30 Days of Video Games - BONUS: Why Do You Play Games Pg. 142

[Sean]

The piece of shit overworld from Shantae GBC.

This fucking overworld gave me no end of trouble from beginning to end. It's insanely, utterly unfairly difficult. Enemies bombard you non-stop and they do it hard, and unlike in dungeons they don't stay dead; rather, they respawn at entirely random intervals, and whenever you exit and re-enter a screen. Nagas, scorpions, goo monsters, and various other spawn of hell are out to get you like you killed their mothers or something. Let's not forget the insane amount of bottomless pits, which seem to be missing for the most part from the actual dungeons themselves. Falling in one causes you to lose one of your precious hard to collect lives, and you're sent straight to the beginning of the screen. Oh, and hitting a game over sends you back to your last save point, which are extremely spaced apart.

Why would the developers do this to me? Who in their right fucking mind thought that making the overworld the hardest thing in the entire game was actually a good idea? Who thought that this would be considered in any way fair? Good god, this game is a cult classic, and yet this one thing which shouldn't even be a problem in any game in the first place is almost enough to make me want to disown it, if it weren't for the fact that everything else about Shantae is a technical marvel and one of the most impressively designed games of its time. But fuck, it's this one part that sours the experience and fills me with disgust and frustration.

Making the overworld harder than any of the dungeons - nay, harder than the fucking final boss is just bad game design. No force on this planet is going to make me believe otherwise.

[Red]

Day 7: Least Favourite level

 

Hmmm...Gonna have to go with Tornado Defense Act 2:

 

 

Seriously fuck this level. Atleast the first one was tolerate and somewhat fun and enjoyable...this one takes all the fun out of it! All I want to do is finally experience Eggmanland for myself and get to the final boss...but this level continues to block me from experiencing such things. I still haven't beaten it yet.

[Kamicciolo]

Day 7 - Least Favourite "That damn Ninjashark probably has a time-share there" Level

 

My pick for this day would be Electroplankton from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

 

 

It's just a very unfun stage to play on. There's no good song choices on it for starters (is there even music for this stage???), the stage's gimmick of various uneven platforms that move up and down as they take hits (sometimes blocking hits too) it aggravating more often than not. My dislike of it does come down to me preferring the more 'competitive' playstyle for Smash Bros., so a more unorthadox stage like this is obviously unsuited for me really :V.

 

Though one thing that does get on my tits. They make a point of introducing and highlighting the swimming ability in Brawl (which was a neat little thing I liked), then this stage comes along, with water I might add, and you can't even swim in it? you instead fall down and usually have no way to recover (which was another gripe actually, it's a pretty pit-heavy stage so even in occasions where items are on.... most of them end up falling away before they can be used...)

[DemonShad716]

Day 7: Least Favorite Level

 

I got another 2fer for this one, huehuehue.

 

First up...ugh...Eggman Land on Sonic Unleashed... my most unfavorable level ever. No matter how hard I try, I cannot S rank this level. Pretty much the entire level is endurance-based and you switch between the Werehog and normal Sonic throughout the level. The high parkour parts as the werehog are what gets me and it's where most of my lives have gone. The highest I have gotten as a rank was a C, mainly due to the amount of lives lost falling to my imminent death and time spent, seeing as this level is incredibly long. The high speed parts as Sonic are not bad, its the Werehog parts.

 

Meanwhile on the Gamecube/OXB...

 

I don't know why, but every time I play Lost Impact on Shadow the Hedgehog, I end up going around in circles trying to find each of the objectives. I literally have spent at least half an hour just running around trying to either kill the Chaos blobs, heal the Researchers or get to the Goal Ring. I always end up getting confused at where I was or went and then find out I've been circling the same corridor over and over. This level is maddening for me, why not put up a mini map on the pause menu or something so I know where I am? Gah...

[w00tkins]

TF2 - arena_watchtower

 

 

A controversial map amongst the people on my regular server. Basically, Watchtower is highly imbalanced in the Sniper's favour. It's hard to dodge headshots when there's barely anything to hide behind. If you want to reach the central cabin (which still leaves you vulnerable), you're required to traverse those precariously thin pipes. The pipes, being so thin, don't allow much freedom of movement which only makes you more predictable to snipers. Either that or you'll drop off and take fall damage.

