Game 19: Fire Emblem: Awakening - DURATION PLAYED (21 hours 50 minutes)
I started playing this game two days ago and wow was it addictive I loved everything about this game. The gameplay, the story, the soundtrack, the artstyle. I could go on. I only finished the main story for now but I'm definitely going to go back and play through all the side quests. Also going to consider looking into the other games in this series.



Full post here

Credits rolling on number 41, I'm going to do this!

Game 39: Battlefield 4 (PS4) 6/7/14

I get now why people say this shouldn't exist and they should focus on the multiplayer. Not awful, just really bland and repetitive. Thoroughly competent and unexciting. That said I don't really care for the MP at the moment and so the six hours the campaign took might well represent the bulk of the time I spend with the game. Oh well.

Game 40: Transistor (PS4) 11/7/14

Shite.

Game 41: Child of Light (PS4) 14/7/14

I adored this even though I can see the blatant flaws in it - it's too long, it would be nice if the loot actually meant anything, it's easy - but as Pulp Fiction taught us personality goes a long way and this won me over completely with the sheer force of its charm. Beautiful, great music, and if repetitive and easy then at least the JRPGesque combat was different to what I'd expected in a game that looked like this, with some nice ideas of its own. If only they'd made it a little more varied this would be one of my games of the year, as it stands it's still pretty fucking sweet.

Original post.

Game 19: Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time [Vita] 15 hours

Pretty fun game, def worth the play through as it was free on PS+. Initially I was going for the platinum trophy but just ended up wanting to move on as the collectibles just got kina boring.

Really hate not having accurate play times on games that don't say. Vita needs a playlog already!

Updated.

OP

32) Dragon's Crown
Great game if you like 2D beat-em-ups. Played on vita and there were only a few slow downs when a ton of stuff was happening, but overall not so bad. Decent amount of grinding needed in the game, good enemy variety, and nice boss design.

Game 43: Peggle 2 - 11 Hours
(Started 7/14/14 / Finished 7/14/14)
It was on sale and I just had to play it, I think its been 4 or 5 years since I played the first one. Peggle 2 is a lot more challenging than the first and I liked the addition of the Trial challenges. So 11 hours of nothing but Peggle I finished the game, then my power went out.

OP, 9 to go

Game 18: F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point - 4 hours, Jul 16th
Not nearly as tight as the base game. To its credit it does have more level variety, it's not just office spaces, but it has a B-team feel to it. They shower you with ammo and health at random, making it seem like they didn't play test enough and were afraid there was too little. There are more open spaces to fight in but the combat doesn't work as well in those. What I liked the least though was the constant removal of control over the flashlight and slow-mo. You want a scripted event? Fine, but don't remove my agency. There are even some enemies that are invincible in their scripted animations. Unless you can't get enough of the combat I say pass.

Game 38: Tenchu Stealth Assassins - 5 hours

This was terrible. So, so terrible. I'm not sure why I stuck with it until the end. Stealthing for the first few levels was alright if awkward due to the controls, but the last few levels were nothing but shitty combat and lava.

OP

33) Spec Ops the Line
I'm not a big first person shooter person let alone the campaigns they normally have, but Spec Ops was pretty damn good. Not a whole lot to say other than that. It was prefect length in my opinion. To the point where things didn't feel repetitive even though there wasn't a whole lot of variety.

Halfway there! I'm more or less where I was at the end of last year! Maybe I should play shorter games. Also added Rayman Legends, KOF XIII and Pac-Man CE DX+ to In Progress.

Game #23: Mario Golf: World Tour - 29 hours, 23 mins (Finished)
Beat Castle Club and unlocked every character, that's good enough for me. So yeah, this is probably the best Mario Golf game besides Advance Tour. It looks great and except for the camera it controls great. Hitting the ball were you want it to go has never been easier. The music is about as good as it has always been for the series and the roster is better than Mario Kart 8's which makes me laugh. I bought the Season Pass on day one, and now that everything is released, it makes an already content-rich game feel even fuller. Oh, and the online is almost perfect. Just needs voice chat. And players.

Game #24: One Finger Death Punch - 13 hours (Finished)
Completed on Student and Master. Talk about a surprise. I bought it because it was only $2.50 and the recommendation said something about making you feel like a badass. $2.50 was a steal for doing exactly that. At first I thought it was just gonna be attacking left and right, but nope. Between weapons, enemy types and the ability to have up to 5 skills active later in the game, it is WAY deeper than it should be. My favorite part was being able to turn the music off and have some DnB playing in the background. Very relaxing. If it had better presentation it'd be a masterpiece, but I'm fine with calling it a classic. The formula is begging to be expanded upon.

Game #25: Broken Age (Act 1) - 5 hours (Finished)
I don't play adventure games often. It's usually just Ace Attorney or Layton or something, and those don't really count. So I bought some that were on sale during the first PS flash sale and this one during Steam's Summer Sale. This is the first one I finished. The best thing about Broken Age is the way it looks. Period. Its illustrated style is gorgeous even if the animations can be weird sometimes. I wanna reserve judgement on the story since it's only the first part (and what a cliffhanger that was!), but the writing wasn't bad and I liked pretty much every character, especially Vella. The game was a little easy though. I got stuck near the end because I missed a pickup from earlier on, but you can just go back and get it.

Game #26: Kirby's Adventure (Wii U VC) - 5 hours, 6 mins (Completed)
100% completion, not bothering with Extra mode. It's so weird going from Super Star and its sequels to this. This is the hardest Kirby game I've played so far because I'm so used to stuff like jumping multiple times and more responsive controls in general. That said, this is a damn impressive NES game. Because it came out so late the developers just went balls deep with the graphics, sound and content. There's no collectibles but there's still mini-games and a completion percentage, which is awesome. There's a reason a lot of Kirby music is basically remixes or re-imaginings of the music from this game. Same thing with the enemies. Playing this was a good learning experience for me as a Kirby fan.

