ReplayBurners are all about beating games without dying(or nomiss as it's known in the arcades).
I highly recommend giving it a look if you're in need of strats or just want to see some good game playing. They even have a video of Arabian Fight for some godforsaken reason.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Monday, December 27, 2010
2010 Game of the year Awards
Everyone else does these silly awards so I figure I better join in.
Best Soundtrack for the Worst Game - Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
The soundtrack is fantastic but it is wasted on a miserable pile of drek. I understand the game has fans and everything but it's most likely because of the great music that improves anything it accompanies.
Least-talked about Game of the Year - Protect Me Knight
This absolutely brilliant game is going almost entirely ignored and honestly it kind of bugs me. Well I'm done talking about it so whatever.
Favorite character - Francis York Morgan
The star of Deadly Premonition makes the game work via his quirky behavior and excellent characterization.
Worst story - Metroid: Other M
It'd be one thing if the storyline to this game was merely terrible. However what we have here is a story that completely destroys Samus Aran's credibility. This excellent article deserves a read.
Most pain-inducing game - Final Fantasy XIII
It hurts to play this game. Everything from the story to the characters just makes me wonder why I even bother with videogames.
Least-played Game of the Year - Dead Rising 2
Since the original Dead Rising is one of the best games I've ever played I figure a sequel that improves upon it in every way should be at least a GOTY contender. Problem is I've yet to beat the game, heck I've put less than ten hours into it so far. How depressing.
Honorable mention - Super Mario Galaxy 2
How else can I put this...oops?
Most over-played Game of the Year - Phantasy Star Portable 2
All that time I could have spent playing real GOTY-contenders was instead spent getting phatter loot and raising levels in this masterpiece by Sega. The new features and abilities are amazing additions and all but wow...who cares? I should be talking about Red Dead Redemption, Starcraft 2, or some other game I have no interest at all in.
Lifetime Achievement Award - Cavia
I love these guys. It's such a shame that they're no more.
Best game of 2010(or at least current best because I'm playing it right now and it's a lot of fun) - Just Cause 2
Oh man! This game is so much fun. I just love zipping around on a grappling hook and soaring away on a parachute to get out of danger. Plus there's like a constant stream of objects to blow up and rewards to collect and that's always cool.
Best Soundtrack for the Worst Game - Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
The soundtrack is fantastic but it is wasted on a miserable pile of drek. I understand the game has fans and everything but it's most likely because of the great music that improves anything it accompanies.
Least-talked about Game of the Year - Protect Me Knight
This absolutely brilliant game is going almost entirely ignored and honestly it kind of bugs me. Well I'm done talking about it so whatever.
Favorite character - Francis York Morgan
The star of Deadly Premonition makes the game work via his quirky behavior and excellent characterization.
Worst story - Metroid: Other M
It'd be one thing if the storyline to this game was merely terrible. However what we have here is a story that completely destroys Samus Aran's credibility. This excellent article deserves a read.
Most pain-inducing game - Final Fantasy XIII
It hurts to play this game. Everything from the story to the characters just makes me wonder why I even bother with videogames.
Least-played Game of the Year - Dead Rising 2
Since the original Dead Rising is one of the best games I've ever played I figure a sequel that improves upon it in every way should be at least a GOTY contender. Problem is I've yet to beat the game, heck I've put less than ten hours into it so far. How depressing.
Honorable mention - Super Mario Galaxy 2
How else can I put this...oops?
Most over-played Game of the Year - Phantasy Star Portable 2
All that time I could have spent playing real GOTY-contenders was instead spent getting phatter loot and raising levels in this masterpiece by Sega. The new features and abilities are amazing additions and all but wow...who cares? I should be talking about Red Dead Redemption, Starcraft 2, or some other game I have no interest at all in.
Lifetime Achievement Award - Cavia
I love these guys. It's such a shame that they're no more.
Best game of 2010(or at least current best because I'm playing it right now and it's a lot of fun) - Just Cause 2
Oh man! This game is so much fun. I just love zipping around on a grappling hook and soaring away on a parachute to get out of danger. Plus there's like a constant stream of objects to blow up and rewards to collect and that's always cool.