 

It's also harsh against engineers, with a measly two small ammo boxes on the entire map. 

 

It can be somewhat fun with the right people, but it's more likely to be a frustrating experience.

 

 

[Exploder]

Day 7: Least Favorite Level

 

The Proving Grounds, the penultimate level in Bioshock, where you had to escort a Little Sister with you to gather ADAM from corpses, while dressed up as a Big Daddy.

 

 

It's been a long time, but as far as I can remember Bioshock is generally a pretty fun game, until they saddle you with an escort level. You have to protect a young, innocent girl, a Little Sister, as she goes around gathering, um, power-up juice from corpses lying around while dressed up as one of her protectors, a Big Daddy, in a situation similar to what you see throughout the game.

 

Interesting concept, but, well, she walks real slowly and gathers her stuff from the corpses real slowly too, all while you have to deal with an overbearing number of enemies, including crazies that turn invisible and shoot fireballs. Granted, you don't fail when a Little Sister dies as you can simply summon a new one, but...come on. Why would you want to let a little girl like that die and treat them like they're infinitely respawning clones? That's not right, man. This level itself isn't actually too bad, it's what you have to do in it that just kinda drags it down. Or maybe I just didn't play it properly, but eh.

 

Just be glad that Elizabeth in in Bioshock Infinite isn't like this!

[Carbo]

Day 7: Least Favorite Level

First you gotta go all the way over there.

Then you gotta go all the way over there.

Then you go back all the way over there.

And then you go all the way over there.

If DK64 had a collectathon problem then Grunty Industries from Banjo-Tooie is that entire game turned into one level - a huge clusterfuck of back-and-forths that don't gel well in the slightest. DK64 had a similar level to this when it came out years before, Frantic Factory, and it did the industrial area level so much better. Replaying Grunty Industries now on the other hand, I can't stomach the amount of shit you have to go through just to get every single thing or even grasp a basic understanding of this level. There are four floors to this abominable level and you can't even access some of them until you locate batteries which are spread out across multiple areas that are hard to get to. Water Temple can eat it's heart out.

On top of that, while I enjoy the concept of interconnecting levels in Banjo-Tooie, the amount of levels that connect to this particular one that you have to go between to reach the more intricate areas is a complete tedium. You can't even access this level proper until you flip the train switch outside around the factory exteriors, go all the way to another level where the train is in and then ride the train into the factory. It's not enough that you just open up the level gate with the jiggies, you have to go out of your way to do redundant shit just to get inside the actual "level" part of the level.

If it's cumbersome to just access the level then you know you're in for something completely stupid.

[Dejimon11]

Least favorite level

The Doom(shadow the hedgehog)

This to me is the worst level in the entire game. Worst than made matrix, worst than central city(its all about memorizing) and even worst than lost impact. With lost impact you can atleast tell that your making progress with those long corridors where you have to shoot things with the doom everything looks as if its exactly the same. And is a prime example that this game needed a radar to tell where you are. This is the only level in the game that I haven't beaten thankfully its an optional level and I don't need to beat it to unlock the last story. I tried going back to it in 2012 and its worse than I remembered(than again so is the entire game) but my goodness screw this level. Oh and the music is boring

[Tornado]

You're playing the original Spyro game, and you're saying "Hey. This is a pretty good game. Great controls, interesting level ideas, cool enemies. Not even an obnoxious collecta-thon like the Rare games. I wish it was prettier, but at least the music is awesome." But you realize that you're missing a level when you check the completion checklist before beating the first boss. So once you find it, you're thinking "Hey, this must be awesome to be so obnoxiously hidden like this!"

 

 

Nope. Superman 64. Even better, it's only the first flight level; and it's one of the hardest ones anyway.

[Sami]

Day 8 - Favorite Ability

Jumping - Journey

So. This is a bit of an odd choice, I know. Jumping? Anyone can jump. It's not really a big deal. But it is a big deal with this game.

For starters, it's fucking fun to jump around in Journey. The longer you hold the button, the longer you'll soar and glide in the air. As you collect more artifacts, your scarf will extend further and further. The longer it is, the more time you'll be able to spend in the air. Feels good, man. And I'm not the only one I know who had a great time just jumping around. My niece had a blast too.

