a buck so I decided to give it a go. MAN I couldn't have been more wrong, what a fun game. The action is fast paced and while it seems easy early it quickly becomes more challenging and its just such a joy to play. I still throw this on every now and then and have at it.
Game 33: Jamestown
# Jamestown has been sitting in my Steam library for a long while now and I barely touched it when I first picked it up in some bundle. I decided to give it another go and while the gameplay was really fun, the forced replaying of levels to progress really turned me off from continuing.
Game 34: Shadowrun Dragonfall
# So to prepare for the release of Hong Kong I decided to re-play Dragonfall. DF fixed so many complaints I had from Returns and it has some awesome characters. Replaying it after not touching it since release still made for a really enjoyable playthrough. The story and characters were so far improved over Returns and the gameplay was stronger. I love these games, they're so much fun.
Game 35: Shadowrun Hong Kong
# Hong Kong is the 3rd Shadowrun game by Harebrained. There's seemingly a ton of people that prefer Dragonfall to Hong Kong but they're crazy, don't listen to them. Hong Kong has the same awesome writing that DF does, story and characters included, but once again improves the gameplay by a ton. New builds and skills improve the formula. My Troll lady with Cybernetic implant claws was the most fun I had playing a Shadowrun game. Couldn't recommend it enough.
Game 36: Hexcells Infinite
# This game was another that I picked up randomly because it was on sale and I had Steam wallet money just hanging out. Numbers tend to make me feel pretty stupid and the harder levels of Hexcells definitely do that but it is an amazingly fun puzzle game that has some of the most chill music. Infinite is the best of the bunch because of the level creator and people smarter than you can make levels that remind you of how you can't wear socks to count.
Game 37: Heroes of the Storm
# HotS is like baby's first MOBA and I don't mean that as an insult. It takes the MOBA genre and simplifies it while maintaining a lot of the core mechanics. The issues I have with it are how expensive heroes/skins are to purchase. A few times I thought about throwing Blizzard a few bucks for a skin and then when I looked up any I liked I couldn't justify the cost of a game to make the character I play a bit prettier. The game is super fun and if you're looking to dip your toes in to a MOBA HotS is a great starting point.
Game 38: Madden 16
# I DON'T KNOW WHY I KEEP BUYING THESE GAMES! Don't get me wrong, they're solid games and I really enjoy playing them. That said, I'm terrible and after playing them (and 2k games) off and on for over 10 years you'd think I'd have improved. They only get harder and more complicated and for someone who doesn't really understand NFL defenses... I do REALLY badly.
Game 39: N++
# I bought this game solely because of the nostalgia I had from making my thumb hurt from all of the N+ I played on the DS. Even though this game is the same type of fun it didn't grab me like the DS game did. Its a shame.
Game 40: Rocket League
# Not really sure what I can say about this game that hasn't already been said. While I didn't get in to the multiplayer like a lot of people did (none of my friends were interested in playing it) I recognized how amazing this game is and how much fun it is to play. Then it gets supported with tons of free DLC and anything paid is purely cosmetic. That is something I can get behind.
Game 41: Path of Exile
# PoE (not to be confused with some Pillars that last for an Eternity) is an amazing isometric RPG. I've spent an ungodly amount of time playing it and I'm still awful, still broke and still wishing the characters had a tad bit more variety. My complaint with it comes with how it feels like to be as successful as I'd like I'd have to dive deeper in to trading than I'd like. Otherwise this game is so much fun, any game where I can mindlessly grind while listening to podcasts or watching streams is a-ok.
Game 42: Persona 4 Dancing All Night
# This game just proves how much of a fanboy I am of the Persona games. I suck at rhythm games, I even saw the videos of P4DAN before release and knew I'd be awful at it. I still bought it and enjoyed it. As much as they've turned the Persona 4 cast in to parodies of what they were I still enjoy it. I basically consume any Persona media while chomping at the bit for Persona 5.
Game 43: Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes
# I replayed this game and did some of the bonus missions to prep for the launch of Phantom Pain. It rightfully got a ton of flak for being a $40 demo on release but if you got it for ~$10 and realized how much content was hidden with the secret objective/missions you got your money's worth. The MGS5 gameplay with the FOX engine is some of the best stuff in years.
