What Games Have You Completed? (2023 EDITION!)

1. Sonic Frontiers (PC)
2. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
4. Aladdin (SNES)

Aladdin

There's two 16-bit Aladdin games. The Megadrive version is the best known. It was the third best selling Megadrive game behind only Sonic 1 and 2 and became a pack in title. While the Megadrive game looks absolutely incredible it's kind of a very basic western platformer with very boring level design. I fell the SNES game gets unfairly dismissed although it has it's fair share of problems.

Aladdin on the SNES is developed by Capcom (Shinji Mikami was the planner) who had a reputation for making incredible Disney games on the NES and SNES. Unlike the Megadrive game, Aladdin brings its own twist to the platforming. Aladdin can bounce off enemies and scenery to gain height as well as swing on poles. These elements are mixed into the level design to give the game a real flow. I also like how they emphasise the non violent nature of the Aladdin character. He stuns enemies with apples and puts them out of action by jumping on them whereas the Megadrive game as Aladdin wield a sword which is very out of character.

While the level design of Aladdin is above average, there is one niggle that holds the whole game back. It's very obviously rushed. There's only a handful of levels and the game is over very quickly. Important sections of the film that would have made good setpieces are glossed over in the still images used to convey the story of the game. Even more sacrilegious for a Capcom games, there's a severe lack of bosses. There's only two, albeit very good bosses, right at the end of the game. At least the game has a stage dedicated to the 'A whole new world' carpet ride sequence that the Megadrive game forgets about.

Aladdin is a pretty decent platformer with good level design and great controls that unfortunately is a little lacking.

1. Sonic Frontiers (PC)
2. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
4. Aladdin (SNES)
5. Crash Bandicoot 2 (PC)

Crash Bandicoot 2

I played this through the recent remaster.

The first crash game isn't a good game. It has a real lack of variety in its challenges and level design and at its worst it's down right obnoxious. I kept hearing from Playstation fans how Crash Bandicoot 2 was the best of the trilogy and remembered enjoying Crash Bandicoot 3 so I went into Crash 2 expecting an enjoyable platformer after Naughty Dog had honed their craft. Well they certainly improved a hell of a lot since Crash 1 but Crash 2 really isn't the masterpiece people make it out to be. It's a perfectly cromulent platformer that it trounced by many platformers of its vintage, even on the PS1.

They've made Crash 2 a lot less obnoxious. The frankly idiotic save system of Crash 1 is gone, you can now save after every stage. There's also a hub structure to the game where you can play any 5 levels presented to you and move on to the next set of 5 after beating the boss. Level design has improved massively over Crash 1 but its still rather lacking. Enemy design is pretty boring and there's no sections of the game that had me thinking it was cleverly designed the way a top tier platformer would. The bonus rooms are the height of design really. While the level design never reaches the same level of obnoxious as Crash 1, there's some really obnoxious challenges in the later levels that near drove me insane, especially with some bullshit moments when the game actively breaks its own rules. The boss battles are all universally awful. I actually can't get over how bad these are.

There's some new gameplay additions. The biggest are the two new moves, the slide and the bellyflop. The slide allows you to slide under obstacles and hit some enemies. It's a good addition. What I'm not a fan of is that you can now jump out of a slide to get some extra length to your jump. The issue is that this slide jump is not consistent and the game can often kill your momentum out of nowhere and lead to an unfair death. Compare that to Mario 64's much more intuitive duck jump. The belly flop seems totally redundant. It's used to kill and break certain blocks and enemies and adds nothing to the game other than frustration when you accidentally hit the trigger during a jump and screw yourself over. It can also be used to gain slightly more height to reach platforms that are just out of reach. This feels like a glitch but is strangely a gameplay mechanic you are expected to master. There's a few other new gimmicks and vehicle sections that don't stand out other than the nitro crates. **** nitro crates. I mean having a crate that destructs on contact is all fine. Having this type of crate randomly hop into the air is next level ballocks.

Everything else I have issue with the game is my own personal opinion. I just don't like the Crash character or universe, it's just so try hard to be crazy and zany. The music really grates and I'm absolutely baffled that some people have found memories of the soundtrack.

So that's a lot of negatives for a game that was for the most part a decent enough diversion. It will be interesting to see how Crash 3 stacks up as its the Crash game I've the most experience of.

1. Sonic Frontiers (PC)
2. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
4. Aladdin (SNES)
5. Crash Bandicoot 2 (PC)
6. Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped (PC)
7. Deus Ex: Invisible War (PC)

Deus Ex: Invisible War

Ah yes, the game that gave us dumbed down consolisation. For a game that caused so much uproar and gnashing of teeth I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it. There's a lot of truth to the criticisms this game received at the time. However when you take the game at its own merits and not compare it to what many would consider the greatest game ever made, it manages to hold its own and be a really fun and interesting adventure.

Deus Ex: Invisible War is an immersive sim set in a dystopian cyberpunk future. Playing as a member of a shadowy government agency you (very) quickly find out that said agency might not be all it seems while other shadowy conspirators pull the strings in the background trying to shape the world as they see fit. This leads to a globe trotting adventure where you part take in hacking, sneaking, sniping, back stabbing and, eh, undercovering the secret behind global coffee franchises.

