Forum > Gaming Discussion > [FINAL] Aarny's AWESOME EXTRAVAGANZA of Beaten Games & DLC Expansions - 2015! [Vader's on Top!]
[FINAL] Aarny's AWESOME EXTRAVAGANZA of Beaten Games & DLC Expansions - 2015! [Vader's on Top!]
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Wed, 22 Jul 2015 10:05:10
bugsonglass said:

Totally, also I don't remember Wii games looking as good as this.  I don't have a clear recollection as it's been a while since I played most of them but this game looks great.  Not really much worse than the PS3 Dead Space games.  The character models are some of the best on Wii by far.  The necromorphs look scary as ever and there's loads of them on screen at certain times.  All the cut-scenes are great and with full voice-acting (which most Wii games didn't do).  The overall polish and shine of this game is remarkable.  This would be worthy of being called Dead Space 0.

I very nearly bought DS3 this morning, but you spared me Happy

It's because it's on rails.* Chronicles looked amazing.

*HOTD didn't look technically good, though, but I seem to remember the frame rate being pretty solid; unlike Chronicles.

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Wed, 22 Jul 2015 10:16:06

Going to have to try Chronicles even though the Resident Evil story is shit compared to Dead Space and those zombies are laughable compared to the Necromorphs (except for those in RE4 which are a little bit like ... Unitologists!)

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Wed, 22 Jul 2015 10:38:54

Updated with Kirby Super Star Ultra which I played in dribs and drabs over the past few weeks during sessions on the bog.  What the fuck is this rubbish?  I mean seriously?  This is extremely highly rated and it was one of the most expensive DS games I ever bought.  What is good about this game?  Name one thing.

It's a rubbish platformer comprised of five or six (not mini-games ... what do I call these fucks now?) "smaller" games, and a few mini-games and ALL of them are complete rubbish.

Half of the time I wanted to laugh in disbelief and the other half I wanted to cry in disbelief.  This is a platformer where it makes no difference what you do just press along forward and keep pressing buttons and get to the finishing line.  Yeah you copy enemies abilities and you jump and you float and you spit ... but it's all inconsiquential.  None of it makes any difference.  You don't need to find which enemies abilities to copy to get through certain sections, nor does it make it easier or harder.  I was seriously tempted to flush this cartridge down the toilet.

Who and why rates this rubbish (I can't even call it a game) highly?

PS No Iwata disrespect meant.

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Wed, 22 Jul 2015 12:54:15

I can't speak on the version you played, but I enjoyed the SNES version - Kirby Super Star. While a lot of it was light, easy, and forgettable I thought The Great Cave Offensive was one of the great gaming experiences of my life. Exploring this giant cave, searching for treasure, and trying to keep going further - that kind of simple direct gaming is as fun as it gets in my book. That alone makes it worth playing. I'd love to get something like that again.

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Wed, 22 Jul 2015 14:15:44

The DS version I think is the same thing as the SNES version but it has a few additional touch-control mini-games.  I really didn't like it.  Not even the cave one.  I think I got something like 15 out of the 60 treasures ... just couldn't get interested.

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Thu, 23 Jul 2015 15:09:45

Updated with game #36 of 2015. The completely and totally overrated Infamous.

Seriously, this may be the most overrated game I have ever played. For a game with average review scores in the 9/10 range, there is absolutely NOTHING special about this game. Its a generic open world sandbox that does absolutely nothing better than the many other AAA open world franchises. The production values aren't all that impressive, the gameplay is frankly pretty annoying most of the time, the story and characters are totally forgettable garbage that a team of 6th graders could have thought up. I don't know...I just do not get the hype. I honestly had a better time with Crackdown 2 and even that game was a huge letdown!

To me, it feels like a case of the PS3 needing a big exclusive at the time, so it was mandatory that everyone act like this game is 10 times better than it really is.

7.0 Rating.

Edited: Thu, 23 Jul 2015 15:11:27

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Thu, 23 Jul 2015 15:18:03

Second Son was much better.