Metaternal, have you played Mass Attack, Canvas Curse, or Dream Land 3? I found those to be some of the toughest Kirby games.

| MY COMPLETE LIST |

Completion #18 : Game #32 : PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate (PS4/Vita | ~15hrs | Trophies - 100%)
There are only 2 things about this game that I would change. The first is to drop multiplayer, not because it is horrible, the game simply just doesn't need it. The second is the Hungry Suit in the 4th world, whilst the suit carries a fair puzzle element to the levels, they become a slog because it slows up the gameplay.

Other than that, I love the game, fun little shooter that I wouldn't say no to a sequel, but likely to never happen. I wish that PixelJunk Eden for the same love and treatment for PS4 also.

Completion #19 : Game #33 : Flower (PS4 | ~8hrs | Trophies - 100%)
Completion #20 : Game #34 : Flower (Vita | ~8hrs | Trophies - 100%)
Adding these games to the list of looking to clean up the last remaining trophies, I still need to go back to the PS3 version also. The PS4 version is the first that I actually got 100% on! Flower is one of those games that is incredibly relaxing to play and doesn't control that bad with the tilt controls. The game also looks pretty awesome across all platforms.

I lost my PS3 save to a console breakdown, so I will have to play it from the start once again.

Completion #21 : Game #35 : Ratchet & Clank (Vita | ~15hrs | Trophies - 100%)
I do really love this game, the story is great along with the humour, the characters and enemies are nicely designed and all the planets have their own identity.

The problem with the game is that it really shows it's age with primitive controls, the lack of a real strafe, targeting enemies can be tough and you could argue that pacing in the game is a touch off. All of these issues are addressed with the sequels and that's why the game can feel really 'old'. Despite all that, the game is still playable and one of the great PS2 platformer/action games. I look forward to 2015 for the Ratchet & Clank Movie and re-imagining of the original Ratchet & Clank on PS4.

maxcriden said:

Metaternal, have you played Mass Attack, Canvas Curse, or Dream Land 3? I found those to be some of the toughest Kirby games.

Click to expand...

I played some of Dream Land 3 but it was a long time ago and I'm pretty sure I didn't get to go past the second level. But I got decently far in Mass Attack and I think I got to the third world of Canvas Curse. They were both pretty tricky from what I remember, but they also both used the touch screen for everything, and I think that was a factor in their difficulty the same way responsiveness was a factor for Kirby's Adventure.

Metaternal said:

I played some of Dream Land 3 but it was a long time ago and I'm pretty sure I didn't get to go past the second level. But I got decently far in Mass Attack and I think I got to the third world of Canvas Curse. They were both pretty tricky from what I remember, but they also both used the touch screen for everything, and I think that was a factor in their difficulty the same way responsiveness was a factor for Kirby's Adventure.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that makes sense. I think the unique control scheme of both of those definitely plays a part in their difficulty. On the other hand, touch controls at their best are almost like a tactile version of motion controls, so when they click for you, they *really* click, and the games are still plenty tricky when they do. So I think it's a mix of both. All three are superb games jam-packed with content, though!

maxcriden said:

Yeah, that makes sense. I think the unique control scheme of both of those definitely plays a part in their difficulty. On the other hand, touch controls at their best are almost like a tactile version of motion controls, so when they click for you, they *really* click, and the games are still plenty tricky when they do. So I think it's a mix of both. All three are superb games jam-packed with content, though!

Click to expand...

That's good to hear! One or more of those games should be on my list by year's end. If only the DS VC was more fleshed out. Canvas Curse would make a lot of sense on Wii U given the sequel.

Game #34 - Doctor Who Adventure games 1 -City of the Daleks
Steam, about 2 hours. Very simple game. Strangely though I dont remember ever purchasing or installing the game, but it was there in my steam queue so I played through City of the Daleks.

Game #35 - Xenoblade Chronicles. Been plugging away at this forever, 202 hours Wii. Really didn't want it to end but there was nothing left to do other than take on the big bad.

I've made terrible progress but I'm planning to do a big playthrough of a bunch of my backlog so I should start filling up the list soon.

1. Bravely Default
2. Final Fantasy X
3. Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy
4. Persona 4 Golden
5. The Wolf Among Us(I'm on episode 4 but I'll be finishing it tomorrow)
6. Persona 3 ~ 2 hours
7. X-2 ~ 1 hour
8. FF XIV ~ 30+hours
9. Wild Arms ~ 9 hours
10. Mario Kart ~ 6 hours

Anyway I'm working on Persona 3 and X-2 at the moment and then I'm going to pick the games that I'm almost done and finish them.

I'll also update the hours I played when I get the chance to check.

Game 29: The Wolf Among Us - Season 1 (PC)
Original List



Gameplay
Chapter 2
Chapter 3&4
Chapter 5

Steam Review
Telltale have really found their groove when it comes to games that rely heavily on intriguing characters and strong storytelling. The Wolf Among Us continues that trend as it opens up the world of Fables, an 'adult' take on Grimm Fairy Tales that were watered down by Disney over the years.
It's based on the Graphic Novel series and is set before the series starts, so it doesn't 'spoil' anything if you want to get into the comics long term (which are due to end issue #150 - the end of 2014).

It tells the story of Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf as they try to live and blend into the normal (Mundy) world of New York. They do this within their gated community, and glamour spells to make them appear as human as possible. It's an interesting take on what for most will be familiar characters, backstories and interactions with each other and the game does a good job of creating a sense of realism to this strange fantasy world.
It's dark, gritty and sleazy.

