Archile's End of the Year Awards 2015 Part I

  I'm gonna make a tradition out of this! So... : ' Oh, I'm doing this. I'm so doing it.'

 That's Kyle Bosman. Because I love his show, I use him as my header image. It's love in its purest form. And this year's tally is.... 82. Not bad, but a bit short considering how much I've gamed previous years. Oh, and from this year onward, I'm gonna list my nominees in order of awesomeness, because why not?
 This year was host to the second Turtle Month... and now I find myself short on Turtle games for 2016! Maybe I'll go retro? Only time will tell. Oh, oh! And 2016 had me replaying through two of my all-time favorite games ever... although a ton of other games I played were unremarkable or forgettable, sadly. Still, it's list time!

==== Playstation ====
Action                             Einhander                                                   8.0
Adventure                          Tomba!                                                      8.5
Adventure                          Tomba! 2 - The Evil Swine Return                            9.0
Adventure                          Blood Omen - Legacy of Kain                                 8.0
Adventure                          Legacy of Kain - Soul Reaver                                8.0
Adventure                          Mega Man Legends                                            7.0
License/Fighting                   Inuyasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale                              4.5
Action/RPG                         Threads of Fate                                             6.0

==== Playstation 2 ====
RPG                                Megaman X Command Mission                                   8.0
Other                              The Sims                                                    5.0
Action                             Half-Life                                                   8.5
License/Action                     Power Rangers Super Legends - 15th Anniversary              5.5
Adventure/Horror                   Haunting Ground                                             8.5
Action                             Red Faction 2                                               7.0
Adventure                          Soul Reaver 2                                               8.5
Adventure                          Legacy of Kain - Defiance                                   8.5
Platform/Adventure                 Maximo - Ghosts to Glory                                    8.0
Adventure/Horror                   Silent Hill 4 - The Room                                    9.0

==== Playstation 3 ====
License/Fighting                   Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst          8.0
License/Fighting                   Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution            7.0
License/Fighting                   Injustice - Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition                8.5
Adventure                          Escape Dead Island                                          5.5
Fighting                           Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late                               9.0
License/FIghting                   Dragon Ball Xenoverse                                       3.5
Action                             The Orange Box                                              10
Fighting                           Persona 4 - Arena Ultimax                                   7.5
License/Fighting                   J-Stars Victory VS+                                         6.0
License/Fighting                   Saint Seiya - Soldiers' Soul                                6.0
Action/Beat'em up                  Dynasty Warriors 8                                          9.0
Fighting                           Guilty Gear Xrd Sign                                        7.5
Action                             Ride to Hell: Retribution                                   2.5
Action                             Bioshock                                                    8.0
Action                             Bioshock 2                                                  8.0
Action                             Binary Domain                                               9.0

==== PSP ====
Beat'em up/Fighting                Guilty Gear Judgment                                        8.0
Fighting                           Power Stone Collection                                      8.0
Platform                           LocoRoco                                                    7.0
RPG                                Lunar - Silver Star Harmony                                 8.5
License/Beat'em up                 All Kamen Rider Generation 2                                7.5
Other/RPG                          Half Minute Hero                                            9.5
Action                             Gods Eater Burst                                            8.5
RPG                                Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII                             4.0
Action                             Kenka Bancho - Badass Rumble                                7.0
RPG                                Jeanne D'Arc                                                7.5
License/Other?                     TMNT(PSP)                                                   1.5
Platform                           LocoRoco 2                                                  7.0

==== Vita ====
Fighting                           Street Fighter X Tekken(Vita)                               6.0
Other                              Touch my Katamari                                           6.5
Action                             Uncharted Golden Abyss                                      8.0
RPG                                Borderlands 2(VITA)                                         2.5
RPG                                Persona 4 - The Golden                                      10
Adventure                          Tearaway                                                    6.5
Action                             Shinobido 2 - Revenge of Zen                                7.0
RPG                                Tales of Hearts R                                           7.5
Beat'em up                         Senran Kagura - Shinovi Versus                              5.0
Action                             Soul Sacrifice                                              7.0

==== Wii ====
Other                              Bit.Trip Complete                                           7.0
License/Fighting                   Bleach - Shattered Blade                                    3.5
Action                             SoulCalibur Legends                                         4.5
License/Beat'em up                 Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles                  5.5

==== DS ====
License/Other                      Retro Game Challenge                                        8.5
License/Beat'em up                 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Arcade Attack                4.0
License/Action                     Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 - Mutant Nightmare(DS)       4.0
Other                              Animal Crossing Wild World                                  4.0
Puzzle                             Puzzle Quest - Challenge of the Warlords                    7.0

==== 3DS ====
Platform                           Super Mario 3D Land                                         8.5
RPG                                Pokemon Omega Ruby                                          7.5
Fighting                           Super Smash Bros. for 3DS                                   8.5
License/Adventure                  Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Danger of the Ooze6.5
License/RPG                        Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Movie)                         7.5
Adventure/Platform                 3D Classics - Kirby's Adventure                             5.0
License/Adventure                  One Piece - Unlimited World Red                             5.5

==== GBA ====
License/Beat'em up                 TMNT(GBA)                                                   8.0
License/Beat'em up                 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(GBA)                           7.0
License/Action                     Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 - Battle Nexus               2.5

==== Gamecube ====
RPG                                Evolution Worlds                                            3.5
Other                              Animal Crossing                                             5.5
Racing                             F-Zero GX                                                   8.0
Action                             TMNT(GC)                                                    5.0
License/Fighting                   X-Men - Next Dimension                                      8.0
Racing                             Mario Kart Double Dash!!                                    6.0

RPG of the Year:
 My favorite category, no lie

5)

 Wait, what? A licensed game? What can I say, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was an Ok-ish movie, if you are a turtle's fan anyways, but the game was surprisingly fun. The mechanics were tight, and the skillset per turtle was well thought-out. The only thing the game needed was more. More equipment, more stages, more enemies, basically, more of everything.