Friday, December 24, 2010
AA Look - Konami's other games
Missing in Action
Sending a single Green Beret or two into the heart of Enemy Territory isn't enough. You gotta send that man out there with just a knife and he has to be the type where if an enemy so much as breathes on him he collapses and dies. The mission? To rescue five POWs. If this kind of bravery isn't worth a salute I'm not sure what is. Missing In Action is the follow-up to Rush'n Attack and it's all about rushing forward, stabbing everyone that gets close, and occasionally picking up some weapons to even the odds just a tad.
The mechanics are definitely one-sided in this game. If the player runs into an enemy the player dies, and even if the player steps on an enemy's skull the player dies. There's a certain appeal to it I guess as it forces the player to be extra cautious. It's difficult to be cautious considering the player is repeatedly assaulted by enemies from both sides. Oh well whatever it's still a fun game.
Sending a single Green Beret or two into the heart of Enemy Territory isn't enough. You gotta send that man out there with just a knife and he has to be the type where if an enemy so much as breathes on him he collapses and dies. The mission? To rescue five POWs. If this kind of bravery isn't worth a salute I'm not sure what is. Missing In Action is the follow-up to Rush'n Attack and it's all about rushing forward, stabbing everyone that gets close, and occasionally picking up some weapons to even the odds just a tad.
The mechanics are definitely one-sided in this game. If the player runs into an enemy the player dies, and even if the player steps on an enemy's skull the player dies. There's a certain appeal to it I guess as it forces the player to be extra cautious. It's difficult to be cautious considering the player is repeatedly assaulted by enemies from both sides. Oh well whatever it's still a fun game.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Whoa...I've been sick.
This is my latest excuse for the lack of updates lately. It's been a rough weekend and it takes me forever to get up to speed after getting hit with the flu.
Anyway I think I purchased a few games...uh huh here we go.
Just Cause 2 - This is a lot of fun.
Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light - Also really good.
Super Meat Boy - Would probably be great as well except I can't get it working on my PC. Oh well maybe when I get a new computer.
The plan for next year is...well I dunno exactly. I have quite the library to work with for awhile and my two major purchases for January and February are Littlebigplanet 2 and the Pink Sweets / Muchi Muchi Pork double-pack. I guess I'll just play it by ear and see where it goes. I'd also like to look into a little self-promotion...y'know...help get my name out there so this blog can get more readers. I don't know the first thing about any of that stuff though so *sigh* oh well.
Anyway I think I purchased a few games...uh huh here we go.
Just Cause 2 - This is a lot of fun.
Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light - Also really good.
Super Meat Boy - Would probably be great as well except I can't get it working on my PC. Oh well maybe when I get a new computer.
The plan for next year is...well I dunno exactly. I have quite the library to work with for awhile and my two major purchases for January and February are Littlebigplanet 2 and the Pink Sweets / Muchi Muchi Pork double-pack. I guess I'll just play it by ear and see where it goes. I'd also like to look into a little self-promotion...y'know...help get my name out there so this blog can get more readers. I don't know the first thing about any of that stuff though so *sigh* oh well.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Franchises
Here is every game I've looked at that is part of a long-running series.
Castlevania
Castlevania 1
Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse
Super Castlevania 4
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 12
Gradius
Castlevania
Castlevania 1
Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse
Super Castlevania 4
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 12
Gradius
Megaman on Game Boy
Thursday, December 16, 2010
AA Look - GunForce 2
These days it seems like everybody is trying to put the "hell freaking yeah!" in a videogame. Go on the Xboxlive Indies service and seemingly every day there's some game that promises explosions, stuff blowing up, and death. One day developers are going to figure out how to make games where the hero dual-wields an M-40 and a hot blonde. In the movie Predator, Dillon gets one of his arms chopped off by the dread-locked hunter so he has to reach for the big-ass gun strapped around his other arm. That's the kind of macho-action I'm just not seeing games. At the rate videogame technology advances the way it should be is even if the main character is little more than a head covered in scars he's going to be oozing so much testosterone that he'll be pulling the trigger with his tongue and suplexing aliens with his eyebrows.
Yeah it all sounds ridiculous but that's the point. Sometimes the manliest games are the ones that are able to poke fun at themselves. Japan has always been a bit ahead of the curve in this regard because after all they created Contra. You can't really question the masculinity of Rambo and Dutch teaming up to take on an entire alien armada by themselves. Gun Force 2 (or Geo Storm) is a game in a similar vein. The big difference here is that the two main characters carry guns in each hand. At first I thought it was a fair fight but it's clear that the mutant cyborg aliens have no chance at all.
