A Personal Video Game Retrospective (1986-2015) 2012

Welcome back to another look at way too many video games that came out just 4 years ago. The timeline is almost complete. Although we wouldn’t know it this was the year of the devices that didn’t quite live up to their potential. At least from the point of view of how much they sold. Which is disappointing since I like to see everything succeed but that isn’t a realistic notion in this world. Let us start by talking about the console and handheld that came out this year.

Wii U

The Wii U once again had a gimmick to try to drum up sales. They even kept the name which turned out to be a bad decision. After all the masses apparently can’t tell the difference. At first I resisted picking this up after being down on Nintendo since the Wii but they won me over in the end. I just love video games too much not to have access to them all. Having a tablet for a controler worked even if it never really had very many games that used it well. Other than a map although in a few cases developers did try a few things different like using it for 2 player co op on different screens. Thinking about this console now is kinda depressing since someone decided to steal my tablet and all the games recently. At least I can mostly use it without the tablet but buying one from Ebay and then obtaining the games seems pointless. Especially if the rumors about the NX getting ports of certain Nintendo games were true. I’m still going to cover the games did own even if I can’t play them anymore.

Vita

Like the PSP before it the Vita tried to win gamer hearts by showing them how good a game could look on a portable. Turns out just like the PSP that may get the hardcore to buy it yet the masses don’t really care. Console style gameplay doesn’t seem to work that well on go. Building a specialty game for this kind of device is where it shines. It is also the best way to play a lot of indie games on the go. Japanese developers tend to love making games for this device which I’m also a fan of. Easy to see why it turned into something I tend to use a lot. Unfortunately it was the other thing those thief's stole. Much easier to replace though with the Playstation TV only costing me 25$ It’s a good thing most games don’t use the touch screen features. Now watch my masterful segue into the games I thought were worth buying this year.

2012

Hype machine the video game. Asura’s got a lot of problems after his wife gets killed and he gets blamed for killing the emperor. Even his daughter Mithra gets kidnapped too and he gets sent to hell. After digging his way out he immediately uses his anger to mash his way through any of oppose him. Bursting just makes everything work out. Whenever the game isn’t showing something crazy with a QTE prompt it is either a lock on shooter or a character action game. Both of those are acceptable parts of the game but it really is just about the spectacle. Even if it has a few slow moments most of the game is just one crazy thing after another.

I kinda said what I wanted to say about Borderlands last time. Gearbox just made a new villain and new vault hunters to oppose his reign over Pandora. They tweaked the shooting a bit to make it more responsive. Plus they added way to many new guns to collect. Like before watching the numbers go over 100k by the time your vault hunter is level 60 feels really good. The bosses are now a bit more unique and pose more of a challenge which is good compared to the really easy ones in the first game. The only downfall are the jokes that may not work for everyone. At least the fun time I had playing with a friend cooperatively made up for that flaw.

This was a game that sold me by the fact it played a lot like Guardian Heroes. To bad it has quite a bit of slowdown on the 3DS. Going into it cold took a bit for me to figure out everything even though this is just a beat em up. Other than the standard light and heavy attacks this looks like it has 4 special moves to mix up the action a bit. From the start it was quite a disappointment with the action being a bit slow. I never put much time into this one.

Tower Defence has to do something insanely good for me to care about it at all. Unfortunately that isn’t true for this one but it does have a unique premise. Dillon happens to be a armadillo who goes around protecting different towns that get raided by rock monsters. His main offensive attack is using his armored scales to smash into his foes. This entire game uses the touch screen and is about sliding down and holding it to charge up attacks. Whenever Dillion isn’t attacking rocks he is building up a bunch of towers to defend points on the map. All this is fine if only it didn’t take so much time to build up stuff before anything starts to happen. Then once everything starts popping off it is hard to keep up.

I was hoping to see some of the Rasberyl mode that was added in this updated version on vita but it takes some time and a bit of grinding to see it. Not that it changes much it just has her as the protagonist. As she tries to become the greatest delinquent the land has ever known. While inadvertently becoming a honor student one step at a time. If you’ve forgotten honor means you're pretty evil according to the lore in this game. The gameplay is the same as always with each stage being set up for the player to summon up to 8 minions to wipe out the opposing force. Between the turn based chaos of each battle it is possible to buy gear and do other things to make each encounter easier. This was finally the Disgaea game that I put over 100 hours into. At the time the launch of the vita I had a lot of time to play this game.