The game is mainly a based around a 'Point and Click' style world, with a few Quick Time Events thrown in. However, don't let that put you off the game as the QTE work well within the context of the game, and can add a real sense of suspension and tension to a situation.
The PnC elements work well within the detective/crime solving nature of the game too, as you play as Detective Bigby (Big Bad Wolf) as he tries to solve the issues of Fabletown before they spill out into the real world.

There are a few minor issues that are perhaps starting to become Telltake trademarks in their own right regarding save and choice strings becoming corrupt. However these are for the most part rare, and can sometimes strangely be solved by simply restarting the game.

In short; I enjoyed this game, even if it is little more than an interactive story. The characters and writing is strong enough to carry that interaction, and the presentation of the game world draws you in and makes you feel like your choices matter in the long term.

Metaternal said:

That's good to hear! One or more of those games should be on my list by year's end. If only the DS VC was more fleshed out. Canvas Curse would make a lot of sense on Wii U given the sequel.

Click to expand...

Oh, yes. That's a good point. I do wonder when the DS VC will hit. I think someone suggested Canvas Curse could be a flagship launch VC title to spark interest for Rainbow Curse. It's a tough game but well worth the learning curve.

1. Bravely Default 60+
2. Final Fantasy X ~ 58 hours
3. Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy
4. Persona 4 Golden ~ 70 hours
5. The Wolf Among Us ~ all five episodes complete
6. Persona 3 ~ 5 hours
7. X-2 ~ 1 hour
8. FF XIV ~ 30+hours
9. Wild Arms ~ 9 hours
10. Mario Kart ~ 6 hours
11. Ys:Memories Of Celceta ~ Haven't touched in a while so not sure about progress but IIRC I'm pretty far.
12. Xenoblade ~ 60+ hours and near the end of the game


Just finished The Wolf Among Us tonight. Pretty great ending.

Game 42: Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi Extra (PS3) 15/7/14

This was a manyCC. I can get to the third stage on one but I wanted to see how much crazier it gets - the answer is significantly. Woof. Practice required.

Game 43: Strider (PS4) 18/7/14

This was surprisingly fun, thank you PS+. Starts out really simplistic but once you pick up some more powers the combat becomes surprisingly enjoyable. Quite easy too, which I like, except for one bit right at the end which I found a little frustrating. Also it surely wouldn't have killed them to include the sword noise from the original, it was the best bit ffs.

Original post.

Game 44: The Wolf Among Us Episode 1: Faith - 2 Hours
(Started 7/17/14 - Finished 7/18/14)
This is the first time I've liked an entire first episode of a TellTale game. Bigby comes off as Wolverine as the local Sheriff which I can totally get behind. The last second choices and decisions on going one place or another is brilliant and gives you that sense that you can't do everything compared to Walking Dead's everything is going to turn to crap regardless.

OP, 8 to go!

Boss battles & gate hacking aplenty! Better be stocked up on Virus Cores! After wearing myself out on games from the previous one, I took playing through .hack//Quarantine pretty slowly. To slowly. Almost 2 weeks for less then 12 hours? Time ta get fired up again an make better progress in this challenge!!


Games Beaten: 31 / 52
Total Playtime: 455 hours, 26 minutes

link!

June
54. Rayman Legends / 15 hrs
55. Marlow Brigg and the Mask of Death / 6 hrs
July
56. Divinity: Original Sin / 101 hrs

Haven't updated in a while, finally completely rung D:OS dry. WHEW! One of the best games I've played in years...but kinda dragged near the end...glad to be done.

Game 28 : Mario Kart : Super Circuit (GBA) - 01:15 - 07/19/14
Short and pretty easy in 100cc. Races are good, but the controls are annoying.

Game 29 : Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ - 01:43 - 07/21/14
Second Wario Ware game. Pretty fun and quick. Sad that there is not more Nintendo based Minigames though.

37: Gears of War (360) - 10h (06/19/14 - 07/18/14)

Pretty alright. I've never really been a fan of how clunky movement feels in the series, but it's tolerable at least for one playthrough.

Knocked out another one!

Game #27: Pushmo - 22 hours, 49 mins (Finished)
Beat all the main puzzles. I didn't expect it to take as long as it did, but I guess it's a good thing. Really gave my brain a workout. Many times I thought a maneuver was impossible but it turned out I was missing something really simple. I'm down for more of this.

Metaternal said:

Knocked out another one!

Game #27: Pushmo - 22 hours, 49 mins (Finished)
Beat all the main puzzles. I didn't expect it to take as long as it did, but I guess it's a good thing. Really gave my brain a workout. Many times I thought a maneuver was impossible but it turned out I was missing something really simple. I'm down for more of this.

Click to expand...

When you're ready you should check out the amazing Pushmo World, which is definitely destroying me a bit at the moment. I haven't played much of any of the original but from what I gather they're pretty similar. Crashmo I think is more polarizing, but I haven't played that one either.

1. Bravely Default 60+
2. Final Fantasy XHD ~ 58 hours
3. Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy
4. Persona 4 Golden ~ 70 hours
5. The Wolf Among Us ~ all five episodes complete
6. Persona 3 ~ 66 hours
7. FF XIV ~ 50+hours(reach level 50 is my finish)
8. Double Dragon Neon
9. HardCorps Uprising
10. FF The 4 Heroes of Light ~ 33 hours
11. Dragon Quest Monsters 2
12. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker
13. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
14. Phoenix Wright vs Layton ~ 20 hours
15. Theatrhythm Curtain Call
16. Warcraft III - ???
17. Crimson Gem
18. Starcraft II
19. Zelda OOT 3DS(Shadow temple)
20. Mario Kart 8(Beating all levels and unlocking all characters
21. Wild Arms
22. The Walking Dead Season 2 (episode 1 and 2 complete)
23. Golden Sun DS
24. Final Fantasy X-2
25. Uncharted 3(haven't started)
26. Persona(Haven't started)
27. SMT: Persona 2: Innocent Sin(Haven't started)
28. Soul Sacrifice(Halfway through)
29. Dragon Crown
30. Child Of Light
31. Double Dragon PS1 classic
32. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2(at the first tournament)
33. Growlanser Wayfarer of Time
34. Radiant Historia(Beginning)
35.Xenoblade ~ 60+ hours and near the end of the game
36. Ys: Memories Of Celceta

These are all the games I know of at the moment in my backlog. I'll now start doing the format properly since I'm focusing on P3 and only playing the others a little bit. There's no order after P3, I'll just start picking which to play.