The story goes something like this: There's a big hole where a city used to be. I think that's really all that needs to be said. It's like punching somebody back because they gave you a black eye. No wait it's more like punching that person so hard that their head explodes. Gun Force 2 is all about taking it to absurdity. Both of the main characters will shoot in every direction, put bullet-holes into every possible object, and rescue nothing but hotties in skimpy clothes. They also collect medals and are then rewarded at the end of each stage for their effectiveness at getting riches and slaying baddies.
The first stage starts of with the good guys hopping on the back of a train from their armored truck. The truck basically explodes for no reason and makes one of those ridiculous effects where the explosion goes all over the entire screen. The truck doesn't explode from crashing into the train, no it explodes when the main character lands on the train. It's like getting out of bed with such intensity that the bed disintegrates. This more than anything sets up exactly what you're getting into when you start this game. Since real men(and women) don't get shot at all the heroes of Gunforce 2 die in a single hit. Sure it's rough but hey that's what run & guns are all about.
The entire game goes along this same course. It's like the guys at Irem went stir-crazy and just started cramming in anything explosive they could imagine. Somehow though they let the odd gag slip by like the beginning of stage 2 starts with a fence being climbed over instead of being blown up like it was a fence made out of combustible barrels. Half the time I'm not even sure why everything is being obliterated but it's all fun stuff and my brain is free to leave town for the next 30 minutes.
Most anyone could enjoy this game even if they ran face-first into every bullet. It may not be the best way to play any game but for some that sort of thing doesn't even matter. Still it's easier than similar games in the genre and those games don't seem to throw in heaping bundles of kaboom every few seconds. Though the pacing never really seems to move past "kill a bunch of stuff, move forward, then kill a bunch of stuff" it always feels different somehow, like the enemies are new, maybe there are vehicles involved, and so on. Fans of high-scores will have to keep an eye out for hidden hostages but other than there is little if any complexity to this game. Furthermore this seems to be one of those games that could probably loop forever if the player is really serious about their score.
Really I have nothing else to say about this game. Check it out, blow stuff up until you're bored, and maybe give it a serious play by trying to stay alive the next time around. It's about as deep as the average Metal Slug and it certainly won't require you to understand calculus like some shooters but eh who cares? Maybe all you really want is to see everything blown to pieces.
Game rating - 3.5 out of 5
My rating - 4 out of 5
Yeah it all sounds ridiculous but that's the point. Sometimes the manliest games are the ones that are able to poke fun at themselves. Japan has always been a bit ahead of the curve in this regard because after all they created Contra. You can't really question the masculinity of Rambo and Dutch teaming up to take on an entire alien armada by themselves. Gun Force 2 (or Geo Storm) is a game in a similar vein. The big difference here is that the two main characters carry guns in each hand. At first I thought it was a fair fight but it's clear that the mutant cyborg aliens have no chance at all.
The story goes something like this: There's a big hole where a city used to be. I think that's really all that needs to be said. It's like punching somebody back because they gave you a black eye. No wait it's more like punching that person so hard that their head explodes. Gun Force 2 is all about taking it to absurdity. Both of the main characters will shoot in every direction, put bullet-holes into every possible object, and rescue nothing but hotties in skimpy clothes. They also collect medals and are then rewarded at the end of each stage for their effectiveness at getting riches and slaying baddies.
The first stage starts of with the good guys hopping on the back of a train from their armored truck. The truck basically explodes for no reason and makes one of those ridiculous effects where the explosion goes all over the entire screen. The truck doesn't explode from crashing into the train, no it explodes when the main character lands on the train. It's like getting out of bed with such intensity that the bed disintegrates. This more than anything sets up exactly what you're getting into when you start this game. Since real men(and women) don't get shot at all the heroes of Gunforce 2 die in a single hit. Sure it's rough but hey that's what run & guns are all about.
The entire game goes along this same course. It's like the guys at Irem went stir-crazy and just started cramming in anything explosive they could imagine. Somehow though they let the odd gag slip by like the beginning of stage 2 starts with a fence being climbed over instead of being blown up like it was a fence made out of combustible barrels. Half the time I'm not even sure why everything is being obliterated but it's all fun stuff and my brain is free to leave town for the next 30 minutes.
