Thanks in part to these annual threads, I've got a text document I've been updating that contains my thoughts on each game I beat in a given year
So, this will mostly be copy&pastes of what I've written thus far, albeit not in chronological order. Here goes!
HIGHS
-
Undertale (Steam) (beaten on 2016-01-03) – What a way to start 2016 with. This is like EarthBound for a new generation. I adore this game. If you have yet to play this, seriously go out and play it! It's not a super long game, and it's an experience that is best had blind, without any preconceived notions or expectations about what you'll be seeing.
-
Fire Emblem (Game Boy Advance) (beaten on 2016-02-20) - This is an incredible game. It has challenging, engaging turn-based tactical combat, and a charming little story that has both its fun moments and its serious turns. Unfortunately, I recently discovered that my cartridge copy of it is in fact counterfeit
Damnit. Still though, I'm happy to have finally played it.
-
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (PS3) (beaten on 2016-03-06) – Ugh, Falcom is really good at making the wait for their sequels as aggravating as possible. This first entry in the Trails series' Cold Steel trilogy was quite enjoyable. It succeeds in building up more of the Trails universe, and establishing the history and political workings of the Erebonian Empire, as seen through the eyes of military academy students. It's super wonderful and awesome and totally cool, and while part of me misses the cast of the Trails in the Sky games, Trails of Cold Steel's cast is (mostly) really cool in their own way.
-
XCOM 2 (Steam) (beaten on 2016-03-21) – Great follow-up to the 2012 game, which improves on it in virtually every way. The technical issues at launch were an annoyance, but not game-breaking in my experience. Aside from that, this is incredible, and I'm happy to have played it. I hope to see an XCOM 3 at some point in the future!
-
Far Cry (Steam) (beaten on 2016-04-02) – Goddamn, this is a hard game. Easy mode in Far Cry is harder than every other FPS I have ever played. Like holy shit. I had fun though; I love scoping out the outdoor environments and taking the time to plan out my approach, as well as defending myself against super-intimidating Trigen mutants in dark hallways. This game is cool. I wish more single-player games had environments as open and free-form as this game has.
-
Phantasy Star (PS3, via Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection) (beaten on 2016-04-13) – PHEW! Oh my gosh. This game took me over five years to play through... but I did it! I fucking did it! yay me. I'm currently playing Phantasy Star II, but am on hiatus from it for the time being. It could end up taking me as long to beat as the first Phantasy Star did... but let's hope it doesn't get to that point!
-
Doom (2016) (Steam) (beaten on 2016-05-22) - I played this on Hurt Me Plenty, which was a nice challenge. I'm also currently replaying this on Nightmare difficulty, which is super hard, but hopefully I can make it through to the end. Anyways, this was a return to form for id Software, and I totes want to see a sequel <3 This could very well end up being one of my favorite games ever.
-
The Operative: No One Lives Forever (PC) (beaten on 2016-07-15) – played on Normal. This was a very fun, and very funny game! Cate Archer is one of the coolest protagonists I've ever seen in a game. It was sorta clunky in places, but the clever writing, good presentation, and excellent voice acting did a lot to make up for it. It could have stood to have more polish, but overall, I'm glad I played this. I look forward to trying the sequel, hopefully sometime soon.
-
That Dragon, Cancer (Steam) (finished on 2016-07-30) - I cried. A lot. Also some sobbing too. This was very beautiful, powerful, touching, and really tough to experience.
-
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Gamecube) (finished on 2016-08-01) - I really enjoyed this game quite a bit. Overall, I think the story and characters are even more exciting and interesting to see than those of FE7, which is saying something. Now... to eventually finish things up with Radiant Dawn!
-
LiEat (Steam) (consists of
LiEat - The Lie-Eating Dragon & the Vermilion Vampire, and
LiEat II - The Lie-Eating Dragon & the Azure Dreameater, and
LiEat III - The Lie-Eating Dragon & the Gold Thief) (finished on 2016-08-13) – This is a collection of three really short JRPGs (1-2 hours each) about a little dragon girl with the special ability to eat people's lies (manifested into physical form, as cute little black blob things with eyes), and a human con-artist who looks after her. I was a little ambivalent about it initially, but as I played through each game's story, they ended up being surprisingly charming and engaging to experience. All in all, I'm happy to have played this. ^_^
-
F-Zero (Super NES) (beat on Beginner on 2016-08-15) - I'm not generally into racing games, but I really loved this game quite a bit. It's fun! The sheer intensity and speed of racing through each track sorta reminds me of rushing through levels in Doom, heh.
-
Ninja Warriors (Super NES) (beat on Normal on 2016-08-16) - This is a really fun single-plane beat-em-up, with a surprising variety of enemies to face off against. I think this is totally cool. I remember renting this as a kid, but I never beat it back then, since the Stage 6 boss fight is ridiculously astoundingly difficult. I'm glad to finally beat it now.
