Crossed Swords Comes Home

One month ago I bought the last of the games I wanted from my wish list that are available at retail. They are Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Yakuza Kiwami 2.

I enjoyed the initial reboot game of Tomb Raider from 2013. You know, the one that Square Enix claimed was a failure after selling over 3.3 million units. Ha ha ha! Hilarious. I’ve been slowing getting through the Yakuza series. I’ve played the first four titles so far. I’m not one to worry about playing a series in order of release. This is most obvious when I played Saints Row 2 as my entry game and the next time I played Gat Out of Hell. Yakuza is an exception because of how deep the story is with all of the characters interactions with each other.

One other game I’d seen briefly in arcades during the early to mid 1990s was ADK’s Crossed Swords. It was memorable to see such a game similar to Nintendo’s Punch-Out, but instead going with a medieval theme of knights and sorcery. Hamster has released it on Switch, PS4, and Xbox.

E3 2015: Times-a-Wastin’

The following are my comments on the blog post “The Year Ahead in Gaming” as written by @ebbderelict.

I’m interested in the newest Batman Arkham game as well. I haven’t yet played City, but I’m sure to get to it since I do own it. The main reason I had not cared for Origins was mainly because of the buggy mess I heard it was.

Star Wars: Battlefront is, well, Star Wars. That alone makes it uninteresting to me. But then again I don’t completely lack Star Wars games in my current collection. I own Episode III on GBA. I want to say WayForward developed it, but all I can find is information that Ubisoft did it.

Deus Ex on PS2 was fun, but since I’m not the biggest fan of those types of games, I don’t hope it up highly even though it was an enjoyable time. With that said I’ve had my fill of the series.

I’m still trying to get up to speed on all the E3 news and I didn’t realize Platinum was doing a Transformers game. I’m interested because they have a good pedigree. I’m less excited because Activision may rush them like they did with The Legend of Korra game. It’s a wait and see for sure.

I quite liked Mirror’s Edge. I was happy when it became known awhile back that a sequel was in the works. I have high hopes for Catalyst improving on what didn’t work so well last time.

Doom 4, as I’ll be calling it unofficially to avoid confusion with the PC classic, has the Doom 3 aesthetics with what looks like faster gameplay similar to the original two games. It really looks like this could be what fans of Doom have been waiting for since 2004.

I own the majority of the Ratchet & Clank series and I always have fun with them, but since they all feel about the same to me (says the guy who loves God of War games), I don’t see the need to get to them when picking an unplayed game to tackle next. Regardless I know I’ll pick up the first R&C outing on the PS4 to see how it turns out.

We’re simply old men who feel “times-a-wastin'” so the bird-dog needs to pick up the slack and get moving. The Last Guardian will probably be another title, along with this studio’s previous efforts, that I’ll buy with little interest in actually playing. You know, as in “I’ll get to it when I get to it.”

I’m in the opposite camp. I’m excited about Uncharted 4. I also liked the first game, but I was stoked for the second game and enjoyed it too. The third game, however, not so much though I do plan to get to it whenever that will be.

I’m always amused by the fact that Square Enix themselves said years ago that a remake of Final Fantasy VII would not happen, but despite this fans of the game just wouldn’t shut up about it. They went so far as in to actually expect the remake announcement at PSX last year. No doubt the remake actually happening is a shocker, but I still do not care in the slightest other than finally they can all collectively be quiet on this since they finally got what they wanted.

Shenmue III: see Final Fantasy VII remake from above.

Hart & Usagi Podcast #61: Remastered

Remastering of last generation games — are they worth it? Free-to-play or Free-to-start — which is it? Also, we chat about Gamestop’s horrible recycling program, Nintendo going mobile, and Usagi704 purchases a Bloodborne PS4 faceplate…live! All this plus your feedback and more on episode 61 of the Hart & Usagi Podcast.

Enjoy the show and remember to subscribe via RSS or iTunes and follow the Hart & Usagi Podcast on Twitter!

