|
Finally another update! I started Cthulhu Saves The World right away this Summer, but just finished it tonight. It has been my favorite of the four games I've completed. As a fan of both old school JRPG's and HP Lovecraft, it was pretty amazing to me. And funny! For instance, your first boss battle is against "four heroes" (I assume "of Light") whom are a little tough without early grinding. Later in the game you face them again and kill them in a single hit. Then there's all the great Lovecraftian references like visiting Innsmouth or battling Dagon. It's all so tongue-in-cheek both for fans of 8 (and 16)-bit RPG's and horror fans. The writing is seriously hilarious, and the gameplay is classic. I suggest this highly to... well... everyone here who has an affinity for retro gaming really. If you're into the macabre, then that's just icing on the cake. I've also unlocked some bonus modes that I can re-visit later as a plus.
Other Progress:
Daytona USA - I've gotten first in two out of three of the tracks. Fun stuff, though I'm terrible at racing games, so I'm playing on Easy to make it manageable for myself.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - I'm still stuck on the Riot mission, though I picked up the strategy guide at my local mom-n-pop store recently, so I can get back into it with some help.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/lJyWPl.jpg[/img]
For my purposes, X-Men is beaten. I credit-fed through on co-op with my wife. But really, that's how I play beat-em-ups. Credit-feeding with my wife. We have a blast that way. I'm definitely still planning to try to get a 6-player co-op going though to get the full experience.
As far as my thoughts on the game: it was great. There's that certain golden age trilogy of Konami beat-em-ups with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons. But y'know what? This one was really impressive. I love how unique each character is; I love how expressive the sprites were; I loved the cut-scenes; loved the levels; loved just about everything. I'm really glad I finally played this one and definitely plan to keep playing it. Though that boss-rush at the end combined with Magneto... I have no idea how anyone could beat this game on less than five dollars worth of credits!
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/xtQjXl.jpg[/img]
And Garou: Mark of the Wolves is done! How come it's not called Fatal Fury anyway? It's got to be the best Fatal Fury game out there. Of course I'm saying this having played only a handful of the Fatal Fury series, but this includes the original -- first on an actual NeoGeo cab back in the day, and then soon after the home port on SNES. And though I didn't stick with the series too closely, I have remained an SNK fighting fan, even if I've really only slowly cherry-picked various entries in their series' here and there over the years.
That said, I can say that I'm quite glad I picked this one for my Summer Gaming list. First off, it was refreshing to go back to a fighting game where you (a) pick just a single character to master rather than a team from (b) a rather small roster. That's right, I said a small roster is a good thing. At least in this case. It was fun to not feel overwhelmed by familiarizing myself with 30 or 40 possible fighters. In fact, I started with Terry as he's quite familiar to me. Got myself warmed up (after picking up a SF4 fightpad for 360) and then started experimenting with other fighters.
[img width=165 height=165]http://hardcoregaming101.net/fatalfury/hotaru.png[/img]
And then I picked Hotaru. That's really all it took for this fine game to click with me completely. She's fast and great with kicks. And just like that I made it through Arcade Mode. I should confess that continues happened. This wasn't a 1CC. But I had made the deal with myself that beating this game meant using three continues (or less) -- or rather spending one dollar in the arcade. And in all honesty, I did use that third continue and was biting my nails on that last boss battle.
Ah, but cross another game off the list! And it's a game I highly recommend to any other fighting fans who may have overlooked it.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/X1YmCl.jpg[/img]
Other Progress:
Cthulhu Saves the World - is what I've been playing the most of. I've put several hours into it and am currently wandering around a green cat's spaceship. I think the game is fantastic.
Daytona USA - I've done a bit of racing. Still on that first Beginner track, and my best placing so far was 9th. I still have a lot to learn on this one.
X-Men - I played with some random stranger online. But I disconnected after three continues (as above). Although I'd really like to try to get a six-player co-op game going to experience it in its fully glory.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/aduwMl.jpg[/img]
I decided to skip the inverted castle at the end and just killed Richter. I figured that since I still have 9 games on this list to get through... Though I did save my game right before that battle so I can always come back to it if I have time after beating the others.
