Topic: Project "Backlog Eradication" - Clearin' out the pile o' shame

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

L4D2's "Meat" is in the multiplayer (with mics) especially in verses. However you are more than likely get a subpar experience if you only play with pubs. It's almost like hazing period until you get enough people on your friends list to play with. Once you find enough, it is easily some of the most fun you can have and become magic when the teamwork comes togeather.

Indeed. 9 times out of 10, the people I am put with for public matches obviously do not appreciate the team orientation. 1 time out of 10, I get into a really good group, and on those occasions, I always add these people to the Friends List, so that I might be able to join them again. Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 are blemished by a large proportion of the community that plays it, but when they work, they work amazingly well.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Super Meat Boy

There's a good game in here, I know it. I wish I could soak in its goodness more. Just one problem: I'm playing the PC version.

After the WiiWare cancellation debacle, this platform was the only avenue for me to acquire Super Meat Boy. Whenever you boot up the PC version of the game, the first screen you see is a picture of an Xbox 360 controller and a disclaimer stating:
'Controller vs Keyboard - Who will win? (Spoiler Alert: Controller wins)'.

Having heard so much about it, I was aware that this is the kind of game that would probably be more suited to a control, but nevertheless, I still expected the keyboard controls to be functional. After all, I did beat every level of the original Meat Boy on Newgrounds with those controls. Sadly, in Super Meat Boy, they are totally botched. It's truly infuriating, as I can't properly appreciate what is clearly an excellent platformer. In a way, it is kind of unacceptable that a title is released on PC with keyboard controls that do not work right. Not everybody has a gamepad to hook up to their computer, Team Meat, and what's worse, I know they could do better because their Flash game controlled fine.

Rant over. I'll have to pick up a joypad in the future if I'm to get any further than World 2. On that note, if you don't have a joypad, do not buy the PC version of Super Meat Boy.

[Ceric]

Super Meat Boy

There's a good game in here, I know it. I wish I could soak in its goodness more. Just one problem: I'm playing the PC version.

After the WiiWare cancellation debacle, this platform was the only avenue for me to acquire Super Meat Boy. Whenever you boot up the PC version of the game, the first screen you see is a picture of an Xbox 360 controller and a disclaimer stating:
'Controller vs Keyboard - Who will win? (Spoiler Alert: Controller wins)'.

Having heard so much about it, I was aware that this is the kind of game that would probably be more suited to a control, but nevertheless, I still expected the keyboard controls to be functional. After all, I did beat every level of the original Meat Boy on Newgrounds with those controls. Sadly, in Super Meat Boy, they are totally botched. It's truly infuriating, as I can't properly appreciate what is clearly an excellent platformer. In a way, it is kind of unacceptable that a title is released on PC with keyboard controls that do not work right. Not everybody has a gamepad to hook up to their computer, Team Meat, and what's worse, I know they could do better because their Flash game controlled fine.

Rant over. I'll have to pick up a joypad in the future if I'm to get any further than World 2. On that note, if you don't have a joypad, do not buy the PC version of Super Meat Boy.

Honestly think that some developers puposely gimp the Controls they don't want people to use.  Like Jungle Beats GCN controls where much more terrible then they should have been.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Portal 2

Finished today. Upon completing the game, you are rewarded with an achievement called 'Lunacy', a fitting word to describe the end sequence.

Portal 2 is a fantastic experience from start to finish. Going in, anybody familiar with Portal knows that it can't pull the same trick twice. The novelty of understanding how the Portal gun works has vanished, so there have to be new hooks for a second go-around. And once you progress beyond the first handful of chambers, which are literally direct reprises from the first game, these hooks are introduced thick and fast. As soon as you think you've mastered one, you'll be required to utilise another, and when you think you've mastered that, the mechanics are combined, leading to even crazier puzzles. Portal 2 hits its stride with the difficulty curve much quicker than its predecessor - not that it ever feels like your brain will break. The increase in challenge comes in the form of advanced logic, not dexterity, and the game is better for it.

It would be easy to assume, based on the original Portal, that moving from chamber to chamber would be a monotonous structure over a longer game. Fortunately, the sequel is surprising in that respect, spreading clusters of test chambers between sections in which you explore the behind-the-scenes areas of the facility. The storytelling fills in the history behind what exactly happened at Aperture Science, in the way that Valve does best: by drip-feeding you details and presenting them mostly through clues in the environment. Overall, I was very happy with how the narrative played out.

