It's that time of year again. The Giant Bomb Community Endurance run is less than a week away. Which means I've once again come out of my hibernation to play some games while trying to raise some money for Pencils of Promise. Your donations can go toward building new schools in Guatemala, Ghana, and Laos. Along with just getting them the supplies they need to learn or even just making sure they have a good supply of water. All these parts of the charity are all about making sure everyone gets a good chance to have an education and making sure they stay healthy while doing it. Also, all donations go directly to the charity so no cent will be wasted. Wanted to get the details of the charity details out first but you do need a link to actually donate huh.
So now you know some important details but what will I actually be playing.
April 8 8PM-1AM EDT The Legend of Tian Ding
A Side scrolling action game based on an old Korean folk story. Seems to have some fun combat and a comic book art style that looks cool.
April 9 9AM-2PM EDT FIST Forged in Shadow Torch
A side scrolling metroidvania staring a cyborg bunny on a journey through a ruined land. Looks like things can get quite hectic in this one so it should be a interesting play through.
April 10 4PM-9PM EDT Another Metroid 2 Remake
Somehow, I never played this when it was released. Seems like a good time as any to check out this fan remake of Metroid 2.
Playing games is fun but maybe you need a little something extra to spice things up a bit.
Incentives
$25/40 Donations - Character Artwork
Gallery
For $25 I'll draw a character of your choosing. For $40 it can be a duo of your choosing. Include your giant bomb username in your donation comment and who you want me to draw. If you want a certain pose include that too. Or just PM me the details on here after donating if you prefer doing that. You can see some of my more recent art work above. Along with some I drew for other GB members that donated to me in the past. So you get something nice for doing something nice. This is pretty much a staple of all my charity streams at this point.
$20 Elden Ring Dark Timeline Playthrough Interruption
Maybe your like ehh all these other games aren't worth playing. Instead, you should be wandering through Elden Ring and destroying everything that stands in your way. Any donation with the words Elden Ring will change the game I'm playing to that instead for 1 hour. For up to 8 hours. So if you want to see me die this is the incentive for you.
Overall, this is a pretty normal looking plans for this event. I'm not really one to do anything super crazy but I will try to make it a entertaining live stream. So if your are interested then tune one of my streams this weekend.
Hi everyone it’s once again time for the annual Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run. Hard to believe this event has been going on for 10 years now. The dedication everyone has towards the simple goal of raising money for a good cause is always inspiring. This year we had to quickly change our plans toward a new charity. With what is going on in the world it seems very important to get more donations to any one that needs help fighting the virus that has us all locked down.
Direct Relief is our chosen charity this year. Specially for their COVID-19 fund that is using whatever everyone can donate to help people out. Their main goal is to get more supplies to medical workers. More medical supplies, ventilators and the ever vital medical masks will be what your donations will go toward.
Additionally don’t worry if you can’t spare any money to donate. Everyone needs to make sure they stay safe too so only donate if you can spare the money. We need to get through this together after all. If all you can do is spread the world of this event that is more than enough aid to this good cause.
Anyway I should mention what I’m planning on playing this year. The PlayStation Portable is the focus. Lots of great games were released on Sony’s first handheld. So let's revisit some of them now.
April 17th Friday (8:00PM-12:00AM EST) Ape Escape: On the Loose, Hot Shots Tennis, Patchwork Heroes, Outrun: C2C
Day one is all about a random grab bag of video games. Between catching monkeys and blowing up sky castles you won’t find any time to get bored of any games I’m playing on day one.
A full console experience on the go may not have been what people were looking for at the time but it is pretty impressive what they managed to do on the PSP.
April 19th Saturday (9:00AM-3:00PM EST) Gitaroo Man Lives!, Me & My Katamari
On the second day I wanted to actually try to finish some games. Gitaroo Man is a game I loved watching other people play but I never got a chance to play it myself till now. Same with the 2nd Katamari game.
If you want to see some weird stuff then this is the day worth tuning into.
April 20th Sunday (12:00PM-6:00PM EST) Crisis Core: FFVII, Metal Gear Acid
For the final day I wanted to revisit some of my favorite games on the PSP. Seems like the perfect time to revisit Crisis Core since FFVIIR was just released. As for MGA I always wanted to get good at unique takes on card games. I feel like I got pretty good at one point but going into it cold might just show me how hard these kinds of games can get.
Stealth action with cards seems like a impossible combo but it kinda works.
Incentive: Work Time Fun
Hey maybe you are thinking none of these games are worth playing and instead I should be working. Well each dollar you donate ($1 = 1 minute) with the comment WTF will interrupt whatever I’m playing with the very silly game WTF. Watch in despair as I am forced to play mini games to earn pennies from Death himself. Only to see all the effort go to waste as I get something from the gatcha other than a new mini game.
But in case none of this interests you plenty of other giant bomb community members are playing a bunch of other games around the same time. Check them out on www.explosiveruns.com. Thank you for taking the time to read this far in this little blog. I hope we once again blow past our goal to ever greater heights. Keep on being amazing everyone!
Hello again! I’m once again going to do my small part for the GBCERIX. Raising money for Pencils Of Promise is always worth the effort. PoP uses 100% of your generous donations toward getting kids a better education. For example with enough money they could build a new school or even just getting school supplies to them that they wouldn’t have without your help. Click the link below if you want to support my effort this year.
Like I try to do every year I’ll be streaming each day of the event. Each day will have a different theme that shows off a different legacy console. Starting off with the Super Nintendo.
April 12th Friday Night SNES, 10:00 PM EDT - 2:00 AM EDT
All those hot tracks could be yours.
I’ll be playing through The Firemen, BS Kaizou Choujin Shubibinman, and Kirby Super Star. Although these are in 4 hour blocks it’s certainly possible I won’t finish all of these within the time limit. In that case I’ll either keep going or do a bonus stream later to compete what ends of being left over after all of this. During this time block if you donate $20 you can win Killer Instinct for the SNES & it also includes the Killer Cuts music CD.
April 13th Sega Saturday, 10:00AM EDT - 2:00 PM EDT
Darius is a fun top down shooter.
During this segment the Saturn gets to shine. A trio of games await in this block starting with Die Hard Arcade, Three Dirty Dwarves, and Mobile Suit Gundam. If you decide to donate $20 during this block you could win a copy of Darius Gaiden for the Sega Saturn.
If you like crazy things then this is the one for you.
April 14th Good Morning PlayStation, 8:00AM EDT - 12:00PM EDT
Include either your Twitch name or Giant Bomb username in the donation comment. So I can get back in touch with you if you win. Additionally if you name what you want to win it'll still count even if your not around during my live streams. Otherwise I can’t give anything away. $5 donations can also win some Steam games. I’ll be noting what they are at a later date.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope my little live stream will be a enjoyable experience if you tune in. Donate if you can!
Here we are again my friends. The time of year when the Giant Bomb community live streams video games to raise money for a good cause. While the main thread is a good place to start I always feel like a handy chart is a quicker way to see what everyone is doing. This chart will be updated constantly whenever I notice new users joining in on the fun. Like always if you want to be added to this list just PM me. Plus if you find a mistake let me know.
Let's beat our goal from last year! Going over 250k should be a piece of cake for this generous community.
*Update* $293,983 raised for Extra Life
We Blew past our goal once again. Our combined effort has now brought help to so many kids all over North America. It was thanks to all of the sweet donations and all of our great streamers. Yet Extra Life day may be behind us but streaming for EL does not stop. Some more live streams will be going on later this month. I'll put another mini chart above the old one so anyone checking this out will be able to find them easily.
