Well, I've been missing for a while. You can blame some sickness, some bad mood, anything. I did complete something small though:

Strider

I remember playing this game originally on Master System. This time, I played it as part of the Capcom Classics Collection Remixed on the PSP. The sword swing felt the same but the jump felt less responsive. It was also a very frustrating game with many "Gotcha" moments, leading to an insane amount of trial-and-error. At one point, I ended up wondering whether there was even a point to have a lifebar. After all, one hit would usually send you falling to your doom. At least, it was short? Nah, not enough of an excuse. Black Tiger, Mega Man and Super Mario Bros are also short games, but they are good fun. This one? Not so much.

And my list.

Two smaller games from yesterday.

The Plan
This is from the makers of forthcoming Among the Sleep. A short (and free) little story. Takes about 10 mins to beat it, but worth it still. Nice conclusion and music ;)

//N.P.P.D. RUSH//- The milk of Ultraviolet
This name monster is something else. Must come from a (greenlight?) bundle of some sort. Some people call it ugly, but these are youngsters who did not grow up with C64 and can not appreciate this fine art-style. Gameplay is basically a top-down shooter. Slightly reminding me of Hotline Miami actually. Kind of similar art-style and music. This game is just way more abstract and as the developer at Steam forums says it is not for everyone. Sure, at times games is very strange, but strange is good sometimes. I liked it and managed to beat it. Not a very long or difficult game.

Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine

I finished the Locksmith's Story (Campaign I) so I consider this game finished. I just can't take it anymore. What can I say? It really, really wasn't for me. I fully understand and have no trouble confessing, that I suck at this game. That was probably one of the reasons I didn't like this. But everything just looks so unappealing and messy...okay, the graphic style is a design choice. And normally, I really don't have a problem with that. But because of this, I had difficulties fully observing the environment. It's hard to tell, what is what. And the stealth...eugh. I thought it was poorly made. You can only see what's in the room you're currently at: that's fine in theory. But I see no fun in lockpicking a door, and running into what's basically an ambush right afterwards. So, pretty much all missions played out the same way: sneak around collecting the trophies, until evidently running into a mob I had no idea was going to be there, or running into an alarm system I have no idea how to bypass silently. Then it was mostly "catch me if you can" while I run frantically, searching for the remaining trophies with the whole security team breathing in my neck. I also didn't like how the missions were laid out. You got your Locksmith's story, then the Pickpocket's story on a separate branch, then the Origins stories, and then some strange PvP / Community mission trees... I thought it was an utter mess. Have a fucking clearly marked "CAMPAIGN MODE" instead of this crap, where it's hard to tell where the story begins and where it ends. In short: I hated everything about this game. And though I "only" finished the Locksmith's story (and a few of the Origins missions), that is all I can take. One story finished, is enough for me and all I can possible take.

Marlow Briggs

I wasn't expecting much, but this turned out to be a really fun, though maybe not deep, God of War style beat-em-up. At least I assume it's God of War style, as I never actually played any of those games :)

Penumbra: Black Plague: It is a more polished game than Penumbra: Overture and it is obvious that the devs tried to make the game better in every sense. On the technical side, the game is superior than its prequel. Yet I liked Penumbra: Overture better due to the horror factor. I think the first game is scarier, which in my book makes it a better game despite its problems. Removing the weapons was an interesting idea, but the zombies were not really scary since you could easily ignore them and run your way around.

List of all games finished in the last years: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2014/post150

Who would like to tackle this one next?

Command and Conquer Ultimate Collection Origin key GE8G-DGK6-4TS4-58BK-RT8E

That is very generous of you. I already have it myself and the first C&C game is actually the only one I've managed to finish this year so far. It was great too. I had a lot of fun with it and loved the music in it also.

Very generous of you. I was too late unfortunately...

05/03/2014 Legend of Kyrandia: Book I First game for this year (other than some replaying), short and nice, even if I hated the mazes. A bit too much backtracking for items for my taste, and I'd prefer a larger inventory, but enjoyable nonetheless. Let's see what I'll tackle next.

Full list here

BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

Very fun constant runner, much easier than the original BIT.TRIP RUNNER - mainly because of the introduction of mid-level checkpoints. Got a "Perfect" on tall the levels on Hard, though didn't get all the "Perfect Pluses". No way am I gonna redo the entire game on the two easiest difficulty levels for more achievements, but I will try to get the final "Get 90 Rewards" achievement at some point.

Well, why not continue with its excellent sequel ? I think it is better on all count !

Just finished Need for Speed: The Run. Not a great game by any stretch of the imagination. The cars handle relatively satisfyingly, and there are sections where the feel of a Michael Bay-style action film is well-realised, but on the whole, the excessive scripting of the races and the severely and annoyingly arrogant protagonist were a real turn-off.

Certainly a good looking game, but it irritated the fuck out of me that EA left the game in a broken state as usual, which forced me to have to play one of the levels a dozen times before it finished without crashing (apparently this is a common bug).

Also, the final race was extremely disappointing. I won't give much in the way of spoilers here, save to say that the last opponent is someone who should be engaging with the protagonist a bit more, and the race relied far too much on rubber banding to keep the opponent near to you for scripted events.

Edit: Although I'm usually a completionist, I'm not going to bother with the SP challenges. They're typically EA, i.e. you cannot complete them without higher-level cars, and these cars can only be obtained by completing multiplayer challenges (and of course multiplayer is dead) and Autolog recommendations (which for the most part require you to have friends in Origin playing the same game). Typical fucking EA.

That is the most likely candidate, but I do like to switch genres after finishing a game. Though I do want to play Book 2, especially since I had enjoyed the demo of it immensely back in the day.

Just finished my replay of SHUFFLE! Shorter than I remember, since I just started it yesterday. Packed with goodness though. My 2nd favorite VN after Koihime Musou, though I must say I've played very few so that might not mean much.

Still 11 days until Tick Tack! ships, so I'll be putting some more time into Aselia. And perhaps clear out some of the other games I'm in the middle of, but I've been saying that to myself for weeks now lol.

My 2014 List

Lego Marvel Super Heroes

Me and my daughter had a lot of fun with this one. 100% completion, took me 79 hours. A must play if your a big comic book fan (guilty), I was surprised by how big the hub was compared to the only other Lego game I had tried; Indiana Jones. Played on the PC with an X-Box controller and can't imagine trying to play it with just keyboard support. The flying races alone were infuriating even with a controller. This game reminded me of when I was a kid and comics were fun, simple entertainment, not the incredibly convoluted plot-line re-hashes that they are now.

3/6 Lego Marvel Super Heroes
3/29 SNES Castlevania 4
4/12 X-Com Enemy Unknown
4/26 Shadow of the Comet
7/4 HOMM V Hammers of Fate
8/23 Torchlight