What Games Have You Completed? (2022 EDITION!)
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap
This is a great little remaster of a game I've heard a lot about. It was developed by Westone who is a developer that isn't well known yet produced some of the most forward thinking and groundbreaking games of all time. With Dragon's Trap they managed to make a Metroidvania in 1989, 5 years before Super Metroid. In fact it's probably a lot closer to Symphony of the Night since it has RPG elements. While it's never as good as either game, it's still a blast to play and one of the most ambitious and plain fun 8-bit games.
The game, like SotN, starts where the previous game, Wonderboy in Monster Land, ends with the final boss battle. Once you defeat the dragon he curses Wonderboy and turns him into a lizard. Wonderboy must find a way to return to his original form. He goes about this by exploring and fighting guardians who grant him additional animal transformation abilities. This being a metroidvania, each animal form opens up new areas to explore.
Dragon's Trap has a slightly different structure to a typical metroidvania. It has a hub world with various areas branching off from it. Each area is self contained rather than the whole world being interconnected. You also have plenty of shops to purchase weapons and armour to enhance your stats.
The remake is a real labour of love. Sprites are all gorgeously hand animated while the backgrounds are hand painted with some lovely parallax effects. The soundtrack has been remixed with modern instruments and while it's very good I found myself switching to the retro soundtrack which I found punchier. Speaking of which the game has loads of options if you want a more authentic 8-bit experience. You can change the graphics to the original master system graphics and the soundtrack can be changed to the Master System's default PSG soundtrack or the FM synth soundtrack that could only be played on a Japanese Sega Mark III console with a FM synth add on. There's even an option to play as 'Wondergirl'. You can tell the entire team grew up with memories of this game. The credit roll includes photos of the original development team as well as pictures of the remaster dev team from when the game was released.
While Dragon's Trap feels a little old now and has been outclassed by modern metroidvanias, it's still a fun little game that clocks in about 5 hours and the remaster is the perfect was to enjoy it.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
Silent Bomber
This game was the best kind of surprise. I've always been hearing this game is an underappreciated PS1 classic and have been meaning to play it. Recently I saw Kim Justice rate it very highly on their best PS1 games and the HG101 podcast having nothing but praise for the game and rating it highly as well. I had to give it a go and I was not disappointed. Silent Bomber is one of the best action games on the PS1.
The story is pretty much overwrought nonsense. You play as Jutah, an elite soldier sent on a mission with a team to infiltrate and destroy the battle cruiser Dante which is threatening their home planet. Among the crew is a political criminal with a bad guy voice that definitely won't betray the team. Within seconds of arriving the team ends up caught in an ambush and separated. There's some other nonsense about how Jutah is now an emotionless killing machine and slowly finds his humanity by.... killing bad guys. It's total fluff but it's badly acted and translated enough that it's kind of fun. It's all just a distraction from how much fun this game is.
Jutah's main mode of attack are bombs which can be placed on the ground or thrown at enemies that are in your lock on range. Once stacked they can be remotely detonated. It's simple enough but there's a huge amount of depth here. Bombs can be stacked to increase their blast radius and damage. The blasts can destroy enemy projectiles. You've also got to be careful of not getting caught in the blast radius of your own bombs. Destorying multiple enemies and projectiles leads to combos which affect your rank at the end of the stage. Jutah also has a jumping dash move to quickly get out of danger. With these simple mechanics the game creates a diverse range of scenarios and set pieces with gameplay changing from pure action, to dungeon crawling to 2.5D platforming. The stand outs however are the bosses. Each one is unique, well designed and challenging. They are also huge, one in particular will require you to climb on to it and I heard silent Bomber described as the PS1's Shadow of the Colossus.
What really helps this game standout from other 32-bit games is how well it runs. This is a gorgeous looking late PS1 games with a lot going on. Loads of transparent explosion effects, enemies coming apparent when destroyed and destructible environments. However it mostly runs at a consistent and smooth 30 FPS. It feels great and far more responsive than other action games of the era. Cyberconnect2 just had a way of getting the most out of the PS1, this and Tail Concerto are two of the best looking and performing games of the era. The CGI cutscenes are up there with the likes of Squaresoft, there was a pretty substantial budget invested in this game. The soundtrack isn't that memorable but it's pumping techno suits the atmosphere and pace of the game even if the playback is a noticeably low quality.