First time doing a stream for Extra Life and has some games to give away.
Here is a list of all the games he might play.
Jet Set Radio,No Time to Explain, Pony Island, Resonance of Fate, Cook Server Delicious 2 , Spelunky, Overcooked, Cuphead, Heavy Doughnut, Stick Fight Game, Dream Daddy, Dragon Ball FighterZ story mode, Horizon Zero Dawn, Cuphead
Hi, welcome to my little recap of my effort to raise money for Pencils Of Promise. Four years worth of effort into raising money for different charities via video game live streams and not much has really changed on my end. But the one thing that has always improved is the amount of donations everyone manages to raise each year. With over $8000 raised we managed to support 108 kids that now get a chance to learn in a environment that’ll let them stay healthy and obtain materials to aid them in their studies. Thanks to everyone that streamed, donated and watched. Via a combined effort we managed to make this another successful community endurance run.
What I personally raised was $80 which is only one piece of a much grander effort.The main reason I keep coming back to support this event each year is that I know what it takes to truly get someone else to learn. I may not have done it myself but living with my mom who was a teacher her entire life it was pretty clear why it is important to support causes like Pencils Of Promise. But enough of me gushing about why I do this and go into what I actually did this year.
Day 1 Morning
The first two hours kicked off with some high speed rhythm action. If upbeat japanese pop is up your alley you might want to check out my minor look into a few of the 200+ songs in Project Diva Future Tone. After that I tested my fake translation skills in the first few sections of the Japan only Fist Of The North Star PS1 game.
Day 1 Night
The speed at which the developers expected players to play through Strider (2014) was a lot faster than I remembered. This was certainly not a speed run but boy I never quite stopped moving throughout the 4 hours it took to finish it.
Day 2 Morning
It wasn’t in my original schedule but I beat Strider so fast that I now had 2 hours to fill with something else. Which ended up going into overtime since I just had to finish off Fist Of The North Star. I enjoyed seeing scenes from the show play out in the graphical style of a PS1 game. I also played a bit of Panzer Bandits that plays and looks a lot like Guardian Heroes.
Day 2 Night
Renegade Ops is one of those arcade shooters that I enjoyed but never took any time to play through it till now. Turns out it’s alright and I don’t quite understand why Gordon Freeman is a character but I wasn’t not going to play him. A few more levels of Panzer Bandits at the end since it didn’t quite last the full 4 hours.
Final Morning
Tail Concerto is just one of the many unique ideas that managed to get made during the PS1 era. A game about a dog named Waffle catching a bunch of pirate cats with a bubble gun mech is quite the unique idea for a one off game. If anime whimsy doesn’t catch your eye then the “amazing” FMV in Gamera 2000 might just peak your interest. TC comes back at the end since G2000 is pretty short.
Final Night
I ended up playing through two different DLC’s for Half Genie Hero. Even though the levels remain similar they change enough via how they play differently that it was fun to play though both. Once again that didn’t last the 4 hours I scheduled so I played a bit of Project Horned Owl. A light gun shooter that was released on the PS1.
Overall a fun time for me that also succeeded in aiding a good cause in a unique way. Being able to raise money for places that I’ve never seen before feels good. But now I’ll have to look a bit closer to home later this year with Extra Life. Who knows what games I’ll pull out for that effort since I never quite know where my mind will be when November rolls around.
Bonus!
This was a team effort and some other fellow community members put up blogs as well. Maybe you missed them the first time so here is some minor details and links to each one that I know of.
After the first year I joined in on this event I promised myself that I would turn it into a 3 day event each time. Cause if I’m going in I might as well go all out in a respectable manner. Although that means my ability to beat all of these games in the time allowed is quite suspect but I’ll try my best. So let's go over each day and show off what I have in store for you the viewer.
April 20, 2018
10AM-12PM EDT Hatsune Miku Future Tone Let's get this party started with some up beat Japanese J-Pop sung by the ever popular set of vocaloids.
Donation Incentive: Maybe you want to hear something specific during this segment. If you donate a $1 you can pick out a song from this list. Future Tone Specifically from the first blue highlighted section.
12PM-2PM Hokuto no Ken How many times will I hear ATATATATA? Tune in to find out in this PS1 take on the Fist Of The North Star.
8PM-12AM Strider (2014) I thought this was a cool little remake of the original Strider. Seems to be a good time to revisit it.
April 21, 2018
10AM-12PM EDT Strider (2014) I’m not super confident in my ability to finish this in less than 4 hours without practice. So I’m playing a bit more of it at this point too.
12PM-2PM Bandit Kings We go from a 3D beat up up to a 2D one similar to Guardian Heroes. Other than the fact they are talking in Japanese so I have no clue what they are saying.
8PM-12AM Renegade Ops From the makers of Just Cause comes a top down arcade shooter. Even though I’ve meant to play through this it just never happened. Until now!
Donation Incentive: Choose who I get to use to beat this. Armand, Diz, Roxy, Gunnar, Gordon Freeman?, Blazemo or Crystal. Whoever gets the most donations wins.
April 22, 2018
10AM-12PM Renegade Ops In this case I might actually finish it in the first block but just in case.
12PM-2PM Gamera 2000 Another game that might not last the entire block but it sure it something. If you like bad FMV tune in for this one.
Bonus Game: Tail Concerto If the previous two games don’t last this entire block I’ll play a bit of this nice cute game about capturing cat pirates via a mech.
8PM-10PM Half Genie Hero: Pirate Queens Quest Other than watching me play through this you could also win it.
Donation Prize: Half Genie Hero + Both DLC packs Steam Code A $10 donation will get you a chance to win this game along with the dlc. Mention your Giant Bomb/Twitch user name in the donation comment so I can get in contact with you if you end up winning.
10PM-12AM Hatsune Miku Colorful Tone She’s back for the finale.
Donation Incentive: Like before you can donate a 1$ to pick a song from this link. Colorful Tone This time you can pick from the orange list.
Extra Prize: PS1 Grab Bag
If you like PS1 games like I do then this is a prize work donating for. A set of 5 Playstation games. (Armored Core Master Of The Arena, Metal Slug X, Tekken 3, Final Fantasy VII, Rising Zan The Samurai Gunman) $40 donation will get you a pretty good chance of winning this set of games. Also mention your Giant Bomb/Twitch username in your donation comment so I can get in contact with you if you win.
So yeah I’ve got plenty of stuff lined up that I hope will urge a few of you to donate. In the end this is all about helping those in need. We just happen to use video games as a in between. Thanks in advance to anyone that donates or just spreads the word of this event.
That glorious time of year has once again graced our presence once again. When the entire Giant Bomb community gatherers together to raise a lot of money for a bunch of different children's hospitals. Since I just can't resist creating a table that lists all the different streams this'll be a quick way for you to find a stream to watch. All of these are from the main Extra Life forum post since most of the participants haven't quite got a schedule up on their Extra Life page yet. I'll keep adding to this as the month goes along. Going by the last few years this list is going to expand to an absurd length. If your not listed here just send me a PM. Let me know if I made any mistakes.
As always the best place to watch multiple streams at once will be on www.explosiveruns.com
We managed to raise over 200k last year so lets see if that number can be beaten this year. I know we can do it since the Giant Bomb community is awesome.
If you missed Rories post on the main page go here to see what Giant Bomb East/West is planning on streaming for Extra Life.
