What Games Have You Completed? (2024 Edition!)
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Megaman V (GB)
- Liberation Maiden (3DS)
- The Starship Damrey (3DS)
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)
- Doom Eternal (PC)
- System Shock (2023)
- Weapon Shop de Omasse (3DS)
- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
- Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (PC)
- Princess Maker Refine (PC)
- Metal Slug 1st Mission (Neo Geo Pocket Colour)
- Metroid Prime Remaster (Switch)
- Valkyria Chronicles 3 (PSP)
- Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (PC)
- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
- Yeah! You Want "Those Games," Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let's See You Clear Them! (PC)
- Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
Sheesh, finally got through this one. I didn't outright hate this game like most KH games but it's not good but it's also quite frustrating because there's a decent game that crawls out of the sludge every so often.
So this is a remake of KH Chain of Memories, which was a GBA game that bridged the story between KH1 and KH2. And by bridged the story I mean KH2 is a confusing mess when you don't know the story of CoM. I'm guessing most people didn't play CoM before KH2 and were equally as baffled by this game. With the release of the International version of KH2 in Japan, square bundled a remake of CoM with it which was eventually released in the US (not Europe) at a budget price. The original GBA game is 2D (with some incredible pixel art) while the remake is remade in the KH2 engine using existing assets from both KH1 and 2.
The story of CoM is pretty awful which is par for the course for the series. It's really two games in one with Riku's story opening up once you beat Sora's story. There's an ungodly amount of friendship speeches and vague nonsense and about how Riku must forget to remember. It manages to be totally throw away while also being essential to the lore.
As for the game, it's standard KH but with a twist and that twist is cards. I'm pretty sure the mention of cards turned everyone off this game but the combat system almost works. Each card represents an attack or magic spell and each card is given an number from 1-9. If you play a card higher than the enemy you can interrupt their attack but the enemy can also do the same to you. You can also stack three cards to use together that can create some even more powerful attacks and spells. Once you get the hang of it, it makes for some really great boss fights. However if you haven't figured it out you can end up with only a handful of weak cards as all you best ones have been "broken" which can be very frustrating.
While the battle system works great for boss fights, the rest of the game consists of 12 dungeons that can go one for upwards of over an hour and become very tedious. There's a lot of random battles and these are never satisfying and can mostly be dealt with by mashing through cards without thinking. It really spoils the pace of the game and makes is tough to get through. Apparently the GBA game was a much shorter game due to the 2D visuals. Also annoying is that attacks tend to whiff a lot due to the 3D nature of the visuals. The dungeons consist of a handful of rooms that you build yourself. It has the strange would map that square was obsessed with at the time like Legend of Mana or FF Tactics Advance. It almost feels randomly generated as a result.
When you beat Sora's story you open up Riku's story where he goes backwards through the game. The battle system is again mixed up to make a very different game. In this mode you can't pick your cards but have pre-made decks that change as you advance the story. These decks only have melee attack cards. The decks are purposefully awful but if you play the battle system properly and use Riku's new mechanics then it's actually not that big a deal and forces you to fight creatively. Again this system really comes alive in the boss battles but again the random mobs you face are a chore. At least this mode is half the length of Sora's story.
I do appreciate that this game decided to do something different with the awful button mashing combat of KH, and it works in the boss fights, but the rest of the game is dragged down by poor pacing, well, being Kingdom Hearts nonsense.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Megaman V (GB)
- Liberation Maiden (3DS)
- The Starship Damrey (3DS)
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)
- Doom Eternal (PC)
- System Shock (2023)
- Weapon Shop de Omasse (3DS)
- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
- Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (PC)
- Princess Maker Refine (PC)
- Metal Slug 1st Mission (Neo Geo Pocket Colour)
- Metroid Prime Remaster (Switch)
- Valkyria Chronicles 3 (PSP)
- Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (PC)
- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
- Yeah! You Want "Those Games," Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let's See You Clear Them! (PC)
- Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (PC)
- Tomb Raider 3 (PC)
Tomb Raider 3
Finally got this white whale off my back. I got to the second last stage of the game on PS1 but had my memory card corrupt.