So this might not have been the direct remake of Double Dragon that some fans wanted. Instead it is a humorous take on DD with the excellent silly villain Skullomageggon stealing the spotlight. The main addition of the beat em up formula they decided to add was the ability to duck under punches. If timed right the Lee brothers will heat up and do more damage. Making a lot of the drawn out fights much easier if even if your happen to be underleveled. Yup this has a leveling system but it is left up to enemies dropping mixtapes that could be a new special move or style of fighting that can then be leveled up to 50 times. The cherry on the top would be the soundtrack which has plenty of groovy tunes to go along with all the beat downs you’ll be doing by the time this game concludes.

Well they certainly made a super flashy intro where Lighting gets to battle a dark god. The augmented active time battle is system is still in effect in this one. Like the first game it seems rather limited at first with the only options for the first few battles being either attack or heal. Once Lighting sends the mysterious stranger Noel into the time portal before armageddon happens in Valhalla things just keep getting weirder. The main goal in the game seems to be correcting all the wrongs that happened in the past because suddenly time travel is a thing that can happen. Maybe that was in the first game too but I never finished it so I’m not sure. Overall this seems well produced fantasy adventure that I seemed to have bought cause I can’t stop buying Final Fantasy games.

For someone that really likes games that are beat em ups it’s surprising that I never really got into God Of War at all. I ended up picking up this as a way to check out every game for cheap. Because I have some need to play through in chronological order I played the psp games then the first on PS2. Never did get to 2 or 3 so this is the first time seeing the intro level in God Of War 3. Its sense of scale of the titans that Kratos just happens to be riding up to the top of mount olympus is impressive. The combat is about on par with the rest of the games. It just looks a lot better here. Overall a solid action game that is very bloody if you happen to enjoy that.

These later Harvest Moon games never really impacted me like the older games. Only so many times can I water crops in so many environments till it just isn’t as captivating. The start really slows the game down a bunch with a step by step tutorial that shows off the entirety starting town and how to plant crops. The main narrative hook this time is that fact you're trying to bring two towns that have separate ideas to come together and realize that they can work better together than apart. That is done mainly by competing town quests that end up rebuilding their long lost friendship. They also added a assortment of new vegetables to grow along with the ability to raise a Alpaca. This does have new things to see but it starts so slowly I ended up giving up quickly back when this was new.

It has been a real long time since I played a Golf game. With the launch of the vita it seemed like a good time to play a new one. Hot Shots Golf always seemed fairly well liked even if I never played any of them. Not that I’ve been missing much since this is just golf. I never did get very good at putting which still causes me to get bogey on almost every hole. This has a detailed grid showing me where the ball will go yet judging that shot has never been my strong point. As a cartoony golf game this was an acceptable launch title.

Neptunia is back but not really turns out her little sister that was never mentioned before must restore game industry back to its former glory before the software pirates appeared. Nepgear has issues thinking that she will be powerful enough to do this. After all she has been in her sister's shadow for so long. That is gist of the story early on while the combat has been remixed. Instead of a standard classic turn based system this one has the player move around the battle area before attacking enemies with the 3 hit combo system. Not that different from the first game but it does make it less stale. Really I just want to know why this game begins with a small FMV cutscene of Master Higgins telling me I shouldn’t play games without taking a break for a bit every hour.

To say that Kid Icarus: Uprising came out of left field would be a understatement. No clue why Nintendo decided to bring Pit back but I’m glad they did. I didn’t put too much time into it today so the control scheme didn’t seem that bad. I was able to lock on and shoot down any enemy in the sky or on ground. The humorous take on the narrative was neat too with it being very anime. Which isn’t for everyone but I enjoyed it.

Square Enix has no problem exploiting the fandom they gained when they first released Kingdom Hearts. Going into the dreams of Sora and Riku is the latest side game in this series. They must prove that they are worthy of the title of keyblade master and only defeating/befriending the dream eaters is the way to pass the test. So this has a little bit of Pokemon in it with a bunch of cute monsters that can be created by defeating their dark other self's. The action RPG portion of the game plays like the rest although it now has much more of a focus on traversing around the environment faster. Like being able to grind on rails or swinging around a lamp post to launch off in another direction. These abilities can be used in battle too. Switching between Sora and Riku to advance the plot could be interesting. I don’t remember much about the story in this one other than what I’ve mentioned in this post.