Beyond that, this mechanic is also brilliantly seamlessly integrated into the narrative, but I won't delve into that for the sake of spoilers.

It's a really wonderful game mechanic, and it feels great.

[Indigo Rush]

Day 08: Favorite Ability

 

 

Sucking.

 

Let's get real for a second. 

 

*the following instance of self-shaming is dramatized for the subsequent joke; gurl i already kno im bootiful*

 

In general, I suck as a person. I have no car, no girlfriend, a low self esteem and I'm rather overweight.

 

But Kirby? When he sucks, people love him! He binges every day, is lazy and sleeps whenever King Dedede isn't doing much, and has one of the least healthiest looking bodies while having a baby face. Dude, this guy sucks, but he pulls it off so well that nobody can bring him down!

 

And when he sucks, he copies the abilities of the being he just swallowed! Woah! So if I swallowed the entire body of a mathematics professor, I'd gain all of his knowledge of arithmetic? Dude, I'd love to suck in that way!

 

So yeah - sucking. Being able to eat infinitely without any digestive consequence, as well as copying any arbitrary ability of my food.

[Willsy]

Day 8: Favourite Ability

Dammit Dis, you're killing me with this 'no Sonic' thing.

Right...so...aside from Sonic's Spindash/Boost/Duracell Batteries? The Lucky Bell from Super Mario 3D World. Now I know that this might qualify as a power up, but I think technically it qualifies as an ability too. The catsuit is really fun to use, you can climb up high walls, jump off them, and dive. Also, when running on all fours, and then quickly jumping and diving and jumping and diving over and over again, it really gets you a lot of speed which is perfect for speed runs. It's also saved me from dying many times, so it's beyond useful.

High jumps from games like InFamous and Saints Row IV also look really fun, but I haven't played either of them yet.

[Gabz Girl]

Day 8! Favourite ability!

 

 

Okay, Light Jak in Jak 3 is pretty awesome yo. First of all, he looks badass (even with those pretty wings). Second, he can heal himself at any time as long as he has enough Light power. And third, he can fly across gaps and that comes in handy especially later on in the game. Light Jak has got some other cool abilities like slowing down time and creating a shield to protect himself with, so all in all he's a great ability in the game and I think he's a lot better than Dark Jak.

 

Shame this ability/form only appears in Jak 3 though.

[Brad]

I think I have two for this one!

 

 

I've been playing Dream Drop Distance recently, and the new ability introduced for exploration and combat known as Flowmotion is a hell of a lot of fun to use. Virtually getting rid of all the platforming and movement issues in the worlds of Kingdom Hearts, Flowmotion allows you to fly off walls, leap high into the air, spin around poles... but then you get to the Flowmotion Combat. Heavyweight slams, spinning drills, large circular slashes and more lead it to be exciting and probably the best gameplay addition to Kingdom Hearts in a while, especially alongside the Command Deck. 

 

 

Super Mario Galaxy's spin proved to be a super cool, yet subtle addition to the 3D Mario mechanic which I loved. It gives you that little extra control in your jumps and a little bit of a boost as well. Once you utilise all of Mario's movesets in the game properly including this one, you can access all kinds of shortcuts and other stuff which is just a blast. Who knew something so small could go so far?

[Celestia]

Day 8: Favourite Ability

 

Hmmm, this is an interesting question. There's plenty of special abilities in video games. If I had to pick one, it would have to be...

 

 

KIRBY'S COPY ABILITY!

 

Now Kirby, he's arguably the strongest character in video games. I mean, think about it, what can't he do? Anything he can't do on his own, bam, just copy it by sucking someone up and stealing that ability! The only real limit to this is that he can only have one ability at the time, not counting when he could mix them together (which needs to be a thing again btw).

 

It helps that a lot of the actual abilities are badass: Fighter, Wheel, Laser, Smash, Spark, and of course good ol'. U.F.O.

 

(I specifically used a picture of the Copy Palette from Squeak Squad because it's strangely interesting to me. It seems to be what the inside of Kirby's stomach is like......and apparently, it's like SPACE. Don't try and tell me that isn't cool.)