I actually really enjoyed SOTN. I did use maps and check the bullet points of a walkthrough to see which items I should be looking for or which bosses are where, etc. So admittedly this made the game more linear for me (which I liked) but now that I'm familiar with the castle I feel like I could come back to it and explore some other time. And I liked the game enough that I can see myself doing so.
Once I figured out the importance of grinding and finding better gear, the game really became a lot of fun. Surprisingly, the only boss that gave me any real challenge was Orlox who I had to fight probably a half-dozen times. Jerk.
Consider this a Summer Gaming victory!
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/6StWjl.jpg[/img]
Other progress:
I've played about a half-hour of Sonic Adventure. It seems good, though not as good as the bit of SA2 I've played. It definitely looks great. My biggest complaint is figuring out where I'm supposed to go next. I feel like I spend about five minutes playing a level, then I spent fifteen walking around aimlessly looking for the next level. So we'll see. I've beaten the first Eggman battle in the Ruins, and I found some new sneakers.
Played about fifteen minutes of Jet Set Radio Future. Another great looking game. I basically just did the little tutorial, but I'm not actually sure how to start the game. I feel stuck in the little intro hub. If I try to leave and go to another area, it just sends me back to the hub. I should read the manual though.
Spent about a half hour on Ninja Gaiden Black. Mind = blown, graphically. It doesn't even look last gen to me. The controls feel so smooth as well. The problem was after a half hour I hit a game over, and lost my progress. I'm guessing you can only save at certain points? Again... I should read the manual.
Indigo Prophecy I started with before Symphony of the Night, and am on the third scene I believe. Though I have an odd problem... my PS2 is run through a ViewSonic NextVision N6 to convert the composite signal to VGA. Most games look just fine this way, but Indigo Prophecy seems overly dark. Like so dark that I'm having trouble seeing items or areas of rooms. I tried messing with brightness settings on the monitor to no avail. I'm contemplating just switching to the Xbox version since my 360 is run through HDMI.
And finally Grand Theft Auto: Vice City... I think this will be the main game I focus on from my list right now. I've put in an hour or so and am starting to really enjoy it.
[img width=469 height=354]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bmLjItuIxBg/TjmAbrXpnbI/AAAAAAAAAHA/AZAnImoiPtM/s1600/reset.PNG[/img]
Remember that Summer Gaming list I posted a couple of weeks ago? Well I had a big change of heart. Mostly because I couldn't seem to get into the majority of the games I started up. So I scrambled and came up with a list I feel much better about:
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Cthulhu Saves the World
Daytona USA
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Indigo Prophecy
Jet Set Radio Future
Ninja Gaiden Black
Sonic Adventure
X-Men
Please leave words of encoragement below!
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/QURZvl.jpg[/img]
Well, in a move that surprised even me... I've started to investigate the PC world of gaming lately. As such, I figured I'd use that as an excuse to compile my Summer Gaming list with PC releases. I figured I'd try to make a good mix of old games, new games, big budget titles, indie games -- and all of varying genres. So here's what I've come up with.
Hopefully it'll be an interesting Summer!
Well, the last weekend of August is here, and with that my Summer Gaming challenge whimpers out. I'm sad to say that although I went into this in June with guns blazing, I'm left with six of my ten games unfinished. Why did I fail to such a degree? For one thing I seemed to have chosen a lot of longer and more involved games. You'll notice that the ones I beat were a lot more arcade-style.
So let's take a look at what I'm left with...