I meant to play through more of this when it was first released. I love a good crime drama thanks to all the cop shows I've watched over the years. L.A. Noire goes back to the 1940’s as a rookie detective named Cole Phelps gets promoted up the ranks as he keeps solving cases. Most of the game is spent just talking to people and figuring out if they are lying. Everyone has a tell and noticing that something is up is vital to getting to the correct conclusion to the case. Depending on how bad the player messes up it is possible to arrest the wrong person while still closing the case. This has some driving and occasional shooting but they are there to pad out the game a bit. I doubt we’ll ever see another big budget adventure game like this in a very long time.

If a developer has a silly premise to go along with their video game I do think I’m more likely to buy it. Liberation Maiden set up is that the president of Japan must fly around in her mech and liberate all of Japan from an invading force. Flying around in the mech is controlled by the circle pad while locking onto enemies requires use of the touch pad. Dodging attacks while using the touch screen to shoot down incoming missiles controls perfectly. Blowing up all the normal enemies is satisfying and taking down bosses is awesome.

Having every Mass Effect game in one collection was a good reason to replay the first two and finally play the third one. For this blog I only played the first game which was my favorite. Even though the combat was subpar it has a good narrative that has Shepard chasing the rogue specter Saren around the galaxy as he tries to stop his evil plans from coming to fruition. The universe Bioware created here was pretty amazing.Somehow it still holds up going by the two 20 plus hours I put into the first game again. Overall a good set of adventures that tell the story of Commander Shepard.

This was a updated version of Mighty Switch Force in which Wayforward redrew the art to make it look better on Wii U. Other than it looking better it also included a hyperdrive remix of all the levels to make them harder than before. As for the game itself makes use of a swapping mechanic that swaps platforms in and out of reality. Each platform has different qualities like being able to keep them in sync by standing on them or launching capabilities that can send Patica across the level. Her main goal is to arrest the 5 women who escaped from jail in each level while shooting any monster that gets in her way. The fact they continually add something new in each level keeps it from getting old. Overall a great little puzzle game that may be short yet very satisfying to compete especially if you beat the par time on each level.

For someone that skipped every other New Super Mario Bros game this one seemed well made. It may just be a updated version of Super Mario Bros but I don’t think Nintendo lost their level making touch over the years. As the game goes on it got tougher to survive even if it wasn’t as hard as the NES games. At least in my case 2 player coop was fun too and less chaotic than if I tried to get 4 people to play the game at once. Pure chaos is only fun for a while after all.

So this may not have shown off the tablet in the best way but it still had a good variety of mini games that kept me entertained as I waited for the next big Nintendo game. When I think of these early Wii U games replayability doesn’t come to mind. Seeing a Zelda themed shooting gallery was fun while it lasted but it isn’t like I wanted to play it again after I finished it once. The competitive attractions were fun whenever I had someone around to play them. As for the solo games the one I remember most was the ninja star throwing one. Because I got pretty good at throwing shurikens at ninjas. Overall this game had some potential at showing other ways developers could use the gamepad but over time it seems like it is just a big controler.

Ragnarok Online got big enough that they started to make spin off titles. This is one of the latest ones where they mixed in a little Monster Hunter. To bad I didn’t really see any boss battles this time and if I remember correctly it takes a while before they hand out a quest about taking down a huge monster. Making most of the quests about going to a area and just killing a bunch of monsters. I thought they might have got away from that type of quest by now but no that is the bulk of the game. Collect a bunch of crafting items to upgrade gear. Because this was intended for multiple players the solo content never seemed that great and doing the same missions in coop don’t seem like a fun time. In the end this was a adequate action RPG that just didn’t have enough substance for me to enjoy it.

Out of all the games I've covered so far this is the first one that just had too much content. It may be the best value ever time wise while the gameplay barely holds up for one campaign. At least that was what I was feeling after beating Leon’s campaign back when I tried to play through every one. Looking at it now I’m pretty much just letting it wash over me. The action works even if shooting enemies doesn’t feel that great thanks to the fact they don’t stutter or react to bullets. Meanwhile the interconnected narrative could have been interesting if I felt like playing the other campaigns. So in the end this was an utterly average game that I have very little interest in seeing again.

This was one of the weakest Paper Mario games Nintendo has made. The charm of the humor that is prevalent in each of these games is still top notch. The main issue here is the change to the fighting system. Although it may still be about timing jumps and using special attacks it is now been limited by how many stickers Mario has. So instead of being able to jump whenever he wants he can now only jump if he has a jump sticker that is one time use only. Really this doesn’t change things that much and the standard hero’s journey for Mario is still in effect. I guess I just wanted a Paper Mario game without a gimmick.