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Thu, 23 Jul 2015 18:12:53

Wow edge is nuts and Travo not much better. Second son is the worst in the series, so says I and it is so. Nyaa

The first is still the best one. Traversal was a blast which is super important for a game like this. Riding down train lines, climbing huge buildings to get those shards was great. The first one was still a platformer at heart and levels were built with that in mind. The combat was a cool take on a cover shoiter where cover could be any building or structure. Good story with a great twist, good boss fights,decent changes with light and dark. Excellent game. Liked it far more than crackdown and better than prototype which was more action heavy but not a good balance of action and platforming like infamous.

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Thu, 23 Jul 2015 18:16:57

Dude if the first is the best I may never even bother with the others.

The only one I don't have is Second Son. I got the Collection on PS3 and got First Light free on PS4.

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Thu, 23 Jul 2015 18:34:01
edgecrusher said:

Dude if the first is the best I may never even bother with the others.

The only one I don't have is Second Son. I got the Collection on PS3 and got First Light free on PS4.

Second son has better combat for sure and movement is a blast. The world and missions are so basic and boring., one of the worst open worlds in a game. 2 is great but I just like the NY like vibe of the first game more than the flat New Orleans setting.

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Fri, 24 Jul 2015 00:36:28
bugsonglass said:

The DS version I think is the same thing as the SNES version but it has a few additional touch-control mini-games.  I really didn't like it.  Not even the cave one.  I think I got something like 15 out of the 60 treasures ... just couldn't get interested.

Well if you only got a handful of the treasures, you really weren't experiencing much of the game. You weren't getting the right enemy powers that allowed you to access hidden paths and such. Still, if you didn't like it then it probably wouldn't have mattered much. If you don't like it, you don't like it.

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Sat, 25 Jul 2015 10:50:03






1. Beat Transistor - 5/10

2. Beat Bayonetta 2 - 9/10

3. Beat Super Time Force - 7/10

4. Beat Double Dragon Neon - 5/10

5. Beat D4: Dark Dream's Don't Die - 5/10

6. Beat Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - 7/10

7. Beat Megaman X - 9/10

8. Beat The Order 1886 - 4/10

9. Beat Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - 10*/10

10. Beat Bloodborne - 8/10

11. Beat Batman: Arkham Asylum - 8/10

12. Beat Batman: Arkham City - 8/10

13. Beat Her Story - 6/10

14. Beat Gone Home - 4/10

15. Beat Splatoon - 7/10

16. Beat Metal Gear Solid - 7/10

Damn thing still holds up as a good game, and fuck if my heart still doesn't love it. True story, but for the longest time when I was mildly into games in high school as much as I dug MGS 2 and 3, I was always of the opinion that MGS1 is the best (not any fucking longer obviously), mostly because I always liked the story more and the bosses.

Well Solid Snake is still awesome, and I like him more than Raiden or Big Boss, always did. Plot wise I think what I like about this is exactly why I really like Snake Eater, there is a better sense of clarity to it, and it goes way less up its own ass than some of its successors. It still plays with player expectations and the player itself, Liquid's whole shitting on the players murder lust at the end is the shit Spec Ops and Hotline Miami were basically going for, and Kojima was doing it in 1998, pretty legit for a guy who routinely (not that it isn't justified) bashed for having some bad writing, he's always had dope ideas.

What I find kind of funny given Metal Gear's place among stealth IP's is that MGS might be least stealthy in spots, because it's not like the future games don't have boss fights and shooty bits, but this one has them far more frequently in a much smaller game if anything. I felt like there weren't enough stretches where you could just ghost around the area, because on hard that stuff is really entertaining. Because there is an elegance to MGS1's simplicity, it's the type of thing that makes Metal Gear 1 and 2 still playable to this day, since more or less it's a 2D game more than a 3D game.

But the combat blows chunks, first of all enemies are mad fucking spongy, and there is no headshot bonus or anything so that makes doing things like fighting dudes on an elevator a bit lame. Not difficult, just lame. I also hated controlling that turret at the end, but most of the boss fights were still fun. Struggled here and there on hard, because I needed to be reminded that in 1998 when a game said Hard, it meant hard, because holy shit man some of these cats took hits, but there were aspects about fights that made them more annoying than they needed to for instance.

First sniper wolf fight when you use the sniper you automatically go prone and into first person, okay cool with that. If Sniper Wolf hits you she knocks you off your target and you're aiming in a different direction, which can be jarring as fuck given how the zoom in that game works. Which is an irritation that I would chalk up with Knockback deaths, speaking of which MGS's knockback and Knockdown, fucking long and annoying.