Update! $218,185 raised by team Giant Bomb.
Half of that was thanks to all our fabulous community members below. Along with you the donator that decided to donate thanks to one of the many silly video game streams that were put on the past few days. Without you our efforts would be in vain. Thanks again to everyone that donated.
Yet Extra Life is never quite over till the new year starts. A few of our community members will be streaming later than the offical date. They are in the chart below but I will be adding a few links below this paragraph for easy access. So you don't have to look through this entire chart to find some basic info you might need. I tried making another chart but it doesn't work very well at all.
@mystupidmouth will be streaming on Dec 15 at 11:30 PM Twitch, Extra Life 24 hours of creating Giant Bomb fan art. Some video games too.
24 Hours of weird, dumb and strange video games await in this live stream.
$15 will get you a chance to win a one of a kind Tony Hawk Ride skateboard. It's been modified you can do do all kinds of flip tricks on it at the local skate park.
24 PS Now games in 24 hours. This time a week before the official start date since I like to break the rules.
Saturday: Revisit the rage in Asura's Wrath and the whimsy of Puppeteer. Along with a bunch of other random games. Possible casual fight night with SMT Dante and other users too if you want to join in at 8PM EST.
Sunday: Can I withstand the size of Nobunaga's Ambition and the rage of Double Dragon Neon? Find out by tuning in and plenty of other games shall be played as well.
Donation Incentive: Import copy of Gundam Extreme Vs Full Boost, a $10 donation will get you a chance to win this crazy game.
This years stream will be at the Cambridge Innovation center. After last year they decided to showcase how awesome Boston games were. So a whole bunch of developers, community organizer, competitive players, speedrunners will be coming together to hang out and raise money for a good cause
Plenty of games will be played and Gang Beasts will once again return.
Cottage Children's Medical Center Santa Barbara, California
Enter the world of RPG speedrunning by tuning into this stream. Since it only takes about 15 hours to beat Tales of Verperia you might catch some PUBG action later on that day.
First time joining in on the fun. He is planning on playing and maybe create levels in Super Mario Maker. Some Jack Box games could also make a appearance
The first one has fellow community members jump in a certain times to either talk as flashflood_29 plays their favorite game as he interviews them or its a coop game they can play together.
If that doesn't work out the extra theme will be a bunch of classic games with a donation incentive toward the allotment of save slates. (SNES Classic)
Also includes a giveaway and if you want to join in send him a PM.
25 hours of games. Mix of new indie games, old PC games, and console games from the 90s. Possibly some board games as well.
Donors can pick the games we play. Raffle for a SNES Classic if I reach my goal ($20/raffle entry). Additional prizes for milestones to be announced (like board games, steam credit, and more).
BC Children's Health Foundation Vancouver, British Columbia
On November 25th(I'm unable to do the 4th) I'll be streaming PS4 games.
Anyone who donates $10 or more will get to pick a game I play for one hour. Links to the list of games available, and the current schedule of what has been picked can be found on my Extra Life Page.
At least 18 hours (maybe 24) of random gaming fun await in this stream.
Confirmed sightings of the following games: Heat Signature, Event[0], Super Rude Bear Resurrection, Cuphead, Environmental Station Alpha, Dead Cells, Flinthook, Hatsune Miku Project DIVA Future Tone
Maria Fareri Children's Hospital Valhalla, New York
Gino and his buddies will be playing some unique stuff this year.
The Definitive Way to Play" A friend and I will trade off spinning a wheel which is labeled with bad games and good games with bad control options. We will then demonstrate for a panel of judges why our assigned control scheme or game is the definitive way to play.
BC Children's Hospital Foundation Vancouver, British Columbia
This year will be a mix of classic adventure games/RPG's, cooperative play with Divinity Original Sin 2, Slaying an Eidolon in Warframe, and many more!
This year for the first time I'll be spending a lot of the stream in Virtual Reality with a Mixed Reality camera setup!
Check back on my channel pages at Twitch/Mixer for a schedule of games!
Another year goes by and it is already time for Extra Life again. Like last year I'm gathering all the info together and putting it into one easy to read table. Making it look just like what @extintor did a few years ago. After comparing the two I think this format looks the best. I'll try to keep this up to date with the main EL forum post. If you wish to be added to this list send me a pm with all the info. Also, let me know if I have any mistakes.
www.explosiveruns.com is still the one-stop shop for all your streaming needs if you want to watch a bunch of them at once.
Let's see if we can meet all of our goals this year. Go Go Giant Bomb Community!
$206,940 Raised for the kids!
Yet it isn't over yet. Updated the top of this list with everyone that is streaming sometime this week or next.
Golarious Russian video games await, comrad. (Actually no I'm just putting this here so it isn't blank. But hey expect some type of video games on this stream.)
Welcome to the end of the line. The final curtain is going to fall onto my retrospective series. We’ve seen all the highs and lows of over 20 years of gaming. If you’ve somehow kept up with all of these you now have a pretty good picture of what kind of games I enjoy. Over time some things have changed like less of a focus on racing games while a general love of generic action games has never disappeared. Yet looking at the big picture nothing has really changed since I still love playing video games and every year continues to keep me entertained. Onward to the final years of this retrospective!
2015-2016
More than anything else the artstyle is the part that stands out the most. It really does look like it came off of greek pottery. The gameplay feels a bit stiff with the combat having a stamina system you’ll need to worry about. Yet the style pushed me to finish this so I felt like mentioning it here.
I think this is one of the better dual stick shooters I’ve played in a while. It does a lot to keep giving the player reasons to keep coming back. The every useful daily challenge that lets you stack up against other players. Up to 4 player coop lets the levels get even more chaotic and fun. Getting good at shooting all the robots quickly without losing the combo is the main goal of each level. Getting a full combo is quite hard but each level isn’t super long so it isn’t hard to repeat them. Which is great since the short nature of the game makes the fact it is easy to replay a good thing.
Metroidvania is a term that shows up a lot these days. Must be because it is a lot easier to make them 2D as noted by Axiom Verge. The game itself was entirely created by one man. Which is shown off by how finely crafted everything is. Plus the best thing about this game is that it subverts what you expect by what tools you’ll have. Unique ways to explore the environment makes it stand out from the rest from my point of view. Access to quite a few different weapons also gives you plenty of ways to deal with any monster that stands in your way. Overall a good game that I enjoyed when it was released.
This is a pretty silly game that gets by thanks to the online coop. Not sure if I would have liked it as much if I wasn’t blasting through these 2D levels with a friend. Seeing who the next Bro would be also kept me hooked for long enough to finish it. The randomness of having to adapt to whoever the game decides to give you is a unique aspect of this game. Although getting lucky sometimes was the key to victory like having the Terminator for the final boss. Not much of a story in this one other than being a force of good that must kill all evil. Overall the mix of run and gun shooter reminded me of Metal Slug.
(PS2 Classics)
Bully was one of those games I rented in the past and had a blast playing through the story. Only recently did I finally own a digital copy of it. It still holds up fairly well with the premise being what holds up best. Even if it is about a bunch of generic stereotypes hah. The game starts with Jimmy Hopkins getting dumped off at boarding school while his parents go off on a vacation. To make the most of this new life at the school he ends up earning the respect of every social cliche to eventually find out what is really going on. Between a bunch of mini games and quite a few unique holiday themed scenarios this has quite a few things to keep you busy. The small nature of the open world keeps the game focused on telling a story too. I wonder if Rockstar will ever revisit this franchise.
