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Post by dsparil on Jan 28, 2019 8:56:10 GMT -5
Gunman Clive (Switch, Replay)
The first Gunman Clive is a fine platformer in the style of Mega Man although you have weapon pick ups instead of getting them from bosses. It has a great visual style with a "mostly sepia with some hand tinting" took. I actually now have four copies of this now from it's progress from mobile to 3DS to Wii U and now Switch. It's a game that showed a lot of potential for the sole developer and managed to sell around 400k copies at $2 each by the time of the sequel's release about 3 years later with the vast majority on 3DS. Not a bad return on what's basically a zero budget game!
Time: 0:25:08 Rating: 8
Gunman Clive 2 (Switch, Replay)
The sequel is a complete capturing of that potential and one of the best platformers of all time. The gameplay and environments are greatly expanded over the original. My only criticism is that it looks best on 3DS as that was the original platform with some "vehicle" levels that make good use of 3D so subsequent releases lose a little bit. A very small number of platforming sections are also slightly harder without 3D but it's nothing major. I do wish it was a longer game, but it's short and sweet as it is. Sadly, this game didn't sell as well despite being excellent. I've seen odd blame placed on the slightly higher price point—a bank breaking extra dollar 🙄—but I think the real reason is the 3 year gap between them.
I don't really know of a whole lot about the developer Bertil Hörberg, but I get the impression that he noodled about instead of moving onto a sequel right away considering that's basically what's been happening in the 4 years since this game. This HD collection for Switch was ready around launch, but he sat on it for almost 2 years! There were some peeps about a Switch game outside of this series with a similar art style, but that seems to have been dropped. There have been some recent screenshots of a run 'n gun game where you fight giant robots, so hopefully that gets released.
Time: 0:59:58 Rating: 10
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Post by dsparil on Jan 28, 2019 9:08:02 GMT -5
Claiming: Edo no Kiba (Super Famicom) A lot of Telenet games are flawed and lack polish, but this one flat out feels unfinished. There's a level that has basically no enemies. Had potential, though. Cyborg 009 (Sega CD) Riot's best side-scroller, this one is actually pretty decent despite some technical issues. The superspeed ability is fun to mess with, and the auto-running stage is really well-made. Aladdin (Master System) Cinematic platformer with some adventure touches that aim to faithfully recreate the movie in abridged form. The controls are a bit stiff during the larger, non-linear sections, but it's definitely worth playing through once. Were these first times or replays?
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Post by paperchema on Jan 28, 2019 9:08:53 GMT -5
Aliens: Infestation (DS, 7 hours, 1st time)
As a fan of the Aliens franchise, I mostly enjoyed my time with the game. The graphics are repetitive due to the low budget of the game, but they do a very good job recreating the films' universe. I like that they hired one of my favorite comic book artists to design the marines of the game. Gameplay-wise, it's a decent Metroidvania-lite. It's mostly a linear affair with some backtracking here and there to unlock the next story event. The permadeath system is a cool addition; there is a fin. The system also becomes useless due to the game's difficulty.
The first hours are great, full of tension. The Aliens are powerful and fast (and sometimes it's impossible to avoid their attacks) and you have to do your best to avoid them. The saving spots are a source of relief. But as you obtain more weapons and upgrades, the game gets too easy. By the end of the game, I was killing Aliens left and right without losing a single bit of life. Only the last final boss and its cheap hits were a challenge. But the worst segment of the game is a zero-gravity zone where it's hard to see where you are landing on (hint: usually in front of an Alien).
Still worth a playthrough if you like the James Cameron film.
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Post by toei on Jan 28, 2019 14:49:23 GMT -5
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Post by Null0x00 on Jan 29, 2019 4:42:41 GMT -5
Claiming Dragon's Lair and Space Ace for Windows (as part of the Dragon's Lair Trilogy). Basically, they're ports of the Laserdisk arcade originals. First time I've ever played these "classics" and, oh boy, the criticisms for both games are dead on. They are both literally just QTE: The Video Game. You might as well just watch a Youtube playthrough of both games, as it's more enjoyable then actually playing them as you get to watch the lovely Don Bluth animation instead of having to focus on the button prompts. Dragon's Lair damn near almost broke me.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 29, 2019 7:34:16 GMT -5
I think you really has to be there for those games. In '83/'84 Dragon's Lair and Space Ace were really mind blowing to people especially since their competition wasn't exactly all that sophisticated. Jump forward to DLII in '91, and the cracks were starting to show. The first two are a little before my time, but DLII already seemed like something people's parents or older siblings mainly cared about. To this day, I can't remember actually seeing a cabinet for any of them although they must have been somewhere since people did seem play them at least a little.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 29, 2019 7:51:10 GMT -5
Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis/Switch, Replay)
I tried replaying all three, but I guess SoR2 is the only one I really single player. I played all of them a lot as a kid with a neighbor, but 2 was the standout even then. The original has that nice twist if you're playing two player but it lacks a certain something otherwise as does 3. For whatever reason, SoR2 is just right.