I also as much as I think the Metal Gear Rex fight is dope, it's dope because the 2nd half of that fight is cool. You're sort of sneaking under that big robot and taking shots. But the first part is just throw chaffs and shoot stinger, and it's kind of lame because you can't really do anything else, because without the chaffs he shoots rockets that lock the fuck on to you. I don't know if that's a Hard thing, but at no point did I remember those rockets homing on to you and hitting you no problem, shit was annoying.

Beyond that usual franchise drawbacks are still there




-The writing is pretty bad in spots because the dialogue gets redundant




-It's fucking preachy as hell because the cutscenes go on for fucking days, this time about fucking nukes




-The gameplay to cutscene balance is ridiculous




-HOLY FUCK do they have to explain every mother fucking control thing via codec

With the added glaring bonus of the back tracking in MGS1 is so blatant about just padding the game length of a really short game as it is lol, and I still fucking love it.

But going into MGS2 it's impressive how many of the smaller things I didn't like and the bigger things I didn't like were addressed and made more enjoyable with that game. As it stands I think MGS1 is still a good game, but definitely a rougher play than I remember, and in contrast to other games of that year I think some of them do hold up a little bit better, but fuck it I love it.

Would I probably crucify other games for the shit MGS1 does? You're damn right I would, but fuck it I love this game. I loved it then, I loved its stupid ass dennis dyack making remake, I love it now. The game? eh I like it still, but Solid Snake, that story, that setting, that music, that opera? Fucking Love It.

On to Sons of Liberty.

Edited: Sat, 25 Jul 2015 11:37:04

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Sat, 25 Jul 2015 10:55:42

Beat Her Story tonight.

I don't think I'll evern get past this boss level in Shadow Warrior. I just can't do it. I have a tonne of money in this game but no way to spend it? Which may be the problem.

Splatoon, I played 3 more matches tonight, (again being the best on the team) and lost all, I've pretty much done with it. I tried single player and have o idea what the fuck I am supposed to do with it. I keep finding the starfish or whatever and it keep asying "find two more".

Back to rocket league.

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Sat, 25 Jul 2015 19:04:59

The most negative thing for me playing MGS1 relatively recently was how terrible it looks.  The character models looked like chunks of clay and the faces looked as though someone went at them with the lawnmower.  And I remember this was supposed to be a great looking game for its time.  PS1 3D games really haven't stood the test of time well at all compared to say N64 games which look fine even today (maybe because of the very different and colour palletes)

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Sat, 25 Jul 2015 19:30:56

Updated with Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands for the Wii.  

Prior to this I had only played one of the previous 3D Prince of Persian game (The Sands of Time on Gamecube).  I liked some things a great deal about this game.  The platforming is fun and the way you traverse the environment.  The Prince is a very agile hero and has some nice moves to get around and up and down things.  Finding out how to get from point A to point B is great fun despite having some guidance by seeing the trail of golden orbs which kind of direct you.  This is the meat and potatoes of the game and it does it very well.

There is a kind of Metroid/Castlevania feeling since the Prince gains new moves as you play along which allow you to get to places you couldn't do so before, or to move very differently and very fast through familiar spaces.  Which brings me to backtracking.  There is a lot of it and it doesn't feel like you are constantly seeing new things and rediscovering them like in Metroid.  It just feels like backtracking, and as such can get somewhat boring and annoying.

The games biggest problem is the combat.  Frankly it is rubbish.  Okay I wasn't expecting God of War here, but I at least I expected to have good control over what I am doing and how to best deal with enemies.  It's not even as good as combat in the 3D Zelda games which would have been fine.  You supposedly unlock all kinds of awesome new combat moves and what have you but all you are basically doing is running around button mashing and hand-flaling with the remote until all the enemies are dead.  It is tiring and not fun at all.  Unlike Metroid, you don't make any cool use of your new moves in combat and unlike Zelda you don't really have to use the new fighting techniques you learn or develop any kind of skill with the combat.  The way I fought the first enemy in the game was pretty well the same with the way I fought all of them.

The puzzles in the game are kind of hit and miss.  They are a little more involved than say those in Resident Evil or God of War but don't always feel very inspired or clever.  Overall not bad though.