4)

 Wait, what? A spin-off from a jump-and-shoot plarform videogame franchise? What can I say, Command Mission was a blast. Usually, when I like JRPGs it's because of their stories, their characters and how they develop both. Command Missions' characters are bland and bidimensional, while the story is incredibly forgettable. But the gameplay? Fanastic. This game is proof that turn-based combat still works.

3)

 Wait, wh---just kidding. I've been a fan of the Lunar series ever since Silver Star Story on the PS1, and I've never looked back. Sadly, the PS1 Lunar games' prices have skyrocketed, but just as the cycle of life and death is eternal and everlasting, so is Silver Star's destiny to get remade. The latest remake being Silver Star Harmony on the PSP. It's a more than adequate alternative to the PS1 remake of the Sega CD original, featuring the same story, but with dolled up combat mechanics.

Runner Up)

 Half-Minute Hero is one of the most original JRPGs you will find. An entire JRPG worth of story has been condensed in several 30 seconds(kinda) stages. It's filled with humor and 16-bit charm, that makes it as memorable as it is unique. And if, for whatever reason, you ever get bored, there're alternate modes, like Villain30 and Princess30. Oh and Hero300 is a blast.

Winner)

 At first I was a bit scared. What if upon a second playthrough my love for the game diminished? But it didn't, I binged through as much of the game as I could at any given time, much the same as with the PS2 original. I hesitate to call it the 'definitive' version, for as much as I liked the new Personas(MAGATSU IZANAGI!), I don't quite agree with the new Social Links, Marie is a terrible character as well. But hey, they are optional!


Action Game of the Year:
 I played plenty of great action games this year, which made it a bit hard to select these games, but choices must be made, and dreams must be destroyed. Or something.

5)

 If only all Vita exclusive could maintain this level of quality, eh! As per usual, since I'm a stick-in-the-mud, I wasn't a fan of the touch-screen mandatory actions, like melee-ing, but the rest of the game was top-notch. Surprisingly, it wasn't made by Naughty-Dog, but it feels like Uncharted all the way through... on the palm of your hands!

4)

 While I enjoy good stories on my videogames, gameplay comes first, all the time. Which is why I chose Bioshock 2 over Bioshock. The sequel's story can't hold a candle to the original's, but the gameplay has been polished and tightened so much that it's hard to go back to Bioshock 1. What makes Bioshock 2 so good is a mixture of the smooth combat, allowing you to eviscerate your enemies will both bullets and the different spells, plus the decadent beauty of Rapture itself that never fails to impress.

3)

 Alright, so I wasn't particularly fond of the animu aesthetics, with all its fanservice and what not. But the setting was excellent, and the gameplay made for a nice alternative to Monster Hunter. A more accessible alternative at that, being far more lenient on your mistakes than MH, as a matter of fact, I'd consider this one the best as an entry point into the subgenre. You get all the things that make Monster-Hunting games so good, with added leniency.

Runner-up)

 I got to this one very late in the year, which I regret immensely. This game is like a generic, ridiculous action movie that's so dumb in all the right ways. And that's pertaining to the story, as for the gameplay itself, it got it almost perfectly on-point. There were a couple of quirks that were easy to ignore in the grand scheme of things. 'Let the good times roll'!

Winner)

 Half-Life 2 remains, to this day, one of the finest First-Person shooters, nay, games, ever made. EVER. While most FPSs have become parodies of themselves(Like seriously, can we stop trying to ape Call of Duty? It's almost 2016 already) few games have tried to copy Half-Life 2. Probably because not everyone can make a thinking man's FPS, while a by-the-numbers Call of Duty clone can be made within a heartbeat. But I digress, Half-Life 2 feels like an epic adventure filled with memorable moments and deadly shootouts. It's worth experiencing at least once. And Episodes 1 and 2 are pretty good, but as pieces of something bigger fall a bit short by themselves. And I guess Portal was alright too.

 Adventure Game of the Year:

 So I might've fused 'Adventure games' with 'Survival Horror', since I didn't play many of the latter, and they are most akin to adventure games than Action games.

5)

 I'm gonna admit that, by itself, Defiance is a mediocre action game at best. By itself. But as the culmination of the epic Legacy of Kain series, it's everything it needs to be. This is the culmination of one of gaming's best stories, even if a bit convoluted at times(And even then, not nearly as convoluted as Kingdom Hearts.) Remember how I said earlier that, in my book, gameplay triumphs over story all the time? When it comes to Legacy of Kain, it's the story that keeps you moving, not the gameplay. And what a story it is...

4)

 Haunting Ground was amazing, as someone who isn't particularly fond of Survival Horror games, lest of games in which you must avoid rather than fight your enemies, this game hooked me right away and never let go. It manages to set a creepy setting, even if the needless fanservice tries its hardest to ruin it, with even creepier NPCs. I will admit that the second half of the game wasn't quite as good as the first, but it never felt into mediocrity.

3)

 Y'know about all these PS1 classic games that have gone upwards in price, some even beyond the hundred dollar mark? Tomba is one of those games. But what if I told you that it was worth every penny? Fun, charming and original, there's few games quite like Tomba.

Runner-up)

 Fun fact: Swery 65, of Deadly Premonition fame, actually worked on this game! So, Tomba! was pretty much excellent. It was a fun little adventure game that had you fulfilling different quests around the Island. Tomba! 2 is pretty much the same game, but slightly better. Only slightly, and this tiny gap I attribute to more interesting quests and power ups, even if it reuses some of the previous game's ideas.