Game 44: Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
# Man MGS5:TPP has some of the most amazing stealth-action gameplay ever. Being able to go completely silent or as loud as possible is hard enough to do well but every aspect of the gameplay is brilliant. The game is beautiful and it runs amazingly well on my very mediocre PC. I couldn't stop playing it. The only downside is the game's story. It is kind of strange, the history of MGS games has always been this crazy/entertaining story with poor to mediocre gameplay. The story in The Phantom Pain feels so half-baked and chopped up. It is a real shame because it is such a fantastic game. I still enjoyed it overall.
Game 45: Fallout 4
# Bethesda games apparently have a theme with me. They're games I can (and do) spend hundreds of hours playing despite hating several different aspects of the game. Fallout 4 feels like Skyrim in a post-apocalyptic skin. Companion AI is still awful, the story is downright bad. The gameplay is improved which is awesome because the gameplay made Fallout 3/NV really difficult for me to get in to. The amount of janky physics can be kind of funny but its hard to find the game immersive when you shoot a raider in the head and the body launches 100 feet in to the air for no particular reason. And considering how average the game looks graphically it runs surprisingly poor. It is a real shame, Bethesda has the ability to make games that no one else does and they just have seemingly phoned it in.
Game 46: Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
# The second chapter of Trails in the Sky finally came out in the West. I originally tried playing FC a couple times a few years back on the PSP but it felt so slow to start. I played through when it released on PC last year I loved that game. It ended on such an awesome note that was a huge cliffhanger which was depressing because for as long as FC had been out in English SC had never been translated until this year. It got to make an entire game based off of characters they used the First Chapter building and it was worth the wait. Once I got later and later in to the game the less I wanted to stop playing. Now I can't wait for the Third Chapter to be translated, hopefully the wait isn't as bad as the last one. Until then I have Trails of Cold Steel and other Falcom/XSEED games.
Game 47: Super Mario Maker
# When this game was announced this year it sounded like Mario Maker was going to be such a half-assed release. No different physics between game styles, no sub-worlds, the levels themselves being super small. They wouldn't even talk about online level sharing back then. The next time they showed the game was totally different. Super Mario Maker looked like a must buy for anyone who played the original Mario games and it really is. The 100 Mario Challenge lets you play levels from randomly selected levels from other players, you can create levels if you're creative (I'm not) and make some sadistic levels to drive people insane. They've been adding new mechanics and items since release too. This game is so amazing, I'd get more use out of it if I knew people who played it but its still super fun.
Game 48: Divinity Original Sin - Enhanced Edition
# The gameplay in D:OS is pretty cool but I don't love it like other people do. I find it irritating that the best way to play is not to really play as a party of 4 classes but to abuse stealth with barrels to blow up huge groups of enemies or bosses. I wish you had the option to create your entire party instead of just 2 with 2 recruitable characters that either have zero personality or a really annoying one. There's so much to be interested in with this game but it just didn't do it for me as much as I would have hoped/expected.
Game 49: Borderlands 2
# I randomly decided to play through Borderlands 2 again. Not really sure why. The writing isn't particularly interesting, some jokes are plain bad and the gameplay feels balanced around having multiple people which always turns me off from these games. Despite all that I still enjoy playing through, there's a lot to really enjoy and it led in to me playing The Pre-Sequel.
Game 50: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
# After playing Borderlands 2 the second time I wasn't really expecting much from the Pre-Sequel. I ended up enjoying the story more than either 1 or 2, the writing was more entertaining in my opinion. I also have more fun with the characters (granted Claptrap is lame... still) than the ones in 2. Overall, it was pretty fun.
Game 51: Shadow Complex Remastered
# I never owned an Xbox 360 and one of the games I was bummed I missed out on was Shadow Complex. It is just as fun as I was led to believe several years ago and while it was shorter than I would have liked but with all the movement upgrades the game is so much fun to play. Its a shame the audio is so poor throughout a lot of it. Definitely was worth the wait though.
