World 2-25: Mega Man 2

Mega Man 2
~NES

Game number 25 of my trophy room has finally been completed! I am officially 25% done my quest to beat 100 games in a year. Not bad!

Mega Man 2 is an incredibly popular game, and after having beat it once again, I can elaborate why. While the game is a bit clunky considering it's age (it was released in 1988 in Japan - that makes it older than I am), it still stands strong in the top 10 lists of many gamers around the globe. Not only does it have one of the most memorable sound tracks of all the Mega Man games, it is also notoriously difficult - even on the default difficulty setting. The graphics are bright and inviting, and there are interesting (and oh so frustrating) level obstacles introduced to the game, such as a race against beams which kill you in one hit, and stages where you must time your jumps perfectly to land on the appearing and disappearing blocks to conquer lava pits. These aspects, coupled with the all new boss set and a very interesting twist on the final boss, leave Mega Man 2 in my top 10 video game list as well.

World 2-24: God of War

God of War
~PS2

First off, let me note that I beat this game via the God of War Collection on PS3. It's been a long time since I played it on PS2, so I can't recall exactly how good the graphics were, but in this version they were SPECTACULAR.

God of War was an intensely great game. Apparently I played at least a third of this game when it was new, and I remembered quite a lot of the game. What I didn't remember is that even on Medium mode (which is the second lowest difficult), the game got pretty intense in terms of difficulty! I actually managed to get the trophy for being offered easy mode (obtained after dying too many times) without even trying.

The storyline in God of War is absolutely incredible; the base of the story is that your character (Kratos) is under service to the God of War (Ares) for reasons revealed throughout the game by means of various flashbacks. Haunted by terrible memories, it becomes Kratos main objective to do whatever he can to please the Gods so that they will forgive his merciless sins, and he will be freed of the torment.

As far as actual game play goes, the character control was very smooth, and you had a variety of different physical attacks which you could unlock by leveling up your weapons. There were also four magic attacks using mana, which are obtained throughout the game by finishing various areas. The only thing I wasn't fond of in God of War was the ridiculous amount of enemy grind. I found that even on medium difficulty, many of the enemies took ages to defeat. There was also a constant swarm of enemies spawning one after another, right from the beginning of the game, which made it hard to move through the game with much speed. It took me 9 hours and 30 minutes to complete the game, much of it spent on roaming around aimlessly while lost and taking out endless spawns of enemies. It was worth the play time though, as God of War was a game very well executed, and is such a memorable and enjoyable game that I was already itching for a second playthrough by time I was halfway done the game. The soundtrack was also beautifully done, matching every scene, level, and boss fight perfectly and enhancing the overall feel you got while playing ten fold. The voice actors were also very well picked, as each character had a unique voice to fit their perceived personality.

Overall, I give God of War a complete 10/10 for being such an awesome game. Everybody who calls themselves a gamer can't go on without trying God of War! 

World 2-23: Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Trauma Center: Second Opinion
~Wii

Trauma Center: Second Opinion is a great game in a very unique series available for various Nintendo consoles, in which you must perform surgery on a variety of patients. I have played four games in the Trauma Center series, and I have to say that Trauma Center: Second Opinion is my favourite of them all (not for any particular reason). It's a brilliantly designed game with heart pounding music that really enhances on the storyline. In Trauma Center: Second Opinion, the base of the story follows Dr. Derek Stiles as he learns how to become a proper doctor and enhances his newfound skill called the Healing Touch, which allows him to slow down time to operate on his patients at superhuman speeds. At risk of spoilers (**SPOILER ALERT**) you also get to play as a second doctor in this game, and her name is Nozomi/Naomi Weaver. The story proceeds on two separate paths (one for each doctor) until (**EVEN BIGGER SPOILER ALERT**) finally they meet up at the end of the game and must perform a surgery together.

The storyline of Trauma Center: Second Opinion follows the idea of medical warfare, in which a deadly disease called G.U.I.L.T (Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin) has been released into the population, and your character must follow in it's shadow, working as hard as he can to find a cure for the disease alongside his beautiful young assistant, Angie. Throughout the game, you are introduced to many vibrant characters, each with a wonderful backstory and dialogue that fits their personalities perfectly. You perform a variety of surgeries, each one harder than the last, and true to Atlas nature you will suddenly find yourself struggling like never before in a level that seems impossible, and may even have you yelling at your TV in frustration.

Overall, I recommend Trauma Center: Second Opinion to people who have patience and don't mind playing the same level over and over again, because no matter how good you are at this game, you will never finish every level on your first attempt. It took me 5 hours and 14 minutes to complete all 40 operations.

World 2-22: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
~Wii

The New Super Mario Bros. Wii game was a really fun play. It managed to keep all the best quirks of the original Mario games, yet still add awesome new flavours in the world of power ups, such as the helicopter mushroom (for an extra boost into the air), and a freeze flower (which was very handy in the final castle). There was a whole host of vibrant level themes, like the jungle world and the ice world. There were some cool little quirks about this game as well. A prime example of this would be that on some overworld maps, the layout was altered each time you entered a level, which would change which subsequent levels you could attempt next. For example, in the jungle world, vines would wrap around certain paths, blocking you off from entering certain levels until your next turn was up. There were also map-based enemies you could fight (usually by choice - sometimes not) for bonus power ups to be added to your inventory. This is old news in the world of Mario games, but this time around you could fight more than just the Hammer Bros. You could fight Goombas and Piranha Plants too, and instead of just jumping on the enemies, you had to collect 8 Toad Coins to reveal the treasure chest, which as it turns out, Toad was hiding in. Usually he gives you three normal mushrooms in return for saving him, which isn't much of a boost, but it does come in handy down the road.