The game is quite short, wrapping up in about 4-6 hours which some might see as a negative. However if I had this on my PS1 back in 1999 it's a game I would have constantly gone back to to try and improve my ranking to get the unlockables. There's also a vs. mode which can be played in multiplayer and plays very like a Virtual On game. It's a nice fun extra.
Overall Silent Bomber is one of the very best games on the PS1 and it's baffling it has been ignored so long as it really should be high up in best PS1 game lists. Criminally ignored and underrated.
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Sonic 2 (Sonic Origins) • PS5
This'll always be my favourite of the classic series. It has just enough added to pass as a sequel. Levels were stripped to a respectable two-acts (with that they made speeding through levels much more viable, so it's a good balance). The bosses are perfect (although the last boss was pissing me off this morning and he never usually does) - great design and imagination. I love that these games were the ones touched up by Headcannon - as such the special stages for Sonic 2 have been given a facelift. They run at a smooth 30 FPS (or 40?) and the wider screen makes it much easier to see everything.
So far this collection has not disappointed. I said I wanted to play all original games in at least wide-screen in something that wasn't a PC nor my phone, and it's delivering. Really enjoying myself. I'm in the middle of playing these games back to back (there's a story mode that combines all of them into one game) and I love that hey added contextual animated cutscenes in between each game. They didn't have to do that but I appreciate them all the same. Very cool addition.
I also thought that I'd find having lives be infinite would make it a cheaper experience. Not at all. If anything it's made my life a lot easier. I'm not as snappy as I was when I was younger (my final boss fight is a testament to this) so my reflexes are almost gone. I'd have seen GAME OVER a lot by now.
My god, I love Sonic 2 though. Love, love, love it. All the chaos emeralds, too so I got the snazzy ending with Super Sonic 😁😁
Going back to the cheap experience thing, I'm also glad they didn't put in save states. I'm happy they let you just start from the last checkpoint and I'm also glad you can quit the game and come back and it'll start you where you were (checkpoint/stage start). Makes me not have to worry about trying to beat the game in one sitting like I used to do (and fail, a lot). If there were Save States, I would be abusing the ever living hell out of it, not (re)learning from my mistakes.
Also, I noticed Headcannon added a cool little extra bit at the end screen with Robotnik. Knuckles' eyes peak out of a bush. I love little things like this. Subtle but brilliant.
Wow, I never thought I'd waffle on about Sonic 2 after beating it the umpteenth time 😂 of all games.
I love Sonic 2 so much. One of the greatest.
Sonic 3, though? Eh.... Too bloated, I feel.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
Eh... Only 30 fps? They originally ran at 60.
As for the final boss, you found him difficult because the lag introduced by modern systems and displays. It's amazing how those few late frames can totally screw with you
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
The god of war games have kind of disappointed me since GoW2. I found the PS3 games a bit boring and had nowhere to take the character of Kratos. The PSP one was a fine tech showcase for the system but was slightly lacking and the controls were a little too complex for the system. Ghost of Sparta though might be my favourite GoW other than GoW2. The development team obviously learned a lot from the first GoW game and churned out a much better experience while streamlining the controls.
Combat encounters seem to be much better judged in this game and the lack of input lag means there's less frustration than with the PS3 games. There's only one annoying enemy that likes to disappear under the ground and attack from off screen. There's some good boss fights as well. In terms of story it's pretty weak as pre-PS4 GoW games are. It does the same thing as Uncharted 4. The game is a quest for Kratos's brother how apparently had such a big affect on him that he never brings him up in any of the other games. And while it feels a bit 'retcony', GoW is kind of ridiculous anyway and it's one of the only pre PS4 GoW games that gives Kratos a shred of humanity which is appreciated. It never veers into the awfulness of Uncharted 4.