Game #6: Persona 3 - 9 hours 5 minutes

Just beat the first boss and now I'm exploring Tatarus's floors. Currently on floor 26.

Game # 7: Final Fantasy XIV - ???

I'm level 41 and just finally fixed my launcher so now I'm going to try and hit 50 asap.

Update: Added more games I plan to play. Still need to figure out the rest to complete the 52 I've decided on.

Game 45: Live A Live - 22 Hours
(Started ....2008? / Finished 7/19/14)
So I loaded up my save of the last chapter today and ran through it. My final party was Anime guy, Cowboy, Street Fighter, and Ninja. The final boss really was no match for the Cowboys gun attacks. He carried my team heavily. Hooray for ultimate procrastination.

OP, 7 to go

Last two games I beat in May (yep I've been too busy to post here):

Game 12: 999 - 8,5/10 - more or less 20 hours
Completed the game with the true ending and unlocked all the others as well. Amazing game, great storytelling, compelling misteries: I was hooked on the plot till the end of the true ending, so many twists and curve balls. The characters are all fleshed out and very interesting: they appear to be kind of shallow and stereotypical at the beginning, but I love how you discover their feelings and stories bit by bit, during the various playthroughs. However the game has a bunch of flaws: the puzzles are lacking and too easy for their own good and the automatic text scrolling during the various new games plus isn't autonatic enough. They should've given us the possibility of entirely skipping all the sections already done, same with the puzzles: there's no reason to mechanically redo the same puzzles after the first time, it's just a bother; if only they added a bunch of randomized ones, it would've made sense. All in all it's a great game though, one of the best narrated stories in a gme ever. That ending!

Game 13: Castle Crashers [with gf] - 8 - more or less 15 hours
Completed the normal quest in co-op, unlocked a shitload of weapons and a bunch of secret characters. Very nice co-op game, love the animations and art-style, the humour and fast action. The overworld map is pretty and I loved the throwbacks to Alien Hominid. Even though it's long and has many different enemies and bosses, the game feels kind of repetitive at times, especially during the first half, before you reach the volcano and mechanical castle. Up until that point the stages are kind of similar, in a medieval fantasy kind of way, but from the volcano and on shit gets real: a technological castle, the desert, an alien mothership, marshes, corn fields, an underwater temple, an ice castle... and that final battle: OMG he just wouldn't die. Aside from the stages, I was let down a little by the characters and by the battle system: too many similarities between the charcaters, only the magic sets them apart, and the action in general isn't too varied, it's pretty much a button mashing party.

36. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D 3DS
Played it with my son. Took a little longer than it should have since I had to redo a lot of levels he abused super guide on, lol.

Continued from here.

41. Pinball FX2 - FINISHED ON: 20140830 DURATION: 8 Hours

This is one addicting game. Every table I played was worth the purchase. Each one brings unique gimmicks from the gameplay, to the props, to the unique mini games hidden away in each of the tables. Zen Studios does a damn fine job on each table. If you're a pinball junky who looking for a little more flare from their tables, look no further.


42. Skullgirls - FINISHED ON: 20140830 DURATION: 20 Hours

A solid fighter with an emphasis on fun. The combo system dial-a-combo, which makes the game less demanding on having strict timing to do cool combos, which helps player focus more on mind games than worrying about connecting moves at the right frame. On top of that their's an in depth training mode and all the characters have little tutorials. The art is unique and character animate very well. The only downside is that there aren't enough people online. I feel like fans are waiting on Beowulf and Eliza. Fans of BlazBlue, Melty Blood, UMVC3 will feel right at home with this game.


43. Injustice: Gods Among Us - FINISHED ON: 20140901 DURATION: 11 Hours

It's a game from NetherRealm Studios with back for block. That is already a great start to the game. Overall this game is simplistic in its mechanics with just enough depth to pull of some crazy antics on the screen. It's in no way a great looking game, but it makes up for it with a large cast with everyone having a unique moveset. Again, as with all their other games, I feel that their animation is wonky. Other than that, this game brings a great Story Mode to the table, along with all the other staples expected from a fighter in this era.


44. Wolfenstein - FINISHED ON: 20140908 DURATION: 20 Hours

Holy hell! I just finished Wolfenstein, and DAMN! Was that one badass story with awesome gameplay to boot. It surpassed Bioshock Infinite and is in my top 3 for the year. It was damn fun to finally play an FPS with actual bosses. Every set-piece looked unique. Very little reused assets aside from boxes and enemies. The stealth in the game was fun and not forced. The gun play was on point with almost every weapon feeling satisfying to use. Multiple firing modes were also not useless and kept the mainstay weapons feeling fresh. Dialogue between characters made me want to actually pay attention to the story, which was also pretty great. That, coupled with a fantastic soundtrack, really made the game a complete package. I hope Jens Matthies, the guy who wrote the story and dialogue, stays with the team to pen out future projects. I hope the game did well enough to keep Machine Games in the business.