-
Ninja Princess (Saturn, via Sega Ages Memorial Selection Vol. 2) (beaten on 2016-09-20) - This is truly a magnificent game. I attempted to beat the game without continuing, but when I discovered that it's possible to continue from where you last died by holding A while pressing Start, I decided to power through the rest of the game. I have made it as far as level 9 without using any continues, though! ^_^ My highest score I got, when I made it to level 9, was 308,600.
-
PowerSlave (Saturn) (beaten on 2016-10-02) – PowerSlave is a very unique FPS. It has non-linear level design, which was common back in the '90s, but you could go back and replay older levels at any time, with your current weapons and abilities, so that you can explore and open up new areas, which lead either to new levels, or to yet more hidden items and upgrades. It takes clear inspiration from games like Metroid, which is incredible to see from an FPS from 1996, which was several years before Metroid Prime came along (and just two years after the first System Shock). I wish there were more FPSes like this.
-
Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) (beaten on 2016-10-16) – I had somewhat mixed feelings when I was starting this up, as the game's attempts at humor/funny lines, sometimes... end up being very cringeworthy. There's some painfully bad dialogue at times, and also some spotty writing overall. That's somewhat to be expected when you're dealing with a
time travel plot
, but even beyond that, certain things struck me as flat-out ridiculous. I especially found it annoying how there are literally like four or five different points in the game where you fight a certain villain character on a map, defeat them, see their body fly to the ground in defeat/death, only for your characters to later remark after the battle about how said enemy "got away", and then you see that villain walking up and about like nothing happened. Why the fuck did that happen so often?! What gives?! That's just horrible editing. Ugh. Goddamn. Still though, the game must have done something right to have made me feel invested enough to cry at the game's credits. Overall... I liked this game. This is my third Fire Emblem I've played, after FE7 and Path of Radiance. I don't think this is my favorite in the series, for various reasons, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.
-
Akumajo Dracula X: Chi no Rondo (
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood) (Wii, via the Virtual Console) (beaten on 2016-10-20) - This is a really, really great game. I've never been much of a Castlevania fan in the past, but this game really clicked with me. Richter controls similarly to the NES Belmonts, but with just enough extra freedom of movement that I found controlling him to feel pretty comfortable overall. I especially love his backflip, and if you get the hang of it, you can make good use of his unchangeable trajectory in mid-air by having him jump in one direction, then whip behind him at various enemies while he's jumping.
Maria is also fun to play as, though I decided to play through most of the game as Richter since playing as Maria makes the game significantly easier. I love the contrast though, between how Richter is a badass vampire hunter who whips the shit out of monsters, and how Maria is a super cute little girl vampire hunter, who attacks enemies by throwing birds and cats and other cute animals at them. Because of her being able to attack while moving, and her double-jump and other stuff, she plays almost nothing like any of the Belmonts in the series. I'll have to play as her some more.
While I did beat the game, I only rescued two of the maidens in the game. I'm going to go back and check out any hidden levels or areas I missed, in hopes of rescuing the others. I actually feel like trying to 100% this game. I admit I wasn't expecting to enjoy this quite as much as I do. It's really apparent to me now, why many people consider this one of the best 2D platformers of all time. Oh and I should bring up how wonderful the music is too. It's so good <3 <3
-
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Playstation) (got good ending on 2016-10-24) – After several years of putting off playing this, I've finally beaten it. I had 186.9% completion upon beating it. Afterward, I went back and got the fullest completion rate possible (200.6%).
This was a pretty impressive game in many ways. It's not flawless (many of the areas aren't distinguished enough from each other, and it can get repetitive going through the same hallways over and over), but there's a lot to like here. Its presentation in particular is amazing; the graphics and music are some of the best I've ever experienced in a game. Overall, this is an interesting follow-up to Rondo of Blood. I do wish it were possible to play as Maria though. Blagh
-
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (Playstation) (beat Normal on 2016-11-15) - This was a truly memorable, charming experience. It has some flaws with its overall game design (it's hilariously easy, the battle system is kinda boring and simple, yet the dungeons are all samey and mazelike, which means you end up dealing with the battles far more often than you should), but the story and presentation (in particular, the musical numbers) help make up for them. Overall, I'm totally happy I got the chance to play this. <3
-
Far Cry 3 (Steam) (beat Survivor on 2016-11-27) – I generally feel pretty good about this game. It improves on some of Far Cry 2's issues (constantly-respawning checkpoints, plus a story that makes absolutely no sense and doesn't connect with the player at all), but also misses some of the things that were truly spectacular about Far Cry 2 (the dynamic flow and tension of firefights that 2 had, which is kind of lost in 3). 3's story has some flaws, but overall is much more enjoyable, compelling, and well-written than Far Cry 2's, and definitely attempts to do more than Far Cry 1's story did. It's the easiest Far Cry I've played yet, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Overall, I'm glad I played this.