Quite enjoyed this one and hopefully I will get back to the latest GoW since it looks like the PC version is fixed now.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
After a while they are all pinball levels with **** just thrown into them to annoy you and send you flying. I think the reason people say it's the best is because it was hard to come by so was some form of gatekeeping I guess, it's the best because I played it and nobody else.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
Lemmings
This game really does live up to it's reputation as one of the best games ever made. It's such a clever and original concept but the level design throughout was mostly excellent with some fiendish puzzle solutions (and maybe five or so pain in the arse levels). If anyone doesn't know how lemmings plays basically a stream of lemmings are unleashed into the level and these lemmings will blindly march forward unless you give them a job to do. It's up to you to guide them to the exit. While the game is easy to grasp and understand and hard to master I do have one gripe with it. There's a quirk to the game that allows you to turn a lemming around by digging slightly into the ground and then changing them to a builder. If a builder hits an obstacle that is only a pixel higher than their elevation they will immediately turn around instead of walking over it. This quirk is never explained and was intentionally left in the game as it's essential to completing most of the later levels (I got stuck originally in this game on the first level that requires this technique).
It's funny to think that this game was developed by the studio and many of the same people as the GTA games (I think some are still with Rockstar North). It's such a shame that Sony are now the rights holder of the Lemmings games and have done absolutely nothing with it in ages (the last non-mobile bastardisation was a pretty good PSP port). It used to be ubiquitous and on nearly every platform.
I played this using the Lemmix player which is compatible with all the mission packs, Lemmings 2 and the xmas lemmings games. It also adds some quality of life features like skipping forward a step, better pause buffering and even a rewind feature. Unfortunately it's based on the PC version which is a good version of the game but the Amiga version has better graphics and music.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
Quake: Dimensions of the Past
Dimensions of the Past is the first of two Quake expansions released with the recent Nightdive release of Quake. Both were developed by Machinehead games. While the original Quake expansions tried to push the quake engine as far as they could and expanded on the weapons and enemies, Dimensions of the Past focuses on providing an experience that feels much more like a fifth episode of the original Quake. While this might seem like a step backwards it's kind of not for one simple reason, this expansion kicks all types of ass.
There's really nothing wrong with the core Quake gameplay. It's fast, fluid and fun with a great mix of enemies and weapons. There's one simple thing that makes Dimensions of the Past standout, the level design. It's phenomenal and more than a match for the original Quake levels which are already a masterclass in level design. This is a fantastic little extra and it's insane it was pretty much free as I owned the original Steam release of Quake.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
- Deathloop|PC
Deathloop
I liked but didn't love this game. It felt like a good first draft and hopefully it's improved in any sequels/spiritual successors.
I guess my biggest issue is how it squanders the whole loop set up in a lot of ways. The game really holds the players hand for most quests (a few optional ones are more involved) and this leads to a really busy UI and mission tracker that is horrible to use. It also lead to one issue where I knew exactly what was needed to progress to the next step in a quest line but because I missed a scrap of paper somewhere it wouldn't trigger. It all leads up to an unsatisfying conclusion where the game basically tells you how to beat it. Optional sidequests usually result in some lore drops or unique weapons but honestly the rewards were seldom worth the effort.
I did enjoy the Julianna invasions. It got very annoying in one part when I kept getting invaded by Julianna when I was trying to get an item that blocks your slab powers from one zone to another.
The gameplay as well needs a bit of work. The guns feel satisfying but the enemy AI is pretty mediocre and their only threat comes from the large amount of damage they do. They frequently get caught on scenery as well. Limiting Cole to two slab powers as well means you will stick with the two most powerful (shift is pretty much essential and nexus is the most fun) and never get to experiment with the others.
I guess a large part of why I didn't gel with the game was the setting. The 70's spy aesthetic was great but the lore was uninteresting and the attempts at humour were annoying. Only really Cole and Julianna stood out with some fine performances from the VAs and some fun quips a each other.