As for the voice-acting, it's outstanding throughout from all the cast. The star of the show, of course, is Stephen Merchant as Wheatley, who gives what may be the best voice work I've ever heard in a video game. Before you call hyperbole on that statement, hear me out. There are plenty of notable examples of great voice-overs in this generation of high production values, like the Mass Effect series. However, while the delivery might be good, the adherence to the script is perhaps too perfect. In reality, nobody speaks that fluidly and that spontaneously. It's ironic then that, despite being a robot, Wheatley's characterisation and voice is more human than anybody else. He stutters, he hesitates, he repeats himself and his inflection changes constantly -- all traits that people in real life have when they talk, all traits that rarely come across in games. As I said in a different thread, Merchant's performance in Portal 2 demonstrates why actors should be given the freedom to ad-lib their lines more often, so that it all sounds more... real.

Phew. Single player done and dusted. I've finished 3 out of the 5 co-op chapters as well - if anyone wants to play the last two (or the earlier chapters, I don't mind), let me know.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

As nice as it is to have regular sales on Steam, I really could do without it now. Minutes after I beat Portal 2, I checked the store and noticed that Trine, a game I'd been waiting to drop in price for a while, was now really cheap. I then noticed, for £1 extra, the Frozenbyte Collection, which included Trine and the two Shadowgrounds games. A deal's a deal.

At this rate, my backlog will never be gone. I'm taking one off the list and adding three more.

[NWR_insanolord]

Super Meat Boy

There's a good game in here, I know it. I wish I could soak in its goodness more. Just one problem: I'm playing the PC version.

After the WiiWare cancellation debacle, this platform was the only avenue for me to acquire Super Meat Boy. Whenever you boot up the PC version of the game, the first screen you see is a picture of an Xbox 360 controller and a disclaimer stating:
'Controller vs Keyboard - Who will win? (Spoiler Alert: Controller wins)'.

Having heard so much about it, I was aware that this is the kind of game that would probably be more suited to a control, but nevertheless, I still expected the keyboard controls to be functional. After all, I did beat every level of the original Meat Boy on Newgrounds with those controls. Sadly, in Super Meat Boy, they are totally botched. It's truly infuriating, as I can't properly appreciate what is clearly an excellent platformer. In a way, it is kind of unacceptable that a title is released on PC with keyboard controls that do not work right. Not everybody has a gamepad to hook up to their computer, Team Meat, and what's worse, I know they could do better because their Flash game controlled fine.

Rant over. I'll have to pick up a joypad in the future if I'm to get any further than World 2. On that note, if you don't have a joypad, do not buy the PC version of Super Meat Boy.

Assuming your PC has Bluetooth, it's possible to rig it up so you can use a Wii Classic Controller with the game.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Assuming your PC has Bluetooth, it's possible to rig it up so you can use a Wii Classic Controller with the game.

Really? Please elaborate. I would kill to be able to use a Classic Controller.

[NWR_insanolord]

It takes a bit of effort to configure it, but once you've got it set up it works great. I'm more familiar with doing it on a Mac, but this article seems to give a good tutorial for all platforms.

[Dasmos]

Funny, I never paid attention to that disclaimer at the start of Super Meat Boy and I haven't had the slightest problem with controls. I guess if you don't think about it, you don't care. I've had a blast with it.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Left 4 Dead 2

Now that I've sampled both current DLC campaigns and the beta for the upcoming one, I think it's fair to cross this off my list. The download campaigns themselves (The Passing and The Sacrifice) are essentially more of the same, and the scenarios were slyly set up so that environments from the former could be re-used in the latter.

If we put sequels into categories like progressive and iterative, Left 4 Dead 2 would definitely fall under iterative. More characters, more guns, more pick-ups, more Special Infected, but fundamentally, it plays the same. The most substantial advancement is the addition of melee weapons that, while visceral and satisfying to use, don't change much in the grand scheme things. Because of this, it's difficult to recommend to people who don't like the first Left 4 Dead or those who wanted more significant improvements. That said, if a giant map pack is basically what you're looking for, L4D2 is a no-brainer, especially at the price it's now available for. At the moment, there are 7 campaigns ready to play, an eighth forthcoming, and like most Valve titles, there's an active mod culture.