I am still having trouble adapting to the feel of current console games, and the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game was no exception. For one thing, I almost always forgot that Mario can now wall jump, so I would ocassionally fall down into a pit of doom, accidentally jump off the wall halfway across the gap, get confused as to why Mario can suddenly jump off walls, and in a wonderful display of complete idiocy, let him fall to his death while staring at the screen with a look of sheer confusion. Asides from that, and my dreaded hate for water levels (music not included), I still found the game rather smooth and easy to get the hang of. I found myself flying through levels with complete ease the moment I picked up my controller.

Overall, the New Super Mario Bros. Wii took me 6 hours and 33 minutes to complete (bonus levels not included) and was a very enjoyable experience.

World 2-21: Super Mario Galaxy

Super Mario Galaxy
~Wii

Well, here it is - my first Wii game in my trophy room! And I have to say, it was a good choice! Super Mario Galaxy managed to introduce so many new ideas while still keeping the same basic Mario theme that everybody knows and loves. Some of my favourite levels were the ice themed ones, where if you shake the controller Mario would skate around in (sometimes frustrating) patterns. Nevertheless, it was quite a fun experience. There were also many other original level ideas, such as the bee level where you can get a bee suit and fly around for a short amount of time, and the closely related honey wall climbing level, which could only be inspired by Donkey Kong Country 2. Then there were the levels that absolutely blew my mind, such as the gravity switching levels. The background tells you which way Mario is going to fall, and you have to strategically work your way through each part without falling down the wrong way. The whole game had a lot of bright colours, and despite being the lowest class current generation console (graphics-wise), the graphics were actually very smooth and appealing. The game also featured some classic Mario music, which was so exciting to me that I actually stopped playing certain levels just so I could sit there and listen to the music.

On the negative side, I found the water levels extremely frustrating. It was so difficult to get Mario to swim in the right direction - unless you were lucky enough to come across a shell, which makes Mario swim forward automatically. Otherwise, you're stuck shaking your Wiimote back and forth, looking like an idiot, screaming at the screen trying to tell Mario that he's doing the exact opposite of what you asked him to do. And there was no shortage of water levels! The only saving grace of the water themed levels in Super Mario Galaxy were the sliding wave ones, where you would ride on top of the water, and the game played much like the Mario Kart games did. I had a lot of fun playing those water levels.

As for the movement aspect of the game, I had a LOT of difficulty getting used to the whole 3D movement thing, but I loved how your centre of gravity revolved around whatever planet you happen to be standing on, and not just flat ground at the bottom of the screen (as with 2D games). It was very frustrating at times because there were so many neat little tricks in the game where you would be flipped up onto another planet unwittingly, but it was very enjoyable at the same time because it was so unexpected and happened so fast. The whole game was pretty fast paced, and there were even certain levels where you had to beat your own ghost in a race to the end of the level to gather an extra star.

Overall, Super Mario Galaxy is a fantastic game that should at least be tried by everybody who has a Wii. In fact, buying a Wii would be well worth the money, if not just for this game. I give Super Mario Galaxy a full 10/10, despite how many times I yelled at the screen in agony.

Oh and as a side note, it took me 12 hours to finish this game, collecting 61 of the 120 stars.

World 2-20: Aladdin

Aladdin

~SNES

This game puts me at 1/5th of the way through my 100 games in a year attempt. It took me almost exactly an hour to complete.

Aladdin was a pretty solid game. Back when this game came out, many companies would remake popular movies and hope for a quick profit. Aladdin however, was done very well. It followed the full storyline without being too short or too long, not adding in any ridiculous details or leaving any important ones out. It was fairly simple, but everything was done right. The music was good, the graphics were colourful and inviting, and best of all, the character movements were spot on. Aladdin was very easy to control, once you got used to his rather large steps every time you tapped the controller. Overall, I was very impressed with this game. 

World 2-19: Earthbound

Earthbound

~SNES 

Well, after about 30 hours I finally have Earthbound in my trophy room! And you know what? I'd totally do it again. Earthbound definitely earned it's place in my top 10, with it's odd sense of humour, interesting game mechanics, and totally catchy soundtrack. There were so many awesome quirks in this game that made it memorable and worth being in everybody's trophy room. 

Overall, the game was pretty straightforward, as it was never too hard to tell where you had to go next. I count that as a big plus, because I hate running around aimlessly with no idea what to do. There was also no shortage of save points either (another big plus). One of the interesting game mechanics mentioned earlier is that if you stay out too long, your character gets homesick (resulting in botched battles because your character is off in Lala land). And on the even more annoying side, staying out too long also results in your dad constantly pestering you to save and take a break (at least you don't have to listen to him). But by far the most useful game mechanic comes into play by sheer advancement: after you reach a certain power level, you can run into monsters to initiate a fight and one hit KO them, bypassing the fight screen entirely. This is a huge time saver, and a great way to power level. 

One feature I didn't like much was that you couldn't get rid of key items, even after using them. However, you can leave items with your sister. Unfortunately, I didn't find that out until the very end of the game, so it was pretty useless to me. I ended up ditching a lot of good items because I simply had no space to keep them, even with 4 characters that each had 14 spaces to hold items. 

For leveling, I found that the best places were after you finished each My Sanctuary location, as you could go back to the sanctuary and get a free full recovery as many times as you wish. Also, you could hunt down the monsters in the place you just finished, and they would run away from you. And if you were strong enough, you could also one hit KO them. Talk about power leveling!

Without going into spoilers here, the final boss had some very unexpected twists, and no matter how much power leveling you do (I maxed out all my characters to level 99 quite early) he is still challenging, which I thought was very cool. There's nothing worse than beating the final boss in one shot without putting any effort into it whatsoever because your characters were too strong. Earthbound managed to avoid that entirely, and I was very impressed by that.