Most anyone could enjoy this game even if they ran face-first into every bullet. It may not be the best way to play any game but for some that sort of thing doesn't even matter. Still it's easier than similar games in the genre and those games don't seem to throw in heaping bundles of kaboom every few seconds. Though the pacing never really seems to move past "kill a bunch of stuff, move forward, then kill a bunch of stuff" it always feels different somehow, like the enemies are new, maybe there are vehicles involved, and so on. Fans of high-scores will have to keep an eye out for hidden hostages but other than there is little if any complexity to this game. Furthermore this seems to be one of those games that could probably loop forever if the player is really serious about their score.
Really I have nothing else to say about this game. Check it out, blow stuff up until you're bored, and maybe give it a serious play by trying to stay alive the next time around. It's about as deep as the average Metal Slug and it certainly won't require you to understand calculus like some shooters but eh who cares? Maybe all you really want is to see everything blown to pieces.
Game rating - 3.5 out of 5
My rating - 4 out of 5
AA look - Detana!! Twinbee
One of Konami's popular 2D shooter franchises was the Twinbee series. They're charming games that focus on bright colors and smiles while providing that hot shooting action we all crave in the genre. This particular entry won an award for best shooting game in the Japanese magazine Gamest. Yeah it's totally impressive stuff, even though Metal Black was robbed. Can you believe that? A ground-breaking and intelligent shooter that is an artistic achievement and one of the most brilliant games the genre has ever seen, and it was beaten by some happy-go-lucky kids and their bell-collecting adventure.
I...I...I don't think I can continue this review right now. I'm clenching my teeth so hard the enamel is starting to peel off. I bet even Sonic the Hedgehog won an award over Metal Black. At least Metal Black didn't defile whatever legacy it had by having a sequel called Metal Black 2006. That would be a wonderful sequel. It could feature a Black Fly, a Silver Fly, and a Blue Fly. The Silver Fly could have telekinetic powers and the entire game would be an unplayable mess.
Anyway Detana Twinbee...oh...Detana!! Twinbee (sheesh) is also known as Bells and Whistles over on this side of the pond. The plot involves rescuing a queen from an alien invasion and that's about it. The hero Light pilots the Twinbee while the heroine Pastel controls the Winbee. There's also a Gwinbee who helps out provided a power-up is snagged. This is also one of those shooters where it's probably best to play with a friend since through the power of friendship players can stick together and gain more attack power. There's also a charged shot for crowd-clearing and the ability to hit the ground targets with bombs. This aspect is similar to Xevious though there's auto-targeting which makes it more convenient.
The most unique quality of this game revolves around the bells. Fans of Parodius understand the importance of these bells as they bestow goodies depending on their color. In this game the goodies include power-ups like improved weapons, shields, and points. There's a medal...uh...bell-chaining system in place where the point-gifting golden bells can be continually collected for up to 10,000 a pop. This is obviously something to look out for as any lost bell drops the value back down to 500 and that isn't any good. The bells fall from clouds and will disappear off-screen unless they are juggled by the player's fire. This also causes the bells to cycle through their various colors.
With a system like this death can become extra punishing as it requires recovering all of these different power-ups while at the same time doing the best one can with a lousy pea-shooter. There's seemingly no rhyme or reason as to what the colors of bells will be so like a lot of early Konami shooters the solution is to simply not die at all. At least this game isn't particularly hard outside of some trouble-spots and even then the patterns are pretty obvious so on the next go 'round players should have a handle on it.
For a game where the enemy-designs are both cute and nonsensical I was pretty well thrown off when the final boss turned out to be some freaky alien-brain. This guy is pretty dang sick but he dies very quickly. Unfortunately his appearance sets the pace for the rest of the game. Detana!! Twinbee is one of those second-loop kind of shooters and Konami decided not to mess around at all. There are double the enemy aircraft, double the enemy fire-power, and heck they even release more bullets when you kill them. Veterans of this game probably get pretty bored when they have to spend nearly half an hour of playing to get to the real challenge. This also serves to further embarrass me as currently I've yet to see past stage 3. The second boss with his spinning oars keeps nailing me. The really sad part is I know that if I can get past him and hold onto my cool weapons I could sail through the next few stages with no trouble.