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/3/477343_44275_front.jpg[/img]
Chrono Trigger is definitely the game I enjoyed most out of the unfinished pile. It's also the one I spent the most time on. Truth be told, it was one of the first Summer Games that I started playing in June. And I kept up with it on and off throughout the three months. In the end, I put fourteen good hours into it and made it up to the twin Golem boss fight. Unfortunately, I just didn't have the right equipment to finish the fight. And one thing that I hate doing is backtracking. So I ended up just sort of stalling right there. Admittedly, this is one game I do plan to eventually pick up and finish. Just not in the next few days.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/9/197909_42494_front.jpg[/img]
After years of assuming it just wouldn't be my sort of game, I am now officially a fan of the Metal Gear Solid franchise. I found everything about the game utterly brilliant, and again I do plan to eventually finish this one as well. The hard truth is that I'm just not good at the game, no matter how much I like it. So even if it is considered a shorter game, it's taking me a lot longer than it probably should.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/8/197178_50255_front.jpg[/img]
Duke Nukem 3D turns out to be a lot of fun. And I was playing it for the first time as all the hype about Duke Nukem Forever being a catastrophe was hitting hard. So that was interesting timing, too. I found the levels to be excellent, and basically it's the kind of FPS I really enjoy. However, like MGS, I'm just not great at FPS games. So each level would take me like an hour. It was slow progress and I stopped somewhere around one-fourth of the way through the PS1's extended version of the game. I don't know if I'll have finish the entire game, really. But I'm sure I'll revisit it and make more progress anyway.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/9/198519_42825_front.jpg[/img]
I was warned not to include R-Type Delta on my list for the simple reason that I just would not be able to beat it. I laughed. Surely if I put some time into it and memorized levels and enemy patterns, I certainly could beat it! I had no problem making it through the first level without losing a ship. But level two. Woah. I lost them all. Fast. And as it turns out, Delta really is one big jerk of a game. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it's fun to take abuse. But there was no way I was going to beat this one.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/1/198021_50362_front.jpg[/img]
Myst is a game I played for about fifteen minutes. And y'know what? I don't think I like it.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/1/198641_42896_front.jpg[/img]
Unfortunately Silent Hill is the one game I didn't get a chance to start up. It's also the one game on my list that I had played some of prior to the challenge. At any rate, I obviously plan to play through this sometime in the future. I'm actually contemplating attempting a similar Winter Challenge later this year. So we'll see...
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/8/197898_27938_front.jpg[/img]
Well, it's official. I beat my fourth Summer Gaming pick. Appropriately enough, it was Mega Man X4. And wow. Let me start by saying that the first X game was, and is one of my all time favorite Mega Man games. In fact, it would rival Mega Man 2 and 3 for the top spot as my definitive favorite. Truth be told, I've probably spent the most time with X above all others. And yet I can say with all honesty that I enjoyed this game just as much. It really brought back memories of how exciting it was playing through the first game. You see strangely, I haven't really played most of the other entries in the X series. I suppose because of all the talk of the series having gone down-hill over the years. But X4 is a true masterpiece to me.
Oh, before I forgot I want to plug this excellent article by Alex Reo about X4. It was published in GameSpite Quarterly #8, and I had just read it around the time I was picking my Summer Gaming list. My friend Flake had urged me to add the game to my list, and upon reading this how could I argue? So here: http://www.gamespite.net/...ex.php/Games/G8-MegaManX4
[img width=300 height=200]http://ui09.gamefaqs.com/2344/gfs_27938_2_70_mid.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://ui30.gamefaqs.com/1565/gfs_27938_2_42.jpg[/img]
Now the thing about X4 is it does having stretch marks from the growing pains of 16-bit moving onto 32-bit. But your own perception will decide what to make of the hilarious voice acting, the need to included anime cutscenes, and so on. I however loved every moment of this game. The silly voices were endearing. The fact that the double agent robot was named Double made me smirk. The music was great, the sprite work to die for and the detail incredible. There were levels where I'd just stop and look at all the little things -- like water trickling -- that just totally showed off the PlayStation's graphical abilities. Remember, we were supposed to believe that it didn't handle 2D games well.