 

Honourable mentions:

 

- Parkour/free running in general, quite a few games have it these days and it's really cool.

- Sonic and co have a lot of cool abilities.

- Hammerspace.

- Running in Mother 3. Seriously it makes Earthbound sooo hard to go back to. It also introduces a mechanic that replaces one in Earthbound. In EB, once you beat the boss in an area, enemies would run away from you because you're considered really strong. In M3 when you're considered strong, you can run into enemies, send them flying straight up only to crash back down, and stun them for a little while. It's kind of hilarious.

[Cyrus]

Day VIII - Favorite Ability

 

 

Sonic the Hedgehog - The Spin Dash

 

We all know about the Spin Dash; Any character with the ability crouches down, somehow rolls in place at hyper speed, then finally charges forward at the full speed of a race car, destroying any enemy in his or her path. Oh what fun it is to be rolling around at the speed of sound. The spin dash is always such a fun mechanic in all of its variations; The traditional charging up and rolling along until you slow down or have to jump, the spamming of the action button to keep the flow going in Adventure and the most recent version of this move, holding down the left trigger/X or Y button to keep dashing even after a jump. Charging up your character and then just speeding along just l feels so satisfying, especially in Sonic Lost World where you can keep going and going unless there's a wall up ahead. It's also immensely useful for speed runs.

 

 

One of my favorite tricks to pull of in the games that have the right physics is using the spin dash to force a jump farther and use it as a short cut to a distant platform.

[sploit]

Day 7 - worst level.

 

Currently irritating me to no end is Lava Base from the Bioshark chapter of Shinobi on 3DS. The reason for this is that you start this area is filled with cheap enemies and cheap attacks, which in turn result in many cheap/unfair deaths. And once you run out of lives you then gotta start at the beginning of the chapter and make your way bakc to there again, only to experience the same frustration. Rinse and repeat. Very irritating.

 

Great game though.

 

 

Day 8 - hopefully this counts, but using my finger to destroy enemies in Tearaway like some kind of almighty overseer is great fun. I love this ability because it is one of the most simple yet effective uses of touch controls ever. Quite innovative. The ability doesn't ruin the gameplay and doesn't feel forced. You don't get to use it much, and when you can you do not always have to, but it is great fun. You get attached to the little messenger character and being able to physically help him and work alongside him, is one of the coolest game experiences ever. You can lay waste to the enemies really quickly and effectively and then the little guy gets a look of relief on his face. Epic.

[Pawn]

 

Batman: Arkham City and Origins - Flight

 

I never feel more like a Batman than when I'm soaring above areas of Gotham City. Whether I'm seeking out my next target, scouting for a group of thugs to torment or simply exploring the city, there's no better way to travel. Upon completion of Arkham City's AR training mission, you are given the ability to achieve near perpetual flight via the grapple hook. If you find yourself losing air, you can fire at the nearest building for an incredibly satisfying boost in momentum. You can also plunge directly towards the ground, generating a shockwave on impact that floors nearby enemies.

 

An honourable mention goes to the Inverted Takedown, a signature move never gets old no matter how many times I use it.

[Cola]

Gotten mostly over my sickness, so I can finally play the catch up game.

 

DAY 7 - LEAST FAVORITE LEVEL - HOLY SHIT I DON'T WANNA PLAY THIS LEVEL ANYMORE

 

 

Nearly every level from Paper Mario: Sticker Star. I think that I've made it clear by now that I absolutely detest Sticker Star for a variety of reasons, one of the biggest being the game design itself. The Sticker mechanic is probably one of the worst parts, especially the puzzles with "thing" stickers. Many of these rely on trial-and-error, and it's incredibly frustrating.

 

I'm getting angry just thinking about this game. Bought it for $20, beat it, immediately sold it to Gamestop for $16. NOT WORTH IT, MAN.

 

 

DAY 8 - FAVORITE ABILITY - HOLY SHIT THIS FEELS SO SATISFYING SGDFGSDG

 

 

Unite Morphs - The Wonderful 101

 

Oh man, OH MAN. The Wonderful 101 is probably one of my favorite games, and for good reason. It really makes you FEEL like a superhero, ultra powerful. It's AWESOME. As you probably know, the Wonderful 101 is a game where you control a team of 100 superheroes at once. So, uh... what do you do with them?