I've been overly negative but I did enjoy it enough to see it through to the end, although I felt I was done with it two thirds in. I appreciate Arkane Lyon tried something a little more radical than the usual triple A dreck. I do think there's a very special game here in a follow up. As it stands Deathloop just reminded me of Majora's Mask which is a game that did the same loop set up so much better in 2000.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Trails in the Sky Second Chapter|PC
- Operation C|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds|PC
- Kid Dracula|Gameboy
- The Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye|PC
- Illusion of Gaia|SNES
- Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3|Gameboy
- Shantae|Gameboy Colour
- The Forgotten City|PC
- Bulk Slash|Saturn
- Monster World IV|Megadrive
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough|PC
- Pikmin 3|Switch
- Bayonetta 2|Switch
- X-Com 2: War of the Chosen|PC
- Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts|SNES
- GG Shinobi|Game Gear
- Elden Ring|PC
- Castlevania: Dracula X|SNES
- Maken X|Dreamcast
- God of War Ascension|PS3
- Kirby's Dream Land 2|Gameboy
- Ace Combat 2|PS1
- Quake: Dissolution of Eternity|PC
- Final Fantasy Legend|Gameboy
- For the Frog the Bell Tolls|Gameboy
- Trails in the Sky: the 3rd|PC
- Call of Duty: Ghosts|PC
- Wonderboy: the Dragon's Trap|PC
- Silent Bomber|PS1
- God of War: Ghost of Sparta|PS3
- Lemmings|PC
- Quake: Dimensions of the Past|PC
- Deathloop|PC
- Klonoa: Door to Phantomile|PC
Klonoa
I knew Klonoa would be good. I've been reading about it for a long time, Jeremy Parish bangs on about it on Retronauts all the time, and from playing a small bit of the PS1 original I knew it was a good game. What I didn't expect was just how good it was. This is seriously one of the best platformers ever made.
I played Klonoa through the recently rereleased Remake collection of Klonoa 1 and 2. Klonoa is a HD upscale of the Wii remake with very little noticeable touch ups if any. The Wii remake was a gorgeous looking game and while it lacks the fancy visual effects of modern titles the base art and design is excellent. It's still a great looking game with wonderful atmosphere.
What makes Klonoa standout from it's platforming peers is the mechanics combined with the level design. Klonoa has a pretty limited move set. He can jump and holding the jump can extend his jump which is reminiscent of Yoshi's flutter jump in his platformers. His attack is short range but allows him to grab an enemy above his head. He can then choose to either throw the enemy as a projectile or, more interestingly, Klonoa can double jump while throwing the enemy downwards. It might be a simple moveset but the developers exploit it to it's fullest with levels that are filled with light puzzle elements and platforming challenges that constantly shift how you approach Klonoa's mechanics. Klonoa is presented as a 2.5D game but unlike lesser games like Crash Bandicoot it uses the perspective to its fullest. Background and foreground objects can be interacted and the levels loop and twist around each other creating multiple loops, mazes, rotating towers and other craziness. The developers really went to town here with some pretty simple opening stages becoming way more complex later on. The Boss battles are another highlight. They're constantly inventive and challenging set pieces. They're like something out of a Treasure game.
The package is rounded out by gorgeous aesthetics, world building and atmosphere. The story surprised me. What started as a twee adventure because a ghibli-esque romp that gets surprisingly dark with a bitter sweet ending that took me by surprise. The soundtrack is a real stand out. Namco during the PS1 era were at their very best and created some of the best videogame music of all time and Klonoa is one of the best of that era.
Klonoa is an absolute treat. Namco were at the top of their game during the PS1 era churning out classics like Ridge Racer R4, Ace Combat, Time Crisis and Soul Blade. Klonoa is the product of the world class developer Namco had become turning their development ability to a platformer and the result is noting short of spectacular. The game is a bit short, clocking in at 4 hours, but I was thoroughly satisfied with what I played and was glad of the short running time. And anyway, the Klonoa package contains the lengthier sequel! Seems the remaster package is selling well so hopefully Klonoa is finally catching the public eye and we see more games as Namco has been trying to make the series take off for years. I can only imagine their frustration after making far and away the best platformer on the PS1 and watch it get ignored by the likes of Crash Bandicoot.
Edit: Seems Namco made significant changes from the Wii version to keep it closer in line with the PS1 original a correct issues people had with the Wii rerelease.
Post edited by Retr0gamer on
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