45. Luftrausers - FINISHED ON: 20140910 DURATION: 2 Hours

This a unique little Shmup with little direction on what to do. After figuring out what to do, the game really picks up. There's tons of unlocks which leads to a huge number of combinations for your ship. The game gets progressively hard the longer you survive and the higher your score gets. The game's soundtrack and art direction is also great. Higher combos lead to more satisfying explosions from the enemies. The only negative I have about this game is the way the controller system is setup. I feel that this department could have used a little bit more work.


46. RefleX - FINISHED ON: 20140911 DURATION: 4 Hours

A solid Shmup, but comes up short compared to the previous ones I've played this year. The soundtrack is typical[ shmup fair. The gameplay is okay with it's bullet reflecting mechanic, but after a while it just feels old. The sprite work is fine, but at the same time things really feel clunky to me. I just can't explain it.


47. Deponia - FINISHED ON: 20140913 DURATION: 4 Hours

This is an okay point an click game, but with a couple of downfalls. The game's dialogue seems awkward at times, robotic in its delivery of it, and has jokes that completely miss the mark. The art direction is nice, but the animations for the game are terribly lacking. The puzzles are okay at best with some just seeming so bad that they allow you to skip them within the game. I'm hoping as I continue with the trilogy that the negatives of this game get addressed.


48.Guilty Gear X2 # Relaoad - FINISHED ON: 20140913 DURATION: 3 Hours

It was a treat to come back to this game after so many years. Especially since I have a firmer understanding of applying the mechanics in a fighting game. The game still looks great even for it's age. The game itself plays well and is a great port EXCEPT for the lack of online play. Which means this game will hardly be touched outside fans supporting ASW in hopes of them bringing their games onto the platform. I believe there's a workaround for online play, but being that I'm a man that only practices current fighting games for online matches, I won't be bothering with it. Aside from that, it's got a decent story mode along with challenges in other modes that bring a lot to the game. I will say shame on those who ported this to not include some form of online play.


49.BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger - FINISHED ON: 20140914 DURATION: 7 Hours

The same great fighter I played years ago on 360. It pisses me off that there isn't any online play to be had on the Steam version. Aside from that, the game is still great. I haven't played any of the other iterations to know what I've been missing out on. The Story mode is more than decent, but doesn't offer the cohesive unity found in Injustice or MK9. The gameplay and mechanics on the other hand blow the aforementioned games out of the water. I don't feel like the characters are as well designed as Guilty Gear, but the boost in resolution sure do make them pretty. The stages and effects are beautiful. Character movesets look great, but lack in the animation department when compared to 3S or KOFXIII. Other than that this game is good to go.


50.NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM Revolution - FINISHED ON: 20140918 DURATION: 10 Hours

To start off, the mechanics in this game are almost the same as the last, which is fine by me. To tell you the truth, the only negative thing I can say about this game is that there isn't a true Story Mode. What this game focuses on is the tournament mode, which also seems lik the only way to unlock characters. It's a 4 man free for all with powerups and obstacles thrown into the matches to make things interesting. This iteration of the game really feels like it could have a $20 add on to the previous game. Other than that. the game looks great and plays great as always.


51. Hyper Light Drifter (Alpha) - FINISHED ON: 20141006 DURATION: 5 Hours

The alpha version runs at 30fps. It's a combo heavy action game and this really makes the flow and control feel sluggish. Aside from that this was a great taste of thing to come for this game. Animations look amazing, backgrounds are highly detailed, combat looks great, and the music sets the mood. The game seems like it will have a deep combo mechanic inlaid later on. I can't wait to see this game's progression later on. Hopefully they fix the frame rate issue.

52. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - FINISHED ON: 20141013 DURATION: 25 Hours

What a great game. It was a little repetitive near the end and the ending left me wanting more, but overall it was a more than decent romp. The game doesn't excel in many areas, but everything is brought together in a great package that created a pleasant experience The voice acting, music, art direction were all well done. My only qualm was the lack of variety with enemies. I just felt like it was Uruks, Dogs, and Ghulz through the whole game. The combat started out being pretty repetitive, but really opened up near the end and basically made you an overpowered Uruk juicer. The game could have improved on armor variants for the protagonists, real time cutscenes so as not to be so jarring. it blows my mind that they didn't do this. It would have conserved space and looked better. Hell, they basically used in game character models for the pre-rendered scenes. Other than that, I'm hoping the season pass keeps the game going strong. I'll definitely be coming back to this game for more when new content is released.

OP

34) Sound Shapes
Music was average, nothing too amazing but nothing to complain about either. The levels I enjoyed the most were the bike/car levels but there were too few of those. Some of the community levels are pretty good which helped make the game last longer. There weren't too many levels that came with the base game. From my understanding the DLC just adds instruments and no new levels.

Best game/game you've enjoyed most so far?

Emilia pulled an Amuro which earned her the requisite BrightKraz-slap!! I blasted through PS Portable 2 an all I earned was the right to make this post! It took me 4 1/2 months ta get through 4 games. What is wrong with me? Err... wait I meant 4 series @ 4 games each! Okies that amount of time is more understandable now. Woulda figured for sure that MGS series would clock in with the least time of 'em all o.o


Yakuza, 2, 3, 4: 190:30:00
.hack//I, M, O, Q: 45:08:31
MGS, GZ, 2, 3: 39:01:46
PSU, P, AotI, P2: 37:24:01

* all were any % an often ng+ runs



Games Beaten: 32 / 52
Total Playtime: 460 hours, 0 minutes

link!

Mr. Luchador said:

Best game/game you've enjoyed most so far?

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So far I'd prolly go with Kirby: Triple Deluxe. It being a brand new game amongst a ton of games I've already played more than once before helps. Plus its gameplay felt really fresh to me with lotsa creative things thrown around in it.