Admittedly, I blew through most of the game pretty quickly. Then went back to look for E-Tanks and other upgrades. But really the bulk of my time was spent on the last stage. I can't tell you how many times I went through that boss-rush. I can only tell you that I can beat all eight robot masters in under ten minutes. Usually without taking a lick of damage. But the last Sigma battle is intense. He takes three (or technically four) forms that get progressively harder. It's not something you can luckily blast your way through. And as frustrated as I got trying and re-trying, it really made me realize how much I loved the game. I never wanted to stop playing in disgust. I just wanted to get good enough to see the end credits. Like so:
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/bKpAkl.jpg[/img]
Chrono Trigger
Dead Or Alive
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown
Mega Man X4
Metal Gear Solid
Mr. Driller
Myst
Ridge Racer
R-Type Delta
Silent Hill
I'm not sure which game I'll focus on next. Probably Chrono Trigger, Metal Gear Solid, or Duke Nukem as those are the three I've spent time with already this Summer.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/7/366817_127505_front.jpg[/img]
So I finally beat a third game from my Summer Gaming list. Ridge Racer is of course the classic PS1 launch title that showed off Sony's new piece of hardware as a viable option for near arcade perfection. (See: dsheinem's blog for a wonderful post on this game's release). This was a game I had at least tried before this Summer, but never spent any real time with. Now before I get started, brief disclaimer: when I say I beat Ridge Racer, I mean I beat it on Mid-Level. To me, that's beaten -- at least for the purposes of this challenge. My goal with these games was to get through them for once. To play them to the extent that I get to the end credits, and can say that I've honestly experienced the games to a point where I can have an actual educated opinion on them. So although I didn't try to beat it on the hardest mode -- I'm just not a completionist gamer. I don't care about unlocking everything, achievements, 100% or any of that kind of thing. To me, it's about the experience and having fun.
[img width=300 height=200]http://ui32.gamefaqs.com/1791/gfs_10965_2_6_mid.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://ui26.gamefaqs.com/697/gfs_10965_2_7_mid.jpg[/img]
So what did I think of the game?
First, The Good: Ridge Racer looks phenomenal, even now. I mean I'm playing this on a PS3 and still impressed with what Namco was able to pull off all those years ago. The game feels great as an arcade racer. Though it certainly doesn't trump OutRun in my opinion for pure arcade racing thrill -- it is a blast. The Galaxian mini-game to unlock more cars is unique and actually makes the loading screen fun.
The Bad: Really the whole game is just one track. I mean, the track gets switched up a bit depending on difficulty level, and you can even race it backwards. But still. One track. Certainly this wasn't a big deal upon its release, but by today's standards this felt very limited to me, making the game slightly boring to keep reattempting. Also, I found that drifting never really clicked with me. I peeled out a lot, even using the car with the best traction. The other thing I found was that I handled curves much better playing in first-person view, which kind of irked me as I much preferred the third person perspective otherwise.
Ultimately, I'm glad I spent the time to get through this one. It's still fun and challenging today. But more likely I'd next check out a sequel with more tracks than come back and revisit the original again.
Chrono Trigger
Dead Or Alive
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown
Mega Man X4
Metal Gear Solid
Mr. Driller
Myst
Ridge Racer
R-Type Delta
Silent Hill
As for other games, Chrono Trigger I need to get back into. I kind of stopped around the 10 hour mark. I'm somewhere around the third or fourth mission of Duke Nukem. Mega Man X4 is still infuriating me, as I can easily make it up to Sigma, but he kills me in his final form even though I have two E-tanks. And I recently started playing Metal Gear Solid, in which I'm about an hour and a half into and really impressed by.
[img width=300 height=300]http://i.imgur.com/O6WPKl.jpg[/img]
Last night I beat the second game on my Summer Gaming list, Dead Or Alive. Of course the series is rather infamous for its shapely fighters, but I really didn't have much experience with them. However the wonderful article about the series on http://HardCoreGaming101.net had always made me curious. And it being an infamous game only made me want to give it a try even more.
I should say that I'm most interested in 2D fighting games. However I've dabbled in some 3D and borderliners: Tekken, Soul Calibur II, Battle Arena Toshinden, etc. Upon firing DOA up I was immediately reminded of Virtua Fighter 2 which I had played -- and hated -- in the past.
[img width=300 height=200]http://i.imgur.com/jq4TYl.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://i.imgur.com/bGlWQl.jpg[/img]
I decided to go with Kasumi, as she was the one I recognized from reading about the series. Of course I knew Ryu from Ninja Gaiden, but let's be honest. If you're going to play a game known for its bounciness, then why pick a dude? That would take away some of the campiness of being exposed to it for the first time.