-
Dead State: Reanimated (Steam) (beat default difficulty on 2016-12-23) – After almost an entire year of JRPGs, I felt like digging into a WRPG again. Little did I know, though... that this is a loooong game. It took me 114 hours according to Steam before I reached an ending, lol. That said, I'm really glad I played this. It has some flaws (both design and technical performance-related), but overall it was quite fun. I love games like Fallout and Wasteland, and mixing that sort of gameplay with a zombie apocalypse setting is very fitting indeed. I'm happy that a game like this can exist ^_^
-
Glittermitten Grove/
Frog Fractions 2/
Frog Fractions 3 (Steam) (got to credits on 2016-12-28) – Wow. I have a feeling there's more to this game that I've yet to discover, but I got to the hidden credits at least. The creators of this have done a good job of following up the monumental first game. I love their sense of humor and creativity. It took me awhile to make it to the... “end?”... but it was an absolute joy to make it there. If you liked the first Frog Fractions, I wholeheartedly recommend this. I hope the soundtrack can be released on its own at some point in the future.
AVERAGES
-
Proteus (Steam) (beaten on 2016-01-23) – This is a nice, relaxing game. I first played it for half an hour back in 2014, when I was feeling like total shit about something that had happened one day, and couldn't stop crying. I picked this up, since I figured it would be something to help get my mind off of it, and it helped. Later on though, I learned that there was more to the game which I had missed out on, so I picked it up again, and have now beaten it... if you consider being sent back to the title screen to be “beating” it. I'll go ahead and count it...
-
ESWAT: City under Siege (Genesis) (beaten on 2016-03-28) - yay! I'm glad I beat it. This is a nice little action-platformer with some cool ideas behind it. It's not an amazing game, necessarily, but it's fun enough, and I'm glad I played it.
-
Gon' E-Choo! (Steam) (beaten on 2016-04-27) – This Popeye-esque arcade game that exists within a virtual 3D world is kind of a neat idea for a game. There's a lot of attention to detail, with even the option to have the game use your webcam to show the reflection of your face on the screen of the arcade monitor in-game. Part of me can't shake the feeling that the supposed arcade game contained within was made to satisfy someone's specific personal fetishes... but I can't deny that it's pretty well-made, and does a good job of actually feeling like a classic arcade game in design.
-
Mighty No. 9 (Steam) (beaten on 2016-07-08) – I played this on Normal. To be honest, while I can understand people hating the game, and agree that a lot of aspects of its Kickstarter campaign(s) were mismanaged, I honestly think the game itself is kinda underrated. It's far from flawless, but I had fun with it. I think it's a far better game than stuff like Duke Nukem Forever, at any rate.
-
Far Cry 2 (Steam) (beaten on 2016-07-30) – played on Normal. I really loved this game at first... but as you play on, it gets very, very repetitive. It's a very cynical game; it feels kind of like an attempt at what Spec Ops: The Line would do 4 years later, only it's not nearly as effective as Spec Ops was, thanks to some pretty weak writing and a fairly large cast of characters who aren't remotely memorable. Gameplay-wise, there are some great ideas here, and combat feels more fair than in the first Far Cry, while retaining the first game's intensity and allowing for a more freeform improvisational approach to combat. However, the gameplay elements don't all fit together in a way that's cohesive to being consistently fun to play. It's worth checking out, but flawed.
-
SUPERHOT (Steam) (beaten on 2016-09-22) - This has some fun gameplay (a first-person shooter/melee game, where time moves only when you move! Neat) and an interesting presentation, though I personally found the story present in the game to be pretty grating and eye-rolling. It takes up a big chunk of the game, which is already a pretty short game overall. All in all, this is interesting, but not my absolute favorite game of 2016.
LOWS
-
Red Faction II (Steam) (beaten on 2016-01-11) – Very mediocre follow-up to the first game. Not the worst game ever, but it retains the issues that the first game did have (such as bullet-spongey enemies that makes almost all of the guns during the first half of the game worthless), while greatly downplaying the environmental destruction that made the first game so special. Also the story was pretty shit, and I beat it super quickly, in just over five hours. Though since it wasn't very good, I suppose it's a positive that it didn't last long.
-
Homefront (Steam) (beaten on 2016-04-04) – I thought this was thoroughly mediocre in nearly every way. The campaign took me 4.5 hours to beat, which is saying something because I usually take awhile to beat most games, heh. The setting is kinda interesting (though it kind of obviously tries to set up a bunch of unlikely political coincidences to convolutedly establish North Korea as the prevailing enemy nation over the United States), but almost everything else about this is meh. I've heard mixed things about the new Homefront that came out this year, but I haven't played it yet. I hope it's at the very least, better than this game, though.
-
Another World - 20th Anniversary Edition (Steam) (beaten on 2016-09-01) – This game is really hard, in a pretty cheap way. You're pretty much expected to die over and over again until you figure out whatever obscure means there is to get past each specific obstacle. I got fed up with trying to figure out how to do things in this on my own, so I ended up finding a video playthrough on Youtube and referring to that as soon as I got stuck at various parts, toward the end of the game. It just got too aggravating to have to redo stuff over and over again, especially considering how painfully stiff the controls are. Having just beaten this, I can see how this game was ahead of its time, and how it has been influential on many game designers since then. It's not very satisfying to actually play, though. At least I have it under my belt now.
So, this will mostly be copy&pastes of what I've written thus far, albeit not in chronological order. Here goes!
Damnit. Still though, I'm happy to have finally played it.
