Ending the year not with a bang, but a whimper (of old games)
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| Picture courtesy of wikipedia |
ANIMAL CROSSING: WILD WORLD (DS)
This is still the only Animal Crossing game I've ever played. I must say, even though these are like the dumbest games in existence, they are damn fun anyway. This one specifically I played with my sister, back in that brief time when we both had DS's. We would constantly go into each other's towns and do all sorts of magical stuff (and whimsical stuff. Lots of whimsy in this game). I really enjoyed the bug collecting side game. It was addictive. Truly, the whole experience is addictive. You can't really beat it (as far as I know), but you can collect bugs, collect fish, find fossils, decorate your house, mail letters, plant trees/flowers, gather fruit... Yikes, what a fucking stupid game. Anyway, I like it because I have great memories of playing it with my sister. And liking Animal Crossing doesn't make me any less of a man. In fact, it makes me more manly. Yeah.
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| Picture courtesy of gamefaqs |
The SIMPSONS: BART'S NIGHTMARE (SNES)
I've been on the biggest Simpsons kick lately. I've been (slowly) reviewing season 26, and I recently just put up a pretty good (in my humble opinion, at any rate) post about "vs." episodes. This is a game that I've had since I was a kid. Again, another one my sister and I played a decent amount of. Too bad I could never beat this game. Not even close. I still own it, and I plan on beating it one of these days. I can usually beat the Bartman dream and the Isotope dream (where Bart is swimming in something, destroying little germs, or whatever the hell they are). But, the Indiana Jones one? The Bartzilla one? The Itchy and Scratchy one? Hell no. Can't beat them. Couldn't beat them. I always think about this game, not with fondness, but with disdain. This game can actually go fuck itself pretty hard.
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| Picture courtesy of skipfilm |
TIMESPLITTERS 2 (PS2)
The theme so far seems to be games I used to play with my sister. Although I will say I also used to play this with friends (and indeed, we still play Future Perfect from time to time). What can I say about this game? This is one instance where a sequel takes everything good about the original and makes it 100 time better. And it takes everything that didn't work, and it throws it out the window. It has an actual story mode, it has better (and more varied) arcade options, it has more characters, more guns, more everything! All you anecdote hounds, hunker down 'cause here's a good one: a favorite arcade scenario my friend David and I (and my sister as well, actually) used to play was the following: an elimination-style match, with 100 lives, in the hospital level. The catch: one shot kills. The hospital is a great level for this, because it's fairly small, cramped, and has some nice corridors. You're constantly paranoid about where you're stepping. Of course, with this being Timesplitters, you can't very well go slowly. Proximity mines, timed mines, remote mines. Boy, the times we had with this set-up where amazing. If anyone wants a fun, furious, anxiety-inducing time, try this!
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| Picture courtesy of wikipedia |
TALES OF DESTINY (PS1)
I haven't really touched upon RPGs in my "Shane Remembers..." series, mainly because I haven't played as many as I would have liked. A lot of it would be Playstation-era Final Fantasy. People have read about those to death. At any rate, this is yet another game my dad bought on a whim. He ended up disliking it, and I played it and enjoyed it greatly. I was probably still in high school when I played this (and I own it to! Probably my most expensive game I own, even without the manual. Which MUST be at my parents' house somewhere), so I don't remember much. I do remember that you had a talking sword, and the battles took place in real time. I enjoyed this at the time. Recently, I've tried playing Star Ocean: First Departure on the PSP, and I am having trouble really getting into it. Regardless, this game was great. Don't remember a lick of the story. Another thing I DO remember was that you could find a special ring that allowed a second player to play with you. This limited the second person to combat only, but this was mind blowing for me. An RPG...that TWO PLAYERS COULD PLAY? With that said, I only really tried it like once. It didn't end up being as amazing as I was hoping. One day I'd like to play through this game again, and see how I still like it.
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| Picture courtesy of wikipedia |
BREATH OF FIRE III (PS1)
Hey, here's another RPG! Another one that isn't always talked about, but I think it's great. This was the first Breath of Fire game I beat. It had some good characters, great graphics, it was pretty long, and it had a great dragon-fusing mechanic. You could find different dragon genes throughout the world, and these can be combined in like hundreds of different ways to make different and interesting dragons. What I remember most is that there is a LOT OF FIGHTING IN THIS GAME. It's like every three steps and you're in another random encounter. It gets very old, especially by the end of the game. Take out the ABSURD amount of random battles, and this game is a classic. Still, it's great and I suggest it.
This is going to be the last "Shane Remembers..." in 2014. Starting in 2015, I might tweak this Friday post formula. Stay tuned readers!
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