Invisible War stays quite faithful to the original game. Missions can be approached in a wide variety of creative ways. Objectives can be completed to play factions against one another. You also have to make some tough choices when it comes to upgrading your agent. Do you sacrifice cloaking for the harder to level up hacking ability? The biggest issues come when you compare the game to other immersive sims and PC RPGs of the time. The original Deus Ex let the player run wild and explore large intricate levels. These presented the player with multiple ways to traverse them. While Invisible War is no slouch in the level design department, the levels are tiny in comparison to accommodate the original XBox's lack of RAM. I had to laugh in the Trier, Germany area when I asked a guard where a bar was. They told me it was at the other side of the town, which actually meant around the corner and behind the building he was patrolling. The RPG systems have been dumbed down as well. Ammo is universal, the same pistol ammo can be used to reload a rocket launcher or flamethrower. I initially liked the biomod system which locked out abilities based on your choices, a real sophies choice in the beginning of the game. However before I left the second area of the game I was already fully powered up with all the weapon and biomods I needed to complete that game.

These are all minor complaints, if Invisible War wasn't following up such a legendary game it would have been very highly regards (in fact it reviewed very well, even in PC publications). Despite the dumbing down there's a lot to like here. The level and mission structure is excellent. I really enjoyed how the game reacted to your mission choices (even though ultimately they cheated a little and made them not really matter). Story wise the game is quite interesting a makes for a compelling follow up to Deus Ex. It's a pretty bleak take on the ending of Deus Ex with similarly morally grey endings that reminded me of the Shin Megami Tensei games.

It there's one complaint to really make, it's that the game runs out of steam and feels rushed after the first 3 areas. Levels become filled with highly modified troopers that are just bullet sponges and the strategy goes out the window, replaced with pitched rocket launcher showdowns.

Don't sleep on Invisible War if you are looking for a Deus Ex follow up. Despite the annoyances there's a lot to love, if you can get over the wonky visuals and can actually get the blasted thing running.

1. Sonic Frontiers (PC)
2. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
4. Aladdin (SNES)
5. Crash Bandicoot 2 (PC)
6. Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped (PC)
7. Deus Ex: Invisible War (PC)
8. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

After the excellent Trails in the Sky trilogy Falcom have yet again produced another stellar JRPG with Trails from Zero. Zero leaves behind Liberl for the tiny city state of Crossbell. Crossbell lies in a strategically important area between the Erbonian Empire and the Calvard Republic, two countries with a violent past against one another with Crossbell getting caught in the crossfire. Both countries claim dominion over the city state but due to a peace treaty the city state has been allowed to act autonomously as long as it does not have it's own standing army.

Despite the more compact size compared to the Trails in the Skies' setting of Liberl, Crossbell makes a great location for a game. There's tension due to it's position politically but also due to it's free state nature a lot of trade goes through Crossbell which has made it extremely wealthy. However with all that money comes consequences. There's a massive gap in quality of life between the haves and have nots. Politics are rife with corruption. Add to that the local Mafiosa smugglers are now having to deal with a triad style crime syndicate muscling into Crossbell. On top of that Crossbell is trialing the 'Orbal Network', basically the prototype for this universe's internet.

To combat these new threats the local police force have created the SSS (special support section), a team of four removed from the police force. The aim is to have them removed from the political corruption rife within the police force while also being able to interfere with the government and prosecute them unlike the civilian Bracers Guild. There's something strange happening in Crossbell and it's up to the SSS to discover what it is.

You take control of the SSS consisting of 4 party members, all of which you'll grow to love. There's the mysterious Tio with he high tech get up, rich girl Ellie, rambunctious ladies man Randy and then squad leader Lloyd who loves a cheesy pep talk or friendship speech and gets called out for how bad they are. The entire cast is excellent, as usual for a Falcom game. The setting also lends itself well to a RPG. Crossbell city is the central hub with roads branching out leading to places of interest and villages. Despite the smaller scale compared to Trails in the Sky there's a huge amount of attention to detail in the setting. As always each NPC has their own little story which changes as the game progresses.

The game is broken in to 4 chapters, each one a separate case for the SSS to solve before culminating in a finale that brings all the narrative threads together in a satisfying conclusion. The writing here is excellent and complimented by an excellent localisation job by the Geofront team. The battle system hasn't changed much from previous entries which is no bad thing as the Trails battle system is excellent. However it's a little jarring going from the third Trails game to this one as the combat is way less complicated. In it's defense this is a brand new story arc meant to bring new players on board whereas the third Trails game was an epilogue to two other games so anyone playing with it would be familiar with the battle system already and would want more challenge and complexity.

For me Trails from Zero is the best Trails has been from the games I've played. The more compact and focused world suits the game better, the story is great with some really tense finales to each chapter. I like how the writing went all in with the SSS team being detectives that do actual police work. Side quests are all worth doing and bring some fun flavour to the world and characters. If you like the Trails games this is a must play. As the start of a new arc this is a good jumping in point for people interested in the series however there's some references to the previous arc that will please fans (and I admit to getting a bit misty eyed at the resolution to one characters story arc that took four games to resolve).

While I love these games it's hard to recommend as they aren't for people with not much patience. They can be a bit wordy and move slowly but they are games you stick with as the pay offs are more than worth your time invested into them.