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 On 02/16/2018 at 02:29 PM by Super Step See More From This User » |
Games I actually played IN or at least very close to 2005:
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
This is probably still my favorite 2D Zelda game ... which might have to do with the fact it's also the ONLY 2D Zelda game I've ever actually completed, but it's still a damn good time.
I love the shrinking mechanics and puzzles, and I definitely thought the final boss was a much bigger challenge than Ganondorf is in the 3D titles, making him instantly more memorable and satisfying for me.
So I think this is the one TimeSplitters game I ever actually rented, as opposed to TimeSplitters 2, which was mentioned last blog. So not only are these blogs incomplete because of what Wikipedia considers "notable releases" vs. what I actually recall playing, but there's user error here, too! Yeah, luckily this isn't a research paper, so stuff like this happens.
Anyway, I loved the time traveling goofiness of this game, as well as the wacky characters and of course, the monkies. If this series never gets rebooted, I desperately want a new cartoony FPS franchise to take its place. It's been and overly long and boring run of these damn military games.
Another lower budget humor-based game I wish would see a revival is the Destroy All Humans! franchise. The premise is you're an alien who needs to collect human DNA for ... some reason, but the fun of the game is mostly in its parody of 1950s United States culture and the Red panic and so forth.
Remember when game premises themselves were fun? The aliens remember.
This may or may not be promotional art from the sequel. Once again, I do not hold my blogs to the standard I do what I turn in at work. Sorry.
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
This game is Rampage, but with a 3D landscape and a Hulk who can run up buildings and leap as though he can fly. The object of the game is to smash. This was one of the most fun rentals I've ever experienced and if I find a copy out in the wild, I'll probably get it.
This is possibly one of the greatest premises for gameplay mechanics ever conceived.
I probably played all 3 in the series, but I'll just mention this was the only game I saw in high school that EVERYONE played, even the non-gamer girls. Man, these were a big thing at the time. We had III in the senior lounge (2008) I think. The big track on that one was "Through the Fire and Flames."
I don't know which song on the original everyone wanted to get good enough to play, but I probably heard the easier "I Love Rock and Roll" being played the most. For me, it would have been "Cowboys from Hell," but that's because I grew up with Pantera's music, since my older brother liked them and they were partying with the Dallas Stars in '99. I used to hate them and still have issues with what comes out of Phil Anselmo's mouth at times, but I can't deny loving some hard-driving Pantera in my teen years and when I'm in the mood now.
Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
So while it seems to get a lot of hate today, I actually really liked Peter Jackson's King Kong movie that came out the same year when I saw it in theaters. Sure, it was long, but I expected that from the LotR director and I thought the visuals were incredible.
But I might have liked the video game, which I either beat or almost beat with a rental, even more. Here's a picture explaining why:
So I guess 2005 was the year of focusing on fun game mechanics and scenarios above all, and the Wario Ware series was of course just a bunch of mini games for the DS that changed really frantically.
I dug it.
This is the elevator you'd see in between mini games; I know it well.
Games I wanted to play in 2005:
Resident Evil 4 started out as a Gamecube exclusive and Eternal Darkness's greatness made me really keen on wanting to play it. I need to make sure if that game went on my 2002 list, but in any case, I never did get around to playing this one on Gamecube despite it being one of the best-reviewed games late in the system's life.
Playboy: The Mansion is one I just wanted to see for myself. This is another game I only know about because of my EGM addiction at the time. Next year, maybe I should do an EGM retrospective for BaD.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening is a game in the DMC series, of which I played about 10 minutes of 2 on my brother's PS2. I don't remember being good at it, but the juggle physics were appealing to me. Now that I've played Hellblade, I kind of want to play the newer DmC game by Ninja Theory.
God of War supposedly helped start the QTE trend, but all I remember hearing about was the three way and the violence. At this point in my life, I wasn't immature enough to want things just because they were "mature" in decidedly immature ways, but the mythology in the game still interested me and I always thought the violence made it reminiscent of Beowulf in a way. We read a very small part of that book in 8th grade. A very small part.
Psychonauts was another slap in the face for me, because here was a really cool concept with cartoony characters that seemed to be aimed at the kiddy crowd Nintendo was known for appealing to and ... it was on every platform BUT Gamecube when it released.
I own this game on PS4 now, but at the time that really soured me on Nintendo for a bit. I was tired of getting the short end of the stick when it came to multiplatform releases, especially when it wasn't even an M-rated title.
So somehow Pixlbit got the impression I wanted a table inserted in this blog, so apologies for the formatting that follows. I'm not sure how to undo it.