I’ve liked fighting games for a while but I really do play a lot more of them today compared to SNES/PS1 era. Doesn’t hurt that developers either keep making fun games to play or base it on something I love like Persona. This would be the first time that the cast of P3 would meet the P4 team in a post game story arc about a anti-shadow robot named Labrys who has fallen into the tv world. Together they manage to make her confront her true self but not before leaving the story hanging with the true villain getting away. The fighting part is well made with each character having unique special moves at their disposal. Always appreciated the fact this has a basic multi square combo to do something flashy even if I don’t put in the time to learn some of the bigger combos. Yet the sequel pretty much makes this one obsolete other than if I wanted to go through the story mode again.

Persona 4 has been extensively promoted on this site already with the P4ER. Golden adds some new scenes like going to the beach for a vacation and a scooter than can be driven around to unlock new areas to explore. As for the story it is about a transfer student named “Charlie Tunoku” who moves to a small Japanese town to move in with his uncle Dojima. Soon after he learns that he has the power to go into TV’s. This leads to a mystery he and his group of friends can’t ignore. To stop the killings around Inaba they travel through many dungeons to rescue all who get thrown into the TV. I’m sure if you're reading this you most likely know this already. Overall a great game to watch someone else play and to play yourself if you have access to it.

Layton is back for another adventure full of puzzles. For the 3DS Level 5 decided to update the graphical treatment to 3D polygons. They do a good job of retaining the art style in 3D. The main focus is still the hundreds of puzzles this game contains. The big mystery why a masked man is turning people into stone is the other key part. Without a good story I wouldn’t be interested in playing through a bunch of puzzles on their own. Until I started this blog I never realized that I bought and enjoyed almost every PL game.

I really didn’t think Sega would bring over Project Diva F. Once again I have a import copy that I really didn’t need to buy. After how big Miku has become these days it would have been a travesty for them not to bring it over. So far this is also my favorite selection of songs too. Between the standard Japanese pop song to a surf rock this has a wide range of music. Other than the nice tunes this is a rhythm game about hitting the face buttons and sometimes swiping the touchscreen to hit star notes. Now that I had to buy a PS TV to replace my vita those touch notes are impossible to hit. Maybe my PS4 controller would make those easier to time. I’m more impressed by the fact the tv doesn't have a bunch of lag so hitting the face buttons is easy. Overall I really enjoy this first game and it made me into a fan of our virtual goddess Miku.

I must want to play bad Dynasty Warriors clones or maybe I was just swept up by the atmosphere of pax that I ended up buying a UK copy of this game. Maybe I thought this would get me interested in checking out the Saint Seiya anime yet it turned me away from it instead. Even seeing this now the slow rate of attacks and the generic nature of every enemy is a turn off. Each of the golden general boss fights could be interesting. I didn’t quite figure out the dodge timing before getting a game over and deciding it wasn’t worth seeing anymore of this.

Will anyone believe me if I say that Senran Kagura Burst has a better than expected narrative hook? The first thing anyone thinks about this series is probably boobie Ninja girls but if you look beyond the visuals this is more than just a titillating action game. Learning about the Hanzo and Hebijo clans was interesting only because they take the time to set up the backstory to each of the characters. Knowing why they fight for right or stand in the shadows is worth seeing. The beat em gameplay isn’t for everyone and the main thing I enjoy about this one is sending all my foes flying into the air while I dash after them to juggle them in the air. Flying all over the screen in almost every moment makes up for the simpincy of the gameplay.

The audio visual presentation is about the only part that holds up in most arcade games. The same can be said about this one. Seeing the Simpsons beat up a bunch of random bad guys to save Maggie is still fun to look at. Each boss is also unique like fighting a wrestler or a giant Krusty balloon. I never quite figured out the trick to beating these games with only 1 CC. With the turtles game I know it has something to do with hitting them while moving downward. Didn’t seem like that worked here.

Even though this isn’t called Tenchu everything about it points toward the fact that this was made by the same developers. As Zen the badass ninja who was betrayed by his friend he must slash his way through the war torn region of Utakata to get his revenge. Sneaking a around slowly while also dashing over the rooftops to get to his target is the goal of each level. The fast vertical pace of each level makes the stealth portion of the game more interesting than other games that tried to make a fun stealth game. I’m sure the fact I didn’t play any of Aquire’s other stealth games made this feel better than it really was.