Hm looking though this list I've played quite a few platformers this year. Chibi Robo may not be known for 2D platforming but he is pretty good at it. The Zip Lash is what makes this slightly unique by letting him swing around levels. The fact they end up making every boss require the player to use it in a different way was cool. Plus like the upcoming Kirby game the finale of this one is just as crazy.
The last Corpse Party game that ties up the Heavenly Host story arc. Like before it follows the survivors of the first incident as they realize that the horror isn’t quite over. Ayumi’s need to try to revive their fallen friends leads to a situation that might cause the world to infected by the otherworld. A new 3D art style gives the game a more modern look. Along with the very well done audio work that has always been a strength of this series. Yet one of the failings of this game is that it shows you to much. The descriptions and sounds are so much more effective at setting a scary tone that when they just show me stuff it doesn’t work as well. Still even with its flaws this is a fitting conclusion to this story arc.
Everyone in Disgaea 5 has a beef with the Demon Emperor which makes this a game all about revenge. Krillia and his crew of misfits all have a reason to take down Void Dark. Most of the game is just about gathering that crew by traveling around beating people down to convince them to join this unholy alliance. As for the game it is about the same as every other Disgaea game. Create unites that you then power up on the turn based battlefield till they are overpowered. It has a few new things like the revenge mechanic that boosts a unit when another one is lost. Chara World is the most unique part of this game which plays a lot like a board game. Also known as another way to boost stats. Making an all powerful force has always been the end goal of this series.
Amiibos got their hook into me so it wasn’t to surprising that I ended up picking up Disney Infinity at some point. To bad I waited till Disney decided to shut the game down.The game itself seems like a well produced action game that feels like a B tier game that could be enjoyed by anyone. I would put this in the same area as the Lego games that are just dumb fun to be played for a while.
It has been quite a few years since a Dragonball Z game has caught my eye. Xenoverse does what every other game does by retelling the main story but with a twist. Now the main character which the player creates at the start is actually a time cop. Someone is messing it up and only you can put things back the way they should happen. While also trying to figure out who is messing up the timeline. The customization options is where this game shines thanks to all the different attacks and power ups. Whoever you might want to create it is possible with a bit of grinding. Having to repeat certain levels to hopefully get a drop is the only downside that can be softened if you end up playing through them again with some friends. In the end this just proved that I can like a DBZ still so I’m curious to see what Namco does next.
Dragon Quest Heroes continues of the trend of Koei adding a little something extra to these spin offs to make them more fun to play. In this one all the monsters that are vanquished can be spawned to guard important areas of each map. Turns out I can like a tower defence game if someone gives me to tools to wreck shop while still setting up defences. I even have some nostalgia for Dragon Quest too which helps even if I only ever bought the first two games. Music can go a long way it seems. Anyway the action is top notch too with the pace of the combat never slowing down no matter which character you play as. Overall a great game that manages to mesh a bunch of things together.
As noted before I never played any of the big FPS of the 90’s so these releases were my first time seeing them. Duke Nukem 3D added in the crazy idea of letting the player look up and down. Not quite sure if that was on the box but from my point of view that seems to be the biggest addition over Doom. All the attitude contained in this game most likely worked pretty well when this game was released. These days it isn’t quite as fun but whatever the shooting still holds up. Never really put any time into the expansion packs but the main game was well paced with plenty of unique guns to shoot at all those alien bastards. I do think a revamped version of Duke could work today as proved by Doom but I don’t know if anyone will get a chance to do that.
All who enter the Gungeon wish to change their past cause this massive enclave holds the gun that can change the past. The only thing standing in any adventurers way is thousands of evil monsters with guns.Making it to the end is no easy task and requires either a bit of luck and some skill. I’m sure it’s possible to get through this on skill alone but the few victories I had relied on me having health and good gear instead of my subpar skills. The character you choose has some impact on a few things like the hunters dog digging up extra items or the marines great marksmanship skills. Overall a fun replayable game that has plenty of secrets to figure out.
In some ways Galak-Z failed at creating an easily repeatable space action game. The amount of time it takes to get good at the fairly complex controls is a bit much for most players. It was quite satisfying once I figured them out enough to finish off all the episodes. Yet unlike other rogue lites I had no urge to go back and replay it again after seeing the credits. Looks like they might be improving on that with the Void but it isn’t on PS4 yet. Either way I’m keeping my eye on whatever 17-Bit decides to make next.
This was one of my big regrets when it was originally released on PC and I never got to play it. Back in a time where I could only buy games in a store it was impossible to find this game a year or so after its release. At some point I gave up on playing it till this remaster came out. So I finally got to see the story of Manny the salesman who tries to get his clients the best possible trip to the afterlife if they were good in life. Yet it seems his things don’t seem to be working right with the holy Mercedez getting the slowest ticket even though she deserves the quickest transportation. Manny decides to go after her thus continuing the adventure. The game is the standard 3D adventure game with a bunch of puzzles to solve to continue the story. Sometimes it isn’t obvious what you need to do but it doesn’t seem to obscure most of the time. Holds up a lot better than I expected.
I never thought of this as a superhero origin story for Kat when playing this on the Vita. Yet looking at it again that is exactly what this story is about. The game begins with Kat getting the power to control gravity and soon she uses her powers to save the city from monsters that have started to appear. The gravity mechanic gives this game a unique feel. Takes a while for the player to master the mechanics since it is tough to handle the ability to fly all over the place. Flying around drill kicking any monster that gets in the way becomes quite satisfying once you master the controls. Pretty fun to fly around the city in the speed run like fashion too for some of the side missions. I’m glad they were able to follow this game up with a sequel since it seems like they could refine the controls to make them better.
Revelator is a lot like the previous game and it some ways it kinda feels like a expansion pack. Yet it does a lot of cool things. Like having a very good tutorial that plays like a mini game while you're learning the basics of how to play this game. For someone that didn’t really know how to use roman cancels yet this taught me better than the first game. It’s better to just show the player what to do instead of leaving it to a bunch of text. New characters are also apart of this release with Raven being my favorite new one. He just has so many tools that he is fun to use. A new story mode was also included but it is just one like anime instead of something you can play. Overall a really fun fighting game to play unless you can’t keep up with the breakneck pace of each match.
For some reason I though this came out in 2015. It was actually 2014 but I'll put it here since it didn't really work that well till this year anyway. Online wise it was quite broken for longer than it should have been. The single player of all these games was fine. That part of the port was well done and the combat puzzles of the Halo games is just as fun today. This series for me was always something I rented this this collection came out. Being able to play just about every Halo game again was a compelling package.
Miku is back in her SD form. Can you handle all this cuteness? Other than the cute chibi vocaloids this is a rhythm game. Hitting buttons in time with the beat is what you’ll be doing if you play this game. The standard physical button layout is fine but I quite like the touch screen controls. Even if it is a bit easier something about a touch screen and a rhythm game works really well together. This game also has quite a library of songs to go through with a bunch of different musical genres. The variety of music is the strength of the Miku games unless you only like one style of music.
So this is just another Kirby game. With one very big new addition of the giant mech that Kirby can now use to wipe out a invading force of aliens. Copying enemy skills while making his way through a colorful level is still the game play loop of this game. With a bunch of additional mini games to play too. The mech does make it stand out a bit even if it is the tried old Kirby formula. I will say this is easily the most epic Kirby has even been which isn't something I thought I would ever say about a pink puffball.