NEWS/TOPICS:
* Mega Man Creator’s Other 3DS Game Cancelled
* Senate Intelligence Committee Greenlights CISA
* FCC Inspector General launches investigation into agency’s rulemaking practices
* FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Facing Congressional Scrutiny Over Net Neutrality This Week
* FCC faces first legal challenges to Open Internet Order changes
* Major Loophole To Combat Copyright Infringement Left In Open Internet Order
* GameStop isn’t cheap for throwing out game products, it’s just terrible at recycling
* First Details of Nintendo’s Next System, the ‘NX’
* Atari Lawyers Demand Vita Game TxK is Removed
* Konami Tries to Quietly Erase Hideo Kojima as It Continues to Bleed Talent
* PS4 Getting 1080p God of War 3 Remastered
* Don’t Expect More God of War PS4 Remasters, Sony Says
* Batman Arkham Duo Remastered for PS4 and Xbox One, Report Claims
* Borderlands 1 Could Come to Xbox One/PS4 If Fans Demand It
* Nintendo Mobile Dev Wants to Topple Candy Crush
* Here’s Why Nintendo’s CEO Dislikes the Term “Free-to-Play”
* Full Hard Drives Mean An Uncomfortable Digital Age For PS4 And Xbox One
* Dear Teacher, A Video Game Developer Is A Real Job And Should Be Celebrated

Listen or Download (1:55:44)

Subscribe: RSS | iTunes

Hart & Usagi Podcast at the Internet Archive

Matt: @HartKnight | HartKnight’s Archive

Mike: @usagi704 | WP blog

@HartandUsagi

Game of the Year 2014 – Most Disappointing Game

There’s been a few games that have disappointed over the previous year and there were many before this with, I’m sure, many more to come. Some are as simple as being a bit too hyped up by time I got around to it and wasn’t as great as I’d hoped (Batman: Arkham Asylum). There’s also the titles that are infuriating (Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams) and others which lacked much of what made other entries in the same series endearing (Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest For Booty). However, Bastion was the one which disappointed me the most.

Upon Bastion’s initial release in the Summer of 2011, I was hoping for a PSN version for the PS3 which was never to come. Regardless, I was still very interested in playing the very first game developed by Greg Kasavin’s team, Supergiant Games. As a former GameSpot editor, I’ve always had a respect for Kasavin’s work. Maybe that’s what put his team’s first game very high on my list and just maybe I should’ve tempered my expectations a bit once I was able to play it in 2014 thanks to NiceGuyNeon.

As I said back in September once I played it via Steam, the gameplay overall was quite boring to me. It felt sort of like the Atari arcade classic Gauntlet without some of the charm of that game. I’m sure fans of Bastion will say it has plenty of charm all its own thanks to the deep-throat narrator. The voices were well done, no doubt, but the combat itself felt like I was going through the motions. There wasn’t any intriguing feedback from taking out the many enemies on the screen, viscerally or otherwise. It was a pretty flat experience and that’s saying something after playing Riot Zone.

Game of the Year 2014 – Favorite Revisit

A number of games I have I’ll sometimes go back to them. This is especially the case if it’s short and going to be a quick session to play through. Arcade games fit this bill perfectly. Whether it be Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Contra, Ninja Warriors on Super Nintendo, or the fun horror game Splatterhouse on TG-16 (played during my Halloween Gaming Event). It’s always great to go back to these titles.

The one which caught my attention in 2014 was the arcade version of Robocop by Data East. It’s a bit tricky when it asks the player to level traversal that’s more than walk to the right, but otherwise it’s fun. It reminds me of a roller skating rink I used to go to and this blog post I mentioned it before in. All of this was spurred on by my purchase of the remastered in 4K Blu-ray edition of the original movie I picked up back in February.

Last year my favorite revisit was Tomb Raider: Legend and this year’s was Robocop!