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Love the Timesplinters games. Well, maybe not the first one. But 2 and Future Perfect were great. I think Mark and I played Future Perfect co-op.
Destroy All Humans is still a favorite of mine. That and the second one. I really dug the music too. Gary Shyman who went on to do Bioshock music and Junkie XL who I keep seeing in both video games and movies recently. I'm going to replay both DaH games when I get to those years in my retro gaming.
I am unfamiliar with this Junkie XL ...
Ever since Destroy All Humans! I've noticed him doing a lot of movie soundtracks like Deadpool and Mad Max Fury Road. He also does remixes of songs in an electronica/dance mode.
My problem with Minish Cap is that it felt too short. I beat it in a weekend. Did you know Capcom made it? My favorite Zelda game is Link's Awakening. Have you ever played that one?
WarioWare Touched was all right, but my favorite DS WarioWare game came out a few years later. It was called WarioWare D.I.Y., and the game used a Mario Paint format to let you make your own micro games! I actually won a contest and had my game featured by Nintendo, and that's why it was my Game of the Year in 2010.
Psychonauts was my Game of the Year in 2005.
Kirby: Canvas Curse is actually one of my least favorite Kirby games. And that's one that everyone else seems to rave over.
I did know Capcom developed it actually. I thought they did a great job and I don't mind a handheld title being short. I honestly preferred having that challenge ramping up toward the end to the game being longer. I have not played Link's Awakening, but I want to.
I think I remember you mentioning that. That's cool! Personally, I don't really care for "make your own" stuff in video games all that much. I usually prefer to just play what the developers make. I'd be more open to it as an adult though, so I may check that out.
Psychonauts is another one I still need to get through. I can't stand the Phantom of the Opera level I'm currently stuck in. I'm hoping the game picks back up from there, because the level soured me on the game quite a bit after I was having such a great time with it.
Yeah, Canvas Curse was praised for actually taking advantage of the DS, but I can see how that could be annoying.
One of the more interesting games of 2005 was Haunting Ground, a game made by Capcom as a successor to the Clock Tower series. It had a panicky heroine with few means to fight back other than her dog (and you could mistreat the dog badly enough to where it wouldn't help you), plus a lot of gruesome off-camera deaths.
Resident Evil 4 would have been my GOTY 2005... if Dragon Quest VIII hadn't come out in 2005. That game is still one of the best I've ever played. My new wife, myself, and my stepdaughter all played the game to completion and had our own save files.
Haunting Grounds was a fantastic game, freaked me and a friend of mine out as teenagers. Im still hoping they will put in the PS2 to PS4 program. Id buy it in an instant.
I never even heard of this game. I guess I'll have to look it up.
I'd never even heard of the Clock Tower games and never played a Dragon Quest.
Oh man, I played way too much of those Hulk games. I couldn't get enough.
The only one that let you smash things like that was Ultimate DestructionI, unless there was a sequel I'm forgetting/didn't play.
The other Hulk game I remembered was for Gamecube, cel shaded and based on the Ang Lee movie. It involved stealth sections. I liked that one ok, but it wasn't near the pure joy Ultimate Destruction presented.
True. But the ang lee one had a combat mode where it just threw waves of enemies at you. I played that over and over.
I watched my sister play RE4, It was entertaining to say the least. I sadly cant remember much I played then. Probably some verison of Dynasty Warriors, DMC, and anything on playstation would be fair game. My memory sucks.
My memory is pretty decent as far as what games I've played, but as far as which exact year and whether they show up on Wikipedia is a different story. Also, I think I might have missed Eternal Darkness in these blogs, which is a huge oversight for me since that's one of the most memorable GCN games for me.
Oh Guitar Hero, I loved the original two games, three wasn't bad, 80s was fun but it slowed down for me with Aerosmith and I don't think I ever finished Metallica. Also I don't think I ever started AC/DC...but that could have been Rockband.
Loved God Of War and Sony knew how to get me when they mailed out the demo. PS2 was good times.
Did they mail the demo with a magazine or just straight out mail out a demo? Where was the demo from?
I remember as a kid I got a random VHS of Pokemon in the mail when the show was coming out. That's honestly my first memory of the franchise. That is one marketing tactic that works. Now though, it's probably cheaper to just trot something like that on YouTube. Loses that personal charm though.
I signed up with Sony for some random thing and they had this "club" called the Gamer Advisory Panel or something close to that name. Somehow I got in, I got sent a shirt, card for my wallet, and a certificate and then I would get demos in the mail. It was cool when I got PSP demos because they in UMD form.
I actually think I got a random Playstation magazine in the garage still sealed because it also came with a GOW demo.
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