completed — Page 172

Sonic the Hedgehog (MS): COMPLETED!

Posted on 27/02/2016 Written by deKay

Sonic the Hedgehog on the Master System was, at the time, quite an achievement. It may not have been as technically polished as the Mega Drive original, but it was a good approximation given the more limited hardware, and it steered away from simply being very, very fast by focussing more on the platforming. I quite enjoyed it at the time.

It has been quite a long time (read: over a decade, I expect) since I last played 8bit Sonic the Hedgehog, and several things surprised me: It was just as easy as I recall. It stands up better today than I expected. Mostly, I was amazed at how I still remembered where all of the hidden Chaos Emeralds were. Except for the one in Scrap Brain Zone which I stumbled across, luckily.

It’s a fun platformer with some excellent music (Jungle Zone was always my favourite, and still is) and one of the best games of its type on the Master System. When you compare it, technically, to earlier games like Psycho Fox and Alex Kidd (both still excellent) this does things unheard of on the console at the time.

And that’s it completed, with all the Chaos Emeralds in tow. Excellent.

The post Sonic the Hedgehog (MS): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Lara Croft Temple of Osiris – Completed

Posted on 24/02/2016 Written by gospvg

Our first PS4 PMG completed, the last boss fight was much easier than I thought. No idea about the plot Egyptian gods fighting against each other or something but it was an decent twin stick shooter with a few puzzles.

Twin stick shooters unfortunately seem to be the norm for most 4 player games, there really should be more choice by now.

We still have Gauntlet & Helldivers to play but next on the play list is the daddy of them all Diablo 3.

Bayonetta (Wii U): COMPLETED!

Posted on 15/02/2016 Written by deKay

I’ve played the odd Platinum game before, so it shouldn’t have surprised me, but the final few stages of Bayonetta just went nuts. From the riding a missile Space Harrier homage (complete with “Welcome to My Fantasy Zone” and “Get Ready!”, and a remix of that games theme), to running up the wall of an external lift shaft, controlling Jeanne on her motorbike in space, to eventually taking on Jubileus: God in the form of a giant naked woman with elemental powers. And that’s just what happens before the end credits.

Click to view slideshow.

When I reached the tower that makes up the penultimate level of the game, I was fully expecting a SuckySuck(TM) bit – a boss rush, fighting all the previous bosses again. Which of course, is what happened. They were much easier this time around, and some were somewhat abridged, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Part way up the tower there was a frustrating platforming section where Bayonetta had to run up some wall panels, but was only able to stick to those with patterns on. Oh, and the panels kept disappearing. The camera angle didn’t assist much, sometimes rotating so after a while I realised I had somehow started moving back down the wall instead of up it, much to my annoyance.

Like other Platinum games, though, it’s all about the fight, the pomp and the increasing levels of ludicrousness and focussing on the small minuses such as the camera or the asset reuse seems rather missing the point. After all, you’re a witch with sentient hair and guns on your feet who can summon demons and has to take down the creator of the universe. I don’t think slight quirks of the game engine really matter.

That said, fighting Jubileus was an exercise in acceptance. She/he/it was enormous, and fought you inside an even bigger sphere. Up and down had no meaning for much of the fight but navigating even short distances within the space was confusing, especially while avoiding attacks and trying to repel bullets-with-faces back at the boss. With her finally down, another nonsensical sequence played off with you flying after her into the sun, avoiding the planets on the way. The reason for doing this was not clear, as then the end credits rolled and after that there was another section of game where the statue of Jubileus needed to be destroyed as it plummeted to Earth.

More credits then, which went on for some time, with more lunacy. Some more fighting (for which you’re scored, so you’d better not have put the controller down!), a long sequence showing Bayonetta pole dancing, what seemed to be a music video with Bayonetta and chums (and foes) dancing in formation, and a bit where Jeanne cosplays as a nun. Erm.

What I’m trying to say, is that the game has lots of great fighting and is also one of the maddest titles you can (or rather, can’t) imagine. I’ve no idea if Bayonetta 2 can raise the bar, as I can’t see where else there is to go. It’s still Platinum though, so I expect it can.

The post Bayonetta (Wii U): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Nova-111 (PS4): COMPLETED!

Posted on 15/02/2016 Written by deKay

I thought I was getting quite close to the end of the game, seeing as I’d reached the lab (which I was convinced was supposed to be the goal) and beaten the big gooey thing (which I was convinced was supposed to be the final boss), and then a whole new area with new features, baddies, rock types and gimmicks opened up.

In this new region, fire and switches played big parts. Certain rocks could be burnt, opening up new paths, and switches reversed black and white rocks (and baddies). There were also special areas where time froze, and using your freeze time ability time flowed only in these areas, making for some interesting puzzles. In one section, you had to coax a flaming baddie into a time freeze area so you could push it around while frozen in order to redirect it towards some rocks that needed torching. It was surprisingly cerebral.

What was actually the final boss turned out to be a pain. He wasn’t especially hard, but he was several stages long and in each his weakness and method of attack wasn’t immediately clear. In a couple of these stages a single slip meant quick death, and all of his stages needed to be redone each time you died. Checkpoints after each would have been much appreciated. Worse than all that, however, was that once defeated for good, the game crashed at the credit sequence. And then did it again on my next attempt. And again. And again. Thankfully, it has recorded I’ve completed it as it allows me to start a New Game+, but I’ve missed out on the achievement for doing so. Odd.

In spite of those final few issues with Nova-111, it was a nice little game, using many ideas I’ve seen elsewhere in a unique blend. If I’d had known it was going to play like this, I’d probably have bought it long ago. As a PS+ freebie rental, it’s certainly better than a lot of the stuff on that service recently.

Here’s a video playlist of a mostly complete playthrough. Skip to the end for the final boss fight (spoilers!) and see it crash out!

The post Nova-111 (PS4): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Lifeline (iOS) – Completed

Posted on 01/02/2016 Written by gospvg

Lifeline is the mobile equivalent of the choose your own adventure books I read as a kid.

Cadet Taylor ship has crashed on a moon & he needs your help to survive & ultimately escape from the moon.

I can't go into too much detail without spoiling the story but it had me hooked for a few days & I've gone straight onto play the next game in the series Lifeline Silent Night.