For my part, provided I am fortunate enough to be grouped with players that respect the teamwork principals, I think there are few games that match Left 4 Dead 2 for intensity when the action heats up. You really do feel like a survivor. When the drum rolls kick in and the horde starts running, it's incredible. Sadly, as I alluded to before, the experience is hampered commonly by numpties who use up all the health packs, then sprint ahead trying to score the most kills.

[oohhboy]

If I may, I would like to add a couple of points to the L4D2 review. The final set of orignal L4D1 maps are being ported to L4D2 sans Crash Course with adjustments being made to take into account of the new special infected abilities as it was with No Mercy and are to be released along side the beta map Cold Stream when it goes gold.

This will make it the most complete version of L4D between the two, rendering L4D1 nearly redundant. On the surface the additions are small, the additive effect opens up the game massively in Verses. The S.I additions allow for more unpredictability and more tactical choices L4D1 never had. So while the single and coop modes can be considered iterative, with human intelligence controlling the infected, it becomes a lot more progressive.

As far as FPS Zombie sub genera goes, there is none better than the L4D series, nothing really comes close. But when it comes to literal "Hoards" of enemies in FPS's, the ground is very thin. No other can match the volume of enemies that can be thrown at you and have such variety, nor can any other require such a high level of team work as this.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Mighty Flip Champs

Since the transfer of DSiWare to the 3DS does not carry save data, I've been replaying all of my downloads. It's been really eye-opening. At one point in time, I might have considered Mighty Flip Champs the best game on the service (high praise...), but I reckon, when playing it on DSi, I must have put it down right before the more frustrating puzzles that used an absurd number of layouts. For those who don't know, the premise of this title is that different level layouts are displayed on the top and bottom screen, impossible to move through on their own, but by pressing a button, you switch the layout where your character is. For the first couple of worlds, it eases you in, training you for the kind of mental processes required to understand and complete these levels.

Once you arrive at world 3, though, there are more than two layouts to work with, but at any given time, you can only see two of them: the one you're currently moving on and the one you'll be flipped to on the next button press. For this reason, with the exception of a few levels that change it up by flipping the layouts on a timer, most of the later puzzles didn't click with me at all. I felt like I was fumbling through them, guessing what to do because, in relation to where my character would be on the layouts not on screen, it is unclear what is going on.

In essence, what started as a neat little idea perfectly suited to its system became too far versed in trial and error. Not as fond of it in the end as my first impression was.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Donkey Kong '94

Status update: Stuck in a level of world 3, unsure how to reach the key. Convinced I need to read the electronic manual that comes with Virtual Console games. I think I'm having an issue of transparency with some of Mario's interactions with the levels.

Apart from that, it's been a pleasant surprise so far. There are more puzzle dynamics than I was expecting, the most clever being at the end of world 2, where you had to redirect shelled enemies using levers, then jump on these enemies and ride them to the key. Plus, the Donkey Kong boss stages seem to be developing nicely - not repeating, as many games of the era would have.

I find it kind of funny how, from Super Mario World onwards, all Mario games made it easy to rack up lives, yet also allow you to save at any time, making lives less important. DK '94 is like that; it's not difficult to activate the bonus game after each level and you're pretty much guaranteed 1 to 5-Ups every time. Not saying this is bad, just amusing for some reason.

[apdude]

I had about 45 lives going into the final world and ended up using almost all of them going into the final battle.  It ramps up in difficulty near the end.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Toki Tori

Status update: Just reached the final world of the main game, Bubble Barrage. Technically, there's another world after that, but it was added well after the fact, so I consider it a bonus.

The titular Toki Tori is an adorable little chicken. Make no mistake, though: the levels in his game get difficult. Basically, Toki Tori is a 2D puzzle game in which your incapable character must use limited numbers of items to navigate levels and collect all the eggs scattered across them. It has an appropriately slow, methodical pace and includes several helpful features, such as a way to pan the camera through the whole stage so that actions can be planned ahead, and a comprehensive rewind function that can take you back to pretty much any point in your progress. Despite these measures, I am still sometimes flummoxed by even the Normal levels and have to ponder for quite a while before the solution comes. To be clear, they are called Normal - once you complete the dozen or so stages that populate a world, it unlocks a new set of Hard levels for said world. These don't mess around.

