64 - Vanguard Bandits (PSN)

Genre: SRPG
Rating: T
Developer: Human Entertainment
Publisher: Working Designs/MonkeyPaw Games
Platform: PSN (Also: PS1)
Release Date: 2011 (1998 original)

I love strategy RPGs. I've never really been a huge fan of western or JRPGs but SRPGs or RTS games I tend to adore. I'm not sure what it is about them but they're definitely a great area of games for me. Despite that, I rarely go off in search of them. I stick with what I know and it all seems to serve well enough.

Vanguard Bandits came onto the PSN last week with little attention. It seems PSOne Classics only tend to get attention when they're Final Fantasy or another hugely famous RPG. There's nothing wrong with that really but not many seem to know what this game is. Either way, I'm glad I got the chance to play through it because it is a phenomenal game.

Basically you've got your typical story going on about a young man who must save his country from being taken over by an evil empire. Although it takes place in a castles and knights kind of time they happen to have lots of mechs. The mechs are of course used for fighting because that's just so much cooler than knights with swords duking it out.

The game is really deeply strategic. While it's not hard to grasp the main concepts of battle being able to play the game skillfully is tough work. While the game doesn't have sidequests or anything it does have multiple story paths to go through. The replay value is definitely there and I appreciate it. With each of the 20 main missions taking about 30 minutes or more too this is one intense game, although maybe not the best fit for quick bursts of play. I really dig the game and find it a whole lot of fun even if it's a bit dated now (only graphically speaking). I could easily see the gameplay mechanics transplanted onto a 360 or PS3 game and people would love it. 

Would I play again? Yes!

63 - Dungeon Defenders (PSN)

Genre: Tower defense
Rating: E10+
Developer: Reverb
Publisher: Trendy Entertainment
Platform: PS3 (Also: 360, PC)
Release Date: 2011

I only really became aware of the tower defense genre when flash games started to proliferate online. Back then it didn't really spark my interest though so I shied away from it all. Only recently have I gotten a taste of it at all via Orcs Must Die! which was a pretty fun game. This is my second bite of the genre and I see that perhaps it really isn't for me at all.

In Dungeon Defenders you can take up one of four classes (although you can switch at any time) and level them up as well as your traps. You set these traps and barriers to keep hordes of enemies from destroying your crystal. It's the easiest goal ever except for the fact that the rest of the game is so tactical and difficult. It dives headfirst into lots of RPG-type stuff as well by making you grind and level up your characters and their skills to proceed.

Within the first two levels you will be tasked with taking down a humongous enemy with 10 times the health of anything else you were forced to fight the rest of the level. It was when this point came that I realized this game is serious business. It also is probably best to play with a team of four. As I was soloing, I found the game to be outrageously difficult. It's hard to try and defend four seperate points all at once. Since you can't have your eyes everywhere you can simply set up your best barriers and hope for the best while you slooowly run from entryway to entryway. If I had more players in a team with me it probably would be a ton more manageable.

As is, the game just doesn't appear to be for me. It's supremely tough and doesn't appear to let up. Playing alone is far from the best idea... although it's true that you can grind on the first level until you're strong enough to take down harder monsters all by yourself. If nothing else, the game is super deep for a digitally distributed title which I'm sure some folks will quite appreciate.

Would I play again?: Nope.

62 - Pokemon Rumble Blast

Genre: Beat 'em up
Rating: E10+
Developer: Ambrella
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: 3DS
Release Date: 2011

Pokemon Rumble Blast is the first Pokemon game on Nintendo's latest handheld. Nintendo could have waited for the next big iteration but instead they decided to go with something different. From what I've seen on game blogs, most people seem not to appreciate this game at all. It's too bad really since it's actually pretty fun.

The game plays out a lot like Gauntlet. You control one (or a team of 3) Pokemon and battle through "dungeons". It's all from a top down perspective and fighting is not complex at all. In fact, the game is really simple because there's not more to the fighting. You can use different skills and all but aside from speed of attack and range they never really change much.

There isn't all that much to the game, honestly. You battle, battle, battle, and battle some more. However, what reviewers are not seeming to mention is how addictive it is. Even though nothing really exciting or cool was going on I continually find myself returning to the game for short bursts throughout the day. I think that is the game's strength and it's a great one. Handheld games aren't necessarily meant to be long, intensive things but nice breaks from work or school. This is Pokemon Rumble Blast's strong point.