It took me about 16 hours to finish it and I must say it felt a little too long for this type of game and it got fairly repetitive.  I was ready for it to end after 8-10 hours but it dragged on for that much longer without really adding anything new or of great value.  By the time I finished it I felt like I'd really had enough Prince of Persia for the next few years (which probably explains why I hadn't played any of the other games after Sands of Time even though I really enjoyed that.)  I think it would have been a better game if they'd trimmed down some of the backtracking and the repetition.  

Decent game though, pleased that I played it.  One more game ticked off the backlog.

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Sat, 25 Jul 2015 22:14:51
bugsonglass said:

The most negative thing for me playing MGS1 relatively recently was how terrible it looks.  The character models looked like chunks of clay and the faces looked as though someone went at them with the lawnmower.  And I remember this was supposed to be a great looking game for its time.  PS1 3D games really haven't stood the test of time well at all compared to say N64 games which look fine even today (maybe because of the very different and colour palletes)

Color palletes and on balance Nintendo's in house studios being some of the best around that time. Throw in the part where the 64 was stronger and that helps its cause. Personally the dated visuals were kind of endearing, it kind of reminded me of Team America where everything felt like a puppet show with toys. It's fun.

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Sun, 26 Jul 2015 09:50:27

17. Beat Legend of Korra - 5/10

So this is Platinum on a licensed product, okay, first things first I really like the combat mechanics, you know, when you get your powers and abilities. It initially took some learning, as I'm used to having stinger type moves to close the gap in these type of games, but knowing that some of my abilities are projectiles made that transition reasonable later on.

There are a lot of fun combos you can have when you feel like mixing and matching your abilities, and all in all it makes the core thing you are doing in the game enjoyable. Mechanically it's tight, fluid, obviously on a budget in terms of some of the animations and lolPS2 era clipping through things that happens, but all in all the combat has good game feel all things considered. What doesn't help the games cause is the structure they went with.

For starters you lose your abilities in the beginning and have to get them back one by one, which is such a fucking drag because when you have to the first chapter and a half with no powers that shit is boring as sin. The combat feels clunky and lame, and half the time you're wondering Platinum made this? It also means that certain powers aren't fleshed out enough at the end. The Wind elements has some cool base combos, but it's basically maxed up by level 3. All of these go to level 7 or whatever, but after 3 all you really get is power boosts for wind. In contrast Water, Fire, and Earth had new moves to unlock at levels 5 and 7 (at least fire and earth) did, and that's ultimately disappointing. Overall in the grand scheme of Platinum combat engines it's way more interesting than madworld and I personally dig it more than Anarchy Reigns (though I get Anarchy Reigns was built for MP), but in comparison to how cool The Wonderful 101 is or how savage Revengeance feels, it's not up to snuff, and the good lord could not create a canyon big enough to cover the gap between Bayonetta's combat engine and this. Throw in Clover games like Viewtiful Joe and God Hand, and yeah.

And the thing is the combat couldn't just be good for this game, it had to be excellent, because holy shit some of the other design decisions in this game. It goes without saying that Platinum recycled boss fights, because they always tend to do that. That said they usually find clever twists when they are recycling; in Bayonetta they come back weaker and you play them differently. It pimps out the narrative that you got stronger. In Revengeance it's a boss rush, but now you get to kick their ass with their own weapons. Plus de-limbing salami dude in a new setting helps his cause. In Vanquish eventually the robots get paired up, and the end boss itself is a twist and technically only the 2nd time you see one of them.

In Korra it's literally just the same bosses you fight, but now they got a new move and look the same. It's not really all that interesting to fight a second time, and the one fight where they added a twist. FUCK THAT BULLSHIT. There is this part in the spirit world where you have to fight two of these big black monster things while there are these black hole shits surrounding the arena that do damage to you if you get in. Fuck that part. It's basically "this camera sucks dick" the boss fight, and whatever I usually can tolerate the camera short comings in Platinum games, because more often than not the player has more than enough shit at their disposal to not be bothered by it. But in Korra, they are lumbering things that take up so much of the screen in an arena where you have already lost a lot of real estate, and you're stuck fighting these things by needing to counter all day.

