Last game you DIDN'T finish and your thoughts

fronkhead wrote:

hereon

We don't need another one of those knocking about, thank you.

To me a score reflects how well a game achieves what it set out to do: in the case of Advance Wars -- which sadly isn't my cup of tea -- I could still discern how well made a strategy game it is, in terms of balancing, map design and so on. I just happen to suck at it because the genre isn't always my cup of tea, but my score for that wouldn't necessarily reflect how much I enjoyed it.

Which is why I wouldn't review (or at least wouldn't score) Advance Wars.  That's partly why FEA lies unreviewed at the bottom of my post.  But I really enjoy JRPGs, and I really enjoy Mario games: if I'm not enjoying a M&L, there's something wrong!

Balladeer wrote:

Which is why I wouldn't review (or at least wouldn't score) Advance Wars.  That's partly why FEA lies unreviewed at the bottom of my post.  But I really enjoy JRPGs, and I really enjoy Mario games: if I'm not enjoying a M&L, there's something wrong!

I can appreciate that, though enjoyment certainly isn't always linked to quality, particularly so when we're reviewing art. But in your case it's completely understandable, as someone who has enjoyed the previous three games and understands them inside out, you're in a position to do what you did.

Like many others, there are a lot of games I haven't finished. I like to think there aren't tonnes I'm actively not going to finish, but, maybe I'm just kidding myself on...

Super Mario 64 DS



Apparently - according to some of you, and the rest of the internet - Super Mario 64 is an excellent game. I never played it bar one occasion when I went to a friend's and he showed me the castle library where the books attack you. So my first real encounter with this game was its DS incarnation, which I got along with my American DS Phat and Feel the Magic: XY/XX for Christmas 2004 (holy shit that's almost a decade).

I had fun with it, kind of. It's a good game, sure, but of course everyone knows that it lost something in its transition: an analogue stick. So it was harder to control, so I'm told. I can see that being the case. It was frustrating and although I got to 65 stars, I didn't really want to stick it out to get 15 more in order to climb the neverending staircase.

But recently I thought, hey, if the D-pad controls were the problem, why not try it on the 3DS? Its Circle Pad might make life easier. So I did, and it would have helped had the camera not made me want to instantly kill myself. Tick Tock Clock, for example, was horrific. The camera was so unwieldy; it was still just an exercise in frustration.

Will I ever finish it? Probably not. I'd like to, considering it was one of my first DS games, and one of the few DS games I own that I haven't actually beaten. But I'm not sure it's worth what it might do to my blood pressure. A fun game that is punished horribly by constraints of its hardware.

5/10

Ach, that's such a shame.  There's no doubt that the DS game's controls are more than a bit rubbish, but I hear that the original is pretty aged now. I'd love to see another platformer in the same style, but I don't know if it'll happen.

Good riddance to the DS version, it really is a pale imitation of the original game. Not only were the controls just not suited to the game where, analogue movement aside, using a D-Pad to pull off Mario's repertoire of moves never feels right or fun, but everything added to the game takes away from it.

And I'm not even talking about the 30 extra stars (which are mainly harmless), but the three new characters and their challenge-ruining abilities, alongside tweaks to the environment (size of objects, again, likely to accommodate those controls) and such. For example, one part of the game where you'd usually be asked to deftly wall jump up to the next floor instead sees a balloon Mario powerup placed there. Super Mario 64 was all about experimentation and playing about in these open environments, yet the DS version takes away from that.

I'd also disagree that the original has 'aged'. I revisited it on Wii N64 virtual console so I could play it in optimised 50hz for the first time and it's still as good as ever, if not better. It's refreshing to play about in these smaller but more focused open worlds, and the physics and controls are still pitch perfect. I was stunned at how much fun I had from just messing about. That I remember and adore it outside of what it did for videogames says it all, really, in fact it's quite charming seeing how Nintendo introduced some of the concepts to players in the first place, like having Lakitu as overwatching cameraman. And the lack of hand holding is admirable, it's still as fun figuring out the meaning behind each star's rather cryptic clue as it ever has been.

Sure, the visuals have aged, but the core game hasn't at all.

As an aside, Greener's Super Mario 64 'Making of' interview (with Giles Goddard, who now works at Steel Diver developer Vitei) is on the internet, with content that never made it into NGC Magazine. It's a great read: http://pixelatron.com/blog/the-making-of-super-mario-64-full-giles-goddard-interview-ngc/

Super Metroid.

Until recently, I'd never played a Metroid game, and my IRC friends all urged me to start with the "best" - Super Metroid.