Rating: 9
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Post by dsparil on Jan 30, 2019 9:57:58 GMT -5
Vectorman (Genesis/Switch, Replay)
I've played a lot of Vectorman although I usually only play the first few stages. I can't say it's a favorite of mine, but it's a solid platformer. There's some nice stages and bosses although the transformations are underused. One of the things I've always thought was weird is how the first boss is in some ways the hardest one!
Rating: 8/10
Vectorman 2 (Genesis/Switch, First Time)
Vectorman 2 is just not as good. It isn't a totally awful game, but everything is diminished. The graphics are blander, the levels are worse, the few new ideas are very underused, the final boss is a complete joke and there's basically no ending. It feels very much like a game that was quickly slapped together while there was still some life in the Genesis market. I've never finished it before simply because I've never been able to push myself through the boredom.
Rating: 6/10
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Post by Snake on Jan 30, 2019 12:55:14 GMT -5
Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis/Switch, Replay) I tried replaying all three, but I guess SoR2 is the only one I really single player. I played all of them a lot as a kid with a neighbor, but 2 was the standout even then. The original has that nice twist if you're playing two player but it lacks a certain something otherwise as does 3. For whatever reason, SoR2 is just right. But does Streets of Rage 2 allow you to call police back up to napalm some thugs, even though you're on a boat, floating in the river?! =)
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Threads
Full Member
the disco before the breakdown
Posts: 122
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Post by Threads on Jan 31, 2019 4:55:29 GMT -5
Metro Last Light Redux (Xbox One, replay) - 14 hours, 20 minutes - 3/5
Pretty decent but it loses a lot of character that was found in the original game for me personally. The increased focus on combat (the forced bits near the end of the game especially) weren't what I was originally drawn to Metro for and I could've done without them. Absolutely loved the outdoor levels again.
Still really unsure about Exodus but I hope they lean more heavily on the exploration and world building than any combat based stuff. I guess we'll see in a bit.
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 31, 2019 5:09:49 GMT -5
Bloodborne - Game of the Year Edition (PS4) - First playthrough, Time: 112:14:05 What a game. I have some minor complaints (mostly about multiplayer, QoL stuff and Chalice Dungeons), but otherwise this was the best one since Dark Souls 1, maybe even better. I also beat the DLC The Old Hunters, but I wouldn't count that separate. Rating: 5/5 Series ranking: DS1 > BB > DS2 > DS3 (haven't played Demon's Souls)... though DS2 is still the personal favorite. Pics:
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 31, 2019 14:10:43 GMT -5
Thanks for the update dsparil! Some corrections about my stats:
Total Game Completions: JoeQ - 3 <-- should be 2 (ME:A and BB)
First Time Game Completions: JoeQ - 2 <-- should be 1
Total Time Spent: JoeQ - 147.0h <-- should be 172h
First Play Time: JoeQ - 128.0h <-- should be 112h
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Post by dsparil on Jan 31, 2019 14:23:58 GMT -5
Thanks for the update dsparil ! Some corrections about my stats: Total Game Completions: JoeQ - 3 <-- should be 2 (ME:A and BB)
First Time Game Completions: JoeQ - 2 <-- should be 1
Total Time Spent: JoeQ - 147.0h <-- should be 172h
First Play Time: JoeQ - 128.0h <-- should be 112h
Of course everything gets messed up the minute I stop keeping track of everything by hand and finally switched to using a database to calculate everything. I had a typo in the time parsing code that I've fixed. The count was off because I accidentally counted Bloodborne twice. The original/first time set of time lists only uses the HLTB main story times. I've added a second set that uses the timer times, estimated times and reference time is neither was given.
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 31, 2019 16:14:49 GMT -5
Thanks!
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Post by X-pert74 on Feb 1, 2019 0:07:57 GMT -5
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES) (first-time completion)
I just beat this! Woooooo! <3 <3 <3
I grew up with the first two Ninja Gaiden games, but never had played the third one until like a day or two ago. Now, I can at last say I have truly completed the original NES trilogy :3
Anyways, Ninja Gaiden III isn't quite perfect; the hit detection seem just a tiny bit off at times, for whatever reason. The ways that the overseas version was made harder could also be pretty frustrating; I ended up doing 1up farming in stage 7-2 a bunch, so that I wouldn't have to keep replaying the first six stages again and again. All in all though, I had a lot of fun with this. I like the more sci-fi aesthetic/story that takes place here, and despite the limited continues, the enemy placements felt a lot more generous, thanks to enemies not respawning at all. Even enemies who get scrolled off-screen without getting killed, don't come back immediately like in the first two games, so it's much more forgiving in that regard. I also really like the bars you can hang from - they were a welcome addition, considering ladders became pretty much worthless after Ninja Gaiden II added the ability to climb normally on any wall.
So yeah. Ninja Gaiden III is a good game. I'd even go so far as to say I like it more than Ninja Gaiden II, though my favorite would still have to be the first game. I'm really happy I played this. Maybe I should give The Messenger a shot soon.
(I have no idea how long this took me to play, in terms of hours; I started it on January 30th, and beat it on the 31st. I left the game paused for a good period of time, so the Wii message board has many more hours tracks than I actually spent playing)
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