In fact that's the other issue, a lot of these enemies come down to needing to use the counter mechanic a bit too much. Parrying was one thing, but it wasn't like you couldn't take swings in Revengeance. Dodge offset in Bayonetta is literally all offense oriented. In Korra during that fight it was in my best interest to stand still, wait for him to attack, and then parry move.

Way too many of the enemies come down to these QTE segments, and FUCK those enemies that tie you up with that ball shit. Shit is so fucking annoying in a group of enemies, the tells aren't nearly as good as they are in Platinum's other games, there was at least one enemy type that pissed me the fuck off with one of their moves (willing to concede this one might be on me), and fuck those birdy things in the spirit world.  

As for the platforming it wasn't bad at all, when it sucked was when I had to fight some dudes here and there. Please stop.

This games equivalent of the Platinum games on rail shooter level is stupid and I fucking hate it, and I don't care if all of it is Gagan sucks at it, fuck that shit.

The endless runner thing with Naga or whatever? Eh I was bad at it, but I honestly found it fun and kind of neat. I'd almost humor the idea of actually playing a Platinum games endless runner.

All in all the animations are great, I kind of like Korra, I'd even humor watching the show. And for all intents and purposes I had fun, and that last boss fight? FUCK YES. Honestly as much as Bayonetta 2 clowns this game, if it comes down to who ever had the better final boss, I would argue it's Korra. It goes full dragon ball Z and you go super Korra or whatever the fuck. It was lovely lol.

Otherwise I might make a run at replaying it to now work on getting some Platinum medals, because I really like what you can do with that combat. But the overall game is a missed opportunity, the combat is there, that final boss fight is hype, but the rest of the game is mostly middling. Ultimately it's an average game, not necessarily bad one. You can definitely do way worse in my opinion on the gameplay front: Madworld and Dynasty Warriors for instance.

But the only people I would recommend it to are

-People who really like beat-em ups (2d or 3d)

-People who like Legend of Korra and like beat-em ups

Anyway I might start Sons of Liberty Monday, so I might aim for another quick game to finish up the weekend.

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Sun, 26 Jul 2015 16:26:50

Updated with Kirby's Epic Yarn.

I bought this game when it first came out and played a couple of levels back then but somehow I left it even though I liked it.  Well the right time came for me to play this, so I started it again and loved every minute of it.

What a truly wonderful game.  It looks gorgeous, it's full of fun ideas which constantly put a smile upon your face none of which is played out till it gets tired.  I'm almost lost for words to describe how great it is.

I'd go as far as to call this a masterpiece.  It's better than Wooly Yoshi even though that is a great game as well in its own right.  I am really loving this development team at present.  Maybe it's time to play the Wario game they made.  And I can't wait for their next take on a Nintendo franchise whichever that may be.

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I played some more to unlock and play every level get all the treasures try all the mini games etc.  It's a fairly short game and it doesn't take that long even to collect everything and get a gold medal (not nearly as short as the WiiU Kirby game though) but as I said before it's filled to the brim with fun ideas and it never gets boring.  

I understand that this game is a bit of an anomaly in the line of Kirby games which I suppose makes this game even more special, but after Kirby Super Star I think that perhaps most of the normal/regular Kirby games will not impress me.  Oh well, at least I thoroughly enjoyed this and I will be happy to play it again in the future.  Perhaps on a Christmas morning ... it's that kind of game.

Edited: Sun, 26 Jul 2015 22:15:51

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Sun, 26 Jul 2015 23:35:30

Just finished Journey because, hey, it was there.

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Mon, 27 Jul 2015 02:30:31
Gagan said:

And the thing is the combat couldn't just be good for this game, it had to be excellent, because holy shit some of the other design decisions in this game. It goes without saying that Platinum recycled boss fights, because they always tend to do that. That said they usually find clever twists when they are recycling; in Bayonetta they come back weaker and you play them differently. It pimps out the narrative that you got stronger. In Revengeance it's a boss rush, but now you get to kick their ass with their own weapons. Plus de-limbing salami dude in a new setting helps his cause. In Vanquish eventually the robots get paired up, and the end boss itself is a twist and technically only the 2nd time you see one of them.

In Korra it's literally just the same bosses you fight, but now they got a new move and look the same. It's not really all that interesting to fight a second time, and the one fight where they added a twist.

That would infuriate me; it was annoying enough in Vanquish and Revengeance at times, which are otherwise great. Fuck this game.

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