Game 52: Tales from the Borderlands
# When this game was announced I rolled my eyes. It seemed like such a strange choice for a Telltale game. The story and writing in the Borderlands games have never been really good... and it definitely wasn't the main draw. So when this game was nearly out I had zero interest to play it. Then throughout the year I kept hearing how funny it was and how good the writing is and these conversations picked up steam once episode 5 was out. So I decided I should give it a try and ended up getting it for super cheap on PSN. Holy shit. I haven't laughed this much at a game ever. The new characters are so interesting and well done, the voice acting is amazing through out the entire story. There are so many scenes that stick out as great moments in this game including the intros to each episode. Several characters could be picked for best new character and I wouldn't argue it. I've told everyone who will listen that they need to play TftB, it is seriously one of the best written games I've played in so long. Now all I want is a Borderlands 3 where all the writing is done by the people who wrote Tales and it would be amazing. Someone needs to make this happen!
Games # (1-26)
Game #1: The Binding of Issac - 1 Hour (On play through where I beat it 4.5 Hours total time ) , Finished Jan 5th (PC)
Just kinda picked it up after some time initially not able to beat it. It's a fun game definitely focused on replayability rather than longevity. The randomized maps make playing the game over and over again not a chore but fresh each time which I liked.
Game #2: Thomas was Alone- 2-3 hours?, Finished Jan 7th (started in dec 2014) (PS3)
Love how such a simple game and simple characters can still express so much personality. The narrator does a great job this game was fun to play through.
Game #3: Assassin's Creed- 10 hours or so, Finished Jan 8th (PS3)
This is a good game bordering on great, most everything about the game is well presented. Although the game does have major faults such as the very repetitious nature of the game gets tedious about half way through the game and the controls are frustrating when you don't want to climb up something or you make a bad jump. The PS3 version also runs at a dreadful FPS and I noticed some graphical pop in. Compared to the rest of the series I was glad they kept the useless nonsense to a minimal such as the stupid economic system in the newer games for the purpose of just gaining more money. Also without trophies who would want to collect all though flags ugghh.
Game #4: Marvel vs Capcom 2 - 30 minutes, Finished Jan 13th (PS3)
Had the urge to play this fantastic fighting game but had no one to play with so I just went through the arcade mode and had a blast. Playing through single player reminded me how terrible I am at the game though as my friends are worse than I am giving me a false sense of skill but oh well.
Game #5: King's Quest V - 4 Hours, finished Jan 15th (PC)
A very charming game love the art style and the voice acting work reminds me of the old cartoons from the 60's and 70's based on how cheesy they are. However the number of ways to lose the game permanently such as stopping the cat from eating the rat makes the game nearly impossible to beat without knowing what your doing first I had to replay parts of the game because of this and always keep frequent and many different save files still though a fun experience.
Game #6 Super Mario World - 5 hours, finished Jan 18th (wii virtual console)
Played this through with a friend this classic masterpiece still holds up well with its tight controls, colorful graphics and well put together level design there really isn't alot to say that hasn't already been said.
Game #7 Peggle Deluxe - 3.5 hours, finished Jan 24th (PC)
A guilty pleasure and a decently fun game that is all.
Game #8 Sonic Adventure - 9 hours, finished Jan 27th (PS3) - Started in Nov 2014
Played this through with a friend not as good as I remember from many years ago many characters and mini games feel tedious and shouldn't have been in the game there were also many glitches still enjoyed mostly due to nostalgia.
Game #9 Rayman 2 - 4Hours 45 Minutes, finished Jan 29th (PS1 (on PS3)) - started 2013
I started this game a while back and had a blast don't know why I stopped playing it but I'm glad I picked it up again its an underrated solid platformer.
Game #10 Sly Cooper 1 - somewhere between 6-8 hours, finished Feb 4th (PS3) (Platinumed! )
A fun game I played back when I was younger, it was much better than I remembered and a decently solid game all around now onward to Sly 2!
Game #11 Soul Calibur 2 - 6+ hours, Finsihed Feb 7th (Gamecube)
Recently got this classic game I owned it on ps2 but traded it away and picked up the gamecube version again and man I love it the game is nearly flawless, I powered through the weapon masters mode in the last 2 days but I have yet to get all of the unlockables.
Game #12 Pajama Sam 3 - 2 hours, finished Feb 10th (PC)
Found alot of my old pc games from when i was little at my grandparents place and played through Pajama Sam for a nostalgia trip it was kinda fun, very simple but its a kids game so its expected.