Winner)

 I love Silent Hill 4. It manages to be even creepier than Haunting Ground, but in a different way. Haunting Ground was a mixture of the setting and the stalkers, which were married together perfectly. In Silent Hill 4, the enemies are alright, and Walter Sullivan's more of an 'interesting' character than a 'creepy stalker', but the game gets the setting right. You are trapped in your room under mysterious circumstances, and scary stuff starts happening. Tell me that you are not already interested, I dare you. And just when you get used to having your apartment as your safe space, the game takes it away. Because the game hates you. But its a fun game. But it hates you.

Fighting Game of the Year:

 A few years ago, Fighting games were my thang. Nowadays? Not so much, but I still enjoy a good fighter every now and then.

5)

 Let me start with my biggest gripe about the game: In order to fight against other people, you need to find someone who owns a PSP. Let's assume the impossible and say that you found one, this mythological being also needs to own Power Stone Collection. Good luck, my friend. That out of the way, Power Stone is surprisingly fun, and the collection offers both games. Do you favor traditional fighting games? You've got Power Stone's 1-on-1 fighting. You prefer chaos and multiplayer goodness? Power Stone 2's got you covered!

4)

 Western companies rarely get fighting games right. Even Netherrealms had a rocky trajectory, I'd say that they never really got it right until Mortal Kombat 9. That said, X-men Next Dimension reeks of 'Western Fighting Game', but, buuuuuuuuut it's actually fun to play. It's not very balanced, pulling special moves is odd, to put it lightly, and as with most Western Fighting games, some animations can be a bit on the ugly side. But, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut it's fun to play, what can I say?

3)

Speaking of Netherrealm Studios, I had forgotten just how good Injustice was. As per this edition's particulars, all six new characters bring something new to the table. I was particularly fond of Scorpion's new look, and wouldn't have minded an Injustice Sub-Zero to be honest...

Runner-up)

 Smash on the 3DS wasn't just quite exactly what I was expecting, although I can't quite point my finger as to what the game was missing for it to meet my expectations. That said, Smash for the 3DS is an undeniably quality game, with tons of characters, stages and stuff to do. Oh, and now it's got Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, so it got even better.

Winner)

 Under Night In-Bi... No, I give up, I refuse to type that mess of a name on it's entirety, so I'm just gonna call it UNIEL. UNIEL took me by surprise, I mean, I was expecting a good fighter, it's from the makers of Melty Blood after all, but the game went far beyond anything I expected. It's a fast and furious fighter that rewards being on the offensive, and while it is a bit light on extra modes, it gets everything that matters right.

Beat'em up Game of the Year:

 How I miss the days of the Beat'em up. Remember the SNES era? You couldn't go a week without a new one being announced or released. Those were the days of the beat'em up.... Luckily, we've got Dynasty Warriors to continue their legacy, even if I sometimes ache for a good 2D beat'em up of yore.

5)

 I was under the impression that Konami had made great Beat'em ups for the GBA based on memory alone. I was wrong. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 was atrocious, and the third one was a mess. But the first one? It was flawed, yes, but a more than acceptable foundation for future games. Shame they did away with the best it had to offer, and added terrible, terrible ideas for its sequel.

4) 

 Guilty Gear Judgment made for a surprisingly decent beat-em up. Sure, it wasn't anything to write home about, but it worked and it was interesting seeing how they reenvisioned the characters' movesets for a Beat'em up game. And heck, if you ever get tired of it, you get an excellent port of XX!

3)

 All-Star Kamen Rider Generation 1 was a decent, but unremarkable, beat'em up. ASKRG2 further differentiated all the characters, even if only a little bit, added more Riders, more stages, more enemies, more abilities, more of everything, for a surprisingly fun little game. I'll admit that it's probably a much better game than it really is when looked at under the eyes of a fan of the franchise, such as myself, but I'd say it's worth a look if you like the genre.

Runner-up)

 Ubisoft did a lot of wrong by the TMNT license, but if they did something right, if they got a single thing right, it was TMNT for the GBA. An excellent beat'em up that reeks of quality and love. It could've used a couple more stages, and done without limiting the player to Raph on a couple of them, but hey, I'll take what I can get when it comes to Ubisoft's TMNT games.

Winner)

 The finest Dynasty Warriors yet. It has everything that made 7 good, but expanded upon it to make it even better. There's a unique weapon for as many characters there are, and each one has a unique EX attack with their signature weapon. It also features what I believe to be the best redesigns and stages yet, and the Story Mode follows the excellent structure left by 7, only expanding upon it to add both a historic and a 'what if' route. Basically, if you've ever been a fan of the franchise, or ever been interest in getting into it, this is the game to get.

Platforming Game of the Year:

 I definitely didn't play as many of these as I would've liked, and what few I played weren't exactly fantastic games, even if they were good.

5)

 LocoRoco! Not exactly my cup of tea when it comes to games, but I am glad that it exists. If anything, it's disgustingly cute, and the music is so infectiously happy you can't help but to smile when the LocoRocos begin singing.

4)

 Did you like LocoRoco? I've got great news for you, LocoRoco 2 is more of the same. So, maybe not all of the new additions were knockouts, but at least the game offered more variety, heck, even a new LocoRoco which meant a fantastic new little song. And maybe the silly stamp mini-game charmed me.

3)

 HAGOROMAN SORII! Alright, so what is Robot Ninja Haggleman 3? It's only one of the many 'mini-games' features in Retro Game Challenge, a painfully overlooked and ignored game on the Nintendo DS. Haggleman 3 is a delicious throwback to the NES platformers, a mixture of Blaster Master and Ninja Gaiden, it requires grinding for money, it can be painfully cheap with enemy placement... but I loved it.

Runner-up)

 I liked Ghost and Goblins, as well as Ghouls and Ghosts, but I wouldn't call myself a fan of the franchise. That said, I loved Maximo back in the day when I first played it, and I loved it all over again when I replayed it this year. It's a painfully challenging game, but it's incredibly fun. There's plenty of strategy when it comes to your power-ups, as well as to when to accept death, or just restart the console in order to keep your skills. And sure, it's a bit on the cheap side, but if you've been gaming since the 90s, like me, you've probably been through a lot worse.