It's also a really long game. Some of the Pokemon spin-off titles (Pokemon Channel comes to mind) are super brief experiences. I've put in about 12 hours with this one so far and I'm only about halfway through. For a handheld game to offer so much playtime makes it worth the price tag right there. Not to mention that, from what I've heard, it even has a high degree of replayability due to new things opening up after beating it.

I like it. This isn't a game for everyone and especially not people tangled up in the "hardcore gamer" world. If you just want something fun and mindless though when you're on the go then give it a look.

PS: EVERY Pokemon is in this game! That's 600+, in case you haven't been keeping count over the years.

Would I play again?: Yes!

60 - El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (PS3)

Genre: Action adventure
Rating: T for Teen
Developer: Ignition Entertainment
Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Platform: PS3 (Also: 360)
Release Date: 2011

El Shaddai is a game I hoped I would really enjoy. The screenshots looked stunning and it just seemed to be a game forging its own path. As it turns out, the game certainly is different from everything else coming out these days. However, that doesn't make it good.

Basically I really don't like the game because the main "game" portion is devoted to fighting enemies. There isn't a very large variety between then and the fighting mechanics themselves are extremely dull. Apparently you can switch weapons to gain a tactical advantage over enemies but the game never tells you what works best against what. The game barely tells you ANYTHING. While I'm sure some will be pleased the game doesn't hold their hand I wasn't. I'm playing on "easy" so I expect things to be, well, easy!

Even when I think I figured out the best tactic it ends up not working at the next encounter. Either I'm continuously doing something wrong or there are slight variances between the 5 or so enemy types. The game is kinda cool in that if you mash buttons right when you die then you don't lose. However, sometimes it's hard to tell if you're "dying" or not so you don't know to start pressing them.

As for the story I couldn't even tell you what's going on beyond the very basest plot that was established at the start. Characters babble on and say important-sounding things but they mean nothing to me. It's such a shame the game is so incomprehensible and dull. If you're interested in the game though be sure to play the demo as it gives you a sample of the gameplay stylings.

Would I play again? Yes (to finish it).

57 - Spiral Knights (PC)

Genre: RPG, MMO
Rating: N/A
Developer: Three Rings
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PC (Also: Mac)
Release Date: 2011

I first heard of Spiral Knights when it launched back in April. At that time, I figured it was just another MMO that wasn't going to be a big deal. It probably wasn't either until Steam picked it up for one of their first free-to-play games on the service. Now basically all my friends are playing it daily. Curious, I decided to check it out as well.

As it turns out, Spiral Knights is a lot of fun. To me it feels a lot like The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. That probably stems from the cute art and top down perspective of the game. You also generally group up in teams of four to explore dungeon after dungeon. You can also choose to play solo if you wish, which pleases me because I've always been more than a bit wary of some online players. For single player dungeon crawls, you can even password protect your dungeon so nobody else can hop in. Fantastic!

However, since I have friends playing it I am happy to say I've had a bit of experience with the whole "online" functionality of the game. It's a pretty simple hack n' slash game with a bit of puzzling to do now and again. The goal is to go deeper and deeper to get to the center of the world (or something like that). Unfortunately, it costs energy to go down each level, so you can only play so many levels per day before running out. I've heard that becomes less of an issue when you level up more, but I'm still pretty weak.

I really like the game and if I hadn't gotten caught up in the likes of EVE Online I'd probably still be playing it a ton. Unfortunately, I just get in brief stints with Spiral Knights in between my other business. Regardless, it's a solid online game. It's very casual but very fun.

Would I play again? Yes!

36 - Yakuza 4 (PS3)

Genre: Action adventure
Rating: M
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PS3
Release date: 2011

I love Yakuza. When it was going to come out in the US for PS2 I was pretty damn hyped. It looked like a really neat beat 'em up with deep storyline all based in Japan. At the time, I was a big fan of everything Japanese (well, more so) so this was gonna be totally awesome. Initially, I got it in less than legitimate ways. However, that was pretty useless because the game seemed impossible for anyone to rip properly. There were always massive slowdown issues and glitches galore.