I never got to experience this the first time because of all the hubbub around the launch of this game. For a well scoring game it just seemed like the tone was super negative so I didn’t end up picking my pre order up. Anyway back to the present where I finally got to play through it. For a Wii game it holds up quite well graphicly. The environments still look quite pretty whenever the shadow world isn’t in play which does make everything look gloomy. Control wise the move over to regular controls makes the game better than the half assed motion controls the Wii version had. Like the rest of the Zelda series this has a bunch of dungeons to explore that are all expertly designed around using a item to solve a bunch of puzzles. Then you take on a vicious looking boss to continue the plot. Link can also turn into a wolf this time which adds a bit of extra elements like only being able to defeat certain enemies in that form. Kinda disappointed in myself that I didn’t play this till now since it is still a great video game.
Most of the time I already have thoughts on a game before watching a quick look but in this case I didn’t know anything about this game till seeing it on Giant Bomb. The fast pace of the combat seemed to be fun and the silly variety of characters seemed right up my alley. After all who couldn’t like Sonico who apparently has a bunch of cats that attack for her along with a entire backup band. Turning visual novel characters into a fighting game is the norm for Examu cause you’ve seen another game of theirs on this list with a similar premise. This time a bunch of ladies get pulled into another dimension and must take out the necronomicon who is now a girl for some reason. Whatever it doesn’t quite matter if the fighting is fun.
Possibly the last great triple A game from Konami other than FIFA. Like any finale for a series MGSV goes places. Most of it focuses on the open world that you can interact with in any way you want. Although that mostly means you’ll either be super sneaky or just shoot everyone with different explosive weaponry. The only real failing is the lack of plot other than a few cutscenes. (Most of it is in the tapes.) Yet the gameplay being so enjoyable really makes up for the lack of lore. Plus the dumb stuff that happens in metal gear has now been left to the player. Fultoning random stuff like goats is pretty silly. Should be interesting to see what Konami does with the Metal Gear name now. Other than make pachinko machines.
Working within the binds of a standard Dynasty Warriors clone this does that style of game very well. The over the top nature of One Piece already leads itself well to this type of game. Even if they don’t constantly blow away hundreds of foes in the anime/manga. The well paced combat is what makes this game enjoyable. Being able to dodge attacks at any time is key to making me like a action game apparently. Each character is also unique with Zolo slicing up a bunch of foes while Luffy bashes everyone in with his rubber arms. With this being the third game they do reuse assets a bit but overall it is a brand new game that follows the story arc all the way to the present. They even create a unique ending for the game. The extra Dream log adds a bunch of replay value too. Overall a good One Piece game that uses the license well.
Everybody’s shuffling and they got Pokemon on their minds? Hah well this may just be a match 3 game but I quite enjoyed it for weeks. Not an easy task for this style of game. I will say victory was sometimes random but not that often. The free to play aspects don’t take away from it either. It kinda just kept me interested in longer since I ended up playing it for a few minutes each day. Being able to capture a bunch of different Pokemon that can lead a helping hand while playing was useful. Hope they consider this to be the best way to make phone games when Nintendo gets serious about that later on this year.
(Nintendo Eshop)
Next Level games did a excellent job of bringing Punch Out back by sticking to the simplicity of the gameplay. Making it more of a game about learning patterns and the best time to counterattack your opponent. Little Mac's rise to stardom isn’t easy and the constant struggle is worth the effort when he finally does succeed in the end. It even has a fitting ending to the saga if this ends up being the final Punch Out game.
Kinda crazy to think one of the reasons I bought a Xbox One was just to have access to a collection of old games. Between the oldest stuff that doesn’t quite hold up to the newer games I didn’t get to access to till now it is a well produced package. Other than a few games on NES/N64/360 I never quite knew about Rares full library of games till this release. It was cool to see them all even if I don’t quite enjoy playing some of them.
Boy I really just like adventure stories that take place in foreign countries that have a adventurer scouring the land for some type of treasure. Laura returns for round two as she steps up to a new level of skill. In both how she deals with situations and the world she has to explore. This time Lara plans on finishing her father's works by finding Kitezh. Surprising no one it will not be a easy task to roam around russian mountains and facilities to find out the secret of immortality. Not much has changed since the last game other than giving the player access to many types of arrows that can unlock new areas to explore. The places you can explore aren’t huge but are still quite fun to explore since the audio logs of this game are quite well done. Plus this has tombs to explore that have their own unique puzzles that must be figured out to gain a new skill. In general this game was a step above what Crystal Dynamics did with the original reboot.
How is this possible? Someone made a new arcade game sports game in 2015. They even made me care about soccer and all they had to do was make a game about cars hitting a ball into a net. It really shows how fun it can be to race down a field and try to outmaneuver an opponent. As time goes one they just keep adding variations to keep it fresh too like adding in hockey or basketball. Curious to see what they decide add next. Overall seems like a game I’ll keep coming back to over time.
Beautiful 2D artwork in fighting games is something I like to see. Lab Zero Games was the first to show the gaming community as a whole how much it really takes to make a fighting game character. Which also made me more aware of this game too. Which is about a bunch of girls fighting each other for the right to claim the skullheart which would give them one wish even if it is fatal for the one who wishes. The story is told via well made artwork and vo work. As for the fighting it is very fast paced with a focus on comboing your opponent till they have no life left. I’m not that skilled but it is still rather easy to get the basics down thanks to one of the first well done tutorials in a fighting game. In the end this is a well made fighting game that anyone can like unless they don’t like the art style.
Time to talk about a game that made me like online shooters again. All someone had to do was lower the stakes a bit. Instead of worrying about splating all my foes the gist of a splat war was to cover the map with paint. If your team had more of the map colored with your color then you win. The fact Nintendo kept updating the game also gave me a reason to keep coming back. None of the newer modes really seemed that appealing and eventually I started to care about winning. Somehow that was the beginning of the end since the lowest started to get to me and I stopped playing it. Yet now I kinda want to play it again but rebuying the game with the NX on the horizon seems like a bad idea. After all a sequel or HD remix is guaranteed.
EA decided to bring back Battlefront again and being a fan of the first two games I had to check out this one. I went in knowing this wasn’t an exact replica and was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. Sure it didn’t have much staying power but multiplayer games have never been something I spent a lot of time on anyway. Occasionally doing something crazy with one of the heroes or wiping out a few incoming foes with some well placed laser blasts felt great. The only disappointing part was actually the single player that didn’t even let me do a standard conquest bot match. That was the way I played most PC multiplayer shooters in the past. Still I’m curious to see what they do to follow this one this game.
I always meant to put more time into the Pushmo games.With this being the final game so far it added in a new mechanic. The player can now stretch out pieces. Nothing that mind blowing but it just adds a new layer to these rather complex puzzles. At least they get rather complex later on with no room for error. Yet it does feel great when you managed to solve them even if it takes a while. Maybe one day I’ll finish them all.
Here we have a good fighting game that was released a bit too early. Going completely by how all the characters fight it does what it aims to do. It is a semi slow pace that is focused on learning how to outpace your opponent. Either by rushing them down with someone like Ken or keeping them away with Dalishim. I rather like this style of gameplay and it works quite well on a arcade stick. At this point in time it finally got a story mode which I thought was good. For someone that doesn’t playing fighting games online it feels like I should hate this game but I seem to like it. I think a constant influx of new fighters might be the way to make a fighting game these days. It gives a reason for players to come back which is the only way I can see SFV keeping up with some of the cooler looking fighting games that are on the horizon.