Winner)

 As much of a Nintendo fanboy as I am, I am not above admitting that Nintendo really likes to stick with what works. There's little Mario aficionados haven't seen before in this game, but dammit, why change what works, and what works excellently at that? I'd like to mention that 'The Perfect Run'(Maybe I'm confusing the name with Galaxy 2's last level?, regardless, I mean 3D Land's bonus last level) is awfully overrated as far as 'challenge' goes, but damn it, was it a fun level!

Other Game of the Year:

 Other is a label I use to bunch all the games that have hard-to-label genres, or even games of genres I didn't play many games of, like say Racing games. I don't really like racing games.

5)

 Bit.Trip Complete is a collection of six mini-games that are really far from what I usually like to play, outside my comfort zone if you will. But I liked them, some where a bit better than others, but I don't remember outright hating any of them. Plus, the overarching story that tied all six games together was fairly entertaining. And I might've gotten Runner2 since I liked Runner so much.

4)

 Whenever I play one of Square's older, non-rpg, PS1 games, it always makes me want to gnaw at my knuckles and curse at the heavens: 'Dammit, Square, you really could do no wrong back in the day!'. Einhander's fantastic, it's unapologetically hard, but dammit, you are gonna love every second of it as you learn the stages and the bosses patterns, plus, as you collect different sub-weapons to take on future launches.

3)

 As much as I claim to dislike Racing games, I can appreciate speed in my racers, and ammit, F-Zero GX's got speed in spades. The game might a bit too hardcore for casual speedsters like myself, so much so that I accepted that I will never, ever unlock the AX tracks. But for those speedfreaks that just can't get enough, this is a game that will challenge, nay, crush them.

Runner-up)

 Based on Arino's excellent GameCenter CX TV series, RetroGame Challenge is a blast from the past. It tries to emulate the feeling of sitting in front of a NES, with your buddy, rumors about the games abound, and magazines that release every month with tips and tricks to make it through the game. And the collection of games is top-notch as well, most of them mimicking some NES game of yore. It's a shame this game didn't get more love, since a Sequel was released... only in Japan, due to poor sales in the West.

Winner)

 Ah! We meet again, Half-Minute Hero. As much of an RPG as it is, it's hard to completely pigeon-hole it into that label, as the game is so much more. While the RPG-like component is the main-feature, there's a slew of alternate modes that add more life into the whole package. You really can't go wrong with Half-Minute Hero, it has something for RPG fans, for shooter fans and for strategy fans.

Licensed Game of the Year:

 This was my year of licensed game, Jesus, I went through a lot of them. Some where good, most of them were bad, but hey, a games' a game.

5)

 I'm gonna admit that as soon as I was done with the game, I uninstalled it and went straight for Revolution. As a matter of fact, I kept on playing Revolution further down the year with friends, while I neglected Storm 3. But why? Easy, because Revolution's got mostly the same mechanics, plus, even more characters. But why is Storm 3 'better' than Revolution? Easily, because this game has a proper story-mode, with bonafide cut-scenes, quests and other thingies to make Naruto fans squeal in glee. Storm 3 is better as a 'game', but it's Revolution the one you'll be playing for fun, simply because it has more characters.

4)

 This is how you do a license justice. You get both popular and unpopular characters, there's tons of costumes, either from the comics or the Ultimate comics. Plus, it helps that the game itself is fun to play and not a quick cash-in.

3)

 I'm not sure if I dare say that the developers showed love for the franchise itself, but I can assure you that the game itself was a work of love. Gorgeous animation, charming call-outs to other games in the genre, like River-city Ransom, and tight gameplay that's very unlike of Ubisoft's tenure with the franchise.

Runner-up)

 When you think about it, besides featuring Arino's likeness, the game has little to do with the show itself. But dammit, what a great stand-alone game it is. Or rather games. A package of retro goodness made by retrogamers for retrogamers.

Winner)

 When it comes to licensed games, there's two things that matter: Gameplay and making the most of the franchise. Most licensed games tend to either favor one of the other. Some are great games, but don't do the franchise justice. Take Super Dragon Ball Z, I love it to bits, but most fans hate it because how un-Dragon Ball Z it is. Then there are the games that focus too much on the franchise, so that only die-hard fans can like them. Injustice is both, not only is it a great game, it also does its license justice AND make the most of it. You get a fantastic story-mode, that might even be a bit too comic-bookish for some, and top-notch gameplay. It's the best of both worlds.

Best Character of the Year:

 Certainly not as many as previous years, but hey, they were good ones.

5)

 Easily the most memorable of all the Stalkers in Haunting Ground. At first, she is just this eerily weird maid in the mansion, but the closest thing to a non-enemy in there. And then she starts going bonkers. And her theme song? Phenomenal. Plus, she's mad, she can go from wanting you dead, to being too busy cleaning to deal with you.

4)

 A bit of Nall's personality was lost with the new translation in Lunar - Silver Star Harmony, but he still remains an irreverent, loveable sidekick to Alex. Plus, he is so fluffy, and tiny and yet manages to be a sassy jerk when he wants to. You just can't not love him.

3) 

 Cain is the french robot badass from Binary Domain. The last of the Rust-Team's member to be introduced, he manages to impress and leave a mark on what disappointingly little time he spends with the team. This guy can take a punch, and deal them in spades, so do not let his small frame fool you, there's a reason his class is 'Juggernaut'.

Runner-up)

 There must be some kind of rule that if you are named Kain, or any variant there of, you are destined to be a badass. Legacy of Kain's Kain is a delightfully deep character, at times selfish, at times just, at times just plain evil. It's hard to talk about him without going into spoiler territory.