 

YOU ACTIVATE A UNITE MORPH AND TRANSFORM INTO A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION

 

There are seven main unite morphs: Unite Hand, Unite Sword, Unite Gun, Unite Whip, Unite Hammer, Unite Claw, and Unite Bomb, each with their own different properties. There are even a couple more you get to use during certain story sequences, which are also unlockable bonus morphs. It's just... great. Holy shit, man.

[Kuzu]

Day 7: Least Favorite Level

 

 

 

 

Now really, any level from this world could count; I've lost countless amounts of lives in it alone. That said, one level in particular gave me a migraine that I have not had since my young days on the Super Nintendo.

 

 

 

FUCKING. HOT ROCKET.

 

 

 

Let me start off by saying that I love Donkey Kong Country Returns with all of my heart; it is one of the most beautiful and fun to play platformers I've ever had the pleasure of completing, and provides a very decent challenge in all levels.

 

This is not one of those levels...

 

Hot Rocket is probably the worse level in the game, and since it takes place in the final world, it is naturally obligated to throw as much bullshit as possible. To start, it uses the extremely crappy rocket gimmick which controls like ass as it is; you can only move by pressing the jump button, and you ascend or descend depending on how long you hold it. You only get one hit too, so your hearts, even if you have Diddy, mean absolutely shit. And the level is a good 3-4 minutes looooong. I died so many times on this level, I seriously started to lose count and my rage was just boiling over.

 

 

Its just an extremely unfun, horribly designed level based around a shitty gimmick. 

[SuperStingray]

Two way tie here.

Day 8 :

 

Zandatsu (Metal Gear Rising)

I can't think of a more satisfying way to take down your enemies than to decimate them with pinpoint precision, remove their organs from between their pieces and crush them to restore all of your health and energy.

 

Boost (Vanquish)

Know what, fuck it.  I should just say my favorite ability is "Platinum Games."  Because to make something as simple as moving around the level feel as satisfying as this is an astounding ability in and of itself.

[JezMM]

Man, "abilities" are something I kind of disconnect from whenever they're not happening.  Hard to think of stuff.

 

 

 

Sploicer! Give 'em the combo: zap 'em then whack 'em. One-two punch! Remember, the one-two punch!

 

I love the Electrobolt + Melee combo in BioShock so much.  Too much.  It's almost a bit overpowered - I continued to use it even on Survivor difficulty in the PS3 version, and in BioShock 2 the minute I get the tonic that removes the ability to use weapons for massive Eve discount, those weapons are outta there and I am drill dashing my way to victory even on Alpha Series and Brute Splicers, hell yeah.

 

 

Spear Kirby is so so much fun.  In multiplayer I always choose Waddle Dee so I can have a permanent Spear Powerup.  It's versatile, has awesome range and satisfying power, the cool helicopter thing, you can throw it... argh it's so GOOD.  Anyone who jumps to play Meta Knight or Dedede because Waddle Dee is just the generic enemy, the Yellow Toad of Kirby's Adventure Wii if you will, is seriously missing out.  Sword and Hammer have lost all appeal to me since playing with Spear.  I really hope it appears prominently in Triple Deluxe.

 

 

 

Here's a bunch of abilities that don't actually significantly alter gameplay or are used constantly throughout their games, but they just feel good to me:

 

Star Power from Guitar Hero series - gotta love saving it for an already epic part of the song and having the extra oomph added to the music go hand in hand with one of your fave parts.

 

Talon Trot from Banjo-Kazooie - you use it all the time yet Spiral Mountain and Mumbo's Mountain are enough of a taste for life without it that you never stop appreciating it.

 

Homing Attack from Sonic Unleashed - I've mentioned before in a few topics how having "jump" and "attack" on separate buttons just feels more satisfying and meaningful to me, less automated.

 

Wing Cap/Metal Cap from Super Mario 64 - The Wing Cap of course, was breathtaking and full of fun, while the Metal Cap just looked super cool, with awesome music to boot.  Why have all future renditions of Metal Mario never had the cool, colourful reflections of Mario 64 Metal Mario?