(Nintendo Eshop)
This game felt like a expansion pack instead of a sequel. Have a bunch of new levels based on the Super Mario Galaxy engine. As an added bonus you can use Yoshi now. Depending on the player that could be a good or bad thing. I’m not going to say a Mario game has a great story but the added context of Rosalina's backstory worked well in between collecting stars in the first game. Without that it is now just a star collecting game. Which is still quite fun since the mechanics in Galaxy keep things interesting. Just doesn’t have as much impact the 2nd time around.
GOTY 2015 at least going by my list. Mario Maker does a lot of things to make it appealing. Using the gamepad to create levels is easy and it doesn’t take that long to create a reasonably well made level. Even if you don’t want to create levels you still have access to a continuing expanding roster of user made levels that just keep getting better. Even when I’m not playing the game it is still fun watching other people play levels too like at the recent Summer Games Done Quick event. Overall this game feels like it’ll last a long time.
I ended up going through the first and second game to prepare myself for this third game. In most cases that could end up getting me burned out on the sequel but that didn’t happen here. While the first Witcher games are alright it just ended up showing me how much CD Project has improved over time. The fighting is a lot easier to understand in 3 even if it is still quite tough. Requiring the player to plan ahead is what makes the combat scenarios unique. Which has always been in every Witcher game. The added push of a more relatable story filled with quite a few interesting characters made this game's story stand above the rest. Geralt fits the role of worried dad quite well and being the father of Ciri is no easy task with the Wild Hunt after her. In the end this was a very good open world adventure that had plenty to keep me entertained till the credits rolled.
Naughty Dog is back for one last adventure with Nathan Drake. Turns out he missing piece in these Indiana Jones like stories was a bit more plot. Seeing what he gets up to when not adventuring is interesting because games don’t portray that part often. Once the adventure starts it becomes apparent that the shooting has been improved along with adding the ever useful grappling hook. Surprised it took this long to include something to let your swing over dangerous rocks. Other than that it also look amazing which isn’t a small feat these days. Over time it has become tougher to make a game look great yet Naughty Dog continues to push the limits of any hardware they get their hands on. Can’t wait to see what they do next.
Conclusion
Now that we have made it to the present it is apparent which kind of games I like the most. Let me list them out here.
Beat em Up/Character Action: You would think I would have gotten tired of this style of game by now yet it continues to stick with me. Either because they are so over the top that it is fun to see what happens next or they added in some RPG elements to make me want to stick with it for a while.
Adventure/Visual Novel: For someone that didn’t really play very many PC adventure games I have grown to like them even more today. The gameplay is always secondary in my mind for these games although I don’t mind to figure out a puzzle or two. As for visual novels the reason they work is that they usually tell a compelling enough story to make me want to see the conclusion and the artwork is just a nice addition to the storytelling.
Classic Video Games/Arcade: Duh I wouldn’t be doing these blog posts if I didn’t like older games. They may not all hold up but it never hurts to go back to the games I played while growing up. Or even the ones I missed might be good too. The games that I have no nostalgia for yet are still fun are the true gems.After all it is rare to find a game that truly holds up from a previous era without the aid of nostalgia.
Fighting Games: Beating up another character one on one has always been satisfying. Never enough to get me deep into learning how to play them competitively. Yet I quite enjoy them casually and like playing against friends. Arcade modes have always been the bulk of my time spend with this style of game though.
Turn/Action RPG: I didn’t start out this way but by now the RPG genre has been mixed with every game type possible it’s not easy to find a game without this style of mechanics. Whether I’m shooting guys in a FPS or bashing them over the head with a mace the numbers keep popping up to remind me that the developers were inspired to add RPG like mechanics to the game. The traditional style of RPG is still fun too.
I could keep going but this seems like a solid recap of the style of games I tend to enjoy the most. With more games on the horizon this tally will only keep getting bigger. By now you know this is the hobby I spent most of time on. It lets me experience worlds in ways that no other medium can convey. VR looks to be the next big step for our hobby if it manages to catch on. Either way whatever the next step will be I’ll certainly be around to see the next big thing. All of us want to see a similar thing. More video games that are inspiring, exciting, riveting, heartfelt, exploration, scary, long, dumb and many more ways a game can affect us. Onward to the future because it is always the best time to play video games.
(These blogs have had a general focus on consoles. Since I don’t want to leave out the PC I'll be following this up with one more blog post. A brief history of pc gaming shall possibly be out within a week.)
This train never stops since I still have things to say about all the good and bad games I’ve played over the many years video games have been apart of my life. Since I haven’t really mentioned it in a while the reason I even started this blog series was just to see all the games I haven’t played in a while again. Writing about them afterward shows me what they meant to my personality while trying to explain the gameplay/story in text form. How easy it is for me to come up with these paragraphs per game shows me either that the narrative left a big impact on me or the gameplay was fun. Anyway let us go to the next week of games with possibly one of the weirdest games followed up with one of the most bland games in my collection.
2014
Yup a game about striping vampires to defeat them. It just so happens to take place in Akihabra which in the mecca for all types of otaku. For that kind of setup it’s too bad they don’t really go all the way with it. Other than some silly jokes they don’t seem to do much with the combat which feels really stiff. A lot of times I feel like I should have blocked an attack yet the enemy still hits me. At least it is fun to beat people down with a keyboard or a guitar. Actually I think this game would be alright if I didn’t do all the side missions which are really generic and boring. Some of the characters like the protagonist little sister Nana are quite amusing and it doesn’t hurt that she also is the blacksmith of this game so she upgrades all the knitpicks you pick up. Overall the less this game makes sense the better it is. To bad the gameplay is kinda iffy.
I’ve fallen down the dark timeline where only Assassin’s Creed Unity remains in my collection. Only because I got it with my Xbox One and it wouldn’t be worth selling for a 1$. I’ve played almost every AC game but they were all rentals except for Black Flag and this one. So it seems to be a franchise I wanted to keep up with even though buying them never really came up that often. The first game sold on the potential of a story stuck between modern day and the past. Yet never really did anything with it. At this point Ubisoft gave up on telling any kind of future story and instead focused on the past. To bad this is so generic that it makes the most boring Assassin’s story yet. I don’t even remember the name of the main character. He will forever be that guy that stabs dudes like most of the AC cast. Overall this series has its good and bad days. I do hope Ubisoft manages to reinvent this series to make it stand out again.
I never really played Defender a bunch when it was in arcades yet I seem to have an affinity for any game that uses those mechanics. In a lot of ways Aqua Kitty DX is just a reskin. Instead of a space ship you’ll be piloting a submarine piloted by a cat. Who must keep his comrades safe from the robot fish mencince that is preventing them from milking milk from the bottom of the sea. Blowing up a bunch of enemies while not getting blown up in a variety of 20 levels is the entirety of the game. Other than a endless mode that can be played till the player loses. A short and simple game but it was fun while it lasted.
The roller coaster ride that a player can go on in this game is still in full effect here. At the start of Rebirth I was thinking it wasn’t a great idea for me to jump into this rogue lite since it gets harder the more times I play through it. So the extra bosses and enemies that weren't as active before can be ready to destroy Isaac. Yet I started to get some good power ups and I started to feel invincible. Then I suddenly die thanks to a bad room. The randomness is this game's strength and weakness. Skill still factors in if you can deal with each room but sometimes the game just says F you. Which is okay simply because it is possible to repeat those levels really quickly.