Tomb Raider 3is obviously the product of insane crunch where Eidos were insisting on having a TR game out for Christmas every year. The main TR team focused on developing the fourth TR game, the Last Revelation, and a new team was formed to work on getting TR3 out within a year. Playing the game, it really feels like it.
First the good stuff. TR2 was meant to be for the saturn and PS1 before an exclusivity deal with Sony. With the Saturn pretty much dead in the water the team focused of refinements to the engine. It runs and looks a lot better. It also takes advantage of the PS1 hardware with nice environmental alpha effects and colour lighting. Some stages can be a bit too dark (the Remaster fixes this) but it's a much better looking game overall. Nathan McCree's soundtrack and sound scape is excellent again with some brilliant ambient effects.
Now to what I didn't like. TR3 is just messy and mean. The engine can support much bigger levels now but it just means most stages are sprawling and seem to go on for way longer than the need to. The level design is also pretty sloppy. The stages don't really interconnect the best TR levels do. The puzzles are not very good. There's some sloppiness in level design where taking damage can sometimes not be avoided, something that never happens in TR1 and 2. Often times the developers compensate with health items. It's just very mean as well with a lot of areas that feel unfair and kill the player without warning. This is ok on the PC version where you can save anywhere but I'm not sure how I managed to get so far on the playstation where the saves are expendable items and there's really not a lot of them in each stage.
The narrative is really lacking in the game. I honestly couldn't tell you what was happening. You're just sort of ferried from location to location to find artifacts. It would have benefitted with some story cutscenes to explain why you were there. Lara also comes across as a total sociopath, there's an insane amount of security guard and military personnel corpses left in her wake.
Despite all my misgivings I still was compelled to keep going to see the end of the game. There's just something fundamentally great about the exploration and controls in the old TR games and it was enough to keep me enjoying the game right to the end despite it being by far the weakest of the TR games I've played.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Megaman V (GB)
- Liberation Maiden (3DS)
- The Starship Damrey (3DS)
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)
- Doom Eternal (PC)
- System Shock (2023)
- Weapon Shop de Omasse (3DS)
- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
- Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (PC)
- Princess Maker Refine (PC)
- Metal Slug 1st Mission (Neo Geo Pocket Colour)
- Metroid Prime Remaster (Switch)
- Valkyria Chronicles 3 (PSP)
- Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (PC)
- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
- Yeah! You Want "Those Games," Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let's See You Clear Them! (PC)
- Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (PC)
- Tomb Raider 3 (PC)
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PC)
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Standard CoD campaign with a far future setting that tries, and sometimes succeeds in shaking things up a bit.
The first big change is movement. On the ground it takes after advanced warfare a bit with suits that allow you to double jump and wall run. There's also zero gravity combat but it's kind of a pain in the ass and can get disorientation. Lastly there's some spaceship combat. It's not exactly ace combat but still fun and these sections don't outstay their welcome.
Enemies now come in both human and robot versions. As a result weapons are split between ballistic and energy weapons and gives the game some halo style depth. Just like halo however the energy weapons lack the feedback you get from punchier ballistic weapons. The futuristic setting comes with some fun new gadgets including some fun grenades and hacking tools.
The story is the same old CoD hokum. You are basically one of the earth forces and have to fight against an alliance of off works colonies run by Kit Harrington. It's basically Gundam with Jon Snow instead of Char. There's some theme here about how sometimes in war sacrifices have to be made and of course it comes across on bad taste due to glorification of conflict the series revels in.
The mission design doesn't stray too far from the standard CoD set pieces battles for the most part. I was initially disappointed with the first few stages which were very formulaic and was hoping that the far future setting would lead to some interesting battlefields. The game does get a lot better here as the game advances with a standout stage set on an asteroid close to the sun and the battlefield and enemies changing states depending on whether the battlefield is exposed to the sun or not. It's one of the best CoD set pieces.