Winner)

 Legacy of Kain wasn't happy with just giving us one badass, so they gave us another in the from of Raziel. Raziel is a bit more angsty than Kain, a bit more naive, but still determined to fulfill his goals, even if he has to go against fate itself. As a matter of fact, he is the only character that actually can go against fate itself...

Biggest Surprise of the Year:

 Games that surprised me, in a good way!

5)

 I don't really remember what I was expecting with Haunting Grounds, but it was one of those games that I kept repeating to myself, as I played it: 'Dammit, this game is so good. Dammit this game is so good'. If only the latter half of the game was just as great as the first one!

4)

 When I laid eyes upon this game, I said to myself: 'It doesn't look very good, but it looks like something I would play'. The game made it into a ton of 'Worst 10 games of the Year' last year. A year in which many cried that games had been bad. If Escape Dead Island made it into 'Worst 10 Games of the Year', then it couldn't have been such a bad year, because EDI is competent at least. Nothing is fundamentally broken about it, it can be quite a blast at times, and I didn't come upon any particularly nasty glitch, if any.

3)

 IT'S SO DAMN GOOD. LIKE, SERIOUSLY. Look at the cover, and you may judge it harshly. Read about the story, and dammit, it sounds cheesy and action-flick generic. But it's hard not to fall in love after playing it.

Runner-up)

 It's silly to expect much of a movie tie-in game, but TMNT manages to impress. So much care went into the different skills, and it feels like Diablo-lite, not an altogether bad thing. It payed off to put the license around the game and not the other way around.

Winner)

 UNIEL quickly became one of my fighting games of the past generation. Easily. This is probably what I wanted Guilty Gear Xrd to be....

Biggest Disappointment of the Year:

 In which I pay my respects to the games that let me down the most. I hate these game, because I actually expected better of them.

5)

 I gave it two chances, on the Gamecube and on the DS and... I just couldn't get into them. I mean, I'm obviously in the minority seeing how many sequels it got, but I actually expected to fall in love with it. Heck, I even bought the 3DS version as well....

4)

 On the PS2, Konami's first TMNT iteration was pretty good, for what it was. The second one... well, it was different(Some would say worse. I would admit my red-tinted glasses tainted my opinion of the game), but when it came to the third one, they knocked it out of the park. Konami's first GBA game was pretty good. The second one was all kinds of terrible, so I actually expected Konami to pull the same save-gracing throw the managed with the third PS2 game. I was wrong. Mutant Nightmare builds upon the worst elements of the first game, and only adds terrible mechanics, and terrible graphical inconsistencies. It's a bad, baaaaaaad game.

3)

 Sigh. Sigh. Remember Final Fantasy VII's characters? Well, cover them under new layers of paint and rename them. Boom, you've got the entire main cast of Crisis Core. Remember Sephiroth? Now you've got notSephiroth, I mean, Genesis. There's even a notHojo to go alongside not Sephi. And some of the reasonings behind certain characters are so nonsensical it ain't even funny, heck, a ton of things don't even make sense, don't let me get started on the opening sequence. And who thought it was a good idea to build the entire game around luck-based slots? Like seriously, this game is a mess and a huge disappointment. If I never see this game again, it'd be one day to soon.

Runner-up)

 Throughout the N64-PS2 eras I used to buy gaming magazines to keep up to date. Usually, I would come across ads for these two Rpgs, Evolution and Evolution 2 on the Dreamcast, and I've always wanted to play them. With Evolution Worlds on the Gamecube I finally, after years upon years of waiting, got my chance. And both games were terrible. TERRIBLE. I doubt that even back in the day I could've like them, even though I would eat anything RPG-related.

Loser)

 This one hurt so deeply. Borderlands 2 is one of my favorite videogames ever(If not top 10, top 15), and they ruined it, they ruined it so badly. And the kicker is that you can be incredibly happy, as you play Borderlands 2. On the go. And then it freezes, and you become miserable, because it's probably your 15th freeze already. And at first it's soo good, because, framerate issues aside, it runs so well, but as you get further into the game, freezes become mainstays, and you start cursing at the gods. Godammit.

Best Cover of the Year:

 As someone who loves art, hand-drawn art at that, videogame covers are something I enjoy, well, when they are good anyways. But as years pass, covers get worse and worse....

5)

 LOOK AT ALL THOSE CHARACTERS. AND THEY ARE HAND DRAWN, NOT UGLY 3-D MODELS. You may call me easy to please, but in this day and age, I'll take what I can get.

4)

 Look at X's badass new design. Like, seriously, it's badass. Plus, you get Zero and Axl looking badass as well.

3)

  For anyone who has been following the series since the start, or at least since Soul Reaver, this is the moment we've been waiting for, Raziel and Kain kicking butt together, and that's what you get with this cover, which looks phenomenal to boot.

Runner-up)

 Alright, so the game itself was bad. But I love how the four turtles look, it's a very retro-style look. It would've been neat if they had gotten Jim Lawson or Paul Laird to draw the cover as well, since they did, or at least emulated their styles, the in-game cut-scenes. But oh well.

Winner)

 Alright, the game was trash, but dammit, I love this cover. I loved it in 2014, when they used this cover for the PS2 game, and I love it now. Easily my favorite cover of the year.

Review #272: One Piece - Unlimited World Red

 Unlimited grinding that is...

 Y'know, I liked Unlimited Adventure on the Wii, I liked it a lot. Sure, it was a bit of a grindfest and had framerate issues up the wazoo, but it was fun. Did you know? It actually had a two-part sequel in Unlimited Cruise 1 and, but they never made it outside Japan and Europe. And here we've got Unlimited World Red, the latest installment in the series and... I think I'll stick with the one on the Wii.

