Welcome back to another installment of Backlog Summer! How much progress have the staff made through their backlogs since last week? Read on to find out!
Anthony Pershkin
This week I derailed even more from my original plan of finishing Capcom’s Zelda games and ended up in the magical land of GameCube. Thanks to a friend of mine, I was able to get some pretty hard to find GameCube gems like Gotcha Force, P.N. 03, Wario World, and more. I spent the entire week playing through some critically acclaimed and some underrated GameCube titles, and even managed to finish two games.
The first game I started playing last week was Battalion Wars. I had a wonderful experience with this action-strategy gem, even though I did have a little nervous breakdown trying to unlock the fourth Bonus Mission. Getting S-ranks on some of the last missions in the game was challenging to say the least.
I also managed to finish Star Fox Assault, a game that tried its best to satisfy fans, but oddly enough ended up being the least acclaimed entry in the series. First of all, I just want to say that there is an option to change control schemes for ground sections and it makes almost every complaint I’ve heard regarding this “issue” pointless. Other than weapon switching, I’ve had no problems with the controls. Not to say the game’s perfect, of course– I just wanted to clarify that perhaps some of Assault’s flaws were a bit exaggerated by the gaming community. Other than that, it’s an enjoyable enough game that’s worthy of the Star Fox franchise. Some things could’ve been better, but I still enjoyed my time with it.
Anthony Vigna
I finally decided on a game to play this week and you’ll never guess what it is! I’m diving into the obscure depths of gaming with Final Lap Twin on TurboGrafx-16.
I knew I had to play this when I heard that it was a racing game that had a dedicated quest mode. That’s right, Final Lap Twin can be played as a traditional RPG! You get your own car that can be upgrade at shops, explore an open world, and race against others through random encounters. It sounds bizarre, but it’s not an entirely new concept to me after playing a soccer RPG called Inazuma Eleven on the 3DS eShop earlier this year. Even though the gameplay is really simple in Final Lap Twin, I can really appreciate the uniqueness of its quest mode.
Once I finish this game, I’ll probably continue to play through more interesting JRPGs. If you couldn’t tell already, this is one of my favorite genres! Due to the long length of RPG games, there are still plenty of gems that I haven’t got a chance to play. So, I think that playing these games will be a great way to spend my backlog summer!
Robert Marrujo
Another break for me this week, this time from Starfy. Admittedly, this is something I can’t help but do with games; I start and stutter to a halt for one reason another, then make my way back. Don’t think that means I was slacking off, though! This week brought along two titles that ate away at my play time: Fossil Fighters: Champions and Plants vs. Zombies, both on DS.
Yeah, totally random, I know, but Plants vs. Zombies was discounted at Walmart, and Fossil Fighters was dirt cheap at GameStop, so I felt the urge to add them to the old collection. PvZ is not new to me; I’ve been playing it for a while now on my iPod, but for some reason I’d never been willing to plunk down for the more expensive DS version. What a mistake! The graphics are a bit fuzzier than on mobile, but otherwise the gameplay is identical. Using the DS touch screen and stylus to slide plants around the playing field is somehow more fun than poking at the screen of a smart device, and I’ve been having a great time plotting out my strategies for defeating the zombie hordes. Like Bust-a-Move DS, I don’t expect to be spending too much more time focusing on PvZ, but who knows, I’ve already spent a number of hours horticulturally combating the undead, so you might hear more about the game next week!
Fossil Fighters: Champions is one title that won’t be going anywhere, however. Sometimes Nintendo will put out a title or series that for one reason or another will slip past me. Fossil Fighters was one of them. I always thought of the series as Pokémon meets dinosaurs, and the truth isn’t too far removed from that. Which should be a dead giveaway that Fossil Fighters is very good. Champions is the sequel, so I’m coming in late to the party, but it hasn’t ruined the experience in the slightest. I got curious about Fossil Fighters after watching the E3 trailer (which featured some of the worst music ever) and thought I’d familiarize myself with the games before the newest one releases on 3DS. The title casts players as either a boy or girl Fossil Fighter, with their goal being to revive and assemble the very dinosaur-like Vivosaurs into a competent team of fighters. One of my favorite parts of the game so far has been cleaning up the various fossils for transformation, an element which helps distinguish Fossil Fighters as its own series. Much more on this one next week, as I’m just cracking into it, and I’ll have a final assessment of Starfy, too. This is some of the most dedicated gaming I’ve done in a while; too bad August is already upon us! The summer of gaming can’t end!
Nicolas Vestre
I’m proud to say that I nearly reached the end of Sonic the Hedgehog! It took eleven lives and two continues, but I got really close to beating this game, something I’ve wanted to do for many years. Unlike your typical Mario game, Sonic the Hedgehog requires a lot of memorization, especially when there are so many moments that just feel very cheap. I found out that I’ve been lied to about Sonic’s incredible speed (at least in this first entry), as going at any amount of increased pace almost always spells death (or at least loss of rings). In some ways, it feels more frustrating than Mega Man Zero, which is really saying something.
On my second playthrough, I managed to nab three of the six Chaos Emeralds, which is a huge morale booster. I’m in the water infested Labyrinth Zone, hoping to keep fifty rings and nab another Chaos Emerald. Since I know where all the cheap traps are (like the platforms that float straight up into a spiky death and the hidden drill robots), I’ve lost fewer lives, and I’m feeling optimistic about beating the game this time, Chaos Emeralds or not. I’m grabbing a chili dog and coming for you, Robotnik!
And if I get Sonic burnout, I’ll play Wario Land 4, which completely got neglected this past week. But I have to see that hedgehog to the end!
Marc Deschamps
Unfortunately, with a baby on the way, the amount of time I’ve been able to devote to video games has started to wane. I’m still plugging away at The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, but my 3DS has been switched out for 3D sonograms and my skills in Tetris have been put to the test while trying to fit presents from the baby shower in my car. I was, however, able to finally vanquish the Earth Temple this week. The end boss was a really clever foe, and while he didn’t prove to be too difficult, I did appreciate the way that the fight unfolded.
I’m now on my way to the next temple, alongside Makar. I must say that A Link Between Worlds seems to have spoiled me a little. I originally assumed that I could handle the Earth and Wind temples in whichever order I pleased, and attempted to go to the Wind Temple first. I guess I got used to having the freedom that last year’s 3DS title provided! That type of free roaming clearly wasn’t around back in 2003! It just goes to show you how much the franchise has evolved over the last decade.
I also had the pleasure of starting NES Remix this week. I snagged the game as my Platinum Reward from Club Nintendo, and I’m quite happy that I did. It’s certainly the type of game I’ll be able to play in small spurts when our daughter arrives in the next few weeks!
How is your own Backlog Summer journey coming along? Share your progress with us in the comments!
I finally beat Pikmin 3 and now just purchased all of the DLC.
I also finally beat Joker in Batman Arkham City. Now I need to finish some if the side missions and get to work on finishing Lego Batman 2.
I also need to get back on the Zelda trip and make more progress on Wind Waker and A Link Between Worlds.
I have some work to do on Sonic Lost world as well. Oh boy!