Usually when I play a 2D fighter for the first time, it really doesn't take me long to complete the arcade mode. Generally speaking, it's a one or two session deal for me to get used to the controls and make it through. But Dead Or Alive turned out to be something totally different to me. I expected long matches with lots of special moves. Instead I realized that matches could be over in a matter of seconds if the AI unleashed a particularly brutal combo. So instead it took me a good four or five sittings of getting used to controls, and learning some strategy to get through the Tournament Mode. Indeed DOA turned out to be a far deeper fighter than I expected. I had to learn patience for one. This wasn't the sort of game where you could always just rush at an opponent. No, I actually had to play quite defensively at times. But after enough practice -- and admittedly some frustrated button mashing -- I came out victorious.
[img width=300 height=200]http://i.imgur.com/57dy0l.jpg[/img]
All in all, I thought it was a pretty fun game. Certainly it was a bit rough around its edges. But I liked it way more than Virtua Fighter 2. And I liked enough that I plan on playing some of the sequels as well. Who knows, maybe I'll even subject myself to the movie as an added element of camp?
[img width=215 height=317]http://i.imgur.com/O30Xt.jpg[/img]
Chrono Trigger
Dead Or Alive
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown
Mega Man X4
Metal Gear Solid
Mr. Driller
Myst
Ridge Racer
R-Type Delta
Silent Hill
As for the rest of my list, I'm about nine hours into Chrono Trigger, I still need to figure out how to kill the third Sigma in Mega Man X4 and I've bean the Beginner track on Ridge Racer.
[img width=300 height=300]http://i.imgur.com/dNzkOl.jpg[/img]
So the first of my Summer Gaming Challenge titles can now be ceremonially crossed off the list. This morning I beat Mr. Driller. Now disclaimer: when I say "beat," I mean I got to the end credits. I actually beat the Arcade Mode on Beginner. In this case I feel I can consider the game beat because well, it's a puzzle game. And the Arcade Mode on Expert is the same exact thing except you need to get through double the levels of Beginner. I'm sure if I stuck with it long enough I could do that no problem. In truth, I played Mr. Driller for the first time this morning. And a couple hours later it was beaten. The other reason I really don't feel I need to attack Expert for this challenge is because really my goal is to get through these games to see an ending and feel that I've experienced them. In this case, I feel that playing through the Beginner Arcade Mode was enough to know I've experienced the game.
[img width=300 height=200]http://i.imgur.com/udvx9l.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://i.imgur.com/YBmVTl.jpg[/img]
So what did I think of it? Well, I thought it was pretty great honestly. I'm a fan of puzzle games to begin with, and this one hit the spot. It had a really good blend of strategy, where you have to kind of try to be patient and plan your moves mixed with urgency, because if you hang around too long you'll run out of air (basically a time limit that can be extended by finding Air Items throughout the levels). Visually, I thought the game looked fantastic. The bright candy-colored levels and cutesy design of Mr. Driller himself was really a great visual style for a game like this. Considered a spiritual sequel to Dig-Dug, I'd say I far prefer Mr. Driller to be totally up-front. I do think it could have benefited from a 2-Player mode, though. Just a thought.
[img width=300 height=200]http://i.imgur.com/Np7NGl.jpg[/img] [img width=300 height=200]http://i.imgur.com/ebVJll.jpg[/img]
Chrono Trigger
Dead Or Alive
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown
Mega Man X4
Metal Gear Solid
Mr. Driller
Myst
Ridge Racer
R-Type Delta
Silent Hill
So moving on... I'm actually very far into Mega Man X4. As in all the way up to the last boss, so I expect to finish that one soon. I'm about six hours into Chrono Trigger, which really I'm not sure how far into the game that is. I've also dabbled a bit in Ridge Racer and Dead Or Alive. Really I've just been trying to bounce around between the games based on my mood. At any rate, it feels good to finally have one finished.
|
|
|
|