 The game starts with the Mugiwaras bringing a raccoon, Pato, back to his home Island, the intro is filled with what looks to be 'running gags', so much so that I suspected the story picked up from where Unlimited Cruise left off, but I was wrong. That was the first red flag that the story wasn't gonna be very good. As for the rest of the story, it's just excuses to have the Mugiwaras tread old ground from the series, y'know, Skypeia, Arabasta, Ennies Lobby, etc and fight the 'copies' of the enemies, Lucci, Eneru, etc. They even spout some of the same lines they did, even though these copies know that they are copies. It's very lazy, and kinda dumb considering Unlimited Adventure pulled off a very similar gimmick. I would've preferred an entirely new story or a retelling of the series, not this half-backed mishmash of events from the anime and a new storyline. It's a very lazy form of fanservice.

 This is a third-person action-adventure game. You bring up to three different characters, the CPU taking over the other two although you can switch at will, and you go through rather open, but linear, areas, breaking stuff for materials or bashing enemies for experience points. Ah, materials, just as with Unlimited Adventure, this game is a grindfest, albeit an optional one. Materials are used to enhance words, equippables on which I will expand later, rebuild the town(To open up shops or galleries) or enhance your tools. It's a massive grind, but luckily, it's a 100% optional... but if you are somewhat of a completionist, like me, it's gonna affect the way you play. You will have to repeat the same annoying button-pressing minigames any time you want to fish or catch bugs, which you will need to in order to get certain upgrades, and have to destroy every single breakable you catch a glimpse of.

 The game offers a ton of optional sidequests, which will reward you with materials, experience and 'Words'. The sidequests are a bit of a chore really, you have to go through the same 7-8 areas, usually looking for a boss to kill. They get old pretty fast, and hard too. But not hard because they require skill, but hard because enemies will start doing too much damage and you too little. Nothing that grinding for experience can't solve. To tilt things in your favor, as you play you'll get the aforementioned 'Words', which are basically equipment. Words are unique to each character and they raise(And sometimes lower) certain parameters, like attack damage. Then there's item words that function as skills and are used in battle for momentary boosts, or even healing. It's a decent idea, but the rate of acquisition is a bit low, I kept up to date with quests and didn't really have enough words to toy around until near the end of the game.

 Repetition is one thing, but it is coupled with how shallow the game is. Combat is relegated to three main buttons Y is a weak attack, X is a strong attack and A is a context sensitive 'I win button', basically, press it when the game tells you to and you'll avoid any kind of damage coming your way. Still, the game's engine doesn't lend itself to creativity or combo-making. You just press the buttons, the enemy falls, you wait for it to get up and use another two or three button string. Rinse and repeat. If you are not gonna have any depth, at least have style, but the game has neither. For whatever reason, the game feels as if it's running in slow motion the entire time. It's not that the framerate is terrible, au contraire, there are no framerate issues at all, the animations themselves are very slow, it's hard to explain, but if you look at it you'll notice that something is off. Mind you, the game looks beautiful(Well, the character models anyways), but the animations cycle veeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly. Even worse, the feedback to your attacks doesn't feel very good, sometimes it feels as if you aren't hitting the enemies at all. Oh, and then there's the boss characters that can be used in the Coliseum mode... well, just as with Unlimited Adventure, not all characters are made the same, and most these feel very limited. Instead of remaking them from the ground up, they have the same boss-moveset they have as, well, boss enemies. Which means few moves, and very slow. Take Buggy, or Shanks, they are not very fun to use at all. Not to say that they aren't effective or strong, just that many of them aren't fun to play as.

 The 3DS version has a few problems as well. For starters, the camera is too close to the characters back, so at times it can be hard to look at what's ahead, although the camera mercifully zooms back the moment you engage in a fight. Moving the camera around without a circle pad pro is impossible, so you will have to learn to use the L button to set the camera behind your character's back. Switching characters is done by pressing their tiny buttons on the touchpad, which can be annoying in the heat of battle. You have to look below and tap their small icon. Then there are the 'Item Words', sure you can use the Directional Pad to scroll through your items on the bottom screen... but you are gonna have to look below to see just what you are equipping, which once again, can be a chore during a battle. Then there's the costumes. Remember how Unlimited Adventure had three costume per character? In this game, if you want characters, you are gonna have to pay up. The game doesn't even have original redesigns, like both Unlimited Adventure and Unlimited Cruise did.

 I don't know if I got my message across, but I didn't really have much fun with the game. It's alright, at times, when it doesn't feel soulless. Combat is dull and shallow, the tacked-on minigames for when fishing or capturing insects are annoying, the story is lazy at best... And yet, nothing is fundamentally broken. It's painfully average, but that's all it's gonna get from me.
 5.5 out of 10

Now Playing: One Piece - Unlimited World Red

 I dunno about this one...

 So I was a big fan of Unlimited Adventure on the Wii, it was a fun Metroidvania-like One Piece game, sure, it had it's flaws, like huge slowdown and limited movesets for characters outside the Mugiwaras, but it was fun for what it was. It later got a two-part sequel, Unlimited Cruise Part I and II, but Namco never saw it fit to bring it to USA, and since the Wii is region locked... yeah, not a good time.

 And now we have the third(Fourth?) iteration of the franchise and... I'm not completely sold. Mind you, all my views are based off Coliseum Mode, the only one I've tried, and beaten, yet, and I've already got a ton of issues with it. Remember how in Unlimited Adventure secondary characters would get very limited movesets? Yeah, it's the same deal here. Luffy's got a ton of moves, Zoro as well, but then there's Buggy and Shanks with their paltry 2-3 moves on land. It's very disappointing, and this game has even less characters than Unlimited Adventure, so there's no excuse. And remember how Unlimited Adventure and Unlimited Cruise both redesigned all the Mugiwaras with new costumes? Yeah, you only get their basic post-timeskip costumes this time around. Oh, but there're alternate costumes, just as with the previous games... except that they are DLC only. I was lucky enough to get the day 1 edition, which grants me the 15th anniversary DLC costumes, which are really nice, but still.

