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!

53 - Two Worlds (360)

Genre: RPG
Rating: M
Developer: Reality Pump
Publisher: SouthPeak Games
Platform: 360 (Also: PC)
Release Date: 2007

Two Worlds is a game I knew nothing much about. I know that it came out and was always compared to Oblivion. Because of that, everyone said it was terrible in comparison. I mostly ignored those statements because why focus on comparing two games? A game by itself may have its own merits. So, with that idea firmly planted in my mind I picked it off the shelf and started playing.

Oh my god Two Worlds is so strange. I knew something was terribly wrong the moment I saw the main menu. As is customary, I usually go into the options and check out things. On the options, it had button mappings for changing an option, leaving the menu, and whatever. However, this button mapping information obscured some of the actual options. This terrible main menu scheme wouldn't pass any inspection in bigger games, and shouldn't pass in any game. The main menu isn't important though as gamers should only spend a few seconds there before jumping into the game.

Starting it up I was greeted with really amateur text overlaying the opening video. Again, this doesn't mean anything aside from the fact the people who made this game are not pros. That's fine. Getting into character creation made me sad because there were very few options. There was no facial modifications, either in shape or general styles. In fact, the only thing you could change is hair color, style, and eye color. Oh, and the height of your warrior. At least that meant I couldn't create a horrifying face like often happens in Bioware games.

Finally taking control of my warrior I discovered the true quality and terror of the game. It appears that the developers made a brand new engine for the game. At the very least, it isn't any popular one out there. It felt like my console must have been breaking the way it ran. The camera for the game world is extremely strange and made me a little motion sick. It's awkward and something that any gamer would instantly recognize as slightly "off". The character models were okay, but everything else felt half-done. Animations were all really strange and at times laugh out loud funny.

Really though, the main reason I talked so little about the actual game was because I got killed by my first orc confrontation. Apparently it's not a forgiving game either!

Would I play again? No.

23 - ChoroQ

Genre: Racing, RPG
Rating: E
Developer: Barnhouse Effect
Publisher: Atlus
Platform: PS2
Release date: 2004

I've been meaning to try this game out since I picked it up. It always surprises me what an eclectic amount of games that Atlus has published over the years. They used to be one hell of a ballsy group, I'd say, although they seem to be playing it much safer now with their guaranteed userbase.

Anyways, onto the game at hand. It's a longer series based off of toy cars in Japan. I don't think there have been nearly as many releases for it in the US, but there have been at least a couple. Strangely, I've heard that Road Trip is a supremely better game in the series (which I also own). It seems weird that two games in the same series of cute racing and travelling cars could be polar opposites, but apparently this is the case because ChoroQ is bad.

It's not horrible, but it's not good either. The racing isn't exciting and in fact reminds me of Lego Racers. That is to say, it's no Mario Kart or any respectable racing game. One might say the racing isn't even the bulk of the game. You can wander about towns and talk to the other cars. You can customize your car all up and do various other activities. However, there's nothing pointing to what should actually be going on so I spent a long time wandering around town, lost.

It seems like it could be an okay game but it's strangely confusing. What am I supposed to be doing? Why is there a bank for cars? Why do I drive into houses only to have the car residents there greet me and then shoo me away? It's quirky but there's nothing much in terms of solid gameplay to back it up with. The intro video got my blood pumping, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Would I play again? No.

15 - Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits

Genre: RPG
Rating: T
Developer: Cattle Call
Publisher: SCEA
System: PS2
Release date: 2003

JRPGs aren't really my thing. It's not because of the stories or characters or anything like that but simply the fact that I've never been very good with strategy and magic. In lots of these types of games you have to be able to use special skills and maybe fuse items and all kinds of other stuff. This game is mostly the same.

Something that was refreshing about it though was that the battles were in a sort of Advance Wars/FFXII style. I'm sure there's lots of other JRPGs like this but I'm not very well versed in them so this is the best example to be given. Anyway, I prefer that to pure turn-based because it makes you feel like you have more control over the situation.

The story didn't seem like anything fantastic or new but still I found myself being drawn into the world. If nothing else, RPGs of any variety are generally good at sucking me in. It was cute and the battle music felt oddly out of place, but a good jam nonetheless.

I got killed by some rats in my second real fighting mission. This is how these types of games generally go for me, which is really too bad. Maybe sometime I should just set up cheat codes with the game so I can purely play for the story.

Would I play again? Maybe.

12 - The Bard's Tale

Genre: RPG
Rating: T
Developer: InXile
Publisher: InXile
System: PS2 (Also: PC, Xbox)
Release date: 2004

When this game was going to come out initially I had no idea about the series of Bard's Tale games. You see, I was never really huge on WRPGs, JRPGs, or any sort of dungeon crawling. However, 2004 was the start of an exploration into a "new" genre for me. Either way, buying this game got put off for years and even since owning it I've never tried it out. Until today, that is.

For some reason when it came time to play it I was looking to dislike it. Many of the great WRPG titles supposedly out there fall flat for me (I'm looking at you, Fallout). However, as the game started I was instantly smitten. The narrator had a sly, humorous nature to him and the characters were also sharp-witted. The voice acting was nicely done and was all very entertaining.

Something that really threw me off about the game was the top down perspective. It reminded me of Dragon Age a bit except you could get up close with your characters in that. This one had you relegated to a very tactical position that made it hard for me to judge if my attacks were landing on certain foes or what items/chests were around.

It's a nice game but, again, just not my type of thing. It seems like this is how a modern remake of King's Quest might be handled if there had ever been the opportunity (and I've still not played the The Silver Lining). It's too bad more games aren't able to be revisited in a promising way. But then, perhaps it is best for the games of yesterday to be left as they are.

Would I play again? No (the camera angle gave me a bit of a headache).

10 - Everblue 2

Genre: Simulation, RPG
Rating: E
Developer: Arika
Publisher: Capcom
System: PS2
Release date: 2003

This game is the sequel to Everblue and its spiritual successor is the Endless Ocean series for Wii. All of these games are scuba diving simulators with RPG elements, at least from what I've heard. This is the only one I've played of these and probably the only one I will play for a long while.

From what little I experienced of the game it seems very akin to visual novel games. When you are out of the water you can choose to talk to characters but you control everything through menus, and not by actively walking your character around. You are mostly tasked to read what characters have to say a few times and then make a decision where you might like to go or whatever next.

Underwater the game is a full scuba experience. You must monitor how much air is left in your tank as well as being wary to not venture too deep into the ocean. I'm not sure what else there is to do in the game but for my maiden swim in the ocean all I could find to do was search for treasure. You did this by sonar and sending out waves until you were near an object. After finding a few objects you could bring it back up to the surface and identify it.

The aquatic life was beautifully rendered but the ocean felt very safe and overall boring. What was there to do down here? I'm sure later on there are probably more obstacles and things to worry about (sharks?) as well as cool places to search for treasure. However, as it stands the game seemed pretty lifeless and not worth spending time with.

Would I play again? No.