By the time I started a playthrough of Tale Of Hearts R I apparently wasn’t in the mood for another one. At least the cookie cutter characters just didn’t rub me the right way at all. Kor Meteor may have a great name but him being another brash heroic youth who turns out to be a hero was about the most generic thing Namco could have done. The by the book Tales combat didn’t help me like the game either. I still struggled through the game just to see if it ever got any better. Maybe I was a bit harsh when I reviewed it originally since it seems fine for the short time I played it today.

Final Fantasy isn’t for everyone but I do think the music can be enjoyed by anyone. Theathythm using the pantheon of music that has been created for this series and puts it into a rhythm game. As was noted by the DS music games work really well on a touch screen. Doing all the different motion on the touch screen along with the beat of the music is fun. No real variation in what you’ll be doing so the the different songs make up for that. The cute hairstyle of all the heroes and monsters is a nice cherry on the top of a well made game.

I’m glad Crispy’s decided to make a new weird Japanese video game. It wasn’t like they went away but a lot of them tend to focus on bishoujo girls. Anyway Tokyo Jungle is about the end of the world. Humanity has been wiped out and animals have taken over once again. As a pomeranian the player must survive as many generations as possible. The word rogue lite could describe the pace of this game. The more challenges your animal manages to compete leads to more points and possibly unlocking a new animal to roam around post apocalyptic Tokyo. Surprisingly this has a story too although it is unlocked by playing through survival mode. I find it really funny that a dog finds audio logs that tell him what happened to the world.

Because I’m playing this on a Playstation TV I’m actually very impressed by what Capcom did with this port. I’m sure it isn’t on par with what the PS3 version would look like but it holds up much better on a TV than I expected. Compete chaos is what the MvC series is about. Every moment of each match has at least 4 characters on screen most of the time. Pretty much every character has a standard set of special moves and they all share the inputs you have to press. Like everyone has a Hadouken move of some kind even if you're playing as Phoenix Wright. Overall this series is simple to play even if they are a bit busy visually and I really enjoy them.

A lot like the first Uncharted this one feels like they really wanted to use all the features of the Vita. Which means they included a bunch of touch screen based actions. The one that works the best is touch based climbing. Now instead of hitting X a bunch moving your finger across the screen will move Drake through the ledges automatically. Shooting guys is still alright in this release and this does show off how good a vita game can look. With the story being rather forgettable this is about on par with this first game.

Telltale’s output was forever changed thanks to the success of The Walking Dead. Unlike a traditional adventure game this kind is more about keeping the story going with very little time spent just wandering around combining items that happen to be on the ground. This game proves why a good set of characters can make a episodic series memorable. Without the bond Lee and Clementine formed over the 5 episodes this game would not have been memorable at all. Which is what happened with the Jurassic Park game they made. Both had a lot of similarities its just that one had a forgettable cast while the other made you care about what happened to Clementine. Wanting to protect someone is certainly a strong emotion. Oh course it didn’t hurt that each of the episodes were well paced with something left hanging since the last one to make you keep coming back for more. A hard thing to do and even since this point they’ve had issues doing that again.

Konami went all out on making a lengthy new animated intro for this HD collection. Yet didn’t spend any time redoing the ones in the first game which have very early looking 3D models. Once the game actually starts everything looks much better. Dashing around blowing up all the enemies in Jehuty way is fun. I’ve seen the control scheme being knocked for being obtuse but it seems fine. Does the job well and lets the battles end in dramatic explosions. Not a fan of the accidental boy pilot scendrom that is apart of the narrative in the first game. I already talked about the 2nd Runner back on Ps2 so I’m not going to recap that part again.

Can you trust people you’ve just met that have all been put into a horrible death trap? That is the main motivation behind the Zero Escape series. Although that is with my very limited knowledge of beating 999 once and never getting around to playing this one. The main gist of these games is either A about looking around a room to solve a puzzle or B watching a visual novel.. Depending on what choices you make it is possible to get a bunch of different endings. Escaping is always the goal but figuring out who Zero is along with why everyone was kidnapped becomes important too. Like most other visual novels the story has to be good for me to care about playing it. I enjoyed the intro puzzle in the elevator yet now isn’t the time for me to try to play through this.

Conclusion

That concludes this weeks look back at a bunch of video games. At this point I'm thinking about what I want to say in the final blog in 3 weeks from now. So this small amount of text is just to keep this motif going. Either that or I'm just getting lazy haha. Anyway tune in next week to see the rest of this generation come into existence and to see if we can figure out what FK means.