I do think Chariot is a good idea for a game. I’m sure it's just my need to explore every part of a level yet that makes them way too long. Plus this is a much more enjoyable game when I have someone else around to play it. Going solo just makes it feel like I’m slowly figuring out puzzles when I could have someone else around that can make up for any mistakes I make. Overall if the pacing of the levels were a bit snappier I would have played more of this game. But like I said that was partially my fault for wanting to explore everything.
I think it takes one of two things to make a visual novel stand out. Either it has to have a unique setting/characters or some kind of mystery to keep you hooked till the end. Luckly Danganronpa has both of those things and some unique gameplay moments too. The start of this game begins with a bunch of students getting trapped in Hope’s Peak Academy. A psychotic bear named Monokuma has trapped them all there and the only way to get out is for someone to kill without being caught. Madeki is the only one there that doesn’t have a skill he is good at other than being really lucky. Turns out he is pretty good at cracking puzzles too since once a murder goes down he is the key to solving it. Busting holes in logic with evidence feels a lot like the Ace Attorney games. Although in this case it is shooting truth bullets at the issue. Eventually the truth comes out and the story continues. A lot more goes into this game than a paragraph will allow me to point out so I’ll just end on the fact that this ended up being a very good story.
Yo it’s like that last game but on a island. NIS somehow got this game out in the same year. Thanks to the setup in the first game this actually has a much better narrative and twist. By the time you see the ending you won’t believe what is goin on.
Here we have the elephant in the room. Possibly one of the best 3 star games ever. Destiny had so much potential and I quite liked playing it a lot when it was released. The slow trickle of new content didn’t keep me interested in coming back even when they released something new. I do think I’m still up for more FPS space adventures one day. For the one thing this does great is the shooting. Taking down the fallen and any who stand in the way of the guardians was cool. Especially if you found a group to do a raid since that is kinda the best part. Whenever Bungie decides to put a 2 on Destiny I’ll be there.
Diablo 3 cares about one thing only and that is loot. Do like like cool looking armor that happens to have a color grade of purple/yellow? Then you’ll be seeing it a lot in D3. Giving the player a bunch of cool armor/weapons constantly is why this game works so well. If the player character keeps getting better then why wouldn’t you keep playing? I assume that was the angle blizzard was aiming for with these release. Plus a top down loot based action game works really well on a gamepad. Clicking a bunch is but I just prefer analog stick in most situations. Oh this has a story too about uh great evil coming from the stars. Ehh not really this game's strong point other than it having nice looking CGI cutscenes.
Trying to do what this game wants the player to do is no easy task. This is likely the first survival game I put any real time into. The loop is simple enough that I kept wanting to keep trying to survive for longer each time. This also has a ending too. I prefer games that have a ending so it's easy to see why I’ve never played too many games like this.
I bought this mainly just to access X2 since I never played it and it seems like one of the sillier entries into the FF brand. After all it is about Yuna, Rikku and Paine running around the world hunting spheres. To help them out they need to use the dress grid which lets them change costumes and what skills they could use. Like turning Yuna into a dancer which that can buff and debuff enemies/allies. Kinda a variation on the job system in the older FF now that I think about it. Getting a nicer looking release of X is okay too. Still even though I own this I never really found time to play through it yet.
I’ve beginning to notice that I just prefer certain fighting games on a gamepad. This is one of those with the main reason that I just don’t think air dashing on a arcade stick feels that good. Other than making me understand that Xrd impressed a lot of players with how good it looks. Whenever I think of the Unreal engine this isn’t the kind of game that comes to mind. Other than perfectly recreating 2D animation into 3D this is just a good game to play. With each of the matches being about constantly going in it is hard to not like it. I’m an aggressive player to a fault and whenever I try being defensive that usually ends in failure. Better to get some hits in than none at all.
At least for me this does exactly what I would have wanted from a Zelda Warriors game. The combat moves at a quick pace and every character can dash through attacks to avoid damage. A insane amount of fanservice is just the cherry on the top of this mishmash of Zelda games. They even put more effort into the story than I thought they would even if it is just yo Ganon is trying to take over Hyrule again. The extra adventure mode add some replay ability in the form of a bunch of unique challenges centered around different situations. Like beat these bosses or take down the enemy leader. So the usual Dynasty Warriors mission structure. Overall a solid action game that is enjoyable if you even slightly like Zelda.
This game feels like a return to a style that I really enjoy. It really plays like a sequel to Kirby Super Star. Which means all weapons have more than one attack. Having a dash/up/down attack let's Kirby deal with any situation he is in. I also like that Nintendo keeps adding in new powers like beetle or even a Bell? The game itself doesn’t have anything special other than it being a new Kirby game. He does have a new ability that allows him to suck in the cosmos if he wanted too. Over the top silliness seems to be the way to end these 3DS games. Never knew that dramatic final battles was something I wanted in a Kirby game.
Something clicked for me in this generation of Nintendo games. MK8 is easily the finest looking and playing kart game they’ve made so far. Up to this point the drifting system had evaded my purview. Yet it finally clicked for this one. I was boosting around corners like a pro. While occasionally falling into a pit cause I’m not perfect. Each of the courses are unique and fun to replay to try to get a better trophy. Plus it has the perfect game to play when a friend comes over. It isn’t a hard game to control so it has becomed one of the games that constantly get played locally for me.
Looking at this now this was released just so Konami could make some extra money on something that would be their last big budget game release. Might as well put out a paid demo that most fans like me would buy just to see where Meta Gear was going this time. It made it cear that it was going in a serious direction while still keeping the dumb charm. More than anything this showed that MGS was caught up with the times. It plays like a standard action game which may not sound like much but it was a big improvement. Would have been nice if this had a bit more content but I feel like it was worth my time.
Well this is the last game I’ve imported so far. Around the time the Full Burst version of the Gundam Vs series came it seemed like it came up enough times that I needed to check it out. For one it is a Gundam game that crosses over with itself. With over a 100 playable characters it isn’t hard to find a new mech to pilot. Just about every anime series is represented well with each one getting a nice intro that shows off all the mechs and the title theme of each one. The fighting is fast pace and is more about timing dodges to avoid all incoming damage. Learning the timing on when to dash is vital since every attack will always aim directly at you. It is fun to learn the timing and come out on top. I do miss knowing what is going on though. With it being entirely in Japanese I can’t understand the mission objective or what is going on in the story. Not that it has much of one but still being able to read anything made me appreciate it less.
I’m not sure if it comes through with these blog posts but I tend to occasionally buy a entire series at once if I want to get into it. After it’s been out a while and is pretty cheap too pick up. I did that with Silent Hill and with these Naruto games. My will to play through them all tends to peter out as I go through them. Especially when nothing tends to change other than the story. Which is the case for the Ultimate Ninja games. The combat is still exactly the same as the first game. It has been refined over time like adding in limited dodges but it is still the same game. Since I somewhat like Naruto’s constant fight against evil it does get a bit boring after a while.
I’m amazed that we ever got a idol game brought over here. Only really thanks to the fact it was a Neptunia game though. Maybe it’s a good thing we don’t get many since this seemed rather subpar. So very few options to improve any of the girls stats and it doesn’t really go anywhere narratively either. The fact that the concerts don’t even have the player hitting buttons along with the beat is just a travesty. Seems like I just had to point out how bad this game is. None of the spin off Neptunia games have been that great.
A lot like Tony Hawk 2 the addition of the manuals made me like OlliOlli 2 more than the first game. It just makes it that much easier to do a combo all the way to the end of the course. Which is the ultimate goal of this game. Get good enough to do crazy tricks without ever breaking a combo. At best I only do normal tricks so I can’t quite hang on the leaderboards anymore. Really this game is just one here because someone decided to make a fun skateboarding game again which is something I would like to see more of.