Hubb said:

OP

34) Sound Shapes
Music was average, nothing too amazing but nothing to complain about either. The levels I enjoyed the most were the bike/car levels but there were too few of those. Some of the community levels are pretty good which helped make the game last longer. There weren't too many levels that came with the base game. From my understanding the DLC just adds instruments and no new levels.

Click to expand...

Do Death Mode now, it turned Sound Shapes from an alright couple of hours into a holy fuck this is the best thing I've played all year experience for me

Lindsay said:

So far I'd prolly go with Kirby: Triple Deluxe. It being a brand new game amongst a ton of games I've already played more than once before helps. Plus its gameplay felt really fresh to me with lotsa creative things thrown around in it.

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Man, it's been an age since I last played a Kirby game, sounds like you'd recommend this one.

Finished the games portion of the challenge: link

Now to catch up on my reading.

Mr. Luchador said:

Best game/game you've enjoyed most so far?

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I'd rank em like this for fun factor
1.The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
2.Kirby: Triple Deluxe
3.Mass Effect 3
4.NES Remix 2
5.The Wolf Among Us Episode 1: Faith

Mr. Luchador said:

Best game/game you've enjoyed most so far?

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Out of the games I beaten during the challenge I'd have to say that the ones listed below were my favorites.

Mega Man X
Rayman Legends
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
Retro City Rampage DX
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Metroid Fusion
1001 Spikes
Shovel Knight

ScribbleD said:

Finished the games portion of the challenge: link

Now to catch up on my reading.

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Congrats and good luck with the Movie/Book challenges!

Game 46: Dorito's Crash Course 2 - 2 Hours
(Started 5/8/13 / Finished 7/20/14)
I wasn't the biggest fan of the star collecting but the stages were much better here. I like that you race against AIs, the slide jumps were fun, and who doesn't love walljumping? A lot of odd powerups that are never explained though and boy that unlock system is bad.

OP, 6 to go

StingX2 said:

I'd rank em like this for fun factor
1.The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
2.Kirby: Triple Deluxe
3.Mass Effect 3
4.NES Remix 2
5.The Wolf Among Us Episode 1: Faith

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Another Kirby fan! Man, I might have to check that one out at some point. I remember playing Zelda way back in Primary School during dinner breaks, was a fun game.

tav7623 said:

Out of the games I beaten during the challenge I'd have to say that the ones listed below were my favorites.

Mega Man X
Rayman Legends
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
Retro City Rampage DX
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Metroid Fusion
1001 Spikes
Shovel Knight

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Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was stupidly fun! I never did finish Ghostbusters, I think I did the Art Gallery and stopped playing. What made you like it?

Mr. Luchador said:

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was stupidly fun! I never did finish Ghostbusters, I think I did the Art Gallery and stopped playing. What made you like it?

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There were a lot of things I liked about the game such as gameplay. level design, sound/audio, etc., but the big thing that I really liked about the game was that it had most of the original cast members (except for Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis) back together again for what turned out to last time and that it felt more like a official sequel to the movies than a cheap movie tie in. I also liked how the game had lots of nods to the first two movies and further expanded upon things that were briefly mentioned/shown in the movies such as The Grey Lady, the almighty Tor, Ivo Shandor, etc.

I don't recall there being an Art Gallery in the game, but if I had to guess you're probably referring to the Museum of Natural History where the Shandor exhibit & gala was being held. If that's the case then you were a little bit past the game's half way point and stopped before things storywise (imo) started to pick back up. Now I'm curious were you playing the "stylized" version (PS2, Wii, PSP) the "realistic" version (PS3, X360, PC), or the "stylized portable" version (DS)? the reason I ask is because each plays differently, in my case I played the PS3 "realistic" version which is more action oriented (and was basically Gears of War lite) verses the more puzzle oriented "stylized" version.

Yeah must have been the Museum, I was playing it on 360. Maybe I should find a cheap copy and jump back into it.

Mr. Luchador said:

Best game/game you've enjoyed most so far?

Click to expand...

Metroid Prime, without a doubt... and to think it was a rttp...

It's really a masterpiece, I've been playing Prime 2 recently, but it doesn't hold a candle to the first one.

Heh not sure about beating 52 games this year, but I'll try at least. My record is 50 games in 2011, but back then I played a lot more on handhelds.

So far, I've beaten:
- Game 1: Soul Sacrifice (Vita) - 26 hours - Beaten on Jan 2 - Appreciation: Excellent
Not really into "monster hunting" experiences usually, but this game was a blast. The atmosphere was very particular, but engaging. This is the game you must own on Vita !

- Game 2: Tomb Raider [2013] (PC) - 11 hours - Beaten on Jan 3 - Appreciation: Excellent
A new Lara Croft rises in 2013, younger, prettier. Graphics are really great and stereoscopic 3D was really awesome. Very fun game, I loved the arc. It's not very long, I wanted more ! Too bad there isn't any bosses, though. A great start. I hope the sequel is even better !

- Game 3: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) - 13 hours - Beaten on Jan 13 - Appreciation: Excellent
Finally an original Zelda game for the 3DS. Revisiting the world of my favorite Zelda game was nice. Graphically unimpressive, but still good looking. Gameplay is very similar to that of ALLTP's, not counting the wall painting ability and a few new items. It's very conservative and innovation is almost nowhere to be seen. Stuck between remake and sequel, it's still a very addictive game. It's better than the DS games and should be recommended to anyone that have a 3DS. Not worth buying the console for, but it's a great game nonetheless.

- Game 4: Tales of Graces F (PS3) - 56 hours - Beaten on Feb 11 - Appreciation: Excellent
One year after the disappointing Tales of the Abyss and 1 and a 1/2 year after buying the game, I finally beat Graces F. The battle system was sooo good! It's my favorite Tales of battle system, so far. The rest is pretty much your average Tales of game.