Despite it all it's very easy to see why this Detana!! Twinbee is an award-winner. This game is very approachable for all fans of the shooter genre and the scoring system is absolutely awesome. There's enough of a challenge in the first loop to keep anyone occupied for days as the combination of air & ground targets as well as the bell managing strikes a perfect balance and is very rewarding. I really like the music and to a lesser extent the art. I guess the only thing that really bothers me is that I have no idea what the regular enemies are supposed to be half the time. They're like some strange combination of evil food and vague threatening-shapes. Oh and I'm still slightly bitter about the raw deal Metal Black got.
Note - I went with the X360 Game Room version of this game. While it doesn't support TATE the video options are still decent enough plus there are other features like replay saving, dynamic leaderboards (like Geometry Wars 2), and even an instant-rewind so I can figure out why I died and how I could have avoided it. It's really not bad at all for $3.
Game Rating - 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars
I...I...I don't think I can continue this review right now. I'm clenching my teeth so hard the enamel is starting to peel off. I bet even Sonic the Hedgehog won an award over Metal Black. At least Metal Black didn't defile whatever legacy it had by having a sequel called Metal Black 2006. That would be a wonderful sequel. It could feature a Black Fly, a Silver Fly, and a Blue Fly. The Silver Fly could have telekinetic powers and the entire game would be an unplayable mess.
Anyway Detana Twinbee...oh...Detana!! Twinbee (sheesh) is also known as Bells and Whistles over on this side of the pond. The plot involves rescuing a queen from an alien invasion and that's about it. The hero Light pilots the Twinbee while the heroine Pastel controls the Winbee. There's also a Gwinbee who helps out provided a power-up is snagged. This is also one of those shooters where it's probably best to play with a friend since through the power of friendship players can stick together and gain more attack power. There's also a charged shot for crowd-clearing and the ability to hit the ground targets with bombs. This aspect is similar to Xevious though there's auto-targeting which makes it more convenient.
The most unique quality of this game revolves around the bells. Fans of Parodius understand the importance of these bells as they bestow goodies depending on their color. In this game the goodies include power-ups like improved weapons, shields, and points. There's a medal...uh...bell-chaining system in place where the point-gifting golden bells can be continually collected for up to 10,000 a pop. This is obviously something to look out for as any lost bell drops the value back down to 500 and that isn't any good. The bells fall from clouds and will disappear off-screen unless they are juggled by the player's fire. This also causes the bells to cycle through their various colors.
With a system like this death can become extra punishing as it requires recovering all of these different power-ups while at the same time doing the best one can with a lousy pea-shooter. There's seemingly no rhyme or reason as to what the colors of bells will be so like a lot of early Konami shooters the solution is to simply not die at all. At least this game isn't particularly hard outside of some trouble-spots and even then the patterns are pretty obvious so on the next go 'round players should have a handle on it.
For a game where the enemy-designs are both cute and nonsensical I was pretty well thrown off when the final boss turned out to be some freaky alien-brain. This guy is pretty dang sick but he dies very quickly. Unfortunately his appearance sets the pace for the rest of the game. Detana!! Twinbee is one of those second-loop kind of shooters and Konami decided not to mess around at all. There are double the enemy aircraft, double the enemy fire-power, and heck they even release more bullets when you kill them. Veterans of this game probably get pretty bored when they have to spend nearly half an hour of playing to get to the real challenge. This also serves to further embarrass me as currently I've yet to see past stage 3. The second boss with his spinning oars keeps nailing me. The really sad part is I know that if I can get past him and hold onto my cool weapons I could sail through the next few stages with no trouble.
Despite it all it's very easy to see why this Detana!! Twinbee is an award-winner. This game is very approachable for all fans of the shooter genre and the scoring system is absolutely awesome. There's enough of a challenge in the first loop to keep anyone occupied for days as the combination of air & ground targets as well as the bell managing strikes a perfect balance and is very rewarding. I really like the music and to a lesser extent the art. I guess the only thing that really bothers me is that I have no idea what the regular enemies are supposed to be half the time. They're like some strange combination of evil food and vague threatening-shapes. Oh and I'm still slightly bitter about the raw deal Metal Black got.
Note - I went with the X360 Game Room version of this game. While it doesn't support TATE the video options are still decent enough plus there are other features like replay saving, dynamic leaderboards (like Geometry Wars 2), and even an instant-rewind so I can figure out why I died and how I could have avoided it. It's really not bad at all for $3.
Game Rating - 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars
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