If you can accept more contemplative puzzlers that move a bit slower than average, Toki Tori is well worth picking up. I checked Steam and it's a measly 87p in the sale. Presumably, that means it would be a little over $1 on the American store.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Mario vs Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem

Status update: Onto the 6th world. Magnetic walls are fun.

On the surface, it's easy to dismiss this as a simple retread of March of the Minis and Minis March Again. The goal is the same as always: move components to direct your wind-up Mario toys to the exit. With that forethought out there, I've really enjoyed this. Every level is expertly put together, new elements roll out frequently, and the remixes of Mario Bros and Donkey Kong Country music leave an aura of joy over the game. It doesn't hurt that the Minis also happen to remind me of Pikmin, mainly in the voices.

[Ceric]

Mario vs Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem

Status update: Onto the 6th world. Magnetic walls are fun.

On the surface, it's easy to dismiss this as a simple retread of March of the Minis and Minis March Again. The goal is the same as always: move components to direct your wind-up Mario toys to the exit. With that forethought out there, I've really enjoyed this. Every level is expertly put together, new elements roll out frequently, and the remixes of Mario Bros and Donkey Kong Country music leave an aura of joy over the game. It doesn't hurt that the Minis also happen to remind me of Pikmin, mainly in the voices.

Maybe their like Robotnik robots and their is really a Pikmin powering them from the inside.

[NWR_insanolord]

That's a great premise for some Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis fanfiction.

[Ceric]

That's a great premise for some Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis fanfiction.

Podcast Radio Drama lol...

Mini: Meep
Luigi:  Why have you encased these loving Plant Creatures into metal Facsimiles of my Dear Brother?
*pause*
Luigi: Was it because of his pact to no longer play your games Ape?
Mini:  Meep Meep

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Trine

As this thread has probably made abundantly clear, my genre of choice is the puzzle platformer, so I've no excuse as to why I didn't get this earlier. Trine is a fantasy-themed title in which you alternate between a wizard, a thief and a knight who all share the same body. Cool concept, brilliantly executed. The levels find good uses for every character's unique abilities, and in a lot of cases, there is more than one way to approach a puzzle or a combat encounter. For instance, if you come across a troop of skeletons, you could methodically slash & block as the knight, try to pick them off from a distance with the thief's bow, or use the wizard to summon objects and crush the enemies with them.

It controls intuitively for the most part - using the mouse to draw boxes with the wizard is especially fun - but it is occasionally finicky with the more precise platforming. Fortunately, it's usually not too demanding.

As if all that wasn't enough, I've also been endeared to the presentation. The style of storytelling, the art design and the soundtrack are all strongly reminiscent of the film interpretations of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, which are great qualities for fans of those films like me.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Spore

On account of the fact that I couldn't really remember much of what I did when I played it initially, I decided to start again (my new race was a crazy bird creature with all the primary colours coated on it) - it turns out that, with the possible exception of the last one, the five phases don't take very long to plough through. Technically, I'm not completely done, but I've exerted enough dominance over the galaxy to feel like it's done.

Firstly, the elephant in the room, the Creature Creator. It's clearly one of the most impressive character creation tools ever to grace videogames and perhaps always will be, but to be frank, I found it intimidating. Just the pages and pages of creature parts were a bit daunting, and then you see that you can meticulously scale segments of limbs, rotate features every which way, adjust the torso down to each individual vertebra... aaah. Based upon the number of YouTube videos out there of stuff made in Spore, there are many people who obviously enjoy just messing about in the creator. For me, there's too much to get a handle on, plus there's the creative bankruptcy getting in the way. Moreover, at the end of the day, what your creature looks like does not make that much of an affect; certain pieces carry attribute boosters, yet I didn't really pay attention to this and did just fine.

As for the phases of gameplay, the quality oscillates. The Cell phase, whilst occasionally strategic in how you deal with bigger organisms and featuring a neat depth-of-field effect, is essentially glorified Fishy, which is one of the simplest Flash games out there. The Creature phase starts to introduce more of the Sims-style mechanics and is more involved, although I found the controls to be somewhat awkward at times.