Well, I've been gaming for years, but progressing through this game was just beyond me and I found it more frustrating than fun. I was perpetually lost. After several fruitless hours of trying to defeat Crocomire, I was told by the same IRC friends that I'd missed several essential energy tanks / missiles... The thought that I'd have to double back through frustrating areas that I'd barely scraped through first time round was the last straw...

Of course, after that, I 100%ed Other M, which I really enjoyed. Funny how that works.

That's a shame if you don't go back to it at some point down the road, if not I can't help but suggest that you try Fusion.

Funnily enough I was the same with Metroid: Zero Mission, which was my first 2D Metroid. I finished it, but didn't think it was all that.

Then, a few years later I played Fusion and Super Metroid (the latter in 2007!) and found them to be incredible. I really want to buy back Zero Mission at some point now, I think it'll click with me much more now.

fronkhead wrote:

Funnily enough I was the same with Metroid: Zero Mission, which was my first 2D Metroid. I finished it, but didn't think it was all that.

Then, a few years later I played Fusion and Super Metroid (the latter in 2007!) and found them to be incredible. I really want to buy back Zero Mission at some point now, I think it'll click with me much more now.

Yeah, Metroid is hard to wrap your brain around at first. I will return to SM one day. I think it might click with me more now.

Mario Kart 8



So I'm going to review this here like Balls, I have reviewed games with less of a end point then this in the Last Game you finished thread but let's keep things coherent .

So my playtime has come to 18hrs from the daily log, I'm still yet to unlock mirror mode but got all the characters. So there's still stuff for me to do in what I would consider the bit to complete by getting mirror mode unlocked but in no panic.

Most of my play time has come from MP be it online with you guys or with randomers and me sucking, I've enjoyed a lot and see why the Wii Kart has such a online community right up to the last day.

The actual racing is great, I like the gravity bit's it's all good but it's not my fav Kart from playing 64 & Double Dash recently it's missing that je ne sais quoi they have.

Anyway the score at the door is a 9/10 yeah even with my sightly negative comment above but it's still a excellent kart also looks brilliant.

The Internet swallowed this earlier, but I am determined to add my thoughts on

Mario Golf: World Tour

to the world. Like everyone else, the Castle Club confused me: it seems an unnecessary obstacle to getting on with the lovely game of golf contained within. That aside, it's a great slice (won't start that again, sorry) of handheld gaming and y'all of y'all should get in on it.

8.5/10

Ys: Memories of Celceta




The remake of ys 4, memories of celceta, the latest game to be not finished by me.  Not that that'll be a long term position, just not in a gaming mood right now.  As for thoughts, well, it's Ys seven except better outside the music which is by and large not as good as Seven's.  Gameplay is the same as seven's except more refined, run around mashing em up until you can use a special move, using special moves slowly fills a gauge for the super move, use that when you feel the time is right, ect.  The boss fights are where the game shines much like the previous two Ys games I've played, with the bosses requiring good old fashioned epic scale fights with the good old pattern recognition and using openings to attack all with rockin awesome music in the background.  Honestly the game kind of reminds me of the top down Zelda, only action focused instead of puzzle focused, probably because they're the same genre I guess.

As of now with my limited playtime it gets an 8/10 from me, that may go up or down depending on what I feel after finishing it, whenever that is.

Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails



Why haven't I finished it? If I "get" a game relatively quickly, no matter how hard it is, I'll usually persevere.  I didn't "get" SKahBoR: instead, I got frustrated.

What I liked: It's got a really nice chunky aesthetic, and the shooting works well enough.  More than anything else, though, I like that the chaps who made this wanted to make a great Wii U game, and evidently love the console.  I really wanted to like it.

What I didn't like: The platforming.  I know that they spent ages trying to precisely calibrate the jump, and there's probably a learning curve.  Regardless, it wasn't intuitive for me.  After a myriad of failures trying to get only the second Scaredy Cat, I gave up.

Will I finish it? I'd be keen to give it another couple of tries, but unless the jump "clicks", I don't expect that I'll meet with success.

Score? Not having completed the first non-tutorial level makes me atrociously placed to score this.

balladeer wrote:

What I didn't like: The platforming.  I know that they spent ages trying to precisely calibrate the jump, and there's probably a learning curve.  Regardless, it wasn't intuitive for me.  After a myriad of failures trying to get only the second Scaredy Cat, I gave up.

Will I finish it? I'd be keen to give it another couple of tries, but unless the jump "clicks", I don't expect that I'll meet with success.

There is a learning curve considering it just plonks you into a tutorial area and you have to experiment with how to move/jump etc, I would say that you have to think about your momentum more than you would compared to other platformers as well.  
I did have a bit of trouble with jumping at first too then I learnt to treat it like a double jump where I'd wait for the moment as I was about to land on a rail then hold down the jump button to propel myself where I wanted to go.