- Game 5: Rayman: Jungle Run (iPhone) - ? hours - Beaten on Feb 15 - Appreciation: Excellent
A great adaptation/simplification of the Rayman Origins formula on smartphones. It's just a runner, but it's really addictive. And hard. Oh God is this game hard, if you want to beat it at 100% that is. Pro-tip: don't bother getting all the achivements, some are really insane (like beating a big part of the game with all lums without dying once !).

- Game 6: Rogue Legacy (PC) - 14 hours - Beaten on Feb 17 - Appreciation: Excellent
This game was an excellent surprise. I heard this game was hard, so I hesitated before buying it. A friend gifted it to me, and now I'm glad I played this game. Very hard indeed, but fair. The randomly generated dungeons make the game less repetitive. The game only has 4 dungeons, but you will die. A lot. I didn't bother with New Game+, as usual for me.

- Game 7: Borderlands 2 (PC) - ~40 hours ? - Beaten on Feb 21 - Appreciation: Good
Got this game for free with my graphics card. Better than BL1 for sure, on every aspect of the game. But the game is balanced for multiplayer and after a while, I continued solo and so I started to see difficulty spikes. This game is fun at the beginning but too repetitive if you do almost all the quests available. If you don't, you'll be crushed by most enemies. Also, the game isn't really optimized since my configuration should be able to run this game at 1080p60 without any problem, but I had lots of frame drops and tearing. I'm done with this franchise, I guess.

- Game 8: Sonic CD (PC) - ~2 hours - Beaten on Feb 22 - Appreciation: Excellent
Great port overall. Feels like an alternative Sonic 2 made by Sonic Team. Time travelling is a nice idea, but it's kinda annoying that you can't unlock a level select feature. If you like classic Sonic games, play this one.

- Game 9: Gungnir (PSP/Vita) - 18 hours - Beaten on Feb 26- Appreciation: Good
This game feels like a standard JRPG at first, but with ST!NG you know you can expect a few twists on the formula. Lots of rules to take into account, so avoid the Advanced mode that will drive you crazy. Too bad I didn't use half of my team because you can only have 4 to 6 characters on one map. What's with the final boss though? Couldn't they made something better?

- Game 10: Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (3DS VC) - 2-3 hours ? - Beaten on Mar 22 - Appreciation: Good
Never had the chance to beat Super Mario Bros before. I got the 3DS GBC VC version for free and decided to give it a shot. Finishing the GBC version is easier than the NES one, because you don't have to start over from the beginning. That's a huge help. The second half of the game is quite difficult and starting from scratch is something I don't have the patience for, in 2014. I didn't unlock The Lost Levels (aka Experts mode in this game). This game is quite good, but I would have enjoyed it more back then, I think. I didn't use the save state feature, the standard save feature is enough.

- Game 11: Killzone Mercenary (Vita) - ~5hours - Beaten on Mar 16 - Appreciation: Excellent
This is certainly the most impressive game on Vita. This game was more fun than Killzone 3. Stealth was good and the game has replayability. Recommended !

- Game 12: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) - 52 hours 52 minutes 52 seconds (no joke !) - Beaten on Mar 23 - Appreciation: Excellent
This was my most anticipated game of the year. Not as epic as I thought it would be, judging by the end of XIII-2, but this game is really great. Sadly, budget constraints were heavy on this game and it shows. It's the worst game of the trilogy, graphically speaking, and the framerate is bad. The art direction is great though, as well as the soundtrack. The battle system is the best feature of the game. I liked this game less than the previous entries, but it's nice to see that Square Enix still tries to drive the JRPG genre forward.

- Game 13: God of War: Ascension (PS3) - 9 hours - Beaten on Mar 26 - Appreciation: Good
This game is the worst entry in the series so far. Still a good game overall, but after playing all episodes besides Ghost of Sparta, I think I had enough of Kratos. Please reboot the series SSM !

- Game 14: Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (HD) (PS3) - 21 hours - Beaten on Mar 31 - Appreciation: Good
While Re:CoM is definitely an improvement from the original game, I found it less enjoyable. Probably because we didn't have so many KH games back then, and it was quite a feat to make a KH game for the GBA. The game is repetitive and the card breaks are annoying after a while. I didn't bother beating the game with Riku this time. A good game, but too "filler-y".

- Game 15: Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time (PS3) - 13 hours - Beaten on Apr 7 - Appreciation: Excellent
Best game in the Future series, and best R&C game on PS3 probably. The Clank sequences are well made and this game is solid in general. If you had to play one entry only, play this one.

- Game 16: Ys Origin (PC) - 8 hours - Beaten on Apr 17 - Appreciation: Excellent
Played the game with Hugo and the 3rd character only. Great game, as usual with Ys. I played with Hugo because I wanted a different experience. I heard Yunica played like Adol, so I skipped her. I know the story of the 3rd character wouldn't have been the same without playing Hugo's story first, but the game doesn't change enough to avoid fatigue. I would have liked to play as the 3rd character from the beginning.

- Game 17: Dragon's Crown (Vita) - 11 hours - Beaten on Apr 27 - Appreciation: Good
It's been a while since I played an old school beat'em up! The game is kinda like the modern version of Golden Axe, with RPG elements. But it's repetitive and not very challenging before the post game stuff. Never tried coop but with 3 CPU allies, the game was a mess. It looks and sounds great, though!

- Game 18: Bastion (PC) - 5 hours - Beaten on May 3 - Appreciation: Mediocre
Bastion is the perfect example of a nice looking game that lacks depth. The gameplay is boring and outside of the unique storytelling, nothing is noteworthy. Gladly, the game is short.