 And then there's the fact that the game runs as if it was underwater all the time. It's hard to explain, but if you see it in motion, even on videos, you'll see that the game looks very slow. Maybe it runs on 20 FPS? I dunno. To be fair, at least the frame rate is consistent, which is more than I can say about Unlimited Adventure. And since we are talking graphics, they look kinda blurry on the top-screen. And I think the hit boxes are kinda iffy. Switching and using Words(Buffs) is also kinda cumbersome, since you need to know what they do before hand, and good luck using them in the heat of battle, since you need to look at the bottom screen.

 If you couldn't tell, I'm not very impressed with the game. It's not terrible, but it's not noteworthy either. Just a middle of the road game. But hey, maybe the main mode can save the game!

Review #271: Puzzle Quest - Challenge of the Warlords

 You cheating sunuvagun!

 Ah, I still remember playing Puzzle Quest back in the day, the game was the bees knees! I'd play it every morning before going to highschool. Back then, the game kind of became a big deal, enough to warrant a direct sequel and a galactic spin-off. But I have changed, my tastes have changed, and the console as well, since I actually played the PC version back in the day.

 The game is an atypical 'match-three-to-score' puzzle game, atypical since it actually marries the tried and true formula with... RPG elements. And it works. You've got experience points, spells, mounts, quests, towns, a storyline... the game's got it all! So how does it work? Well, there's four types of items on the board: Purple asterisks, that grant bonus experience points, colored orbs, that translate into different mana pools, skulls, that deal damage and gold that grants bonus gold. You and your opponent take turns trying to deplete the other's HP, either by matching skulls or gathering mana in order to unleash one of many different spells. Matching more than 3 items will grant you bonus turns.

 In order to play, first you have to create a character out of four different classes, which differ on which spells you'll earn as you level up. Stat growth is done manually by the player, so your class won't affect that. Afterwards, you can take your character against other players or battle the CPU(Either a random opponent or pick him yourself) or... challenge Quest Mode. Quest Mode has you traversing over an overworld, doing sidequests, earning sidekicks, capturing monsters(Which can then be used to research skills from them), singeing towns and finally defeating Baal. It's rather lengthy, I clocked over 18 hours on this mode alone. Needless to say, there's quite a lot to do.

 One thing to keep in mind, that annoyed me to no end, is that the CPU cheats. The developers denied these claims, but anyone who has played this game can tell you otherwise. It's like they know what's coming above, and many a times, after you make your move, stuff will just fall into place for them to pull epic combos. It's frustrating and annoying, luckily you can turn down the difficulty at any time, and I suggest you do, unless you want to be subjected to the game's cheating shenanigans. Also, the game can get a bit boring near the end game, when enemies start having over two hundred hp points, and battles turn eternal, not to mention the 'random encounters' that pop up around the map and that you need to deal with in order to go to other towns. It can be a bit of a bore. And don't be surprised if you come around a few graphical glitches, but be glad that they are mostly harmless, the PSP version is downright broken. The PC version is probably the way to go, it also received a few patches, like adding cooldowns to all the spells, but the DS version is just fine.

 Puzzle Quest is a fun, addictive game if a bit frustrating at times. And hey, at the end of the day, it's a much better alternative than 'modern' puzzle games like Candy Crush and it's ilk, this game has no microtransactions, for one, and as annoying as the AI can get, it's not like it's trying to make you part with your money!
 7.0 out of 10

Review #270: Binary Domain

 Holler if you are dead!

 I'm gonna cut straight to the chase, Binary Domain is amazing. This is a third-person shooter done by a Japanese Company, the 'Yakuza team' particularly, and it's amazing. You wouldn't expect a TPS from a Japanese dev to be THIS good, but it is, while maintaining a particularly strong Japanese flavor.

 The game pits you as Dan and his 'Rust Team' crew, a team comprised of members from England, America, France and China that band together to stop the Japanese Amada Corporation, a tech-corp that broke the third Geneva convention that prevented companies from researching into human-like robots. But obviously, Yoji Amada broke it, planting 'Hollow Children', robots disguised as men that don't even know that they are robots themselves, as sleeper agents. The story is very generic 'Action Movie' fare, with cheesy lines and cheesier deliveries, but it works for what it wants to do. Your team members are a lovable bunch, Charlie the deadpan snarker bookworm, Rachel, the explosives expert that came from the slums, Faye, the silent type, Cain, the most badass robot out there, and then there's Dan and Bo, those two guys! As previously mentioned, the game was designed by the Yakuza Team, and it shows. There's a ton of cutscenes, much more than your average Third Person Shooter, and a ton of drama, and I wouldn't have it any other way, the cutscenes are great anyways.

 This is a modern third person shooter, so y'know the drill: Regenerating health, large focus on cover-based shoot-outs, carry a limited amount of weapons(two main weapons, a gun with infinite ammo and explosives), over-the-shoulder aiming, etc. As far as the shooting goes, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, not does it do anything particularly original, but it works and it works well. There were a few quirks though, like getting into covers sometimes is a bit iffy, if you press X while dashing, even if in front of cover, most of the time you will roll, instead, you have to let go of the analog stick and then press X. Also, sometimes, while popping out of cover, Dan will aim towards a wall, these cases are easily fixed by holding the left analog stick in the direction you want to pop-out of... but this shouldn't have been an issue in the first place.

 The game employs a 'relationship gauge' for each team member. Performing well in battle, as well as giving the right answers when your allies engage you in conversation will the increase, or decrease, their individual gauges. This affects two things: A) How well they'll respond to your orders and B) The ending. I didn't particularly care for the relationship system, but if one thing annoyed me, your allies will occasionally run in front of your line of fire, and if they get hit, their relationship gauge decreases.