I would also suggest watching some of the dev videos (which I done) that were posted to miiverse to get the idea of how you should be jumping.

I have to say that I've kind of given up with Scram Kitty too, but that's good advice about the Miiverse videos. I might go back to it sometime.

I hope you's do give it another try as for me its one of wii U's best e shop games, I still have to go back to it as well but to finish it 100 percent.

I do like it, but at times the punishing difficulty it made me think 'life's too short', à la Contra, Ninja Gaiden and all that NES stuff.

I'll definitely watch some developer videos before I have another crack at it, then.

Siesta Fiesta

Doesn't even get a picture. It's a high-score-focussed game, which I'm not keen on, with a dodgy line in character design and some of the most annoying voicework to "grace" gaming. It's like Ash Ketchum and Minnie Mouse had a hideous rodent baby. The ball physics are fine, I guess, but the rest of the game can take a permanent siesta.

Conveniently, Scram Kitty is on offer this week- looks like the offer price (<£5) might be the 'right' price.

I'm going to join ZJ in giving my verdict on...

Mario Golf: World Tour

Although I'm going to be somewhat harsher...




(DISCLAIMER: I have not played the multiplayer modes of this game, either offline or on.)


Why haven't I finished it? I think that for me, I would consider this game "finished" if I finished both the Castle Club and the Challenges. Unsurprisingly, the former fell very quickly. I suspect that the latter never will...

What I liked: The golf. When it comes to the raw sports, Camelot have got this down pat. It just works. Also it's pretty and the music is nice.

And surely that should be enough? Er, well, no...

What I didn't like: Almost everything else.

Okay, that's unfair. Let's start with Castle Club. It's utter dung masquerading as an RPG-like mode. For a start, there's the replacement of numbers and stats. with clothes, making your character feel less personal than before (despite actually being you). Then there's the ridiculously short length of the "campaign", and that includes playing the first course thrice. There's the horribly banal dialogue, early Pokémon levels of awful. There's putting you back at the start every time you start up.

And there's One-On One-Putt Challenge. It's hard. There's nothing wrong with difficulty, so long as it's not tedious difficulty; but it takes half an age to go through every failure. You're inexplicably dumped you back outside with no option to immediately retry, and you have to listen to/read Lakitu's annoying soundbites coupled with patronising and obvious dialogue. Again and again and again. Awful.

The Challenge mode should be a saving grace, allowing you to play through the courses properly and learn them. To be fair, for the most part it is - I've played through and collected 90 Star Coins off 9 courses, and enjoyed them far more than I enjoyed any aspect of Castle Club. And yet it's in the negatives because I will never finish it: you have to complete One-On One-Putt to unlock its challenges. Diddy Kong will be unstarred forever. Sucks to be him. (Not to mention cheaply adding a Hard Mode when you get the 90.)

But even in its purest form, the game seems unfinished. There are only three proper eighteen-hole courses - half the number in Toadstool Tour, say. The remaining six nine-holers bring up the same number of holes, but feel a bit "bitty" as a result. And the characters are all fairly standard fare - there's a good selection of them, but Kamek is the only left-field choice. Even Rosalina, the developers' favourite, misses out. I wonder why?

Ah. On-release DLC.

Will I finish it? It's not impossible. I can see myself having another crack at OOOP intermittently, in between other games. But it's unlikely.

Score? Yes, but there's more than a bit of anger in here. It's a good solid game of golf, spoiled by its trappings. The presentation is immaculate once you hit the fairway. And you can probably add another mark or two if you like online golf, or have a friend to play with. But for me, let down by Castle Club, unable to finish the Challenges, and narked off by having to pay more to complete a game that felt incomplete, it was a disappointment.

6/10

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call

I had a massive review typed out, which basically boiled down to "they changed it, so it sucks". Let's just say that the original's excellent gameplay is intact, it looks prettier, you can finally use buttons on menu screens, but in expanding the song set so dramatically the quality has inevitably suffered. Curtain Call is much more of a Final Fantasy fan's game than the original. Chaos Shrine > Quest Medleys, too.

16/20

Ooft, I don't follow your last point sir. Quest Medleys are brilliant and I never cared much for the Shrine!

The Shrine was good for me because it was quick: two songs, in, out, done. Great handheld fare. Quest Medleys, even the short ones, are much longer and, coupled with the dip in quality of songs, more tedious. I did a long quest once and waved goodbye to over an hour - one Chaos Shrine duet was sorted in ten minutes, tops.