Reviews generally agreed that the two real-time strategy phases were very stripped down, and yeah, even as someone who's a relative RTS novice, I can tell that the Tribal phase is really basic. On the other hand, the Civilisation phase is a considerable upgrade on Tribal -- nowhere close to its namesake, the Civilisation series, but closer to the level of complexity I would want from this genre. However, this phase does require a lot more use of the creator to make your buildings, tanks, planes and boats. Again, for some people that might be great news. If you aren't adept at using the toolset and have no imagination, like me, it is not great to have so much to construct in this phase.

Finally, the Space phase is by far the longest of the phases, though not always for the best of reasons. It's fun to terraform planets on a whim and I enjoyed the subtle references to The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. However, it hits upon an issue that is pervasive throughout every phase: Spore is a very easygoing game. In the slower-paced Space phase, this can make proceedings wear thin after a while.

Whether or not somebody would like Spore is dependent on what they expect to get out of the Creature Creator. It's incredibly robust and comprehensive, perhaps to a fault. The actual game is always straightforward, but some phases are better than others.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Half-Life 2

Status update: Not sure where I am. Chapter 4 or 5, probably, somewhere early on.

I think I definitely need to give this game some more time. Given the esteem that this game has, as well as the pedigree of Valve, one of the few Western game developers really pushing the envelope right now, I expected this game to grow on me sooner, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe the conventions of first-person shooters in the last five years have made it hard to update - unlike almost all other FPS titles, Half-Life 2 is very, very undirected, despite being quite linear. There's never much indication of where to go, and there's a surprising amount of finding small holes or shafts to fit through in order to proceed. Furthermore, scripted events are near enough non-existent, as the gun play is not especially flashy, combat encounters do not last long anyway and as a whole, it is paced quite slowly. Perhaps modern games have spoilt me with how obvious the way to go is; either way, this has been hard to get into so far because of how aimless the progression feels.

On the flip side, the story and setting of the game has me intrigued. In the typical Valve fashion, there's a lingering sense that bad things have happened/are happening, but you absolutely have to pay close attention to the little details of the world if you want to be clued in. At the moment, I'm getting a strong 1984 vibe, which is no throwaway comparison. Graphically, Half-Life 2 still holds up pretty well, although the Source engine has come a long way since its release, so the likes of Portal and Left 4 Dead have exceeded it in that regard.

[Ceric]

Half-Life 2

Status update: Not sure where I am. Chapter 4 or 5, probably, somewhere early on.

I think I definitely need to give this game some more time. Given the esteem that this game has, as well as the pedigree of Valve, one of the few Western game developers really pushing the envelope right now, I expected this game to grow on me sooner, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe the conventions of first-person shooters in the last five years have made it hard to update - unlike almost all other FPS titles, Half-Life 2 is very, very undirected, despite being quite linear. There's never much indication of where to go, and there's a surprising amount of finding small holes or shafts to fit through in order to proceed. Furthermore, scripted events are near enough non-existent, as the gun play is not especially flashy, combat encounters do not last long anyway and as a whole, it is paced quite slowly. Perhaps modern games have spoilt me with how obvious the way to go is; either way, this has been hard to get into so far because of how aimless the progression feels.

On the flip side, the story and setting of the game has me intrigued. In the typical Valve fashion, there's a lingering sense that bad things have happened/are happening, but you absolutely have to pay close attention to the little details of the world if you want to be clued in. At the moment, I'm getting a strong 1984 vibe, which is no throwaway comparison. Graphically, Half-Life 2 still holds up pretty well, although the Source engine has come a long way since its release, so the likes of Portal and Left 4 Dead have exceeded it in that regard.

Have you controlled the Antelions yet?  That's the Highlight of the game pretty much.  If you don't like it by then you probably aren't going to like it.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Have you controlled the Antelions yet?  That's the Highlight of the game pretty much.  If you don't like it by then you probably aren't going to like it.

No, I don't believe I have. I think I'm still early on, trying to exit the sewers at the point where I am at. I haven't seen any different kinds of enemies besides the Combine officers and their annoying security robots.

[Ceric]

Have you controlled the Antelions yet?  That's the Highlight of the game pretty much.  If you don't like it by then you probably aren't going to like it.

No, I don't believe I have. I think I'm still early on, trying to exit the sewers at the point where I am at. I haven't seen any different kinds of enemies besides the Combine officers and their annoying security robots.

Have you used any vehicles?  If no then yeah your early on.  You'll get sick of the vehicles more than likely.