Beaten:
1/17 - Mortal Kombat X (Xbone)
1/31 - Blast Corps (Xbone [N64])
3/6 - Pokémon Edición Azul (3DS [VC])
3/23 - Shovel Knight (Wii U)
4/18 - LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (360)
4/23 - Star Fox Zero (Wii U)
5/18 - Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)
6/25 - Kirby: Planet Robobot (3DS)
7/5 - Halo 3: ODST (Xbone [360])
7/19 - DOOM (XBLA [MS-DOS])
7/25 - LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Xbone)
7/30 - Gunstar Heroes (XBLA [Genesis])
8/6 - The Wolf Among Us (Xbone)
8/28 - Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge (GBA)
9/17 - Grand Theft Auto V (Xbone)
10/4 - Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings (Xbone)
10/8 - Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (Xbone)
10/22 - Bayonetta (360)
Big wave! Work has been kind of hellish, so I've been squeezing in my hours of escapism where I can. I'll cover each of these games, all of which I enjoyed a great deal.
Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings was one of this month's Xbox Live Games with Gold, and it definitely delivers on fun. I'd never heard of it, but apparently it came out a couple years ago to reasonable but quiet acclaim. It's a lightweight arcade-style baseball sim (no MLB license), and I think I like it about as much as any I've ever played (although I really ought to give Baseball Stars 2 another shot one of these days). I played through a season and won the championship, so I consider that beaten. I enjoyed the fact that the game counts quitting/exiting a game as a loss. When I used to play the old NCAA football games, I'd always quit out and start over when a loss was looking certain (of course, in my defense, a single regular season loss in NCAAFB can mean you've lost your shot at the national championship, which is the primary draw of playing season mode in the first place). In any case, the lack of that luxury forced me to dig deep to earn some late-inning rallies and elimination game wins. Rewarding stuff. I look forward to the gameplay-style contrast when I finally try
The Show on my new PS4 Pro next month.
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record was a missing gap in the Dead Rising series for me. In advance of this holiday's DR4 release, Capcom was kind enough to rerelease it and the other last-gen entries on Xbox One, with improved frame-rate to boot. I considered purchasing and replaying the first one (which I love and still own on 360) for the nostalgia and extra achievement set, but I figured it made more sense to play the one I'd missed before. OTR follows Capcom's bizarre adoration of Frank West into a "what if" scenario of the 2nd game, wherein he replaces the protagonist. It features enough plot tweaks to be interesting, but mainly, I just love the main game loop of saving survivors, defeating psychopaths, and fending off the hordes with improvised weaponry. Really clicks with me. The piss poor representation of women in this game didn't sit too well with my social sensitivities, which have certainly heightened since the series's debut in 2006 (when I was 13). Didn't keep me from enjoying the game, but it stuck out to me in the same way any other lazy or poorly executed element of a game might. Fortunately, this wasn't nearly so much of a problem in DR3, so I expect it won't be in 4 either, which I anxiously await. One thing's for damn sure: I need a recap of the silly-ass series plot.
Bayonetta is a game I started 3 years ago but didn't finish for whatever reason. When I saw the game was added to the list of Xbox One backwards compatible titles a little while ago, it served as a much needed reminder to give the game the second try I knew it deserved. Don't know what was missing last time, but it completely clicked this time. I can say with confidence that I've never played a better action game, and I've played a short list of better games period. The controls are tight, the Witch Time mechanism feels great, and the story is ludicrous. All that aside, the game is as stylish as any I've ever played. I loved Bayonetta as a character. She's as cool as they come. I could go on. The controls! Perfect! Not a hitch. I always felt in perfect control of Bayonetta and my combos, and I always felt like I was getting better. Really, I could rave more about this game, but I'll stop here. Didn't know how much I'd end up appreciating it at the time of its release, but now I couldn't be more excited to grab Bayonetta 2 and give the Wii U one last hurrah.
Completed:
8/28 - Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge (GBA)
Rebeaten:
3/28 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS3 [PS2]) (2x)
2012 Beaten: 24 Completed: 0
2013 Beaten: 41 Completed: 4
2014 Beaten: 34 Completed: 5
2015 Beaten: 22 Completed: 1
2016 Beaten: 18 Completed: 1