Overall not a bad slice of action but not the hidden gem that some CoD fans imply that it is.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
Not going to fight you there. Its an incredible game. Combat is so good and it feels like From's most finished game. Would be vying for my top spot with Dark Souls 1 but I'd even admit that sekiro bests it in terms of gameplay and mechanics.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Megaman V (GB)
- Liberation Maiden (3DS)
- The Starship Damrey (3DS)
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)
- Doom Eternal (PC)
- System Shock (2023)
- Weapon Shop de Omasse (3DS)
- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
- Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (PC)
- Princess Maker Refine (PC)
- Metal Slug 1st Mission (Neo Geo Pocket Colour)
- Metroid Prime Remaster (Switch)
- Valkyria Chronicles 3 (PSP)
- Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (PC)
- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
- Yeah! You Want "Those Games," Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let's See You Clear Them! (PC)
- Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (PC)
- Tomb Raider 3 (PC)
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PC)
- Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (DS)
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
The mystery dungeon series has left quite a mark on the modern videogame industry. Chunsoft developed the series as a spin-off of dragon quest featuring the popular DQ4 shopkeeper Torneko. They had chosen to develop the game based on the rpg classic rogue which caused a lot of turmoil within the company. Owing to the dragon quest license, and the game being a lot of fun, it was a. Big success in Japan.
Chunsoft, realising they had a hit series on their hands but also not owning the Dragon Quest IP decided that they would create their own IP, creating their Shiren the Wanderer character and IP for their own use. Chunsoft would farm out the Mystery Dungeon concept to publishers and adapt them to their own IP, most famously the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, but they could now create mystery dungeon games under their own Shiren the Wanderer IP that they fully owned.
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer would receive a fan translation which would end up influencing many of the indie developers of the late 00's who loved Shiren's more approachable take on the rogue genre and lead to the indie scene's love affair with rogue-likes, lites and rogue elements.
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer is an updated port of the SNES original with a few new features. The game task Shiren to reach the top of Table Mountain. After 30 floors of dungeon exploring he can reach the top of the mountain and uncover the secret of the famed El Dorado.
Like any rogue game, Shiren starts each run at level 1 and must procure items and equipment from the randomly generated dungeons. Death comes quickly to those that aren't careful and will send you back to the starting village losing all you exp and items. Unlike classic rogue, some permanency is introduced as you carry out runs. Towns along the way will identify new items and feature shops, blacksmiths and storage rooms where you can safely store items between runs. Side quests appear that will introduce more permanent features, such as party members, new advances items or new features to each town. If you are having trouble you could just slowly build up some powerful equipment and storm to the games ending, although it's more fun and perfectly feasible to start from scratch.
The main quest is a lot of fun. The game has a way of creating narrative from its randomised components in a way that the best rogue likes can. What sets Shiren apart from the competition is something Chunsoft learned from their time making dragon quest. The bestiary of enemies is superb, many have abilities that can cause you to re-evaluate and strategies what you thought was a solid plan. You can't be complacent here as the enemies always pose a serious danger. Get put to sleep at the wrong moment or lose an important piece of equipment and you can kiss your comfy run goodbye.
Reaching the end of the main quest should take about 20 hours but as with all mystery dungeon games, the real game only starts in the post game. The post game opens up new dungeons to tackle. One continues the main quest to 99 floors. 2 more dungeons open up that represent an even tougher experience than the main quest. Each of these will require you to craft weapons and armour before taking them on otherwise you will have no chance. The grind sounds annoying but honestly the weapon crafting was massively addicting for me. Even with the best armour and weapons you have to be careful because of the devious traps and enemies.
Two further dungeons open that serve as an introduction to two new items that completely change how the game plays. A 'food' dungeon gives you a weapon that turns enemies into their meat. Eating said meat will turn you into that enemy and you can use their special abilities. The other introduces the trap bracelet that lets you pick up traps and use them against enemies. This is the only way to get decent experience from enemies but trap multipliers can reward you with massive experience gains.