- Game 19: FEZ (PC) - 6.5 hours - Beaten on May 5 - Appreciation: Excellent
FEZ is a unique game, a really little gem of the indie scene. Travel the world, change the perspective and find every cube! Beating the game isn't really challenging, but the atmosphere is so charming that you'll want to play for hours. Finding everything is the real challenge here.

- Game 20: Batman: Arkham Origins (PC) - 16 hours - Beaten on May 15 - Appreciation: Excellent
Solid game, that's for sure. The story is the best of the 3 available games, but the gameplay is pretty much the same as Arkham City. The two games are almost on par, I'd say. I still have the Cold Cold Heart DLC to play. I wish they change the battle system for Arkham Knight, because it's fun at first but becomes overly complicated at the end when you have a lot of different enemies to beat at the same time.

- Game 21: Dead Space 3 (PC) - 14 hours - Beaten on May 20 - Appreciation: Good
Good coop game. Too bad it's like the Resident Evil 5 of Dead Space: the game is nothing more than a shooter now, losing what made the previous games great. It's still fun to play, though I'd recommend avoiding it if you want to play solo.

- Game 22: Parasite Eve (PS1/Vita) - 8 hours - Beaten on May 26 - Appreciation: Mediocre
Really good atmosphere and soundtrack, but the game hasn't aged well at all. I would have probably liked it more at the time of its original release. I hate the fact that the real ending is locked behind an optional dungeon that you can only find in New Game+. I youtubed the real ending.

- Game 23: Bravely Default (3DS) - 49 hours - Beaten on Jun 19 - Appreciation: Good
Great graphics, soundtrack and battle system. After playing this game, I want an encounter rate option in every turn-based RPG. The second half of the game is atrocious, it would have been excellent otherwise. Still one of the best JRPGs
on 3DS, though.

- Game 24: DmC Devil may Cry (+ Vergil's Downfall) (PC) - 10 (+3) hours - Beaten on Jun 23 - Appreciation: Excellent
Not the best game in the series but still a great action game. I liked the battle system, the mix of angel and devil powers felt good. The Vergil's Downfall DLC is not worth it, IMO, as Vergil has a lot less moves than Dante.

- Game 25: Velocity Ultra (Vita) - ~3-4 hours - Beaten on Jun 27- Appreciation: Excellent
Nice shoot'em up game with light puzzle elements. It's short but always fun. Can't wait for the sequel !

- Game 26: Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) - 13 hours - Beaten on Jun 30 - Appreciation: Excellent
A must have game on 3DS. A lot of good "fan service", great controls and graphics and challenge if you try to beat the post game levels. The unlocking condition of the last level is insane, though.

- Game 27: Plants vs Zombies (Vita) - ? hours - Beaten on Jul 13- Appreciation: Good
Good tower defence game with a neat concept. Adventure mode is short, though.

- Game 28: Far Cry 3 (PC) - > 17 hours - Beaten on Jul 14 - Appreciation: Excellent
Far Cry 3 offers a lot of variety in its gameplay: races, hunting, steath, shooting… The only thing it lacks is good bosses. QTE bosses, really ?

- Game 29: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (PS3) - 2-3 hours ? - Beaten on Jul 16 - Appreciation: Good
Nice re-imagination of the Megadrive classic. Lacks challenge but it's fun to play. Buy it on sale, it's pretty short.

- Game 30: Injustice: Gods Among Us (Ultimate Edition) (PC) - > ~6 hours - Beaten on Jul 26 - Appreciation: Good
It's pretty much Mortal Kombat 9 without the fatalities, but it's still a very good fighter. Story mode is fun, but quite a bit short. Single content is decent, in an age where all fighters scrap that kind of thing.

- Game 31: Dokuro (Vita) - ? hours - Beaten on Aug 4 - Appreciation: Good
Decent puzzle/platforming game. The ~150 levels are short, but together they make the game quite long (20 hours according to HLTB, if you collect every coin). The princess' IA is quite annoying and the second half of the game is rather frustrating, though. If you don't have patience, I wouldn't recommend this game. The bosses are a real pro of this game.

- Game 32: Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut (Vita) - ~4 hours - Beaten on Aug 9 - Appreciation: Good
Finally a survival horror game with a great atmosphere, that most AAA don't have. It's basically what a 2D version of Silent Hill would look like, and feel. Nice game. I don't want to play it again to get the good ending, though.

- Game 33: Thomas Was Alone (Vita) - ~3 hours - Beaten on Aug 12 - Appreciation: Average
Relaxing game with nice music. Wouldn't have bought/bothered with it if it wasn't a PS+ freebie. Some puzzles are interesting but the game isn't challenging at all.

- Game 34: New Super Mario Bros U (Wii U) - ?? hours - Beaten on Aug 14 - Appreciation: Excellent
First game I experience in the New SMB series. It was great. I beat it with a friend and coop was fun. Everything is pretty much top notch, outside of the relative easiness of many bosses. Recommended for every Wii U owner.

- Game 35: Velocity 2X (Vita) - ~4 hours - Beaten on Sep 15 - Appreciation: Excellent
This game was a blast and a lot better than Velocity Ultra, which was already a great game! A bit short for those who don't like scoring like myself, but so much fun!

ScribbleD said:

Finished the games portion of the challenge: link

Now to catch up on my reading.

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i'm in the opposite situation!
my reading is well ahead (28 books, i should really update it), my film is GREAT (42.. i should really, REALLY update it....)..
but the gaming...
is VERY , VERY much behind...

There's a book and film version of this? Damn.

Mr. Luchador said:

There's a book and film version of this? Damn.

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Yep it's in it's third year and is called 50 books, 50 movies, 1 year in the NeoGaf off topic section, if you're interested you can check out the thread here