Home Sweet Home

Well, back home again, and able to finally play my 360 again! Woo! So I’ve been playing Dead Space. On Chapter 10 I believe, and it was weird. Out of nowhere the game got really tough. I mean, really tough. It was strange. No, I have yet to beat the game, but I’m almost there. I plan on finishing it up by the weekend.

Now here’s one thing that has been bugging the crap out of me. Since I got my second Xbox 360, I didn’t transfer all of my content over for a number of reasons that I’m not going to go into. But anyway, managing game saves and XBLA titles is a pain in the ass. I have a USB drive that I take game saves off my old Xbox, and transfer them to my new one. But it’s rather annoying sorting through the game saves deciding what to transfer, and all that crap. But the biggest issue I have is the whole Live Profile thing. Recovering your Gamertag takes WAY too long IMO, and while I do keep it on my USB drive, it is still annoying moving the thing back and forth. And I can only imagine what people had to do before USB support was added. I bet it was a nightmare! Regardless, I’m managing it, but it’s just a hassle. If there was a way to LAN the two together, and essentially run them as one unit, that would be sweet. Anyway.

I’ve purchased a lot of XBLA titles I’ve wanted to buy for a while. I picked up Braid, Limbo, and Plants v. Zombies; all great titles. Of the three, I’d say Limbo is my favorite. It’s artistic, great sound, and quite challenging. There’s no way that one could play the game for the first time and not die. It’d be impossible. Most of the puzzles take trial and error, which is cool because the game doesn’t penalize you for dying; a rarity in most games today. It’s unique because it lets the player take risks, without fearing major consequences. And with a majority of the puzzles you can’t just “see” the solution. There’s a lot of physics based traps which you often can’t see coming. The one gripe I had with it is that there is no tutorial at all. It drops you in the game and you go. While this is cool, it was rather annoying coming up to one of the first puzzles and not knowing/realizing that grabbing objects was possible. But other than that, it’s pretty sweet.

That’s about all I have this time. I’ll keep you all updated on my progress on Dead Space, and whatever else I play. Until next time, -SS.

Back in the Saddle

Well, hello again everyone. It’s that time again, and this will be my only blog post this week until at least Sunday. I’m traveling this weekend, so I won’t have access (or time) to make posts. Sorry for the inconvenience. But regardless, here’s what’s going on.

Not a whole hell of a lot right now. It’s the end of summer, and that means the Fall release parties are right around the corner. Lots of big games being released this fall, and a bunch are on my wish list. Plants vs Zombies for XBL, Civilization V, Dead Rising 2, NHL 11, Fallout: New Vegas, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Fable III…whew, that’s a bunch ‘o games. And all of them look to be killer titles that I’m excited for.

BUT, I have decided the only games I plan on buying from that list this year are NHL 11, Civ V, and Fallout: New Vegas. And it’s because I have such a huge backlog of games I need to play first.

Anyway, I just purchased Starcraft 2 and NHL 11 to be delivered to my house and will be waiting for me when I get home. Can’t wait to play Starcraft 2 and beat the living daylights out of my roommate(s). Other than that, I’ll just be playing that list of games I rallied off a few days ago. Be on the lookout for a possible review of Zelda: Spirit Tracks if I beat it by the time I get back. Here’s a bit of a hint, it’s pretty freaking awesome. Same old Zelda, same old fun.

Until next time -SuperStubbs

The DS Has Arrived!

Well, as the title states, my DS arrived this week. I got three games for it, and all three are long games for my trip home. Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and Pokemon Platinum. Yes, Pokemon. While many people (especially guys) consider Pokemon a “childish” game, I still find it rather enjoyable. While the story and look of the game are elementary, the core fundamentals of the game are rather mature, and very addicting.

In the beginning, the game was fairly straight forward, you play as a male kid who gets his own Pokemon and sets out to discover all 150 types. That basic storyline hasn’t changed since it was first introduced in the US in 1998. But there have been a ton of additions to gameplay throughout the years. They added several new Pokemon types, day/night events, date events, a beauty contest mini-game, berries, and list goes on. There are SO many things to do now that to complete the game would take days. While it’s hard enough just to collect all the types, (493) but add to that all the side quests they’ve added, and you have one deep, deep game.

One of the coolest features is the fact that once you beat the game, you can go back to the Kanto region and collect all 150 original monsters. This gives people who are obsessive about collecting things (myself included) much more to look forward to. And it brings back some memories about your past, when you were a kid on the school bus playing it, just like everyone else.

Another aspect I enjoy is the strategy involved. Sure you can just level up your starting Pokemon and get through the game fairly easily, but that’s not fun to me. I like to get several different types and see what teams work best. I also enjoy seeing all the different moves and evolution types. It’s difficult when you get a monster that really sucks, and grinding to level him to evolve. Not cool. But it’s all part of the game, and as such I sometimes do it to fill out my collection.

With all that said, I plan on playing the pants off the game for the next few weeks, and give a full review when I’m finished. But that’s all I have for now.

-SuperStubbs