completed — Page 168

Lego Lord of the Rings (360): COMPLETED!

Posted on 04/04/2016 Written by deKay

I’ve said before that I’m a big fan of Lego games. I buy all of them, and for the last few years have enjoyed them even more as I’ve played them in co-op with my daughter. For some reason, I’d never got round to picking up Lego Lord of the Rings (even though it’s pretty old now) until around New Year, when it was on sale on the 360 shop for about £3. I’d have preferred a Wii U or PS4 version, but neither exist. I’d also have preferred an actual physical version, but for £3 I can cope.

Coming to this after Lego The Hobbit, I can see it’s very similar. The overworld is almost the same, and some of the locations are – at least without a side by side comparison – identical. It’s fun, as all Lego games are, but it’s pretty far down the list when it comes to which is best. Although not unusual for a Lego title to be bug-ridden, Lego Lord of the Rings crashed completely several times, and on at least four occasions one of the characters got trapped in scenery and we had to restart the level. Twice, blocks that had to be pushed off cliffs froze in mid air, so we had to restart the level, and once we were unable to even start a level as it wouldn’t trigger. Pretty disappointing.

The quality of the levels themselves were not of a great standard either. Some were great, of course, but a few were truly terrible. The swamp level, with Gollum setting fire to things and you having to navigate through safe paths and put the fires out was an exercise in extreme patience as it just went on forever. The hiding from black riders and dragons (again this happened in the swamp, but also elsewhere) caused tedious stop-start gameplay, not conducive to enjoying the levels. In fact, we had to do the swamp level twice due to a bug mentioned above.

There were also too many fights of the form “Kill three of these” then “Kill five more” then “Kill seven more”. Repetitive and dull. Sorry, Traveller’s Tales. At least you’ve not done a Lego game as bad as this since!

All that said, it was still – on balance – actually pretty good. As always, it shines in two player and the source material and gags add to the enjoyment. We’re not going to 100% it this time though. Too many bugs and annoying sections have put paid to that.

The post Lego Lord of the Rings (360): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

The Legend of Galahad (MD): COMPLETED!

Posted on 03/04/2016 Written by deKay

With Puggsy completed, I was reminded of The Legend of Galahad on the Mega Drive. The main character actually appears as a statue in Puggsy, and I think both games, and Wiz ‘n’ Liz, were developed around the same time by pretty much the same team. Oddly, the game is only known as The Legend of Galahad on the box, bearing the shorter title of “Galahad” in-game. It’s also the same game, bar some minor differences, as the Amiga title Leander.

It’s also an annoying platformer filled with too many unexpected deaths. You can’t look up or down, so many leaps are into the unknown. Some pits are spike-filled, but others are not. Baddies respawn, some after a few minutes and some almost instantly. Some spikes that spring up from the ground can be destroyed, some cannot. And there’s know way of knowing any of these things without trial and error!

Thankfully, it’s actually quite enjoyable despite the frequent deaths, and lives and energy are plentiful so although it’s a challenge, it’s not too difficult. Money, to improve your armour and weapons, is incredibly easy to come by and once I’d found the first shop in the game I’d more than enough for the best sword already – making most of the baddies simple one hit kills. With the rest of my money spent on bombs (which make you immune for a few seconds in addition to causing massive damage) even bosses were a walkover.

Except the final boss, where your ability to use bombs is removed! I had 40+ bombs to use up on him and couldn’t activate any! In the end it didn’t matter as although I died five times to him, the damage you’ve inflicted carries over when you die, so it was a simple case of just having enough lives to sustain myself while I chipped away at his energy, which didn’t take long.

The Legend of Galahad was never a “top tier” title at the time, and it’s not surprising it has probably been forgotten by most people now. It has problems, but it’s not a bad game. Has it aged? A little, yes. More so than Puggsy, certainly.

Click to view slideshow.

The post The Legend of Galahad (MD): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Time Gal (MegaCD): COMPLETED!

Posted on 02/04/2016 Written by deKay

First up, let me say this: I completed Time Gal in Easy mode. I’m not proud, but any other mode is completely impossible. You simply have no way of reacting correctly to the action, and it’s unplayable in the same way Dragon’s Lair is.

With that confession out of the way, I’d also have to say it wasn’t worth it. Like Dragon’s Lair (and other FMV games of this kind), it doesn’t work. You see, it’s two things: A reaction (and/or memory) tester game, and a film. As a game, remembering every button press, in order, for 30 minutes of gameplay is not fun in any way, shape or form. As a film, it’s not possible to enjoy it because you have to concentrate on the button presses. As a result, it’s best to experience via watching someone else – who has memorised the entire sequence so they don’t fail too often – play it instead.

Time Gal is a stupid relic of an age where video was impressive and what seemed to be an interactive cartoon wowed everyone, but it’s boring, shallow and annoying. And the MegaCD version has terrible grainy FMV anyway. What a waste of everyone’s time.

Click to view slideshow.

The post Time Gal (MegaCD): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Puggsy (MegaCD): COMPLETED!

Posted on 02/04/2016 Written by deKay

Puggsy was probably my most played, and certainly one of my most enjoyed, MegaCD games. It was huge, and had even more levels and bosses than the plain Mega Drive version, some of which made use of the MegaCD’s hardware with sprite manipulation and FMV.

I’ve been picking away at it over the last couple of weeks, finding it generally easier than it ever was back then, but struggling to find the secret or alternative exits in some of the levels so progress was less quick than you’d expect. Some I could remember, some I could remember but not how to do it, and some I had no recollection of at all – the final boss for instance was not the final boss and I’d totally forgotten about the real final boss. Even though I remembered the really annoying level with the spiky ball you can’t pick up, which comes after what I thought was the final boss.

Anyway! It was a lot of fun to play again after such a long time, and I’ve completed about 45 of the 51 levels so may return to finish off the final few. There are some more secrets I’d like to re-see, like some of the bonus levels (I got the Jetpac one, but know I’m missing the Arkanoid one and at least one more) and the Wiz ‘n’ Liz reference. I found Galahad (aka Leander) in one level so that’s prompted me to add that game to the list of must-plays too.

Click to view slideshow.

The post Puggsy (MegaCD): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Hyrule Warriors Legends (3DS): COMPLETED!

Posted on 28/03/2016 Written by deKay

But you know this isn’t the end of Hyrule Warriors Legends, don’t you? Of course not. All I’ve done is complete Legend Mode, and even that still has Cia’s prologue yet to do – let alone track down all the hearts and skulltulas and stuff in levels I’ve already completed. Then there’s Adventure Mode, which I have given merely the briefest of touches, just to capture a fairy. I’m only 15 hours in, which is already much, much longer than many games but here I know there’s a good 100 more or so – at least – waiting.

As well as the main Legend Mode story, I’ve also played and completed all of Linkle’s missions which sort of intertwine with the main story. Not especially well, it has to be said, but the plot is totally irrelevant elsewhere in the game so it doesn’t matter. The bulk of the game is Adventure Mode anyway and there’s no plot there at all.

I mentioned it before, but it’s worth saying again: Linkle is superb. Her slightly ranged weapons, her speed, her aerial gunplay (crossbowplay?) all make her so much fun to play as. It felt a shame every time I had to play a level as another character after each of her missions, as although most of the other characters are great too, Linkle is best. Better than Link even. Hopefully unlocking her most powerful weapons isn’t too much of a task in Adventure Mode, as I want them as soon as possible!

Click to view slideshow.

The post Hyrule Warriors Legends (3DS): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.