Game #13 Half Life 2 - 9 hours, finished Feb 13th (PC)
One of my all time favorites just finished my yearly play through still holds up quite nicely.
Game #14 Mirrors Edge - 6-7 hours, finished Feb 25th (PS3)
An interesting concept trying to make first person platforming fun and does a decent job at it felt very refreshing to play but still a little rough around the edges (no pun intended) I'm expecting great things in the sequel.
Game #15 Megaman 7 - 3 hours, finished Mar 1st (gamecube (anniversary collection))
Felt like going through this old classic I don't remember finishing this as a kid but judging how hard it is wouldn't surprise me if I never did. Overall great game I would love to see ore classic megaman in this style.
Game #16 Megaman 9 - 4 hours, finished Mar 3rd (wii)
Hard game but a lot of fun despite being a relatively new game they do a fantastic job in emulating the NES games in style, sound and gameplay shame megaman is dead now his games are a blast to play .
Game #17 Pokemon Y - 19 hours, finsihed March 10th (3DS)
2nd attempt to play this game, having this be my first pokemon I have no nostalgia behind it I liked it but also kinda disliked it in ways overall I'd say I had fun playing this game and this game has a lot of charm.
Game #18 Super Mario Sunshine - 7 hours, finished March 13th (Gamecube)
Nostalgia trip what can I say gameplay is still very fun and I am a huge fan of fludd and what it offers to the table. Major draw back for this game is the lack of worlds and variety in between them. I know they got a vacation motif going on but there isn't to much additional levels outside of vacationing and resort locations. Other than that holds up rather well I recommend anyone to play it if you have not already.
Game #19 Hotline Miami 2- 8.5 hours, finished March 15th (PS3)
The gameplay is so satisfying the fast paced brutal ultra violence is a lot of fun, I was also quite fond of the story overall a pretty good game.
Game #20 Castlevania - 3 hours. finished March 18th (3DS Virtual Console)
A super hard classic game.
Game #21 Kirby 64 - 3.5 hours, finished March 27th (Wii Virtual console)
Started playing it just cause and then I started progressing rather quickly so i decided to finish it. The power mixing is cool feature I wish they brought back in newer Kirby games, however the movement and how the game plays isn't like the standard 2D kirby games and not for the better. Still its a pretty decent game.
Game #22 Sonic CD - roughly 1 hour, finished March 27th (Gamecube (Gems collection)) ((twice 2nd time on PC 56 minutes))
Not sure why I played this one glad I did, this game iI found to be more fun than any of the other 2D sonics playing it again blew me away. The gameplay, level design, art direction, soundtrack all very high quality this is one of the most fun and enjoyable games I played in a while I think its the best sonic game and one of the best side scrollers of all time.
Game #23 Shovel Knight - 7 hours, finished April 27th (PS3)
This last April I was super busy and what ever games I did end up playing i never could put a decent time commitment to them, but when I picked up Shovel Knight it was love at first sight. Everything for the way the game controls, to its killer 8 bit soundtrack and fantastic retro style videos this game is a blast to play. The best part of the whole experience was seeing what new tricks each level had in store each level and boss fight felt challenging but fair and neat mechanics that worked very well in each one.
Game #24 Sonic and the Black Knight - 2.5 hours, finished may 3rd (Wii)
This game sucks bought it as a lolz with friends finished it cause it was easy and short. There is something though mildly appealing about the waggling and seeing sonic go ape shit on the screen, probeblly the worst game I finished this year but it wasn't repulsive bad more funny bad.
Game #25 Kirby Super Star - 4 hours, finished may 28th (Wii virtual console)
Finally got back to playing games again, this game is a classic I have fond memories as when I was young and the game still holds up to those great memories and has killer co-op to. I wish more games now a days had couch co-op such an under rated feature.
Game #26 A story about my uncle - 2.5 hours, finished June 4th (PC)
Short but fun swinging with the grapple and using the rocket boots along with the high jump makes for a fast paced exciting gameplay experience. Also liked how the story was told as a bedtime story in past tense. Only draw back this game is sinfully short although if it were significantly longer it could've over stayed its welcome. Overall pretty good game not worth full price definitely worth getting on sale though.