 Your enemies are all manner of robots, and there's all kinds of ways you can dismantle them. Aim for their heads and they'll go blind, engaging in friendly fire. Or break their legs in order to handicap their movement. Or you know, destroy their arms in order to... dis-arm them, literally. The more damage you cause to an enemy, the more points you'll earn, which can then be exchanged for upgrades to your main weapon as well as your allies, or buy Nanomachines which can be equipped on any team member for passive buffs.

 I loved Binary Domain. The story is great in what it wants to be, what it presents tribute to, rather than what it is at face value. The gameplay is tight, even if it suffers from a couple of quirks. It all comes together into this fantastic tribute to action and sci-fi movies that's a blast to play.
 9.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Binary Domain

 Amazing.

 Now why isn't this game more popular? IS it because of the terrible box art? Because Sega didn't promote it right? It's baffling, because the game is great.

 This is like one of those action movies that take themselves too seriously, except that it's in game form. The shooting is tight, the characters are engrossing, while the concept behind the 'Evil Robots' and the Team of Special Ops with clashing personalities isn't particularly original, they've did it so well it feels like a tribute more than a rip off.

 What I liked:
- The shooting, it's tight, it's fast.
- Upgrades, both characters and/or weapons.
- The main characters. Dan and Bo are hilariously stupid, which makes them loveable.

 What I didn't like:
- NOTHING. Maybe, if I had to scratch the bottom of the barrel, I'd say that melee attacks aren't what I look for in a melee attack. But that's just nitpicking out of my personal preference!

Review #269: Bioshock 2

 Once you see Bomberman on the cover, you can't unsee him.

 Even though I hadn't played Bioshock at the time of its heyday, I had heard and read about it, and when news came about a sequel in which you would play as a Big Daddy I felt a bit dumbstruck. Play as a big daddy, really? Regardless of my prejudice, Bioshock 2 was fairly divisive, some considered a way superior sequel, and others a terrible follow-up. Not me.

 The game has you playing as a prototype Big Daddy, subject Delta, awakened after being left for dead 10 years ago, which places this game 8 years after the original Bioshock. Not that it really matters. There's a few audio logs that might give some spoilers away, a single returning character(Who quickly goes away) and the fact that the world of Rapture is under a new rule, but otherwise, you don't really need to play the first one to understand this one. The new cast of characters is alright, and there's a few really great, poignant moments, but that's all they amount to: moments. Y'see, the story, as a whole, is rather weak and uninteresting, with the occasional great moment that piques your interest and keeps you going.

 The game plays almost exactly the same as the previous game, you go from place to place, scavenging for ammo and money, while battling dozens upon dozens of baddies. There's no real penalties to dying this time around either, but the game does feel a teeny tiny bit more challenging. You'll fight the same enemies from the previous game, with the addition of the Big Sisters, Strong Splicers  and the Rosie-type Big Daddy got replaced with a new Big Daddy that drops turrets. Most, but not all, Plasmids from the previous game return, with the addition of a couple new ones, like 'Scout', which I didn't care for at all. Delta's basic weaponry is analogous to Jack's, but they differ in the alternate ammo, suffice to say that Delta has much more options under his belt.

 As you can probably tell by now, the game recycles and reuses a ton of stuff from the previous game, but it does offer some changes. For instance, Bioshock 1 had certain few horror elements, but Bioshock 2 has none, it's an action-adventure game all the way through. Areas are bigger, larger and more colorful, which lend themselves to bigger shoot-outs with none of the build-up Bioshock 1 had. I remember that Take 2 made a big deal out of the new underwater sections... they are nothing but a gimmick, every now and then you'll have to venture outside Rapture, but these sections are very linear and short, nothing but gimmicks. The way Little Sisters works has also change a bit, you can still harvest them, but either before choosing to save or harvest them, you can take them to certain particular dead bodies and protect them while they gather extra Adam, you can do this up to two times with each Little Sister. Initially, it was fun, but it became tedious after a while. Sure, you don't have to do it, you can simply take them to a vent in order to save them, but why wouldn't you? Extra Adam means extra upgrades!

 Being a Big Daddy has its perks, namely dual wielding a Plasmid on the left hand and a weapon on the right hand, not having to switch between armaments makes for a much smoother and fun experience while fighting. For as lame as the story is, compared to the previous game's, the combat is so much better this time around. It's true that most of the Plasmids are from the first game, but while upgrading them only upped their damage, in Bioshock 1, this time around they get extra perks, like harming multiple enemies at once or bestowing stronger attacks by charging them. And as previously mentioned, while the basic weaponry basically emulates Jack's, the alternate ammunition gives you many more choices. You can place landmine-like bombs with the basic gun or deploy mini-sentries with the hacking tool, for instance, and this kind of trap-weaponry works well for setting a perimeter, something that you'll do more often in this game's shoot-outs, or while defending a little sister.

 And seeing how I got Ultimate Rapture Edition means I get access to the DLC, and let me tell ya, 'Minerva's Den' is Borderlands-Quality DLC(Which means, REALLY Good). It has a completely new story that runs parallel to the main game, playing as another Big Daddy, Sigma, you get a few new enemies(A new Big Daddy and a Big Splicer variation), new weapons and a new Plasmid. It's mad up of two large different sections. It's really good, offering a better, and self contained, story than the main game, and lasts about 4 hours(Though I've heard of people spending more time on it than that!). Then there's the Protector Trial DLC, basically, survival mode. It's a drag, at least after finishing the entire game and having had to protect little sisters dozens of times, I just didn't find them any fun. There's also a Multiplayer Mode, for whatever reason, but I couldn't find any players to try it out with. Suffice to say, the game stands just fine on its own.

 Bioshock 2, as a game, is great, but as a sequel, it's a bit disappointing. It plays it safe, doing a little tweaking here and there, for an overall more polished game, at least as far as gameplay is concerned, It's also hard not to feel deja vu, seeing just how many assets are recycled from the last game. At the end of the day, I still feel that Bioshock 2 needn't exist, but I'm not gonna complain about it.
 8.0 out of 10