#713 Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (Xbox One) – Summer 2018
High-res remake of the original that looks great. This was a big killer app for the XBox One S when it was making a big comeback suddenly. I got the system for free due to running a store, and it seemed like it was really outselling the PS4 for a bit there. Everybody was popping in to either get this game or an XB1. I think this might have also been a pack-in with the system, not sure. I didn't have time to actually play it until after the game store era was over, but it was high on the list for summer games to plow now that I had more free time.
Today on the list: The XBOX ONE ERA.
The XBox One S was the shot in the arm that Microsoft needed. Not sure if it was the "it plays 4K blu-rays" aspect or just how sleek and sexy the system looked. It really did have the nicest controller on the market up to that point, too (later surpassed by Dualsense). I got an Xbox Elite controller as well, which was even better than the awesome normal XB1 controller. The Elite controller has the most intense vibration I've ever seen on a controller, and sounded like a small chainsaw ripping every time I blasted foes in the game. This was a raw, visceral experience. Not really my kind of game but it was different and I liked it.
#714 Link's Crossbow Training (Wii) – Summer 2018
A bit of a tech demo where you point the Wiimote to fire a crossbow over a bunch of on-rails levels straight out of Twilight Princess. I really enjoyed this. I played it with the plastic crossbow-shaped Wiimote holding peripheral, so it actually kinda felt like I was firing a crossbow. It was a great time. Wish it lasted longer than like, an hour or so. I sold this game and the plastic crossbow to a GameStop manager for like 50 bucks, after getting them basically for free at a thrift store. Guy was super stoked for the game and I can kinda understand why. It's over so quick though.
Toughest Part: There was one level that was waaaay harder than the rest to get a gold medal on, and it held up me finishing the game. Which at least gave it a bit of longevity. I think it was the second to last level, and had twin Stalfos or something like that.
#715 Killer Instinct Gold (N64) – Summer 2018
A port of Killer Instinct 2 that was probably an N64 high point for fighting games. I played it on the Xbox. I remember being interested in this back in the late 90's when it was in Nintendo Power.
Favorite Character: That barbarian guy with the giant two-handed sword. Was fun as hell swinging that sword all over the place.
#716 Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) – Summer 2018
Surprised this series never got any remakes past the first game. Could have used it; going back to XBox 360 era graphics to continue the series was rough, but I wanted to see it through. These games are each like five hours long.
#717 Gears of War 3 (Xbox 360) – Summer 2018
Don't recall much about this one. It continues to be a raw, visceral, ultraviolent experience, where most of the characters are as wide as they are tall for some reason. It's that WoW aesthetic (or maybe Warhammer before that)
#718 Gears of War: Judgment (Xbox 360) – Summer 2018
A bit of a "3.5" spinoff that few players seem to actually like. Was told to skip it but I played it anyway because these things are short. The guy who told me to skip it was a very opinionionated giant dwarf who likely had a huge collection of POP figures at home. The game was fine.
#719 Shadow Complex Remastered (Playstation 4) – Summer 2018
Solid Metroidvania here that I enjoyed enough to consider going for the platinum. I didn't, but I did a thorough playthrough. Metroidvanias tend to usually be interesting and this one was no exception. It also has a very cool look about it, from the enemy designs to the base that the game takes place in - which has more variety of biomes than one would think.
#720 Gears of War 4 (Xbox One) – Summer 2018
Back to having good visuals for this one since it was native to the system. I can't remember the story of this series at all. It's a series that popularized the over-the-shoulder cover shooter genre, which is fun in small doses but not really my favorite.
#721 Halo Wars Remastered (Xbox One) – Summer 2018
The first RTS I ever played, and the moment I realized how much I actually like RTS games. I've been missing out all this time on an entire genre.
#722 Halo Wars 2 (Xbox One) – Summer 2018
A prettier, much more red followup to the previous game, this one was unfortunately over too quick. I need to play another RTS.
#723 Destiny 2 (Playstation 4) – Summer 2018
Found this to be a much more smoothed-out and enjoyable experience than the first game. The enemy robots didn't have names like "The Orc King" much anymore so that's good.
Class of Choice: Hunter, no question. I loved the knife attack. ...or was that more of a thing in the first game? Can't remember. Hilarious that "Warlock" is a class here.
#724 Super Nova (Super NES) – Summer 2018
A forgotten SNES shooter that is forgotten for a reason. It's just kinda there and doesn't have the polish of something like Gradius 3 or Super R-Type.
#725 Pocky and Rocky with Becky (Game Boy Advance) – Summer 2018
Basically a port of the original game in this underrated series, adding a new character to the existing two. I think Becky is basically just...another Pocky, with blue hair?
Well, it's more of the same ultra-difficult overhead-view enemy-blasting gameplay.
#726 Dragon Quest (Android) – Summer 2018
A crisp, HD-looking port of that first NES game. This is great, very faithful to the original. I played through it in one single evening while working (at a job that required little to no attention, prompting me to download this and give it a whirl, which started a whole new era of covering the DQ series).
Started a new night shift job that afforded me a large amount of dead space / free time while working (that I got paid for). Only problem was, I needed something to keep me from going crazy. Thus began the current era of me playing through the Dragon Quest series from scratch, starting with the phone version which seemed like something fun to play on my grave shift. It took me about four hours to clear the whole game and I did it during one work shift. From here I went through most of the rest of the series over the past better-part-of-a-decade.
Favorite Part: Starting out, just having a new run to play and starting it from scratch. Realizing the game was quite different from previous versions. Thus, well worth the grave shift I'd spend playing it.
Post HERE.
#727 Dragon Quest 2 (Android) – Summer 2018
This one took another work shift, maybe two. Not a particularly big game. This was a nice port with some modern QOL and classic "late Super Famicom" visuals. Moonbrooke is still overpowered and Cannock is still terrible lol. I've played pretty much every version of this + the previous game that there is, at this point. Well, I never played the first set of Switch remakes for them, but those are basically identical to the phone versions (only with a horizontal screen instead of vertical) so it's pretty much the same experience. Probably wouldn't play this now since the HD2D remake obsoletes every other version of this game by a mile.
Favorite Part: As always, the snow-lands grind at the end of the story. Was a great thing to settle down with while working.
Post HERE.
Back to the original XBox for this one. It's an appealing game because it has the 2000 WWF roster (some would say their best roster of all time, though it was really because the shows were so well-written at the time that everyone felt like a big deal). It's also a game that manages to perfectly capture the look of smoke-filled arenas and strobing flashbulbs that was so ubiquitous with WWF shows at the time. Seriously, this game has more (and more intense) flashbulbs than any wrestling game I've ever played, to the point that the game should probably come with a seizure warning. I'm super into that though, and flash photography needs to make a comeback in wrestling in 2026.
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