[The Tenth Doctor]

Day 8: Favourite ability

 

 

 

Control over an Etherial Spirit. Yeah, Beyond Two Souls had a load of problems. But I just loved the idea behind actually controlling a Spiritual Entity. Sometimes it comes out great, like the bully revenge scene. Makes me grin every time. Having a presence there all the time who can go anywhere and influence others would be an incredible asset.

[#AR]

Day 8: Ooh, a cool ability? LET'S PLAY AROUND WITH IT FOR FIVE YEARS!

 

I got two for this one. First let's start off with:

 

 

REN'S FAVORITE ABILITY #1: THE REVERT (TONY HAWK SERIES)

 

Forgive the lack of a picture, but whatever, it's got the word in there. It gets the job done.

Anyways, what is this revert of which I am speaking of? Well let me start off with some more background info. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 basically ended your long-as-hell, awesome combo once you hit the ground. That means that you have to keep grinding from rail to rail to keep your combo going. You missed a rail? Tough toenails. Combo's done.

Pro Skater 2 kind of fixed this by adding the manual (basically a wheelie on your skateboard), so if you hit the ground, you can still chain your combo. Although, once you got air from a halfpipe, you had to pull off the sickest special you could because once you landed that, the combo ended. Didn't matter if you hit a manual as soon as you landed, you had to start fresh.

Pro Skater 3 came around and said "You want bigger combos? we'll give you bigger combos!" The revert is, simply, a quick 180 turn on the ground once you land from a half-pipe. The revert allowed you to keep your combo going after hitting a halfpipe. All you had to do is hit a manual after pulling off a revert and BAM! You're still good! Million-point combos? No freakin' problem!

 

Now as for the second one, I'm trying my hardest not to repeat myself from the past 30 Days of Gaming, but I've never had more fun with a game mechanic than this one right here:

 

 

REN'S FAVORITE ABILITY #2: ROCKET SLIDING/AR MODE (VANQUISH)

 

Alright, picture this shit right here: You're in a firefight. Guns blazin' everywhere around you. You can't run in closer without being barraged by bullets. So what do you do? You just fuckin' do it live, run, and slide into the jaws of the enemy while shooting like a madman. Vanquish gives you the ability to do that...but with rockets. For those who liked the boost gameplay in the Sonic games and find it satisfying, imagine that...but with amazing futuristic weapons. Okay that may have ruined it for some of you, but hey, this is a friggin' amazing gameplay mechanic because now you don't have to rely solely on cover to get close to enemies. You can dash in towards them, hit 'em with a melee attack or just cap 'em straight in the damn face. Alternatively, if shit hits the fan and you need to get the flying frack outta there, you can make a quick escape.

Now with the AR mode, you can slow down time for a short period to get some amazing slo-mo shots in there. Works after dodging and also as a safety mechanic. If you take too much damage at once, your danger sense kicks in and it automatically activates. Gives you a chance to either run and fight another day or go out like a motherfuckin' G. Vanquish is still my favorite shooter, and these mechanics have a lot to do with it.

[KrazyBean]

Day 8: Favourite Ability (or should I say abilities)

 

 

Ninja Run - Metal Gear Rising: Revengance

 

Just hold down the button and you get to go fast like Sanic, but at the same time defend yourself from small projectiles. It also makes you vault over obstacles automatically so all you have to worry about is moving. An ability like this is imperative considering that you'll get destroyed in this game if you stay still.

 

 

Parrying - Metal Gear Rising: Revengance

 

Most hack and slash games promote dodging as your primary defence but not this game. Yes you CAN dodge but that will not help you nearly as much as you think. Mastering parrying is absolutely essential, and man oh man is it satisfying when you pull it off. The best example of parrying being essential is the Monsoon fight, but you'll want to use this move for all enemies really.

 

 

Drive Forms - Kingdom Hearts 2

 

OK, this is the last one I promise. Drive forms can really turn the tide of battle in this game. You have 5 of them, including the Anti Form (6 in Final Mix) and each of them are quite different from one another. Depening on your situation on the battlefield you can be sure that there will be at least one Drive Form that will help you become the dominant force. I REALLY hope that they return in Kingdom Hearts 3.