Now Playing: February 2014

There’s a lot to be said about the amazing artwork in Vanillaware’s games. One of those things, for me, would be that it tries to cover up what seems to usually be a shallow game experience. I’m always enjoyed my time playing their games like Odin Sphere and Dragon’s Crown, but with the current game, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, I felt it was pretty boring. This was especially the case at first. Since then it has gotten better the more I played, thankfully. The action still is a one button-mashing affair, though. I maxed out my character at level 99 and with 12 hours played I finished my eighth game of the year. There’s two characters stories to play through, but I won’t be doing that since nothing changes on the gameplay side and I didn’t care about the story as it was.

Other games I played that I talked about during the month was The Saboteur and Batman: Arkham Asylum. My complete thoughts on the former can be read here along with a small follow up about the ending. The latter I briefly mention here which includes quick finishes of Mortal Kombat Trilogy on PS1 and Street Fighter II: Champion Edition on PC Engine via the Virtual Console.

The next title I plan to play will likely be Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams. Join me, won’t you?

New Releases 2014: Feb. 23-Mar. 15

WEEK of 2/23
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (PC, PS3, X360)
Pac-Man Museum (PS3, X360, PC)
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (XBO, X360)
Tales of Symphonia Chronicles (PS3)
Thief (PS4, PC, XBO, PS3, X360)
Resident Evil 4: Ultimate HD Edition (PC)
Shadowrun: Dragonfall (PC, MAC)
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy (3DS)

WEEK of 3/2
South Park: The Stick of Truth (PS3, X360, PC)
XCOM: Enemy Unknown – The Complete Edition (PC)

WEEK of 3/9
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky (PS3)
Dark Souls II (PS3, X360)
Ragnarok Odyssey ACE (PS3, PSV)

Welcome to the Madhouse

From start to finish it was five days to complete the story mode for Batman: Arkham Asylum. The game certainly does what it does very well and that’s at making you feel like you’re Batman. I enjoyed combat more when I was tasked with sneaking around trying to take Joker’s goons out. It didn’t quite get a good feeling for the up-close personal hand-to-hand fighting. Also, like most everybody else, the boss fights were lacking in that they were all the same formula of avoid the big brutes and take out the smaller guys. Regardless it didn’t hurt the overall package too much.

Batman: Arkham Asylum stats – 76%; 164/240 Riddles; 18/20 Upgrades; 35/42 Bios; 56% trophies

Two other games I quickly added to the finished list was Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. On MKT I played as Shao Khan and beat the champion ladder. My victory created a time paradox.

On the VC I beat PC Engine’s SFIICE three times. Once with Vega/Guile, a second time with M. Bison, and finally with Sagat. In the process I saw the normal ending, no-loss ending, and the higher difficulty no-loss ending.

The next game I’m going to start will be Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

Top o’ the World

I finished up with The Saboteur a few days ago. It was actually quite the fitting ending to not have a drawn out final battle against the main antagonist. It was a simple climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower and one bullet later it was all over.

After the credits rolled I completed the rest of the targets and didn’t need a FAQ to do so. This is a first for me. Despite 100% on missions and targets I didn’t get every trophy. I missed six along the way, but I did get 87% of the total.

This makes The Saboteur the third game finished for 2014. The previous two being Bayonetta and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

The next set of games I plan on playing are the following:
* Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
* Batman: Arkham Asylum
* Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars
* Muramasa: The Demon Blade
* Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams

Finally I recently purchased my first game of the new year. It’s the glitchfest known as Assassin’s Creed III.

Game of the Year 2013 – Favorite Revisit

This award goes to a game I’ve played before, but it might have been awhile. Usually, for most people, revisiting an older title happens when they pick up a newer updated version. I did purchase a game, but it was simply on a different platform. The system in question was the PSP and the game was Tomb Raider: Legend.

The main reason I played this version is two fold. One was because I wanted to see how well the controls transferred over to the PSP. I also played it at the same time as Usagi704 was playing it. It was his first Tomb Raider game. That was the same for me, but in 2006.

I’m happy to say that while I’d still rather TR Legend with a regular controller, the control layout for the PSP worked well with what it had. Most of all I had as much fun with the game as I did the first time!