From that, I never actually ended up playing Yakuza 1 or 2. I remembered my initial awe with the idea of the game later on and pre-ordered Yakuza 3. Playing that game was one of the best gaming experiences I had all 2010. The story was taught and perfectly executed along with addicting gameplay.

Yakuza 4 is also a pretty good game. Somehow, it doesn't feel as good as 3 did. On various forums, it seems most people feel the opposite about the two games. Oh well. Something interesting is that the hostess bar minigame stuff was brought back after being removed from the english version of 3. Playing it made me realize why Sega took it out before. Even though the entire game is very Japanese this minigame is crazily Japanese. Dressing up your hostess with outfits, accessories, makeup and hairstyles is probably something most gamers would find appealing (especially when there aren't tons of slutty outfits). It's not like you can just dress her to your liking either, as the goal is to get her to be perfect for the patrons who visit. Still, I'm glad to see Sega put it back in for people to try out.

After playing Yakuza 4 I feel like playing through all the games. I need to play 1 and 2 since I missed out on them, but they all deserve a playthrough one after the other. Somehow I think I'll lose steam before accomplishing that, but at least playing the first two titles is doable at sometime in the future.

Would I play again? Maybe.

Feel free to check out my more in depth review of Yakuza 4 here.

35 - Ys I & II Chronicles (PSP)

Genre: JRPG
Rating: T
Developer: Falcom
Publisher: Xseed Games
Platform: PSP
Release date: 2011

Never before in my life have I played a Ys game. For one, they were never as in my face as the likes of Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, and others. To be fair, I was never a huge JRPG player anyway so it makes sense they weren't really in front of my face much. However, from time to time they would get mentioned and I would wonder why the hell they called it Ys.

Apparently you sound it out more like Es but what the hell does that even mean? Playing through the game didn't really help me much to decrypt the meaning. However, I found out that the Ys in question were some sort of magical tome scattered around in dangerous places. Lovely.

What really was too bad about this game was that I died so damn fast. The health bar is very small and very unobtrusive. So much so in fact that I didn't realize I was losing life at all until it was too late. Upon discovering that I made sure to check it out when ramming headfirst into enemies but still ended up dying a lot. Apparently, there is some strategy to this although at first it appears there is none. You see, your character auto attacks so it seems like it would be a game of chance. After spending enough time with it though I realized hitting the enemies from certain angles was the way to do it. Then I stopped dying so much.

The game was pretty charming and had some pretty hilarious text. Whoever was at work at localization did a fantastic job. However, these types of games just aren't my thing. They're also pretty short which seems weird considering RPGs of any variety typically take dozens, if not hundreds of hours. I'm not complaining though. I barely could muster up enough interest to beat these.

Would I play again? Nah.

Feel free to look at my more serious review of Ys I & II Chronicles here.

33 - Beyond Good and Evil HD (XBLA)

Genre: Action-adventure
Rating: T for Teen
Developer: Ubisoft Shanghai
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: XBLA, PSN
Release date: 2011 (HD)

You know what's an awesome game? This one. Like, oh my goodness I haven't played something this fantastic in a while. The PS2 is one of my favorite modern consoles by a landslide because it was just brimming with excellent games. While I got to experience many as they came out such as various Silent Hills and Metal Gear Solids I totally ignored this one.

Yeah, I knew that it had a cult following. I heard all these people always giving it tons of praise but for whatever reason never went to actually try and play through it. However, I did buy it the year after it came out or so for pretty cheap on a Black Friday sale. Sometime around then I popped it into my console too but only played for maybe 10 minutes.

From those initial 10 minutes it really seemed like a hokey game. There didn't seem to be anything particularly special about it and so I figured everyone must have been crazy and put it back away. However, upon playing the XBLA release I was forced to get past the intro (to review it for a site) and fell in love almost immediately after the first few minutes. Despite games rarely grabbing a hold of my attention this one did it with insane force. I fell right in love.

Damn, there's really no way to express how much I love this game. The experience was wonderful and never too frustrating to play. There were some weird glitches at times but usually it was all good. If you've never played this one I really suggest giving it a try, especially now that's available for a fair price. If you want to check out my actual review thing then you can click here.

Would I play again? Yes!