Ultimax improved upon what Arc System Works did with the first Persona fighting game. They added in more characters and finished the story arc they left with a to be continued last time. The shadow versions of all the characters are now playable too even if they are kinda just mirrors with a few gameplay quirks that change up how they use their supers. The battles are fast paced and focus on doing a bunch of damage quickly. The auto combos the game has is useful for me since it lets me perform some cool looking attacks even if I don’t have the time to do it manually. Any game that makes it easier for me to do something cool in a fighting game is okay in my book.
Out of the Persona spin offs this is my least favorite one. I know that I can enjoy dungeon crawlers since I do like Legend Of Grimrock but it just didn’t seem that fun this one. Even though it has the entire cast of Persona 3 and 4. Seeing how they interact was fun and the skits between floors were worth seeing. Helping out two new characters named Rei and Zen escape from the crazy school dungeon is compelling. Finding out the truth was worth the effort since the twist is pretty good. If only running through the same looking areas while solving puzzles was also fun. At least for me it felt convoluted and boring. The same shadows keep showing up so after a while it isn’t that fun to defeat the same enemies constantly. Still I could say that about any RPG. Oh well at least the F.O.E. keep me on my toes. Overall not a bad game yet it just wasn’t that fun for me.
The VS part of the title is the only thing that doesn’t quite fit in with the narrative. Which has Phoenix meeting Layton in a mystery involving a town that hates witches and puts everyone on trial if they even think your one. Solving a bunch of puzzles using matchsticks and other things is what Layton does. While Phoenix puts his best face on to prove that his client isn’t a witch in the courtroom with his usual bag of tricks. By proving that the witnesses are either lying or wrong about what they saw with any evidence he has in his bag. Both of these games meld together really well since they are both about solving a mystery it’s just this time puzzles are the downtime between court battles instead of running around a area gathering clues. I wouldn’t mind if they do this again since it was a fun game.
More has changed than you might assume from the last Senran Kagura game. Instead of this being a side scrolling beat em up it is more like Dynasty Warriors with the game being from behind the back of the playable character. Thus the action is still about getting enemies into the sky constantly by mixing the basic combos into a big chain attack. Still really fun to play even if the levels are quite linear. Each of the playable ninjas all have a different moveset so that is where the game gets a bit of variety. Still this series isn’t for everyone but that isn’t a bad thing if I still enjoy it.
When this was first released I overlooked it as being just another 2D action platformer that was very well made. The fact that Yacht Club games was spun off of Wayforward is why it even caught my eye. Over time I’ve been impressed by how many updates this game has gotten. A alternate story mode starting plague knight was released along with some new challenges to test your shoveling skills. The main champion was alright too and any game that lets me pogo on enemies is always going to at least a smile out of me. Hope they get around to making something new soon.
Sleeping Dogs may have been a sequel to the True Crime games at one point yet what it morphed into was something something better. The fact it is based in china made it stand out from the rest of the open world pack. Mixed with a good driving system that lets the player do silly stuff and solid fist fighting combat based on the style from the Batman games keeps all aspects of the game interesting. The fact that this is a “upgraded” port doesn’t mean much other than having access to the dlc. Mostly just bought this version to support the developers. I want them to make another one of these that isn’t a multiplayer shooter.
I think Drinkbox did a much better job with this sequel than the first game. Which went on for far to long and didn’t have any new gimmicks to keep me interested. While this one flew by and I actually wanted more when I finished this the first time. Not that the Blob has anything left to do after he ends up causing the apocalypse. With the PSTV not letting me play this I’m just going by what I remember. It was quite fun eating a entire city so if you need a quick platformer that is fun to play check this one out.
The first Xillia game worked quite well but the revisit to this world fails on some important points. Mostly the fact it reuses so many assets from the first game it barely feels like a sequel. The main new gimmick is that the protagonist Ludger has the ability to travel into alternate dimensions that he ends up destroying. As the game goes along he teams up with the cast of the first game. Another little addition was letting the player choose from a dialogue wheel even it doesn’t change much most of the time. Overall still a solid action RPG that doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from the previous game.
For me Towerfall became my local indie coop/vs game of choice. Running around dodging arrows by either catching them or avoiding them was fun. I don’t play very many games of this style so it is easy to see why I might have enjoyed this. Plus it even has a coop campaign which is always a plus. It isn’t more than killing a bunch of enemies in a arena but it still works. The fact that it is really hard kept me coming back till we prompted. The hardcore mode is a bit to much though. Overall a solid local vs game that kept me entertained for hours.
Half the fun of this game comes from seeing the Mii’s you put on your island do silly skits. Like watching them put on a musical or watching as someone tries to matchmake two of them by watching their date. Whenever the player isn’t watching them do something silly the game is about making sure they are happy. By either buying them what they want or playing a minigame with them. In general this is just the Sims without having to worry about keeping the Mii’s healthy. Virtual SD characters don’t need food after all. The only real downfall of this game is that it doesn’t have much staying power. It does have quite a few unlocks but once every environment is available you will start to see repeat skits fairly quickly. Even during this visit I saw one that I remember from last time.
Nippon Icchi Software decided to make a new series with a new kind of gameplay. They’ve never shyed away from creating a new universe to see but changing the gameplay was what caught my eye. Turning it into a loot based action rpg wasn’t something I expected from them. Even that has a twist since all the weapons add to a 7-hit combo. So the way the Hundred Knight mixes up attacks is by using different weapons. For example a staff will send out a electric ball while a spear will send him charging a few feet forward. Every stage is also timed by how much energy the Knight has which gives a bit of incentive to keep going. As for the story it is about a swamp witch called Metalia who wishes to spread her wonderful swap all over the world. Pretty evil on the outside but as you might infer that isn’t quite how it ends. In a weird twist of fate the bad ending is actually the one that requires a ton of time to unlock instead of the good one.
(Eshop Release)
Wild Guns was one of those SNES games that I never even saw in a store. On a spur of moments notice I decided to pick it up off the eshop when it went on sale. I was not disappointed by the focus on shooting a bunch of evil cowpokes and giant robots. Not a easy game which is best enjoyed with a friend since the extra lifes make it possible to win. Even then it required some creative use of a save slate to finally succeed. It isn’t a very long game with it only taking a hour to beat it so I can see why it was made really tough even on easy. Pretty crazy to think Natsume randomly decided to bring this back on modern consoles. Kinda wonder if selling well on the eshop lead them to that decision.
This is a run of the mill visual novel. Somehow this is connected to the Blazblue games. If it actually did something cool with the narrative I might have been more interested in it. Really the best thing about it is that it has multiple endings. The fact that the dialogue can change depending on which news stories you read is a neat idea. Plus the artwork is also really nice. Yet the story of Touya and how he turns out being some kind of magic god thing is ehh. Plus most of the focus is about picking the girl of your choice to get her ending. I wonder if they improved on this a bit in the sequel.
Conclusion
I didn’t quite set up this blog series correctly. Year wise at least with the first half of 2016 being over I can cover a few more games than I originally planned on. So I’ll be including part of 2016 in the next post which will be the finally be the end of this 7 month project. Yet I will be making good on my PC focused blog post that’ll be a more compact look at the games that weren't apart of this console/portable retrospective. Tune in next time to see me buy a bunch of fighting games and way too much anime.
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