Finally the toughest challenge of the game is 99 floor dungeon that sticks to the rules of rogue. You start from lvl 1 and all items must be identified by your own intuition. Needless to say there's a massive amounts of content and all of it is excellent.
What really stands out to me is how the game presents itself. The game has a puzzle mode that teaches you how to play that game and take advantage of its many systems. I love how you can always see the dungeon map as a transparent layer over the main play field. I think the game could have taken advantage of the twin screens of the DS by having the item menu on the bottom screen instead of a world map that doesn't give any useful information. Its a great looking game although I do have one issue here, the DS screen is lower resolution than the SNES and the view is zoomed in meaning you can identify enemies approaching from above or below as fast as in the original game. The DS version has an online component that allows players to reduce you if you die. Of course this is long defunct but you can use an offline password and there is a password generator if you need help. The soundtrack by Dragon Quest composer Koichi Sugiyama is absolutely fantastic. It uses a real earworm of a light motif throughout and gets more dark and ominous as you venture deeper into the dungeons.
Honestly I had an absolute blast with this game and got seriously addicted to it. I still haven't finished the final rogue like dungeon but it's probably something I'll return to form a few runs whenever I pick up the DS. Shiren 6 is now on the Switch (I don't see why this won't have a multiformat or at least PC release at some point) and Shiren 5 is on PC if you want to try Shiren on a modern platform. You really should.
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Join Date:Posts: 50597
- Megaman V (GB)
- Liberation Maiden (3DS)
- The Starship Damrey (3DS)
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)
- Doom Eternal (PC)
- System Shock (2023)
- Weapon Shop de Omasse (3DS)
- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
- Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (PC)
- Princess Maker Refine (PC)
- Metal Slug 1st Mission (Neo Geo Pocket Colour)
- Metroid Prime Remaster (Switch)
- Valkyria Chronicles 3 (PSP)
- Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (PC)
- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
- Yeah! You Want "Those Games," Right? So Here You Go! Now, Let's See You Clear Them! (PC)
- Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (PC)
- Tomb Raider 3 (PC)
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PC)
- Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (DS)
- Contra 4 (DS)
Contra 4
Contra 4 is a great example of a Developer getting to make a game in a series that they have a lot of passion for and a publisher that couldn't give a F*ck. But first the game, it's excellent. Wayforward managed to absolutely nail the look and feel of classic contra. More modern contra games had become boss rushes but WayForward put a lot of emphasis in the running and gunning sections. As a result it feels like a missing link in the evolution in the series between the NES Contra games and Contra 3/Super Probotector. It looks and sounds fantastic with some truly gorgeous pixel art, as standard from WayForward, and a great Jake Kaufman soundtrack. Stage and boss design is excellent and it even sees the return of the "into the screen" base levels from the first Contra.
Since this is a DS game, the play area is split over the top and bottom of the screen. In a way this is the games best and worst feature. The extra verticality adds a new dimension to the action and many of the bosses are huge and tower over both screens. The issue is that WayForward used the space between the two screens as dead space. It means that anything in the space between the screens will not be visible and before you get used to it it can lead to some frustrating deaths
WayForward were contracted to make Contra 4 to celebrate the series 20th Anniversary. There's obvious love for the series here with lots of callbacks to all the classic games and even some references to other 2D action games like Ghouls and Ghosts and obscure SNES game Majyuuou King of Demons. There's a museum section with information about all the games in the series up to this point. Beating the game unlocks 40 fun mini challenge stages which can unlock further goodies including a great interview with series director since Contra 3 and emulated versions of the NES Contra and Super C. Unfortunately Konami really didn't share the same enthusiasm for the release. Despite it being an excellent and well received game, Konami refused to release the game in Europe. On top of that the packaging quality is exceptionally bad with paper quality of the cover feeling like it was printed at home.
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